The biosphere is consist of all of the
Earth's biomes -- the totality of places
where life is possible -- from the highest
mountains to the depths of the oceans.
The ecosystems of a specific biome
tend to have plants with comparable
growth forms and animals with similar
feeding habits.
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Ecosystems can be of different sizes and
can be marine, aquatic, or terrestrial.
Broad categories of terrestrial and marine/
aquatic ecosystems are called biomes.
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Biomes
• Biodiversity-the number and
variety of species.
• Biomes- broad types of biological
communities with distinctive types
of environments that take place in
different conditions of temperature
and precipitation.
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Terrestrial Biomes
The world's major land biomes include
• tropical rain forest,
• tropical dry forest,
• tropical savanna,
• desert,
• temperate grassland,
• temperate woodland and shrubland,
• temperate forest,
• northwestern coniferous forest, boreal forest,
• tundra.
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Terrestrial Biomes
Ecosystems on Earth's land surface support
multiple functions and services that are critical
for society, like
• biomass production,
• vegetation's efficiency of using sunlight and
water,
• water retention and climate regulation, and
• ultimately food security
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https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/ecology/intro-to-eco
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systems/a/what-is-an-ecosystem
Vertical zonation refers to the vegetation
zones defined by altitude.
https://www.vcbio.science.ru.nl/en/virtuallessons/landscape/zonation/
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Tropical rainforests
• Tropical rainforests occur where rainfall is
abundant—more than 200 cm (80 in.)
per year—and temperatures are warm to
hot year-round.
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Tropical savannas and grasslands
are dry most of the year
Where there is too little rainfall to support
forests, we find open grasslands or grasslands
with sparse tree cover, which we call savannas.
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Deserts are hot or cold, but always dry
Deserts arise where precipitation is scarce
and slight, usually deficient.
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Temperate grasslands have rich soils
For tropical latitudes, temperate grasslands
occur where there is enough rain to support
abundant grass but not enough for forests.
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Temperate forests can be
evergreen or deciduous
Broad-leaved deciduous
(losing leaves seasonally)
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Evergreen coniferous (cone-bearing)
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Temperate rainforests
The wettest coastal forests are known as
temperate rainforest, a cool, rainy forest often
covered by fog.
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Tropical Rain Forest Distribution
Tropical rain forests are located near the equator where the temperat
ure soars around 27° C (80° F) year-round. Although they cover less
than 10 percent of the Earth’s surface, tropical rain forests provide
habitat for 50 to 90 percent of the world’s plant and animal species.
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Boreal forests lie north of the
temperate zone
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Tundra can freeze in any month
Compared to other biomes, tundra has
comparatively low diversity.
5-24
Caves and Caverns
• A cave or cavern is a natural opening in
the ground, specifically a space large
enough for a human to enter.
Caves often form by the weathering of
rock and often extend deep underground.
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5-26
Marginal Ecosystems
Marginal Land
Marginal land is land that has little or no agricultural
or industrial value.
Marginal land has little potential for profit and often
has poor soil or other undesirable characteristics.
This type of land is often located at the edge of
deserts or other desolate areas.
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Marginal ecosystems are those that are
located between two ecosystems.
These can be either natural or artificial, such
as areas adapted or reappropriated for
agricultural use.
Marginal lands now comprise about 70%
(over 11 million hectares) of declared forest
area in the Philippines.
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Land may be marginal for a number of reasons,
including poor water supply, poor soil quality,
pollution from previous industrial activities, terrain
challenges such as excessive slope, or excessive
distance from means of transportation.
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Planting high productive perennial grasses on marginal
land and in strips on sloping land prevents erosion,
decreases nitrogen losses, and increasingly now
provides an economic crop to meet the increased
demand for bioproducts and biofuels.
(McCalmont et al., 2017; Schulte et al., 2017).
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Aquatic biomes
• The aquatic biome is the largest of all the
biomes, covering about 75 percent of Earth’s
surface.
This biome is usually divided into two categories:
freshwater and marine.
• Freshwater habitats are less than 1 percent salt.
• Marine life or salt water habitats however, has to
be adapted to living in a habitat with a high
concentration of salt.
• Freshwater habitats include ponds, lakes, rivers,
and streams, while marine habitats include the
ocean and salty seas
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Marine Ecosystems
Most marine communities are influenced by
on photosynthetic organisms.
• Phytoplankton: algae or tiny, free-floating
photosynthetic plants that often support
a marine food web.
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5-34
Ocean systems can be described by depth and
proximity to shore.
In general, benthic communities occur on the bottom,
and pelagic zones are the water column.
The epipelagic zone has photosynthetic organisms.
5-35
Shorelines are known as littoral zones, and the area
exposed by low tides is known as the intertidal zone.
Often there is a broad, relatively shallow region along
a continent’s coast, which may reach a few kilometers
or hundreds of kilometers from shore. This undersea
area is the continental shelf.
5-36
Below the pelagic realm are the
mesopelagic and bathypelagic zones.
The deepest layers are the abyssal zone
(to 4,000 m) and hadal zone (deeper
than 6,000 m). 5-37
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Tidal shores support rich,
diverse communities
Coral reefs are among the best-known marine
systems, because of their extraordinary
biological productivity and their diverse and
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beautiful organisms
Tidal shores: Mangroves
Mangroves are a diverse assemblage of salt-tolerant
trees that grow along warm, calm marine coasts
around the world. 40
Tidal shores:
Estuaries & Salt Marshes
Estuaries are bays where rivers empty into the sea,
mixing fresh water with salt water.
Salt marshes, shallow wetlands flooded regularly or
occasionally with seawater, occur on shallow
coastlines, including estuaries
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Salt marshes
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Tidal shores: Tide pools
Tide pools are depressions in a rocky shoreline that
are flooded at high tide but retain some water at
low tide. 44
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Freshwater Ecosystems: Lakes
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Freshwater Ecosystems: Wetlands
Wetlands (swamps, marshes, & bogs) are shallow ecosystems
in which the land surface is
saturated or submerged at least part of the year.
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Freshwater Ecosystems: Streams & Rivers
• Streams form wherever precipitation exceeds
evaporation and surplus water drains from
the land.
• As streams accumulate water and unify,
they form rivers.
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References
Cunningham, W.P. and M.A. Cunningham, 2013. Principles of Envi
ronmental Science; Inquiry and Applications. 6th edition. NY: McGr
aw-Hill. (e-Book)
file:///C:/Users/User/Documents/ENVI%20SCI/epdf.pub_principle
s-of-environmental-science-6th-edition.pdf
Enger, E.D. and Smith, B.F. 2013. Environmental Science; A Study
of Interrelationships. 13th Edition. NY: McGraw-Hill.
https://www.vcbio.science.ru.nl/en/virtuallessons/landscape/
Ecosystem - The Dr. Binocs Show, https://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=sKJoXdrOT70
Different Types of Ecosystems
https://sciencing.com/different-types-ecosystems-6454423.html
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/aquatic-biome/#
:
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