What is an Ecosystem?

Ecosystem Research Project

Part 1 (2 hours)

What is an Ecosystem?

I. Reading

Read the text and give definitions to following terms:

Ecosystem
Biome

You know that there are a great number of different animals, insects, birds and plants on the Earth. Some of them live in cold places, some in hot places. Every animal or plant can live in one type of climate. For example, polar bears can leave only in the arctic climate. They can’t live in a desert or in the tropics. The plants and animals are connected, they exist in an ecosystem. What is ecosystem? It’s the complex of living organisms, their physical environment, and all their interrelationships in a particular unit of space (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/178597/ecosystem). Ecosystems have different sizes. The lake and the forest are ecosystems. If you have an aquarium at home, it’s an artificial ecosystem.

Its components include plants, animals, and microorganisms; soil, rocks, and minerals; as well as surrounding water sources and the local atmosphere. Ecosystems can die if they not remain in balance. Most of us are confused when it comes to the words ecosystem and biome. What's the difference? An ecosystem is much smaller than a biome. A biome can be thought of many similar ecosystems throughout the world grouped together. Biomes are the various regions of our planet that can best be distinguished by their climate, fauna and flora. There are different ways of classifying biomes but the common elements are climate, habitat, animal and plant adaptation, biodiversity and human activity.

Biomes are defined as "the world's major communities, classified according to the predominant vegetation and characterized by adaptations of organisms to that particular environment" (Campbell 1996). The importance of biomes cannot be overestimated. Human activities have drastically altered these communities.

Scientists have divided all types of climates and ecological communities which are on the Earth into biomes. Here is the main group:

- Tundra

- Taiga

- Deciduous Forest

- Desert

- Rainforest

- Grassland

- Water

Ecosystems have become particularly important politically, since the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) - ratified by 192 countries - defines "the protection of ecosystems, natural habitats and the maintenance of viable populations of species in natural surroundings” as a commitment of ratifying countries. This has created the political necessity to spatially identify ecosystems and somehow distinguish among them.

II. Answer the questions:

1. Where are the world’s major biomes?

2. Which of the biomes is the driest?

3. Which of the biomes is the coldest?

4. Are ecosystems transformed by human activities?

5. What ecosystems surround you?

6. Which biome is in your area?

Now you will watch a film “ Biomes”

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14