Biomes

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Biomes
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Rangeland

• Known as range, grassland, or prairie
• Refers to the land areas of the world that tend
  to be naturally covered by grasses, grass like
  plants, forbs, and shrubs as primary vegetation

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Occurrence of Natural Rangeland

• Tundra
• Meadows in openings within forests, marshes,
  wetlands, above tree lines of mountains
• Shrub lands and grasslands

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History

• Rangeland was more prominent before settlement
• 1/4th of US was grassland
• Fires burned most forested areas
• Land wasnt overgrazed
• Offered may opportunities for settlers to raise
  livestock

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Damage

• Overused grasslands
• Resulted in damage to soil
• Reduced carrying capacities
• Management is essential to maximize use without
  damage

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Aquatics

• Lakes and ponds
• Streams
• Oceans and Seas
• Wetlands

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Aquatics

• Cover nearly 75 of the Earths surface.
• Without water, most life forms would be unable to
  sustain themselves and the Earth would be a
  barren, desert-like place.

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Lakes and Streams

• Freshwater
• The topmost zone littoral zone
• The near-surface open water surrounded by the
  littoral zone is the limnetic zone.
• the deep-water part of the lake/pond, the
  profundal zone.
• Water temperature varies

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Streams

• Flowing water that moves from higher to lower
  elevations
• Freshwater
• The characteristics of a river or stream change
  during the journey from the source to the mouth.
• Some flow with muddy water containing silt and
  pollution from land

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Oceans and Seas

• Mainly saltwater
• Oceans are very large bodies of water that
  dominate the Earths surface.
• Fish caught in polluted areas are sometimes
  unsafe for humans
• Some say that the ocean contains the richest
  diversity of species even though it contains
  fewer species than there are on land.

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Wetlands- definitions

• US Army Corps-An area that has frequent flooding
  or saturation, is covered by hydrophytes, and
  includes hydric soils
• US Fish and Wildlife Service-Lands transitional
  between terrestrial and aquatic system where the
  water table is usually at or near the surface of
  the land is covered by shallow water.

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History

• Considered a problem instead of an asset
• Our nations capital and New Orleans is built on
  a wetland
• Many wetlands carried insects that caused
  diseases in humans

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Protection

• 1972- the Clean Water Act was formed to protect
  wetlands and restore drained wetlands
• 1985 and 1990 farm bills required farmers to
  protect wetlands
• Farmers did not qualify for farm payments if
  wetlands were drained for farming

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Types of Wetlands

• Marshes
• Floodplains
• Ponds (edges)
• Rivers and streams (edges)
• Swamps
• Bogs
• Prairie Potholes
• Vernal Pools

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Causes of the loss of Wetlands

• Urbanization
• Industry
• Agriculture
• Timber harvest
• Mining

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Benefits of Wetlands

• Population of wildlife
• Natural water filtration qualities
• Buffering possibilities

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Forests

• A very complex community of associated trees,
  shrubs, other plants, and animals
• All members of the community interact with each
  other and play some part in the complex system

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History

• Forest as an enemy
• Unreliable food source
• Hiding place for enemies
• Forest as a friend
• Materials to build homes
• Provided wild game

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How much forest is there?

• 8,535 billion acres world wide
• 525 billion in the US
• 70 of the forest land exists since the discovery
  of America
• 481 million acres is use commercially

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Benefits

• Air conditioner
• Wind break
• Noise and dust filters
• Provide graphic signs of serious pollution
  problems
• CO and O exchange
• Water and soil conservation

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Deserts

• Deserts cover about one fifth of the Earths
  surface
• Occur where rainfall is less than 50 cm/year.

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Animals found in deserts

• Few large mammals because most are not capable of
  storing sufficient water and withstanding the
  heat.
• The dominant animals of warm deserts are
  nonmammalian vertebrates, such as reptiles.

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Types of Deserts

• Hot and Dry-generally warm throughout the year,
  very hot summers, and rainfall in winters
• Semiarid- summers are long and dry, the winters
  bring low rainfall.
• Costal- cool winters followed by moderately long,
  warm summers.
• Cold-cold winters with snowfall and rainfall
  throughout the winter and over the summer.

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Tundra

• Coldest of all the biomes.
• Frost-molded landscapes
• Extremely low temperatures
• Little precipitation, poor nutrients, and short
  growing seasons

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Characteristics of Tundra

• Extremely cold climate
• Low biotic diversity
• Simple vegetation structure
• Limitation of drainage
• Short season of growth and reproduction
• Energy and nutrients in the form of dead organic
  material
• Large population oscillations

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Artic Tundra

• Located in the northern hemisphere
• The growing season ranges from 50 to 60 days.
• A layer of permanently frozen subsoil called
  permafrost exists
• 1,700 kinds of plants in the arctic and subarctic

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Alpine Tundra

• Located on mountains throughout the world at high
  altitude where trees cannot grow.
• The growing season is approximately 180 days.
• The soil in the alpine is well drained.