Earth: a Living Planet
Earth: A Living Planet
To care for our planet we must understand how it opperates. Ecology is the study of interactions of organisms with one another and with their physical surroundings. Scientists who study ecology are called ecologists. Earts is a biosphere, or a living globe. The biosphere is that part of the Earth in which life exists. Biospheres include all the areas of land, air, and water on the planet. The biosphere goes about eight kilometers above the Earth's surface to as far as eight kilometers below the surface of the ocean.
Ecosystems
Since the biosphere is way too large and complex for scientists to study as a whole, so they separate it into smaller units call ecosystems. There are two things that make up an ecosystem, the areas physical features (abiotic factors) and living organisms (biotic factors). The organisms living together in an ecosystem are called a community. Sometimes things in one ecosystem are affected from another ecosystems, so ecosystems are not self contained.
Ecological Succession
Ecosystems change over time. This process is called ecological succession. Sometimes ecological succession occurs where there were no living organisms before. but over time it obtains them. Lichens are organisms that produce acids that breakdown rocks and turn them into soil. Sucession can dramatically change an ecosystem. Like it might start out as a pond, but then over a period of time silt will fill it up and turn it into a into a marshland and then the marshland will dry up turning into a forest. Succession often leads to a faily stable collection of organisms called a climax community.
Land Biomes
A biome is an environment that has a charcteristic climax community. The Earth is made up of two main biomes: land biomes and aquatic biomes. The major biomes are the tundra, taiga, temperate decidous forest, grassland, tropical rainforest, and desert.
Tundra
Tundras are the northermost biomes. They have nearly no tress and are covered
To care for our planet we must understand how it opperates. Ecology is the study of interactions of organisms with one another and with their physical surroundings. Scientists who study ecology are called ecologists. Earts is a biosphere, or a living globe. The biosphere is that part of the Earth in which life exists. Biospheres include all the areas of land, air, and water on the planet. The biosphere goes about eight kilometers above the Earth's surface to as far as eight kilometers below the surface of the ocean.
Ecosystems
Since the biosphere is way too large and complex for scientists to study as a whole, so they separate it into smaller units call ecosystems. There are two things that make up an ecosystem, the areas physical features (abiotic factors) and living organisms (biotic factors). The organisms living together in an ecosystem are called a community. Sometimes things in one ecosystem are affected from another ecosystems, so ecosystems are not self contained.
Ecological Succession
Ecosystems change over time. This process is called ecological succession. Sometimes ecological succession occurs where there were no living organisms before. but over time it obtains them. Lichens are organisms that produce acids that breakdown rocks and turn them into soil. Sucession can dramatically change an ecosystem. Like it might start out as a pond, but then over a period of time silt will fill it up and turn it into a into a marshland and then the marshland will dry up turning into a forest. Succession often leads to a faily stable collection of organisms called a climax community.
Land Biomes
A biome is an environment that has a charcteristic climax community. The Earth is made up of two main biomes: land biomes and aquatic biomes. The major biomes are the tundra, taiga, temperate decidous forest, grassland, tropical rainforest, and desert.
Tundra
Tundras are the northermost biomes. They have nearly no tress and are covered