MODULE 8-CHAPTER 7: BIOMES: Kinds of Ecosystem
I. INTRODUCTION
Biomes consist of broad regional groups of related
manageable units called ecosystems. A biome is one of several
immense terrestrial environments, a habitat characterized
throughout its extent by similar plants, animals, climate and soil
types. The distribution of animals and plant forms is determined
largely by climate, topography and the soil The same or very
similar ecological niches may be occupied by different species in
geographically separated biomes. The world is divided into
manageable units called the ecosystems. Each biome contains
thousands of types of ecosystems. The ecosystem is the community
of all the different organisms living in the area, along with their
physical environment. All these interact and affect one another.
Learning Competencies
At the end of the lesson, students are expected to;
1. Identify major biomes
2. Differentiate different major biomes.
3. Explain the difference between different biomes.
II. PRE-COMPETENCY CHECKLIST
Draw one major biome in
Things to Do
1/4 sized-cartolina.
III. LEARNING RESOURCES/MATERIALS
SEVERAL MAJOR BIOMES
Extensive tropical forests have major effects on the entire biosphere. Scientists are
concerned about the loss of tropical rain forests because of their global ecological importance
and the rapid rate at which they are being destroyed.
Deserts. Deserts generally occur in semi-tropical and temperate regions having
rainfall of less than about 20 cm a year. Its climate has the least precipitations and is
unpredictable from year to year. Precipitation is so slow that in some deserts, evaporation
from soil and plant surface actually exceeds precipitation. There are two kinds of deserts:
1. Cool Deserts - These are dominated by sagebrush, rabbitbrush and smaller
perennial plants. 2. Hot Deserts - These are dominated by creosote, cacti, acacias,
agave, and yucca.
2. Desert soil is largely unprotected by vegetation. It is subject to severe erosion from
wind and occasional rain. It has a thin top layer of decaying plant materials ailed humus.
Organisms of the desert have both structural and behavioral adaptations to meet their
three most critical needs for survival: food, water and heat. Plants with seasonal leaf
production have water-storage tissues and thick epidermal layers that help reduce water loss.
Animals live in burrows or rocky shelters to escape from the onslaught of daytime heat.
Grasslands. Grasslands are dominated by grasses and a rich array of deep-rooted,
beautifully wiring non-grass species. They have a few trees because of inadequate rainfall and
frequent grass fire that kills woody seedlings.
Forests. Forests are regions where trees grow as a result of adequate temperature and
minimal precipitation of 75 centimeters or more.
A. Tropical Biomes
1. Tropical rainforest is a forest with high, fairly constant rainfall and
temperature that permit trees to grow throughout the year. Annual rainfall may
exceed 400 centimeters. This is the biome with the highest species diversity. The
number of species in a given area may have almost 100 different species per
hectare.
2. Tropical seasonal forest is also known as the monsoon forest. Seasonal
rainfall is concentrated during a certain part of the year after which follows an
increasingly pronounced dry season. Proportion of deciduous trees (trees that lose
their leaves for a season) increases as the length of the dry season increases.
3. Tropical savanna consists of grassland dotted with scattered small trees
and shrubs such as acacias. Some savannas are entirely grassland; others contain
many trees.
4. Tropical thornwood, shrubland and tropical shrub. The proportion of
trees depends on the competition between trees and the grass for water. The soil is
more fertile than most tropical rainforests, but the rainfall is erratic.
B. Temperate Biomes The climate of a temperate forest is typically moderate in
terms of temperature. This forest occurs in regions of abundant rainfall and contains
both deciduous and evergreen trees. There are six major categories of temperate forests:
1. Temperate deciduous forest occurs in a moderately humid area where
precipitation takes place throughout the year but winters are cold, restricting
plant growth during the summers. Most of the trees lose their leaves in
autumn. They lose little water by transpiration in winter where their roots
could not replace it from the frozen soil. The soil is rich in minerals and
organic matter.
2. Temperate evergreen forest occurs where the condition favors conifers or
broad-leaf evergreens over deciduous trees. It has poor soil condition,
frequent droughts and forest fires. Temperate evergreen plants include
ponderosa and pine trees. These forest's are found in Eastern Asia, Southern
Chile, New Zealand and Australia.
3. [Link] rainforest occurs in cold climates near the sea with an
abundant winter rainfall and summer clouds or fogs. These include the forests
of giant trees of the Pacific Coast of North America, and the mixed
coniferous forests of Washington, Oregon and California.
[Link] woodland occurs where the climate is too dry to support a
forest yet provides sufficient moisture to support trees as well as grasses.
Dominant trees are conifers, evergreens, flowering trees, and deciduous trees.
[Link] shrubland is represented by the Chaparral communities that
occurs in all five regions of the world having fairly dry climate with little or
no summer rain. Most shrubs have leathery leaves. They often have
distinctively aromatic, volatile and flammable compounds in their
leaves.'Fires are frequent and dominant. The shrubs region forms the
surviving tissues near the ground after fires.
6. Temperate grassland is also known variably as prairie in North America,
steppe in Asia, pampas in South America, and veldtin South Africa. This
covers extensive areas in the interior of continents where there are enough
moisture to support forest or woodland The grasslands are natural ranges for
grazing animals, but they must be treated with care or they degrade into
shrubland.
Decomposition in grassland is slower than falling leaves, so the fertile soil gets
deeper and deeper as time goes by, producing the topsoil in the world The grassland biome is
often referred to as the world's breadbasket as it is best for agriculture. Taiga The term "taiga"
comes from the Russian word meaning "primeval forest." It is also known as boreal forest. It
is w s dominated by conifers that can survive extreme coil in winter The trees in taiga are
further apart than in the forest and enough sunlight penetrates the forest floor to support an
extensive ground cover for the shrubs. Most taiga precipitations are snow. The mammals
grow hair or plumage that makes them blend in a surrounding with white background.
Tundra. The tundra is a treeless biome that occurs far north in the Arctic regions
where winters are too dry and cold to permit the growth of trees. It is a biome of low-growing
plants where water reaches plant roots for only a few months of the year because the soil is
frozen for the rest of the time. The permanent frozen layer is permafrost. Decomposition is
very slow because the temperature is so low for most of the year. The soil is thin and plant
growth is slow. The vegetation is dominated by sedge, grass, moss, and dwarf woody shrubs.
ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES AFFECTING THE BIOMES
The following are the environmental variables that affect the biomes:
1. SUNLIGHT. Sunlight powers the photosynthesis that supplies energy to nearly all
life on earth. It is also essential for vision, which many animals rely on for catching food,
spotting predators, etc.
2. TEMPERATURE. Organisms can survive within a specific, limited range of
temperature. If the body temperature either rises above or falls below that range, the
critical chemical reactions in the tissues get "out of sync" with one another, resulting
in metabolic chaos.
3. WATER AND DISSOLVED SALTS. Precise balance of water, dissolved salts,
and organic molecules in the body fluids of organisms must be maintained to
keep the cells alive. Many plants and animals cannot survive in dry conditions, such as
deserts, because they cannot acquire and store water that are needed by their body cells.
But some organisms cannot equally live in swamps or marshes because of too much water
in the soil. Salinity, the concentration of dissolved inorganic salts, affects the ability of the
organisms to control their water balance.
4. OXYGEN. The concentration of available oxygen can be an important limiting
factor in a variety of environments. Bacteria can either be aerobic or anaerobic. Too
much oxygen for anaerobic organisms can be fatal as lack of oxygen is for aerobic.
Air-breathing animals need more oxygen to sustain life.
5. METABOLIC WASTE. All organisms produce metabolic waste-products. Plants
release oxygen by day, give off carbon dioxide by night, and discard leaves and stems on a
seasonal basis. Waste products have to enter the biogeochemical cycle wherein they
are broken down and carried away.
6. NUTRIENTS. Distribution of nutrients is important in determining where
organisms can grow and where they cannot. The more nutrients available in a given area, the
more living things can successfully survive.
Figure 7.1. Comparison of the latitudinal and altitudinal zones or association of plants
in tropical and temperate biomes.
[Link] BOARD
Go to the Facebook messenger group chat and look for the link that your teacher sent.
[Link]
Task 8.7. Why tropical rainforest so interesting to scienctist and so potentially
valuable to human society.
VI. POST-COMPETENCY
Things to Do
Briefly describe the following terms:
A. Ecosystem
B. Biomes
C. Desert
D. Grasslands
E. Forest
F. Taiga
G. Tundra
H. Permafrost
Differentiate the following:
A. Deciduous forest from evergreen
forest
B. Woodland from shrubland
C. Tropical rainforest from tropical
seasonal forest