Ecosystem, Biodiversity

• Tropical Rainforest


  • Hot all year (27-30 degrees)
  • Wet all year
  • Variety Of broadleaf plants
  • Trees dominate with other plants competing for light
• Tropical Grasslands


  • Hot all year
  • 500-1000mm rainfall a year, always with a dry season
  • Tall grasses with scattered drought adapted trees and shrubs
• Deserts


  • Very hot all year
  • Very low rainfall
  • Plants have water storing features, spines instead of leaves and extensive root systems
• Temperate Grasslands


  • Hot in the summer
  • Very cold in the winter
  • Most of the rainfall in the year occurs in late spring or summer
  • Grasslands with very few trees or shrubs
• Temperate Forest

  • Warm summers
  • Cool winters
  • Precipitation all year
  • Deciduous trees with drop their leaves in autumn
• Boreal forest

  • Warm summers
  • Very cold winter
  • Low precipitation(mainly in summer)
  • Coniferous trees with needles instead of leaves to survive the cold and reduced water loss
• What are the characteristic of a Tundra

  • Temperatures below 0 degrees
  • Only reaching about 10 degrees in the summer
  • Low precipitation
  • Very few plants, mostly lichens and mosses trees are rare and stunted
• The role of climate and local factors (soils and altitude) in influencing the distribution of different large-scale ecosystems
• The further north or South of the Equator the colder it gets. The equator receives the most heat from the sun because it's directly overhead
• The cooled air falls over the topics of cancer and capricorn (bands) of the equator, which creates high pressure zones of clear skies. As air falls it cools. When temperatures are high, precipitation is low
• The tilt of the earth creates seasons, which is why the equator experiences them less. A lot precipitation all year
• The tropical grasslands of the northern hemisphere receive a lot of rain in the summer. Dry winters
• More inland of the continents, summers are very hot and the winters are very cold. Whereas in the same areas who are closer to the ocean, they have less extreme temperatures
• There is more precipitation in Mountain areas, because air is forced to rise and cools as it passes over them
• Altitude


  • Temperature drops by 1 degree Celsius for every 100 metres gain in height, high mountains in the tropics can have cold temperature ecosystem
• Soils


  • The characteristic of an ecosystems can change when underlying geology or relief produces a different types of soil or soil conditions
• Humans


  • Centuries of human activity have altered the local characteristics of large ecosystems
• UK's main terrestrial ecosystems


  • Moorlands
  • Woodlands
  • Heathlands
  • Lowland raised bogs
  • Lowland fen
• Moorlands are all over the UK, but mostly in the northern central England
• Woodlands are in Scotland, South England, Wales
• Heathlands are all over the UK
• Lowland raised bogs are in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
• Lowland fen are all over the UK
• Importance of marine ecosystems to the UK as a resource and how human activities are degrading them
• Tourism


  250 million visits to the Uk coast per year, supporting 200.000 jobs in coastal tourism. That brings 3 billion to the UK's economy
• Fishing


  The UK fishing industry is the seventh largest in the EU. They have 6400 fishing boats, 12000 people work on the fleet and 14000 more work in the fish process
• Oil


  The Uk has oil reserves of around 24 Billion barrels in the North Sea, enough for 30 more years. The industry employs 450.00 million people
• Offshore wind farms


  The London array in the Thames estuary, 20 km from the Kent coast, is one of the world's biggest wind farms
• Exciting species


  Rare or exciting species can attract wildlife tourism
• Overfishing in the UK caused by the collapse of cod stock in some UK marine areas. This could disrupt the food cycle of certain animals that the cod or other animals depend on
• Sewage pollution leads to the process of eutrophication. If untreated sewage enters the UK's seas, micro- organisms decompose it. They dramatically increase the number and use of oxygen from the water for aerobic respiration. As a result there is less oxygen dissolved in water, so aquatic organisms such as fish and insects may be unable to survive
• Abiotic and biotic characteristics of the tropical rainforest ecosystem


  • Climate
  • Soils
  • Water
  • Plants
  • Animals
  • Humans
• Abiotic characteristics of the deciduous woodland ecosystem


  • Climate
  • Soil
  • Water
• Tropical Rainforest Characteristics

  • Hot moist biome
  • Rains all year long
  • Dense canopies of vegetation
  • Three layers that live symbiotically (top canopy, middle layer, bottom layer)
• Deciduous woodland characteristics


  • Dominant species are deciduous and shed their leaves each year
  • Canopy layer between 20 and 30 metres above ground, below the layer saplings and shade tolerant bushes and variety of herb layer plants
  • In the spring the herb layer flowers before the leaves begin to grow
  • Deciduous woodland trees have deep root systems to access the groundwater and nutrients
  • Deciduous woodland soil has a well developed humus layer at the top, where there is a lot of biological activity in spring and summer
• The interdependence of biotic and abiotic characteristics (climate, soils, water, plants, animals and humans) and the nutrient cycle (Gersmehl model)
• Gershmel Model


  Biomass is the largest store of nutrients because of high temperatures, rainfall and the year-long growing season all contribute to the rapid growth of vegetation. The plants, which have many roots, take up many nutrients. The litter store is the smallest because despite the continuous fall of leaves, the hot wet climate provides the ideal environment for decomposition. The soil store receives nutrients from the bedrock which is rapidly and chemically weathered. This process is accelerated by the warm temperatures and warm conditions
• Nutrient cycle in tropical rainforest


  • Biomass becomes litter in the form of fallen leaves. Precipitation contributes to the decomposition of leaf litter. The soil benefits from that decomposition. It's a circular system so the soil contributes to the uptake of plants
• Nutrient cycle in deciduous forests


  • The nutrient cycle is slower than in the tropical rainforest as the temperatures are
• The distribution of a tundra

  • Alaska, Canada, Russia, Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia