Intro to Ecology Part 2
Climate vs. Weather
 Weather
 Day-to-day conditions of Earth's atmosphere
 precipitation, humidity, temperature, etc.
 Changes every day
 Climate
 The average, year-after-year, conditions (temperature and precipitation) that prevail in a
specific region
 Microclimate
 Climate in a specific area that varies from the surrounding climate region
 Ex. The burrow of a Kangaroo rat in the New Mexico desert (dark and cool)
Biomes
 Terrestrial ecosystems that cover a large
region of Earth
 Characterized by communities of plants
and other organisms adapted to the
climate and other abiotic factors
Major Terrestrial Biomes
Tropical Rainforest
Tropical Dry Forest
Tropical Savannah
Desert
Temperate
Grasslands (Prairie)
 Temperate
Woodland/shrubland
(Chaparral)
 Temperate forest
 Northwestern
Coniferous
 Boreal Forest/Taiga
 Tundra
Tropical Rainforest
 Canopy: dense covering of tree tops
 Understory: 2nd story of shorter trees and
vines under the canopy
 Fern Gully/Medicine Man
Tropical Dry Forest
 Deciduous trees: broad leaves that fall
 Wet/Dry season
 “Jungle Book” forest
Tropical Savannah
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In the tropics
Wet/dry season
Less rainfall than trop. Dry forest
Think “Lion King”
Desert
 Around 25-35o Latitude N and S
 Plants and animal adaptations
 Spines, waxy cuticles, scales
 Think “The Mummy” and “The Sahara”
Temperate
Woodland/Shrubland/Chaparral
 Dense shrubs
 Mediterranean, California coast
 Brush fires
Temperate Grassland
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prairies
Midwest (Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri)
Brush fires
Think movie “Twister” “Wizard of Oz” and
“Little House on the Prairie”
Temperate Forest
 Mix of coniferous and deciduous trees
 Humus (HUE-Mus) material formed from
decaying leaves….very fertile!!!
 Forests with leaves that change colors
 Think fairy tale forest “Snow White” and
“Sleeping Beauty”
Northwestern Coniferous
 “Rainforest” of the temperate climate
zone…very DIVERSE vegetation
 Mild, moist temperatures
 Think “Twilight” “New Moon” “Eclipse”
Boreal Forest/ Taiga
 Bitter cold winters
 Coniferous trees
 Make the timberline…border between taiga
and the tundra
 Think “X-Men Origins”…Wolverine’s home
Tundra
 Permafrost: layer of
permanently frozen subsoil
 “Ice Age”
Other interesting
ecosystems…
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Mountain Ranges
 On all continents
 Abiotic and biotic factors change with ELAVATION (as u go
up)
 Therefore plants and animals change VERTICALLY
 Grassland at base woodland/pines spruce/conifer
forest tundra like open area at summit with
wildflowers
Polar Ice Caps
 Border the Tundra
 Cold year round
 Characterized by ice and snow
 Plants and algae are few but include Mosses and Lichens
 North Pole
 Sea ice and ice cap that covers Greenland
 Polar bears, seals, insects and mites
 South Pole
 5 km thick layer of ice
 Penguins and marine mammals
COPY!!!
Define!
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Producer:
Consumer:
Autotroph:
Heterotroph:
Food Chain:
Food Web:
Trophic Level:
Energy is transferred
in ecosystems
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Producers give E to Consumers
Food chains show flow of energy (arrows  show where energy is going)
Trophic levela single step in the food chain
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Primary ProducersAUTOTROPHSmake their OWN food
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A step in the transfer of energy and matter in an ecosystem
Use Photosynthesis and Chemosynthesis to change inorganic chemicals into molecules that they use for ENERGY!!!
Plants and bacteria
Consumers
HETEROTROPHS must eat different things to get their E…canNOT make their own
GLUCOSE
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Primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers
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Herbivores: eat plants
Omnivores: eat plants and animals (bears, humans)
Carnivores: eat other animals (wolves)
Detritivores: eat dead plants and animals (earthworms, mites, crabs)
Decomposers: get energy from decaying organic matter (bacteria and fungus aka
mushrooms)
Trophic Levels
• Each link in a food chain is known
as a trophic level.
• Trophic levels represent a feeding
step in the transfer of energy
and matter in an ecosystem.
Trophic Levels
Tertiary
E
N
E
R
G
Y
consumers- top
carnivores
Secondary consumerssmall carnivores
Primary consumers- Herbivores
Producers- Autotrophs
Food chain- simple model that
shows how matter and energy
move through an ecosystem
Food web- shows all possible
feeding relationships in a
community at each trophic level
• Represents a network of
interconnected food chains
Food chain
(just 1 path of energy)
Food web
(all possible energy paths)
Biome Projects
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Tropical Rainforest
Tropical Dry Forest
Tropical Savannah
Desert
Temperate Grasslands
(Prairie)
 Temperate forest
 Chaparral /shrub land
 North Western
Coniferous
 Boreal Forest/Taiga
 Tundra
 Everglades
 Deep Sea Hydrothermal
Vents
 Tropical Coral Reefs
Biome Project Guide Lines
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Children’s book using your biome as a setting and showing interactions between organisms
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Must be NEAT, SIMPLISTIC, yet INFORMATIVE
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Report
 Abiotic Factors of biome
 Climate and Precipitation
 Countries in which biome can be found
 Dominant animals (at least 9)
 Dominant plants (at least 9)
 Problems/issues threatening this biome
 3 interesting facts
 3 different food chains
 Name of organism
 Primary producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer and tertiary consumer labeled in
each
 Type of consumer (herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, detritivore, decomposer) labeled in each
 One of the food chains MUST be present in and numbered/labeled in 3D model
 1 food web (pictures and names of organisms)
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Model
 3-D CREATIVE model of biome
 Model must include one of the food chains listed in your Report
 Model must include accurate plants and animals
 No candy/edible items and No living organisms