Ecosystems You are where you live Our next unit will be on ecosystems and biomes. Has anyone ever heard the expression “You are what you eat”? If not, it probably refers to your health-if you eat healthy foods, you should expect to be reasonably healthy. If that’s the case, can we also say that “you are where you live?”

What’s an ecosystem? The system of interactions between living organisms and their environment. A system made up of a community of animals, plants and bacteria and its physical and chemical environment. We need to know something about the environments where organisms live in order to know if they are indeed where they live. You can see the definitions for ecosystem above-it would be a good idea to highlight both as either one would be acceptable as answer on a quiz which we’ll have in about a week. You can see that ecosystem is a generic term that can apply to many different types of places where organisms live.

Types of ecosystems There are many types of ecosystems on earth. Major classes of relatively contained ecosystems are called Biomes. There are 3 major classes of ecosystems: Freshwater Ecosystems Terrestrial Ecosystems Ocean Ecosystems You should highlight, circle, or underline the three types of ecosystems that are shown in bold. What is meant by the terminology for each ecosystem?

Freshwater ecosystems Relatively small in area, about 1.8% of earth's surface Support many species of life including fish, amphibians, insects and plants. Base of food-web is found in freshwater plankton (microscopic organisms)

Terrestrial Ecosystems Many & diverse types of ecosystems. There are seven major types. Location usually dependent on two factors: the latitude of the area the amount of precipitation

Types: Tropical Rain Forest Precipitation – 250 cm/year Little temp. variation / abundant moisture Contains more species than other biomes. Are there any tropical areas in the U.S.? There are areas that are close that are called subtropical, like southern Florida.

Savannas Precipitation 90-150 cm/year Open, widely spaced trees, seasonal rainfall Parts of Africa, South America & Australia Nothing like this exists in North America.

Deserts Precipitation 20 cm/year Dry, sparse vegetation; scattered grasses Parts of Africa, Asia, Australia, North America Besides Arizona, what other states contain desert?

Temperate Grasslands Precipitation: 10-60 cm/year Rich soil; tall dense grasses Central North America; central Asia What states in the U.S. would fall into this ecosystem? The Great Prairie states including Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Oklahoma.

Deciduous forests 75-250 cm/year Warm summers, cool winters Europe; eastern United States; eastern Canada Do we have this kind of forest in AZ? If so, where? These can be found around Prescott and Sedona and likely can be found in other areas around the state.

Coniferous forest 20-60 cm/year Short growing season, cold winters Northern Asia; northern North America How about this one in AZ? Where?

Tundra 25 cm/year Open; wind swept; dry; ground always frozen Far northern Asia; northern North America

Ocean Ecosystems Very large amount of Earth is covered by ocean (~75%) 40% of all photosynthesis occurs in oceans 3 types of oceanic ecosystems Shallow ocean waters Deep ocean water Deep ocean surface. Photosynthetic plankton is the base of the food chain Only occurs in deep ocean surface & shallow ocean ecosystems No photosynthesis can occur in deep ocean because light cannot reach depths.

Activity Re-create an ecosystem (drawing). Use some of the information you already have from this slide presentation, e.g. rainfall, main characteristics, in your description. Identify a MINIMUM of 5 animals (tropical must also include a minimum of 5 insects) in your ecosystem, explain their place in the food chain, and describe the characteristics of each animal. Describe the climate of your ecosystem, e.g. hot and dry, humid and wet, warm summers/cold winters etc…. Identify a MINIMUM of 5 types of vegetation in your ecosystems-does it have short or long grass, a few trees, many trees, no trees etc…. Where is water typically found in your ecosystem? Identify a city that can be found in your ecosystem and include its country and population. Your group presentation must be a minimum of 5 minutes and no more than 10 minutes Presentations can be made on poster paper. Use your imagination!

Procedure Each table will research a biome or ecosystem. Group members decide which one will be responsible for which part of the ecosystem (plants, animals, climate, rainfall, other characteristics) -- all group members must be responsible for at least one area. Research aspects of your ecosystem using classroom laptops and be willing to do some work at home. Organize your presentation, rehearse, figure out timing. Present your ecosystem to the class. Each group member will earn the same amount of points-however, if a group member is not doing the assigned work, points will be deducted from his/her individual score.

Ecosystem Rubric Requirements Some amount is present (4) Many/most is present (6) All are present (8) Total points Content covers aspects of biome completely Shows organization and timing is right Presentation shows creativity, energy, and is interesting (24 possible)

Web Sites www.usborne-quicklinks.com (select Science, enter 331 on page number). http://blueplanetbiomes.org/world_biomes.htm www.mbgnet.mobot.org/ http://library.thinkquest.org/26634/ http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geographyaction/habitats/games.html (use the links on the left hand side of the page).