Here are some fun activities to help get you started with the biome unit. Use these recourses to gain an idea of where you want your lessons and activities to go. There are so many ways to teach this, just be creative with it and have fun!!
http://www.abcteach.com/directory/subjects-science-habitats-biomes-3772-2-1 (Here is a link to so many fun activities realted to habitats/ biomes.)
http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/sci/biomeinabaggie.html (Here is a great activity related to biomes for any grade in the elementary level.)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/85871383/Land-Form-Passport (This is a link to a possible start to an activity. After learning about the biomes, students can do this great activity. This can also be doubled up into a writing activity as well.)
http://storymaps.esri.com/stories/LandsatCompare/ (AMAZING!! Here is a link to a website to see biomes all over the world. A satelite image can show you biomes in their current state. I love this!)
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Tundra Biome Recourses
Videos
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Alpine+Tundra&view=detail&mid=78938550C7E82799B31B78938550C7E82799B31B&first=0&FORM=NVPFVR
(An informational video that relates strictly to the alpine tundra.)
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Arctic+Tundra&view=detail&mid=5A007F6410A67AAEC09C5A007F6410A67AAEC09C&first=0&FORM=NVPFVR
(This video is a project video that relates to strictly the arctic tundra.)
Websites
http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/biometundra.htm ( A kid friendly website that offers all the information you need about the tundra biome)
http://www.kidzworld.com/article/2044-biomes-of-the-world-tundra (Another kid friendly website that offers information, pictures, and is super interactive for students.)
http://bioexpedition.com/tundra-biome/ ( A very informational page that covers not only the tundra biome, but all the world's biomes as well.)
http://www.marietta.edu/~biol/biomes/tundra.htm (This is a fantastic recourse for students to use. It is very imfomational and provides so many pictures to keep the interest level going.This page offers anything and everything about the tundra biome.)
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Alpine+Tundra&view=detail&mid=78938550C7E82799B31B78938550C7E82799B31B&first=0&FORM=NVPFVR
(An informational video that relates strictly to the alpine tundra.)
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Arctic+Tundra&view=detail&mid=5A007F6410A67AAEC09C5A007F6410A67AAEC09C&first=0&FORM=NVPFVR
(This video is a project video that relates to strictly the arctic tundra.)
Websites
http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/biometundra.htm ( A kid friendly website that offers all the information you need about the tundra biome)
http://www.kidzworld.com/article/2044-biomes-of-the-world-tundra (Another kid friendly website that offers information, pictures, and is super interactive for students.)
http://bioexpedition.com/tundra-biome/ ( A very informational page that covers not only the tundra biome, but all the world's biomes as well.)
http://www.marietta.edu/~biol/biomes/tundra.htm (This is a fantastic recourse for students to use. It is very imfomational and provides so many pictures to keep the interest level going.This page offers anything and everything about the tundra biome.)
Tundra Biomes
- Tundra is the coldest of all the biomes.
- Tundra comes from the Finnish word tunturia, meaning treeless plain.
- It is noted for its frost-molded landscapes, extremely low temperatures, little precipitation, poor nutrients, and short growing seasons.
- Dead organic material functions as a nutrient pool.
- The two major nutrients are nitrogen and phosphorus. Nitrogen is created by biological fixation, and phosphorus is created by precipitation. Tundra is separated into two types:
- Artic Tundra
- Alpine Tundra
Characteristics of Tundra
- 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
Arctic
- Arctic tundra is located in the northern hemisphere, encircling the north pole and extending south to the coniferous forests of the taiga.
- The arctic is known for its cold, desert-like conditions.
- The growing season ranges from 50 to 60 days.
- The average winter temperature is -34° C (-30° F), but the average summer temperature is 3-12° C (37-54° F) which enables this biome to sustain life.
- Rainfall may vary in different regions of the arctic. Yearly precipitation, including melting snow, is 15 to 25 cm (6 to 10 inches).
- Soil is formed slowly. A layer of permanantly frozen subsoil called permafrost exists, consisting mostly of gravel and finer material.
- When water saturates the upper surface, bogs and ponds may form, providing moisture for plants. - There are no deep root systems in the vegetation of the arctic tundra, however, there are still a wide variety of plants that are able to resist the cold climate.
- There are about 1,700 kinds of plants in the arctic and subarctic, and these include:
- 400 varieties of flowers
- crustose and foliose lichen
- All of the plants are adapted to sweeping winds and disturbances of the soil.
- Plants are short and group together to resist the cold temperatures and are protected by the snow during the winter.
- They can carry out photosynthesis at low temperatures and low light intensities.
- The growing seasons are short and most plants reproduce by budding and division rather than sexually by flowering. The fauna in the arctic is also diverse:
- Carnivorous mammals: arctic foxes, wolves, and polar bears
- Migratory birds: ravens, snow buntings, falcons, loons, ravens, sandpipers, terns, snow birds, and various species of gulls
- Insects: mosquitoes, flies, moths, grasshoppers, blackflies and arctic bumble bees
Fish: cod, flatfish, salmon, and trout
- Animals are adapted to handle long, cold winters and to breed and raise young quickly in the summer.
- Animals such as mammals and birds also have additional insulation from fat.
- Many animals hibernate during the winter because food is not abundant.
- Another alternative is to migrate south in the winter, like birds do.
- Reptiles and amphibians are few or absent because of the extremely cold temperatures.
- Because of constant immigration and emigration, the population continually oscillates.
Alpine
- Alpine tundra is located on mountains throughout the world at high altitude where trees cannot grow.
- The growing season is approximately 180 days.
- The nighttime temperature is usually below freezing.
- Unlike the arctic tundra, the soil in the alpine is well drained.
- The plants are very similar to those of the arctic ones and include:
- tussock grasses, dwarf trees, small-leafed shrubs, and heaths
Animals living in the alpine tundra are also well adapted:
- Mammals: pikas, marmots, mountain goats, sheep, elk
- Birds: grouselike birds
- Insects: springtails, beetles, grasshoppers, butterflies
Destruction to the Tundra Biome
There are many effects to the tundra biome because not enough people are looking after it. These are the 4 main effects that are causing these biomes to lose their quality and beauty.
1. Climate Change - if the temperature rises then the permafrost will start to melt, this changes the physical structure of the soil.
2. Climate Change - if the permafrost melts then this will release large quantities of Methane that is currently trapped in the ice.
3. Natural Resources - the tundra contains large reserves of natural gas that is now becoming commercially viable.
4. Farming - industrial scale farming has a significant impact on the land.
Why is it important to teach to our students?
There is no real damage to these biomes that are caused by humans. But it is still important to make students aware to the changes that do occur in these places.
- Tundra comes from the Finnish word tunturia, meaning treeless plain.
- It is noted for its frost-molded landscapes, extremely low temperatures, little precipitation, poor nutrients, and short growing seasons.
- Dead organic material functions as a nutrient pool.
- The two major nutrients are nitrogen and phosphorus. Nitrogen is created by biological fixation, and phosphorus is created by precipitation. Tundra is separated into two types:
- Artic Tundra
- Alpine Tundra
Characteristics of Tundra
- 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
Arctic
- Arctic tundra is located in the northern hemisphere, encircling the north pole and extending south to the coniferous forests of the taiga.
- The arctic is known for its cold, desert-like conditions.
- The growing season ranges from 50 to 60 days.
- The average winter temperature is -34° C (-30° F), but the average summer temperature is 3-12° C (37-54° F) which enables this biome to sustain life.
- Rainfall may vary in different regions of the arctic. Yearly precipitation, including melting snow, is 15 to 25 cm (6 to 10 inches).
- Soil is formed slowly. A layer of permanantly frozen subsoil called permafrost exists, consisting mostly of gravel and finer material.
- When water saturates the upper surface, bogs and ponds may form, providing moisture for plants. - There are no deep root systems in the vegetation of the arctic tundra, however, there are still a wide variety of plants that are able to resist the cold climate.
- There are about 1,700 kinds of plants in the arctic and subarctic, and these include:
- 400 varieties of flowers
- crustose and foliose lichen
- All of the plants are adapted to sweeping winds and disturbances of the soil.
- Plants are short and group together to resist the cold temperatures and are protected by the snow during the winter.
- They can carry out photosynthesis at low temperatures and low light intensities.
- The growing seasons are short and most plants reproduce by budding and division rather than sexually by flowering. The fauna in the arctic is also diverse:
- Carnivorous mammals: arctic foxes, wolves, and polar bears
- Migratory birds: ravens, snow buntings, falcons, loons, ravens, sandpipers, terns, snow birds, and various species of gulls
- Insects: mosquitoes, flies, moths, grasshoppers, blackflies and arctic bumble bees
Fish: cod, flatfish, salmon, and trout
- Animals are adapted to handle long, cold winters and to breed and raise young quickly in the summer.
- Animals such as mammals and birds also have additional insulation from fat.
- Many animals hibernate during the winter because food is not abundant.
- Another alternative is to migrate south in the winter, like birds do.
- Reptiles and amphibians are few or absent because of the extremely cold temperatures.
- Because of constant immigration and emigration, the population continually oscillates.
Alpine
- Alpine tundra is located on mountains throughout the world at high altitude where trees cannot grow.
- The growing season is approximately 180 days.
- The nighttime temperature is usually below freezing.
- Unlike the arctic tundra, the soil in the alpine is well drained.
- The plants are very similar to those of the arctic ones and include:
- tussock grasses, dwarf trees, small-leafed shrubs, and heaths
Animals living in the alpine tundra are also well adapted:
- Mammals: pikas, marmots, mountain goats, sheep, elk
- Birds: grouselike birds
- Insects: springtails, beetles, grasshoppers, butterflies
Destruction to the Tundra Biome
There are many effects to the tundra biome because not enough people are looking after it. These are the 4 main effects that are causing these biomes to lose their quality and beauty.
1. Climate Change - if the temperature rises then the permafrost will start to melt, this changes the physical structure of the soil.
2. Climate Change - if the permafrost melts then this will release large quantities of Methane that is currently trapped in the ice.
3. Natural Resources - the tundra contains large reserves of natural gas that is now becoming commercially viable.
4. Farming - industrial scale farming has a significant impact on the land.
Why is it important to teach to our students?
There is no real damage to these biomes that are caused by humans. But it is still important to make students aware to the changes that do occur in these places.
Grassland Biome Recourses
Websites
http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/biomegrass.htm (This is website where students can find anything they need to know about Grassland Biomes. There are easy to find topics and a lot of information that the students can find interesting.)
http://bioexpedition.com/grassland-biome/ (This is another great website for teachers and/ or students. You can find a lot of fun information. This link is a bit more wordy but there is a lot to learn here.)
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/grassland-biome-animals-and-plants.html (This website offers some background information regarding grassland biomes, but mainly covers the plants and animals that you can find in these biomes.)
Destruction in Grassland Biomes
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/grassland-threats/ (This is just a quick link that covers a minor amount of the destruction that occurs in these biomes.)
http://www.sawac.co.za/articles/grassland.htm (Here is a specific website that caters to the destruction of grassland biomes mainly in South Africa. It is a small link, but provides sufficient information regarding the trouble occuring.)
Videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpTNJcvY_-A (An informational video regarding the grassland biome. This video explores the grasslands all around the world.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA65MVlfnSA (This video is a project video that covers all the necessary characteristics of grassland biomes along with a movie that represents the best familiar example of what a place like this looks like.)
Destruction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBb0ZdmfYQc (A video describing the importance of grasslands, and the destruction that occurs.)
http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/biomegrass.htm (This is website where students can find anything they need to know about Grassland Biomes. There are easy to find topics and a lot of information that the students can find interesting.)
http://bioexpedition.com/grassland-biome/ (This is another great website for teachers and/ or students. You can find a lot of fun information. This link is a bit more wordy but there is a lot to learn here.)
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/grassland-biome-animals-and-plants.html (This website offers some background information regarding grassland biomes, but mainly covers the plants and animals that you can find in these biomes.)
Destruction in Grassland Biomes
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/grassland-threats/ (This is just a quick link that covers a minor amount of the destruction that occurs in these biomes.)
http://www.sawac.co.za/articles/grassland.htm (Here is a specific website that caters to the destruction of grassland biomes mainly in South Africa. It is a small link, but provides sufficient information regarding the trouble occuring.)
Videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpTNJcvY_-A (An informational video regarding the grassland biome. This video explores the grasslands all around the world.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA65MVlfnSA (This video is a project video that covers all the necessary characteristics of grassland biomes along with a movie that represents the best familiar example of what a place like this looks like.)
Destruction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBb0ZdmfYQc (A video describing the importance of grasslands, and the destruction that occurs.)
Grassland Biomes
- Grasslands are characterized as lands dominated by grasses rather than large
shrubs or trees.
- Ancient forests declined and grasslands became widespread.
- There are two main divisions of grasslands:
- Tropical grasslands or Savannas
- Temperate Grasslands
Savanna
- Savanna is grassland with scattered individual trees.
- Savannas cover almost half the surface of Africa and large areas of Australia, South America, and India.
- Climate is the most important factor in creating a savanna.
- Savannas are always found in warm or hot climates where the annual rainfall is from about 50.8 to 127 cm (20-50 inches) per year.
- Animals (which do not all occur in the same savanna) include giraffes, zebras, buffaloes, kangaroos, mice, moles, gophers, ground squirrels, snakes, worms, termites, beetles, lions, leopards, hyenas, and elephants.
- The soil of the savanna is porous, with rapid drainage of water. It has only a thin layer of humus (the organic portion of the soil created by partial decomposition of plant or animal matter), which provides vegetation with nutrients.
- Savannas are sometimes classified as forests. The predominant vegetation consists of grasses and forbs (small broad-leaved plants that grow with grasses). Different savannas support different grasses due to disparities in rainfall and soil conditions.
How are Grasslands Created?
- Savannas which result from climatic conditions are called climatic savannas.
- Savannas that are caused by soil conditions and that are not entirely maintained by fire are called edaphic savannas. These can occur on hills or ridges where the soil is shallow, or in valleys where clay soils become waterlogged in wet weather.
- A third type of savanna, known as derived savanna, is the result of people clearing forest land for cultivation.
- Farmers fell a tract of forest, burn the dead trees, and plant crops in the ashes for as long as the soil remains fertile.
- Then, the field is abandoned and, although forest trees may recolonize, grass takes over on the bare ground (succession), becoming luxuriant enough to burn within a year or so.
- In Africa, a heavy concentration of elephants in protected parkland have created a savanna by eating leaves and twigs and breaking off the branches, smashing the trunks and stripping the bark of trees.
- Elephants can convert a dense woodland into an open grassland in a short period of time. Annual fires then maintain the area as a savanna.
Destruction in the Savanna's
- Savanna has both a dry and a rainy season.
- Seasonal fires play a vital role in the savanna’s biodiversity.
- A series of violent thunderstorms, followed by a strong drying wind, signals the beginning of the dry season.
- Fire is prevalent around January, at the height of the dry season.
- Fires in savannas are often caused by poachers who want to clear away dead grass to make it easier to see their prey.
- The fires do not devastate the community.
- Most of the animals killed by the fires are insects with short life spans.
- A fire is a feast for some animals, such as birds that come to sites of fires to eat grasshoppers, stick insects, beetles, mice, and lizards that are killed or driven out by the fire.
- Underground holes and crevices provide a safe refuge for small creatures.
- Larger animals are usually able to run fast enough to escape the fire.
- There are also some environmental concerns regarding savannas such as poaching, overgrazing, and clearing of the land for crops.
Temperate Grasslands
- Temperate grasslands are characterized as having grasses as the dominant vegetation.
- Trees and large shrubs are absent.
- Temperatures vary more from summer to winter, and the amount of rainfall is less in temperate grasslands than in savannas.
- Temperate grasslands have hot summers and cold winters.
- Rainfall is moderate. The amount of annual rainfall influences the height of grassland vegetation, with taller grasses in wetter regions.
- As in the savanna, seasonal drought and occasional fires are very important to biodiversity. However, their effects aren’t as dramatic in temperate grasslands as they are in savannas.
- The soil of the temperate grasslands is deep and dark, with fertile upper layers. It is nutrient-rich from the growth and decay of deep, many-branched grass roots. The rotted roots hold the soil together and provide a food source for living plants.
- Each different species of grass grows best in a particular grassland environment (determined by temperature, rainfall, and soil conditions).
- The seasonal drought, occasional fires, and grazing by large mammals all prevent woody shrubs and trees from invading and becoming established. However, a few trees, such as cottonwoods, oaks, and willows grow in river valleys, and some nonwoody plants, specifically a few hundred species of flowers, grow among the grasses.
- The various species of grasses include purple needlegrass, blue grama, buffalo grass, and galleta. Flowers include asters, blazing stars, coneflowers, goldenrods, sunflowers, clovers, psoraleas, and wild indigos.
- Precipitation in the temperate grasslands usually occurs in the late spring and early summer.
- The annual average is about 50.8 to 88.9 cm (20-35 inches).
- The temperature range is very large over the course of the year. Summer temperatures can be well over 38° C (100 degrees Fahrenheit), while winter temperatures can be as low as -40° C (-40 degrees Fahrenheit).
- The animals include gazelles, zebras, rhinoceroses, wild horses, lions, wolves, prairie dogs, jack rabbits, deer, mice, coyotes, foxes, skunks, badgers, blackbirds, grouses, meadowlarks, quails, sparrows, hawks, owls, snakes, grasshoppers, leafhoppers, and spiders.
Desctruction in the Temperate Grasslands
- Few natural prairie regions remain because most have been turned into farms or grazing land. This is because they are flat, treeless, covered with grass, and have rich soil.
- Temperate grasslands can be further subdivided. (Prairies are grasslands with tall grasses while steppes are grasslands with short grasses. Prairie and steppes are somewhat similar but the information given above pertains specifically to prairies.
Steppes
- Steppes are dry areas of grassland with hot summers and cold winters.
- They receive 25.4-50.8 cm (10-20 inches) of rainfall a year.
- Steppes occur in the interiors of North America and Europe.
- Plants growing in steppes are usually greater than 1 foot tall.
- They include blue grama and buffalo grass, cacti, sagebrush, speargrass, and small relatives of the sunflower. Steppe fauna includes badgers, hawks, owls, and snakes.
- Today, people use steppes to graze livestock and to grow wheat and other crops.
Destruction of Steppes
- Overgrazing, plowing, and excess salts left behind by irrigation waters have harmed some steppes. - Strong winds blow loose soil from the ground after plowing, especially during droughts.
- This causes the dust storms of the Great Plains of the U.S.
Why is it important to teach to students?
Economically no other family of plants is of greater importance. People may not realize the importance of this biome. In this biome is a numerous variety of grasses. With these grasses come many different types of grains that we humans use for food. Cereal grains, such as rice, wheat, corn, barley, rye, and oats, are all grasses, and their importance as food producers for the growing populations of the world is unquestioned.
- Ancient forests declined and grasslands became widespread.
- There are two main divisions of grasslands:
- Tropical grasslands or Savannas
- Temperate Grasslands
Savanna
- Savanna is grassland with scattered individual trees.
- Savannas cover almost half the surface of Africa and large areas of Australia, South America, and India.
- Climate is the most important factor in creating a savanna.
- Savannas are always found in warm or hot climates where the annual rainfall is from about 50.8 to 127 cm (20-50 inches) per year.
- Animals (which do not all occur in the same savanna) include giraffes, zebras, buffaloes, kangaroos, mice, moles, gophers, ground squirrels, snakes, worms, termites, beetles, lions, leopards, hyenas, and elephants.
- The soil of the savanna is porous, with rapid drainage of water. It has only a thin layer of humus (the organic portion of the soil created by partial decomposition of plant or animal matter), which provides vegetation with nutrients.
- Savannas are sometimes classified as forests. The predominant vegetation consists of grasses and forbs (small broad-leaved plants that grow with grasses). Different savannas support different grasses due to disparities in rainfall and soil conditions.
How are Grasslands Created?
- Savannas which result from climatic conditions are called climatic savannas.
- Savannas that are caused by soil conditions and that are not entirely maintained by fire are called edaphic savannas. These can occur on hills or ridges where the soil is shallow, or in valleys where clay soils become waterlogged in wet weather.
- A third type of savanna, known as derived savanna, is the result of people clearing forest land for cultivation.
- Farmers fell a tract of forest, burn the dead trees, and plant crops in the ashes for as long as the soil remains fertile.
- Then, the field is abandoned and, although forest trees may recolonize, grass takes over on the bare ground (succession), becoming luxuriant enough to burn within a year or so.
- In Africa, a heavy concentration of elephants in protected parkland have created a savanna by eating leaves and twigs and breaking off the branches, smashing the trunks and stripping the bark of trees.
- Elephants can convert a dense woodland into an open grassland in a short period of time. Annual fires then maintain the area as a savanna.
Destruction in the Savanna's
- Savanna has both a dry and a rainy season.
- Seasonal fires play a vital role in the savanna’s biodiversity.
- A series of violent thunderstorms, followed by a strong drying wind, signals the beginning of the dry season.
- Fire is prevalent around January, at the height of the dry season.
- Fires in savannas are often caused by poachers who want to clear away dead grass to make it easier to see their prey.
- The fires do not devastate the community.
- Most of the animals killed by the fires are insects with short life spans.
- A fire is a feast for some animals, such as birds that come to sites of fires to eat grasshoppers, stick insects, beetles, mice, and lizards that are killed or driven out by the fire.
- Underground holes and crevices provide a safe refuge for small creatures.
- Larger animals are usually able to run fast enough to escape the fire.
- There are also some environmental concerns regarding savannas such as poaching, overgrazing, and clearing of the land for crops.
Temperate Grasslands
- Temperate grasslands are characterized as having grasses as the dominant vegetation.
- Trees and large shrubs are absent.
- Temperatures vary more from summer to winter, and the amount of rainfall is less in temperate grasslands than in savannas.
- Temperate grasslands have hot summers and cold winters.
- Rainfall is moderate. The amount of annual rainfall influences the height of grassland vegetation, with taller grasses in wetter regions.
- As in the savanna, seasonal drought and occasional fires are very important to biodiversity. However, their effects aren’t as dramatic in temperate grasslands as they are in savannas.
- The soil of the temperate grasslands is deep and dark, with fertile upper layers. It is nutrient-rich from the growth and decay of deep, many-branched grass roots. The rotted roots hold the soil together and provide a food source for living plants.
- Each different species of grass grows best in a particular grassland environment (determined by temperature, rainfall, and soil conditions).
- The seasonal drought, occasional fires, and grazing by large mammals all prevent woody shrubs and trees from invading and becoming established. However, a few trees, such as cottonwoods, oaks, and willows grow in river valleys, and some nonwoody plants, specifically a few hundred species of flowers, grow among the grasses.
- The various species of grasses include purple needlegrass, blue grama, buffalo grass, and galleta. Flowers include asters, blazing stars, coneflowers, goldenrods, sunflowers, clovers, psoraleas, and wild indigos.
- Precipitation in the temperate grasslands usually occurs in the late spring and early summer.
- The annual average is about 50.8 to 88.9 cm (20-35 inches).
- The temperature range is very large over the course of the year. Summer temperatures can be well over 38° C (100 degrees Fahrenheit), while winter temperatures can be as low as -40° C (-40 degrees Fahrenheit).
- The animals include gazelles, zebras, rhinoceroses, wild horses, lions, wolves, prairie dogs, jack rabbits, deer, mice, coyotes, foxes, skunks, badgers, blackbirds, grouses, meadowlarks, quails, sparrows, hawks, owls, snakes, grasshoppers, leafhoppers, and spiders.
Desctruction in the Temperate Grasslands
- Few natural prairie regions remain because most have been turned into farms or grazing land. This is because they are flat, treeless, covered with grass, and have rich soil.
- Temperate grasslands can be further subdivided. (Prairies are grasslands with tall grasses while steppes are grasslands with short grasses. Prairie and steppes are somewhat similar but the information given above pertains specifically to prairies.
Steppes
- Steppes are dry areas of grassland with hot summers and cold winters.
- They receive 25.4-50.8 cm (10-20 inches) of rainfall a year.
- Steppes occur in the interiors of North America and Europe.
- Plants growing in steppes are usually greater than 1 foot tall.
- They include blue grama and buffalo grass, cacti, sagebrush, speargrass, and small relatives of the sunflower. Steppe fauna includes badgers, hawks, owls, and snakes.
- Today, people use steppes to graze livestock and to grow wheat and other crops.
Destruction of Steppes
- Overgrazing, plowing, and excess salts left behind by irrigation waters have harmed some steppes. - Strong winds blow loose soil from the ground after plowing, especially during droughts.
- This causes the dust storms of the Great Plains of the U.S.
Why is it important to teach to students?
Economically no other family of plants is of greater importance. People may not realize the importance of this biome. In this biome is a numerous variety of grasses. With these grasses come many different types of grains that we humans use for food. Cereal grains, such as rice, wheat, corn, barley, rye, and oats, are all grasses, and their importance as food producers for the growing populations of the world is unquestioned.
Forest Biome Recourses
Websites
http://www.mbgnet.net/sets/temp/animals/index.htm (Here is a link that provides a list of many animals that can be found in any forest biome)
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/deciduous_forest.htm (You can find all of the information you need regarding deciduous forests in this link)
http://www.globio.org/glossopedia/article.aspx?art_id=3 (Temperate forest information is all located in this funa dn kid friendly link)
http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/rforestA.html (Here is all the information your students will need about tropical forests)
Human threats on Forest Biomes
http://www.americanforests.org/conservation-programs/threats-to-forests/?gclid=COHyt9LZ-7UCFY9AMgodQD4ABA (This website is an official website to help keep our forest biomes alive. Here you can gain all the information you want on the importance of these biomes, and even donate to help to keep them protected.)
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/threats-to-the-rainforest.html (Here you can see so many different types of devastation that occur in forests almost every day.
Videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUuA-C_I3DE (A real and absolute beautiful look at the tropical rainforests)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEewbMP2zOY (An in depth look at the Boreal forests and how you can be involved by working with these habitats)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYSqnO3aMMc (A visual representation of the temperate forests)
Human Impact on Forest Biomes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8nXltMZYtM ( A great video that shows the negative side of deforestation that keeps rapidly occuring)
http://www.mbgnet.net/sets/temp/animals/index.htm (Here is a link that provides a list of many animals that can be found in any forest biome)
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/deciduous_forest.htm (You can find all of the information you need regarding deciduous forests in this link)
http://www.globio.org/glossopedia/article.aspx?art_id=3 (Temperate forest information is all located in this funa dn kid friendly link)
http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/rforestA.html (Here is all the information your students will need about tropical forests)
Human threats on Forest Biomes
http://www.americanforests.org/conservation-programs/threats-to-forests/?gclid=COHyt9LZ-7UCFY9AMgodQD4ABA (This website is an official website to help keep our forest biomes alive. Here you can gain all the information you want on the importance of these biomes, and even donate to help to keep them protected.)
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/threats-to-the-rainforest.html (Here you can see so many different types of devastation that occur in forests almost every day.
Videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUuA-C_I3DE (A real and absolute beautiful look at the tropical rainforests)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEewbMP2zOY (An in depth look at the Boreal forests and how you can be involved by working with these habitats)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYSqnO3aMMc (A visual representation of the temperate forests)
Human Impact on Forest Biomes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8nXltMZYtM ( A great video that shows the negative side of deforestation that keeps rapidly occuring)
Forest Biomes
- Forests occupy approximately one-third of Earth's land area, account for over two-thirds of the leaf area of land plants, and contain about 70% of carbon present in living things.
- Forests are becoming major casualties of civilization as human populations have increased over the past several thousand years, bringing deforestation, pollution, and industrial usage problems to this important biome.
There are three major types of forests, classed according to latitude:
- Tropical
-Temperate
- Boreal (Taiga)
Tropical Forests
- Tropical forests are characterized by the greatest diversity of species.
- They occur near the equator, within the area bounded by latitudes 23.5 degrees N and 23.5 degrees S.
- One of the major characteristics of tropical forests is their distinct seasonality: winter is absent, and only two seasons are present (rainy and dry).
- The length of daylight is 12 hours and varies little.
- Temperature is on average 20-25° C and varies little throughout the year: the average temperatures of the three warmest and three coldest months do not differ by more than 5 degrees.
- Precipitation is evenly distributed throughout the year, with annual rainfall exceeding 200 cm.
- Soil is nutrient-poor and acidic.
- Decomposition is rapid and soils are subject to heavy leaching.
- Canopy in tropical forests is multilayered and continuous, allowing little light penetration.
- Flora is highly diverse: one square kilometer may contain as many as 100 different tree species.
- Trees are 25-35 m tall, with buttressed trunks and shallow roots, mostly evergreen, with large dark green leaves.
- Plants such as orchids, bromeliads, vines (lianas), ferns, mosses, and palms are present in tropical forests.
- Fauna include numerous birds, bats, small mammals, and insects.
More than one half of tropical forests have already been destroyed.
Temperate Forest
- Temperate forests occur in eastern North America, northeastern Asia, and western and central Europe.
- Well-defined seasons with a distinct winter characterize this forest biome.
- Moderate climate and a growing season of 140-200 days during 4-6 frost-free months distinguish temperate forests.
- Temperature varies from -30° C to 30° C.
- Precipitation (75-150 cm) is distributed evenly throughout the year.
- Soil is fertile, enriched with decaying litter.
- Canopy is moderately dense and allows light to penetrate, resulting in well-developed and richly diversified understory vegetation and stratification of animals.
- Flora is characterized by 3-4 tree species per square kilometer. Trees are distinguished by broad leaves that are lost annually and include such species as oak, hickory, beech, hemlock, maple, basswood, cottonwood, elm, willow, and spring-flowering herbs.
- Fauna is represented by squirrels, rabbits, skunks, birds, deer, mountain lion, bobcat, timber wolf, fox, and black bear.
Only scattered remnants of original temperate forests remain.
Boreal Forest
- Boreal forests, or taiga, represent the largest terrestial biome. Occuring between 50 and 60 degrees north latitudes, boreal forests can be found in the broad belt of Eurasia and North America: two-thirds in Siberia with the rest in Scandinavia, Alaska, and Canada.
- Seasons are divided into short, moist, and moderately warm summers and long, cold, and dry winters.
- The length of the growing season in boreal forests is 130 days.
- Temperatures are very low.
- Precipitation is primarily in the form of snow, 40-100 cm annually.
- Soil is thin, nutrient-poor, and acidic.
- Canopy permits low light penetration, and as a result, understory is limited.
- Flora consist mostly of cold-tolerant evergreen conifers with needle-like leaves, such as pine, fir, and spruce.
- Fauna include woodpeckers, hawks, moose, bear, weasel, lynx, fox, wolf, deer, hares, chipmunks, shrews, and bats.
Current extensive logging in boreal forests may soon cause their disappearance.
Threats on Forest Biomes
- People live too close to the deciduous forest biome
- Acid rain is caused by industrial and vehicle emissions and this causes damage to the leaves.
- Cutting trees for timber and to clear land for agriculture. THis leaves thousands of species of animals without a home.
- Also there is an introduction of non- native organisms which upsets the balance of the ecosystem by competing for food with native organisms.
- Diseases and insects, both native and foreign, are weakening and destroying forests across the country, even driving some species to the edge of extinction.
- With increased human activity and shifting climate patterns, we are seeing more frequent and intense wildfires, many of which can damage forests beyond the point of natural regeneration.
- Invasive plant species, which have few natural controls in our country, are overtaking native ecosystems, and driving out native plant and animal species.
- Increased development has led to loss of biodiversity and fragmentation of ecosystems and habitats.
- Mismanagement and unsustainable forestry practices are diminishing forests around the world faster than they can be regrown.
Why is this important to teach to students?
Biodiversity
A greater variety of life makes a forest better able to withstand and recover from disease, harmful infestations, wildfires, and other threats.
Clean Air & Water
Forests supply most of the freshwater flow in the US, and clean our atmosphere by intercepting airborne particles, carbon dioxide, and other greenhouse gases.
Medicine & Health
Trees not only create a healthier environment, they also provide a wide variety of medicines.
Social Benefits
Greener urban areas encourage more healthy social interaction between adults and children. They’ve also been a proven deterrent to graffiti, property crime, and even violent crime.
Recreation
Forests are a big part of why Americans love to get outdoors. They provide places for hikers, bicyclists, fishermen, hunters, and families of all ages to play and exercise.
Climate
Forests and climate are directly linked, both on the local and global scale. Healthy forests contribute to regular weather patterns, and help to combat the drastic changes that come from global climate change.
- Forests are becoming major casualties of civilization as human populations have increased over the past several thousand years, bringing deforestation, pollution, and industrial usage problems to this important biome.
There are three major types of forests, classed according to latitude:
- Tropical
-Temperate
- Boreal (Taiga)
Tropical Forests
- Tropical forests are characterized by the greatest diversity of species.
- They occur near the equator, within the area bounded by latitudes 23.5 degrees N and 23.5 degrees S.
- One of the major characteristics of tropical forests is their distinct seasonality: winter is absent, and only two seasons are present (rainy and dry).
- The length of daylight is 12 hours and varies little.
- Temperature is on average 20-25° C and varies little throughout the year: the average temperatures of the three warmest and three coldest months do not differ by more than 5 degrees.
- Precipitation is evenly distributed throughout the year, with annual rainfall exceeding 200 cm.
- Soil is nutrient-poor and acidic.
- Decomposition is rapid and soils are subject to heavy leaching.
- Canopy in tropical forests is multilayered and continuous, allowing little light penetration.
- Flora is highly diverse: one square kilometer may contain as many as 100 different tree species.
- Trees are 25-35 m tall, with buttressed trunks and shallow roots, mostly evergreen, with large dark green leaves.
- Plants such as orchids, bromeliads, vines (lianas), ferns, mosses, and palms are present in tropical forests.
- Fauna include numerous birds, bats, small mammals, and insects.
More than one half of tropical forests have already been destroyed.
Temperate Forest
- Temperate forests occur in eastern North America, northeastern Asia, and western and central Europe.
- Well-defined seasons with a distinct winter characterize this forest biome.
- Moderate climate and a growing season of 140-200 days during 4-6 frost-free months distinguish temperate forests.
- Temperature varies from -30° C to 30° C.
- Precipitation (75-150 cm) is distributed evenly throughout the year.
- Soil is fertile, enriched with decaying litter.
- Canopy is moderately dense and allows light to penetrate, resulting in well-developed and richly diversified understory vegetation and stratification of animals.
- Flora is characterized by 3-4 tree species per square kilometer. Trees are distinguished by broad leaves that are lost annually and include such species as oak, hickory, beech, hemlock, maple, basswood, cottonwood, elm, willow, and spring-flowering herbs.
- Fauna is represented by squirrels, rabbits, skunks, birds, deer, mountain lion, bobcat, timber wolf, fox, and black bear.
Only scattered remnants of original temperate forests remain.
Boreal Forest
- Boreal forests, or taiga, represent the largest terrestial biome. Occuring between 50 and 60 degrees north latitudes, boreal forests can be found in the broad belt of Eurasia and North America: two-thirds in Siberia with the rest in Scandinavia, Alaska, and Canada.
- Seasons are divided into short, moist, and moderately warm summers and long, cold, and dry winters.
- The length of the growing season in boreal forests is 130 days.
- Temperatures are very low.
- Precipitation is primarily in the form of snow, 40-100 cm annually.
- Soil is thin, nutrient-poor, and acidic.
- Canopy permits low light penetration, and as a result, understory is limited.
- Flora consist mostly of cold-tolerant evergreen conifers with needle-like leaves, such as pine, fir, and spruce.
- Fauna include woodpeckers, hawks, moose, bear, weasel, lynx, fox, wolf, deer, hares, chipmunks, shrews, and bats.
Current extensive logging in boreal forests may soon cause their disappearance.
Threats on Forest Biomes
- People live too close to the deciduous forest biome
- Acid rain is caused by industrial and vehicle emissions and this causes damage to the leaves.
- Cutting trees for timber and to clear land for agriculture. THis leaves thousands of species of animals without a home.
- Also there is an introduction of non- native organisms which upsets the balance of the ecosystem by competing for food with native organisms.
- Diseases and insects, both native and foreign, are weakening and destroying forests across the country, even driving some species to the edge of extinction.
- With increased human activity and shifting climate patterns, we are seeing more frequent and intense wildfires, many of which can damage forests beyond the point of natural regeneration.
- Invasive plant species, which have few natural controls in our country, are overtaking native ecosystems, and driving out native plant and animal species.
- Increased development has led to loss of biodiversity and fragmentation of ecosystems and habitats.
- Mismanagement and unsustainable forestry practices are diminishing forests around the world faster than they can be regrown.
Why is this important to teach to students?
Biodiversity
A greater variety of life makes a forest better able to withstand and recover from disease, harmful infestations, wildfires, and other threats.
Clean Air & Water
Forests supply most of the freshwater flow in the US, and clean our atmosphere by intercepting airborne particles, carbon dioxide, and other greenhouse gases.
Medicine & Health
Trees not only create a healthier environment, they also provide a wide variety of medicines.
Social Benefits
Greener urban areas encourage more healthy social interaction between adults and children. They’ve also been a proven deterrent to graffiti, property crime, and even violent crime.
Recreation
Forests are a big part of why Americans love to get outdoors. They provide places for hikers, bicyclists, fishermen, hunters, and families of all ages to play and exercise.
Climate
Forests and climate are directly linked, both on the local and global scale. Healthy forests contribute to regular weather patterns, and help to combat the drastic changes that come from global climate change.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Desert Biome Recourses
Videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTcLnowOVkY (This video is a small segment that covers some of the desert wildlife and plants)
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/discovery/28106-assignment-discovery-desert-biomes-video.htm (This video is an informational video on all desert biomes)
Websites
http://library.thinkquest.org/C0113340/text/impact/impact.desert.html (In this link you will find a very small sample of some threats that harm the desert biomes)
Human Impact on Desert Biomes
http://www.marietta.edu/~biol/biomes/desert.htm (THis is an excellent recourse for anything related to deserts. There are sufficient amount of examples of plant life, wildlife, climate, and also threats that effect our deserts all the time.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTcLnowOVkY (This video is a small segment that covers some of the desert wildlife and plants)
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/discovery/28106-assignment-discovery-desert-biomes-video.htm (This video is an informational video on all desert biomes)
Websites
http://library.thinkquest.org/C0113340/text/impact/impact.desert.html (In this link you will find a very small sample of some threats that harm the desert biomes)
Human Impact on Desert Biomes
http://www.marietta.edu/~biol/biomes/desert.htm (THis is an excellent recourse for anything related to deserts. There are sufficient amount of examples of plant life, wildlife, climate, and also threats that effect our deserts all the time.)
Desert Biomes
- Deserts cover about one fifth of the Earth's surface and occur where rainfall is less than 50 cm/year.
- There are relatively few large mammals in deserts because most are not capable of storing sufficient water and withstanding the heat.
- Deserts often provide little shelter from the sun for large animals.
- The dominant animals of warm deserts are nonmammalian vertebrates, such as reptiles.
- Mammals are usually small, like the kangaroo mice of North American deserts.
- Desert biomes can be classified according to several characteristics.
There are four major types of deserts:
- Hot and dry
- Semiarid
- Coastal
- Cold
Hot and dry desert
- The seasons here are generally warm throughout the year and very hot in the summer. The winters usually bring little rainfall.
- The seasons are generally warm throughout the year and very hot in the summer.
- The winters usually bring little rainfall.
- Temperatures exhibit daily extremes because the atmosphere contains little humidity to block the Sun’s rays.
- Canopy in most deserts is very rare.
- Plants are mainly ground-hugging shrubs and short woody trees.
- Leaves are “replete” (fully supported with nutrients) with water-conserving characteristics.
- They tend to be small, thick and covered with a thick cuticle (outer layer).
- In the cacti, the leaves are much-reduced (to spines) and photosynthetic activity is restricted to the stems.
- Some plants open their stomata (microscopic openings in the epidermis of leaves that allow for gas exchange) only at night when evaporation rates are lowest.
- These plants include: yuccas, ocotillo, turpentine bush, prickly pears, false mesquite, sotol, ephedras, agaves and brittlebush.
- Animals include small nocturnal (active at night) carnivores. The dominant animals are burrowers and kangaroo rats. There are also insects, arachnids, reptiles and birds. The animals stay inactive in protected hideaways during the hot day and come out to forage at dusk, dawn or at night, when the desert is cooler.
Semiarid Desert
- The summers are moderately long and dry, and like hot deserts, the winters normally bring low concentrations of rainfall.
- Summer temperatures usually average between 21-27° C.
- As in the hot desert, rainfall is often very low and/or concentrated with an average rainfall from 2-4 cm annually.
- The spiny nature of many plants in semiarid deserts provides protection in a hazardous environment.
- The large numbers of spines shade the surface enough to significantly reduce transpiration.
- Many plants have silvery or glossy leaves, allowing them to reflect more radiant energy.
- Semiarid plants include: Creosote bush, bur sage white thorn, cat claw, mesquite, brittle bushes, lyciums, and jujube.
- The animals in these areas include mammals such as the kangaroo rats, rabbits, and skunks; insects like grasshoppers and ants; reptiles are represented by lizards and snakes; and birds such as burrowing owls and the California thrasher.
Coastal Desert
- The cool winters of coastal deserts are followed by moderately long, warm summers. The average summer temperature ranges from 13-24° C; winter temperatures are 5° C or below.
- The average rainfall measures 8-13 cm in many areas.
- All of the plants with thick and fleshy leaves or stems can take in large quantities of water when it is available and store it for future use.
-The plants living in this type of desert include the salt bush, buckwheat bush, black bush, rice grass, little leaf horsebrush, black sage, and chrysothamnus.
- Some animals have specialized adaptations for dealing with the desert heat and lack of water.
- Some toads seal themselves in burrows with gelatinous secretions and remain inactive for eight or nine months until a heavy rain occurs. Amphibians that pass through larval stages have accelerated life cycles, which improves their chances of reaching maturity before the waters evaporate. Some insects lay eggs that remain dormant until the environmental conditions are suitable for hatching. The fairy shrimps also lay dormant eggs.
- Other animals include: insects, mammals (coyote and badger), amphibians (toads), birds (great horned owl, golden eagle and the bald eagle), and reptiles (lizards and snakes).
Cold Desert
- These deserts are characterized by cold winters with snowfall and high overall rainfall throughout the winter and occasionally over the summer.
- They have short, moist, and moderately warm summers with fairly long, cold winters.
- The mean winter temperature is between -2 to 4° C and the mean summer temperature is between 21-26° C.
- The winters receive quite a bit of snow. - The soil is heavy, silty, and salty. It contains alluvial fans where soil is relatively porous and drainage is good so that most of the salt has been leached out. - The plants are widely scattered.
- The main plants are deciduous, most having spiny leaves.
- Widely distributed animals are jack rabbits, kangaroo rats, kangaroo mice, pocket mice, grasshopper mice, and antelope ground squirrels.
Destruction that occurs in deserts
- Global warming is increasing the incidence of drought, which dries up water holes.
- Higher temperatures may produce an increasing number of wildfires that alter desert landscapes by eliminating slow-growing trees and shrubs and replacing them with fast-growing grasses.
- Irrigation used for agriculture, may in the long term, lead to salt levels in the soil that become too high to support plants.
- Grazing animals can destroy many desert plants and animals.
- Potassium cyanide used in gold mining may poison wildlife.
- Off-road vehicles, when used irresponsibly, can cause irreparable damage to desert habitats.
- Oil and gas production may disrupt sensitive habitat.
- Nuclear waste may be dumped in deserts, which have also been used as nuclear testing grounds.
Why is it important to teach this to students?
This is important to teach to our students because they will be familiar with the things that occur in our deserts. Especially because we all live in a desert it is important to know what damages occur so that we can better the quality of where we live. There really are not too many human impacts on the desert biomes, but we can limit the amount of some activity that takes place. Most deserts are not very populated, so they are the feeding ground of disposal of toxins and other harmful materials. But we really need to be aware of the damage that is occuring in order to keep the living organisms that are present from dying out.
- There are relatively few large mammals in deserts because most are not capable of storing sufficient water and withstanding the heat.
- Deserts often provide little shelter from the sun for large animals.
- The dominant animals of warm deserts are nonmammalian vertebrates, such as reptiles.
- Mammals are usually small, like the kangaroo mice of North American deserts.
- Desert biomes can be classified according to several characteristics.
There are four major types of deserts:
- Hot and dry
- Semiarid
- Coastal
- Cold
Hot and dry desert
- The seasons here are generally warm throughout the year and very hot in the summer. The winters usually bring little rainfall.
- The seasons are generally warm throughout the year and very hot in the summer.
- The winters usually bring little rainfall.
- Temperatures exhibit daily extremes because the atmosphere contains little humidity to block the Sun’s rays.
- Canopy in most deserts is very rare.
- Plants are mainly ground-hugging shrubs and short woody trees.
- Leaves are “replete” (fully supported with nutrients) with water-conserving characteristics.
- They tend to be small, thick and covered with a thick cuticle (outer layer).
- In the cacti, the leaves are much-reduced (to spines) and photosynthetic activity is restricted to the stems.
- Some plants open their stomata (microscopic openings in the epidermis of leaves that allow for gas exchange) only at night when evaporation rates are lowest.
- These plants include: yuccas, ocotillo, turpentine bush, prickly pears, false mesquite, sotol, ephedras, agaves and brittlebush.
- Animals include small nocturnal (active at night) carnivores. The dominant animals are burrowers and kangaroo rats. There are also insects, arachnids, reptiles and birds. The animals stay inactive in protected hideaways during the hot day and come out to forage at dusk, dawn or at night, when the desert is cooler.
Semiarid Desert
- The summers are moderately long and dry, and like hot deserts, the winters normally bring low concentrations of rainfall.
- Summer temperatures usually average between 21-27° C.
- As in the hot desert, rainfall is often very low and/or concentrated with an average rainfall from 2-4 cm annually.
- The spiny nature of many plants in semiarid deserts provides protection in a hazardous environment.
- The large numbers of spines shade the surface enough to significantly reduce transpiration.
- Many plants have silvery or glossy leaves, allowing them to reflect more radiant energy.
- Semiarid plants include: Creosote bush, bur sage white thorn, cat claw, mesquite, brittle bushes, lyciums, and jujube.
- The animals in these areas include mammals such as the kangaroo rats, rabbits, and skunks; insects like grasshoppers and ants; reptiles are represented by lizards and snakes; and birds such as burrowing owls and the California thrasher.
Coastal Desert
- The cool winters of coastal deserts are followed by moderately long, warm summers. The average summer temperature ranges from 13-24° C; winter temperatures are 5° C or below.
- The average rainfall measures 8-13 cm in many areas.
- All of the plants with thick and fleshy leaves or stems can take in large quantities of water when it is available and store it for future use.
-The plants living in this type of desert include the salt bush, buckwheat bush, black bush, rice grass, little leaf horsebrush, black sage, and chrysothamnus.
- Some animals have specialized adaptations for dealing with the desert heat and lack of water.
- Some toads seal themselves in burrows with gelatinous secretions and remain inactive for eight or nine months until a heavy rain occurs. Amphibians that pass through larval stages have accelerated life cycles, which improves their chances of reaching maturity before the waters evaporate. Some insects lay eggs that remain dormant until the environmental conditions are suitable for hatching. The fairy shrimps also lay dormant eggs.
- Other animals include: insects, mammals (coyote and badger), amphibians (toads), birds (great horned owl, golden eagle and the bald eagle), and reptiles (lizards and snakes).
Cold Desert
- These deserts are characterized by cold winters with snowfall and high overall rainfall throughout the winter and occasionally over the summer.
- They have short, moist, and moderately warm summers with fairly long, cold winters.
- The mean winter temperature is between -2 to 4° C and the mean summer temperature is between 21-26° C.
- The winters receive quite a bit of snow. - The soil is heavy, silty, and salty. It contains alluvial fans where soil is relatively porous and drainage is good so that most of the salt has been leached out. - The plants are widely scattered.
- The main plants are deciduous, most having spiny leaves.
- Widely distributed animals are jack rabbits, kangaroo rats, kangaroo mice, pocket mice, grasshopper mice, and antelope ground squirrels.
Destruction that occurs in deserts
- Global warming is increasing the incidence of drought, which dries up water holes.
- Higher temperatures may produce an increasing number of wildfires that alter desert landscapes by eliminating slow-growing trees and shrubs and replacing them with fast-growing grasses.
- Irrigation used for agriculture, may in the long term, lead to salt levels in the soil that become too high to support plants.
- Grazing animals can destroy many desert plants and animals.
- Potassium cyanide used in gold mining may poison wildlife.
- Off-road vehicles, when used irresponsibly, can cause irreparable damage to desert habitats.
- Oil and gas production may disrupt sensitive habitat.
- Nuclear waste may be dumped in deserts, which have also been used as nuclear testing grounds.
Why is it important to teach this to students?
This is important to teach to our students because they will be familiar with the things that occur in our deserts. Especially because we all live in a desert it is important to know what damages occur so that we can better the quality of where we live. There really are not too many human impacts on the desert biomes, but we can limit the amount of some activity that takes place. Most deserts are not very populated, so they are the feeding ground of disposal of toxins and other harmful materials. But we really need to be aware of the damage that is occuring in order to keep the living organisms that are present from dying out.
Aquatic Biome Recourses
Videos
Freshwater Biomes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oIMrlvbaaY (This video is a very informative recourse for freshwater biomes. This video covers all elements of this biome. This would be the type of video you can have students take notes on. It gives all necessary information but all of this can be covered in a lesson.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qUA9bxqW7g (This is also another very informative video regarding the different aspects of freshwater biomes. This covers temperature, organisms, wildlife, and different types/ characteristics of freshwater biomes.)
Marine Biomes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bdege4S5PA (In this video you see a a great collection of all of the aquatic biomes. This video is put together with catchy music, pictures, and familiar clips that students can relate to. This video also has a great way of incorporating some common disasters that can occur.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9p_bgiSVqs (This video is just some short clips of wildlife and plants that exist in the marine biomes. IT is added with a fun and exciting musical track to get students engaged in what is being presented. This video presents marine biomes on a positive way and gets others to see the true beauty of what exists in our oceans.)
Human Impact on Marine Biomes/ Marine Impact on Humans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3whzogSGqTs (I feel that this video is a great representation of the things that happen due to human carelessness. This video would be a good recourse for students to use in order to gain a perspective of how we can stop things like these from occurring. These types of destruction is what students need to be familiar with.)
Human Impact on Freshwater Biomes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACgv19b-n5E (This is just a quick video that covers a small account of the types of pollution that occurs in our freshwater biomes.)
Websites
http://www.planetozkids.com/oban/animals/biomes.htm ( This website is great covering all five types of teh world's biomes. THis would also bea great recourse for students as well.)
http://www.kidzworld.com/article/1951-biomes-of-the-world-aquatic )This website is a kid friendly website covering everything about aquatic biomes. This is something that students can use for research of any kind.)
http://www.geography4kids.com/files/water_biomeaqua.html (Here is another kid friendly website to help naviagte through all of the mess that is aquatic biomes.)
Freshwater Biomes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oIMrlvbaaY (This video is a very informative recourse for freshwater biomes. This video covers all elements of this biome. This would be the type of video you can have students take notes on. It gives all necessary information but all of this can be covered in a lesson.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qUA9bxqW7g (This is also another very informative video regarding the different aspects of freshwater biomes. This covers temperature, organisms, wildlife, and different types/ characteristics of freshwater biomes.)
Marine Biomes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bdege4S5PA (In this video you see a a great collection of all of the aquatic biomes. This video is put together with catchy music, pictures, and familiar clips that students can relate to. This video also has a great way of incorporating some common disasters that can occur.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9p_bgiSVqs (This video is just some short clips of wildlife and plants that exist in the marine biomes. IT is added with a fun and exciting musical track to get students engaged in what is being presented. This video presents marine biomes on a positive way and gets others to see the true beauty of what exists in our oceans.)
Human Impact on Marine Biomes/ Marine Impact on Humans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3whzogSGqTs (I feel that this video is a great representation of the things that happen due to human carelessness. This video would be a good recourse for students to use in order to gain a perspective of how we can stop things like these from occurring. These types of destruction is what students need to be familiar with.)
Human Impact on Freshwater Biomes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACgv19b-n5E (This is just a quick video that covers a small account of the types of pollution that occurs in our freshwater biomes.)
Websites
http://www.planetozkids.com/oban/animals/biomes.htm ( This website is great covering all five types of teh world's biomes. THis would also bea great recourse for students as well.)
http://www.kidzworld.com/article/1951-biomes-of-the-world-aquatic )This website is a kid friendly website covering everything about aquatic biomes. This is something that students can use for research of any kind.)
http://www.geography4kids.com/files/water_biomeaqua.html (Here is another kid friendly website to help naviagte through all of the mess that is aquatic biomes.)
Aquatic Biomes
Aquatic biomes are the largest biome, covering nearly 75% of the Earth, and are the link between all five of the biomes.
The aquatic biomes can be broken down into two different regions:
- Freshwater Regions
- Marine Regions
Freshwater Regions
- Freshwater is defined as having a low salt concentration of less than 1%
- Plants and animals in these areas are adjusted to a low salt concentration, so they would not be able to survive in a place of high salt concentration
- The different types of freshwater regions include (Ponds and lakes, streams and rivers, and wetlands)
Ponds and Lakes
- Ponds and lakes are also seperated. These places are seperated into three different "zones." These zones are determined by depth and distance from the shoreline of greater bodies of water.
Littoral Zone is the topmost zone near the shore of a lake or pond.This zone is the warmest since it is shallow and can absorb more of the Sun’s heat. It sustains a fairly diverse community, which can include several species of algae, rooted and floating aquatic plants, grazing snails, clams, insects, crustaceans, fishes, and amphibians. In the case of the insects, such as dragonflies and midges, only the egg and larvae stages are found in this zone. The vegetation and animals living in the littoral zone are food for other creatures such as turtles, snakes, and ducks.
The near-surface open water surrounded by the littoral zone is the limnetic zone. The limnetic zone is well-lighted (like the littoral zone) and is dominated by plankton, both phytoplankton and zooplankton. Plankton are small organisms and are a crucial role in the food chain. Without aquatic plankton, there would be few living organisms in the world, and certainly no humans. A variety of freshwater fish also occupy this zone.
Plankton have short life spans, so when they die, they fall into the deep-water part of the lake/pond called the profundal zone. This zone is much colder and denser than the other two. Little light penetrates all the way through the limnetic zone into the profundal zone. The fauna are heterotrophs, meaning that they eat dead organisms and use oxygen for cellular respiration.
Temperature varies in ponds and lakes seasonally. During the summer, the temperature can range from 4° C near the bottom to 22° C at the top. During the winter, the temperature at the bottom can be 4° C while the top is 0° C
Streams and Rivers
- These are bodies of flowing water moving in one direction.
- Streams and rivers can be found everywhere—they get their starts at headwaters, which may be springs, snowmelt or even lakes, and then travel all the way to their mouths, usually another water channel or the ocean.
- The characteristics of a river or stream change during the journey from the source to the mouth.
- The temperature is cooler at the source than it is at the mouth.
- The water is clearer, has higher oxygen levels, and freshwater fish such as trout and heterotrophs can be found there.
- As you move downstream, the water becomes deeper and makes more room for other fish and because of the lower oxygen levels, fish that require less oxygen, such as catfish and carp, can be found.
Wetlands
- Wetlands are areas of standing water that support aquatic plants.
- Marshes, swamps, and bogs are all considered wetlands.
- Plant species adapted to the very moist and humid conditions are called hydrophytes.
- These include pond lilies, cattails, sedges, tamarack, and black spruce.
- Marsh flora also include such species as cypress and gum.
- Wetlands have the highest species diversity of all ecosystems.
- Many species of amphibians, reptiles, birds (such as ducks and waders), and furbearers can be found in the wetlands.
- Wetlands are not considered freshwater ecosystems as there are some, such as salt marshes, that have high salt concentrations—these support different species of animals, such as shrimp, shellfish, and various grasses.
Marine Regions
- Marine regions cover about three-fourths of the Earth’s surface and include oceans, coral reefs, and estuaries.
Oceans
- The largest of all the ecosystems, oceans are very large bodies of water that dominate the Earth’s surface.
- Like ponds and lakes, the ocean regions are separated into separate zones: intertidal, pelagic, abyssal, and benthic.
- All four zones have a great diversity of species. Some say that the ocean contains the richest diversity of species even though it contains fewer species than there are on land.
The intertidal zone is where the ocean meets the land. Because of this, the communities are constantly changing. On rocky coasts, the zone is stratified vertically. Where only the highest tides reach, there are only a few species of algae and mollusks. In those areas usually submerged during high tide, there is a more diverse array of algae and small animals, such as herbivorous snails, crabs, sea stars, and small fishes. At the bottom of the intertidal zone, which is only exposed during the lowest tides, many invertebrates, fishes, and seaweed can be found. The intertidal zone on sandier shores is not as stratified as in the rocky areas. Waves keep mud and sand constantly moving, thus very few algae and plants can establish themselves—the fauna include worms, clams, predatory crustaceans, crabs, and shorebirds.
The pelagic zone includes those waters further from the land, basically the open ocean. The pelagic zone is generally cold though it is hard to give a general temperature range since, just like ponds and lakes, there is thermal stratification with a constant mixing of warm and cold ocean currents. The flora in the pelagic zone include surface seaweeds. The fauna include many species of fish and some mammals, such as whales and dolphins. Many feed on the abundant plankton.
The benthic zone is the area below the pelagic zone, but does not include the very deepest parts of the ocean (see abyssal zone below). The bottom of the zone consists of sand, slit, and/or dead organisms. Here temperature decreases as depth increases toward the abyssal zone, since light cannot penetrate through the deeper water. Flora are represented primarily by seaweed while the fauna, since it is very nutrient-rich, include all sorts of bacteria, fungi, sponges, sea anemones, worms, sea stars, and fishes.
The deep ocean is the abyssal zone. The water in this region is very cold (around 3° C), highly pressured, high in oxygen content, but low in nutritional content. The abyssal zone supports many species of invertebrates and fishes. Mid-ocean ridges (spreading zones between tectonic plates), often with hydrothermal vents, are found in the abyssal zones along the ocean floors. Chemosynthetic bacteria thrive near these vents because of the large amounts of hydrogen sulfide and other minerals they emit. These bacteria are thus the start of the food web as they are eaten by invertebrates and fishes.
Coral Reefs
- Coral reefs are widely distributed in warm shallow waters.
- They can be found as barriers along continents (e.g., the Great Barrier Reef off Australia), fringing islands, and atolls.
- The dominant organisms in coral reefs are corals.
- Besides corals, the fauna include several species of microorganisms, invertebrates, fishes, sea urchins, octopuses, and sea stars.
Estuaries
- Estuaries are areas where freshwater streams or rivers merge with the ocean.
- This mixing of waters with such different salt concentrations creates a very interesting and unique ecosystem.
- Microflora like algae, and macroflora, such as seaweeds, marsh grasses, and mangrove trees (only in the tropics), can be found here.
- Estuaries support a diverse fauna, including a variety of worms, oysters, crabs, and waterfowl.
Why are these biomes important?
- Water is the basis of life, it supports life, and countless species live in it for all or part of their lives. - Freshwater biomes supply us with our drinking water and water for crop irrigation.
- The oceans contain several billion photosynthetic plankton which account for most of the photosynthesis occuring on Earth. Without these, there might not be enough oxygen to support such a large world population and complex animal life.
Destruction that occurs in Freshwater areas:
- Freshwater biomes have suffered mainly from pollution.
- Runoff containing fertilizer and other wastes and industrial dumpings enter into rivers, ponds, and lakes and tend to promote abnormally rapid algae growth. When these algae die, dead organic matter accumulates in the water. This makes the water unusable and it kills many of the organisms living in the habitat. Stricter laws have helped to slow down this thoughtless pollution.
Destruction in marine regions
- Overfishing and pollution have threatened to make oceans into ecological disaster areas. Industrial pollutants that are dumped upstream of estuaries have rendered many marine habitats unsuitable for life.
- Oil spills are damaging to the marine environment, but yet only make up less than twenty percent of petroleum that enters the ocean.
- Almost forty percent of polluting oil comes from industrial runoff from cities that is carried by rainwater and rivers.
- In coastal regions, excess fertilizer from gardens and farms not only drains into the soil, but it gets carried into the ocean in the same way oil is. This provides an excess in nutrients to the water, which encourages the overgrowth of algal blooms and the process of eutrophication. This deprives the marine biome of its oxygen which in turn, smothers the creatures that live there.
- Offshore Dumping in addition to harmful petroleum and fertilizers, garbage and raw sewage are being disposed of into the ocean every day.
- Internal examinations of whales, sharks, dolphins and other aquatic life, have shown foreign items such as beer cans and plastic garbage bags have been accidentally ingested.
- Many coastal cities around the world empty their sewage into the ocean with little or no treatment at all.
- Human sewage not only contains fecal matter and urates, but also carries harmful bacteria that aren't naturally occurring in the marine ecoystems of the world. Human waste also contains trace amounts of medications and other controlled substances, which add up when combined with large amounts of the toxin-containing wastes.
- All of this is emptied into the ocean in staggering amounts and is destroying the marine environment.
- Tourism at Earth's Expense Cruise ships produce sewage, greywater, oily bilge, air pollutants and other hazardous wastes into the marine atmosphere.
- Though pollution released by freight ships is equally dangerous, the amount of people ordinarily found on cruise ships introduces this toxic combination of pathogens and wastes at higher, more concentrated amounts.
-Overpopulated sea-ports that connect cruise ships to other ports also experience a higher amount of marine pollution.
- Regulations pertaining to offshore dumping only require that cruise lines are a minimum of three miles from land before dumping their wastes into the ocean, and an estimated 175,000 gallons of sewage and other wastes are dumped daily.
- These same regulations allow the disposal of solid garbage materials twelve miles from land.
Why is teaching this important?
By educating people about the consequences of our actions, we can all gain a better understanding of how to preserve the earth’s natural biomes. The areas that have been destroyed the most will never regain their original forms, but conservation will help to keep them from getting worse.
The aquatic biomes can be broken down into two different regions:
- Freshwater Regions
- Marine Regions
Freshwater Regions
- Freshwater is defined as having a low salt concentration of less than 1%
- Plants and animals in these areas are adjusted to a low salt concentration, so they would not be able to survive in a place of high salt concentration
- The different types of freshwater regions include (Ponds and lakes, streams and rivers, and wetlands)
Ponds and Lakes
- Ponds and lakes are also seperated. These places are seperated into three different "zones." These zones are determined by depth and distance from the shoreline of greater bodies of water.
Littoral Zone is the topmost zone near the shore of a lake or pond.This zone is the warmest since it is shallow and can absorb more of the Sun’s heat. It sustains a fairly diverse community, which can include several species of algae, rooted and floating aquatic plants, grazing snails, clams, insects, crustaceans, fishes, and amphibians. In the case of the insects, such as dragonflies and midges, only the egg and larvae stages are found in this zone. The vegetation and animals living in the littoral zone are food for other creatures such as turtles, snakes, and ducks.
The near-surface open water surrounded by the littoral zone is the limnetic zone. The limnetic zone is well-lighted (like the littoral zone) and is dominated by plankton, both phytoplankton and zooplankton. Plankton are small organisms and are a crucial role in the food chain. Without aquatic plankton, there would be few living organisms in the world, and certainly no humans. A variety of freshwater fish also occupy this zone.
Plankton have short life spans, so when they die, they fall into the deep-water part of the lake/pond called the profundal zone. This zone is much colder and denser than the other two. Little light penetrates all the way through the limnetic zone into the profundal zone. The fauna are heterotrophs, meaning that they eat dead organisms and use oxygen for cellular respiration.
Temperature varies in ponds and lakes seasonally. During the summer, the temperature can range from 4° C near the bottom to 22° C at the top. During the winter, the temperature at the bottom can be 4° C while the top is 0° C
Streams and Rivers
- These are bodies of flowing water moving in one direction.
- Streams and rivers can be found everywhere—they get their starts at headwaters, which may be springs, snowmelt or even lakes, and then travel all the way to their mouths, usually another water channel or the ocean.
- The characteristics of a river or stream change during the journey from the source to the mouth.
- The temperature is cooler at the source than it is at the mouth.
- The water is clearer, has higher oxygen levels, and freshwater fish such as trout and heterotrophs can be found there.
- As you move downstream, the water becomes deeper and makes more room for other fish and because of the lower oxygen levels, fish that require less oxygen, such as catfish and carp, can be found.
Wetlands
- Wetlands are areas of standing water that support aquatic plants.
- Marshes, swamps, and bogs are all considered wetlands.
- Plant species adapted to the very moist and humid conditions are called hydrophytes.
- These include pond lilies, cattails, sedges, tamarack, and black spruce.
- Marsh flora also include such species as cypress and gum.
- Wetlands have the highest species diversity of all ecosystems.
- Many species of amphibians, reptiles, birds (such as ducks and waders), and furbearers can be found in the wetlands.
- Wetlands are not considered freshwater ecosystems as there are some, such as salt marshes, that have high salt concentrations—these support different species of animals, such as shrimp, shellfish, and various grasses.
Marine Regions
- Marine regions cover about three-fourths of the Earth’s surface and include oceans, coral reefs, and estuaries.
Oceans
- The largest of all the ecosystems, oceans are very large bodies of water that dominate the Earth’s surface.
- Like ponds and lakes, the ocean regions are separated into separate zones: intertidal, pelagic, abyssal, and benthic.
- All four zones have a great diversity of species. Some say that the ocean contains the richest diversity of species even though it contains fewer species than there are on land.
The intertidal zone is where the ocean meets the land. Because of this, the communities are constantly changing. On rocky coasts, the zone is stratified vertically. Where only the highest tides reach, there are only a few species of algae and mollusks. In those areas usually submerged during high tide, there is a more diverse array of algae and small animals, such as herbivorous snails, crabs, sea stars, and small fishes. At the bottom of the intertidal zone, which is only exposed during the lowest tides, many invertebrates, fishes, and seaweed can be found. The intertidal zone on sandier shores is not as stratified as in the rocky areas. Waves keep mud and sand constantly moving, thus very few algae and plants can establish themselves—the fauna include worms, clams, predatory crustaceans, crabs, and shorebirds.
The pelagic zone includes those waters further from the land, basically the open ocean. The pelagic zone is generally cold though it is hard to give a general temperature range since, just like ponds and lakes, there is thermal stratification with a constant mixing of warm and cold ocean currents. The flora in the pelagic zone include surface seaweeds. The fauna include many species of fish and some mammals, such as whales and dolphins. Many feed on the abundant plankton.
The benthic zone is the area below the pelagic zone, but does not include the very deepest parts of the ocean (see abyssal zone below). The bottom of the zone consists of sand, slit, and/or dead organisms. Here temperature decreases as depth increases toward the abyssal zone, since light cannot penetrate through the deeper water. Flora are represented primarily by seaweed while the fauna, since it is very nutrient-rich, include all sorts of bacteria, fungi, sponges, sea anemones, worms, sea stars, and fishes.
The deep ocean is the abyssal zone. The water in this region is very cold (around 3° C), highly pressured, high in oxygen content, but low in nutritional content. The abyssal zone supports many species of invertebrates and fishes. Mid-ocean ridges (spreading zones between tectonic plates), often with hydrothermal vents, are found in the abyssal zones along the ocean floors. Chemosynthetic bacteria thrive near these vents because of the large amounts of hydrogen sulfide and other minerals they emit. These bacteria are thus the start of the food web as they are eaten by invertebrates and fishes.
Coral Reefs
- Coral reefs are widely distributed in warm shallow waters.
- They can be found as barriers along continents (e.g., the Great Barrier Reef off Australia), fringing islands, and atolls.
- The dominant organisms in coral reefs are corals.
- Besides corals, the fauna include several species of microorganisms, invertebrates, fishes, sea urchins, octopuses, and sea stars.
Estuaries
- Estuaries are areas where freshwater streams or rivers merge with the ocean.
- This mixing of waters with such different salt concentrations creates a very interesting and unique ecosystem.
- Microflora like algae, and macroflora, such as seaweeds, marsh grasses, and mangrove trees (only in the tropics), can be found here.
- Estuaries support a diverse fauna, including a variety of worms, oysters, crabs, and waterfowl.
Why are these biomes important?
- Water is the basis of life, it supports life, and countless species live in it for all or part of their lives. - Freshwater biomes supply us with our drinking water and water for crop irrigation.
- The oceans contain several billion photosynthetic plankton which account for most of the photosynthesis occuring on Earth. Without these, there might not be enough oxygen to support such a large world population and complex animal life.
Destruction that occurs in Freshwater areas:
- Freshwater biomes have suffered mainly from pollution.
- Runoff containing fertilizer and other wastes and industrial dumpings enter into rivers, ponds, and lakes and tend to promote abnormally rapid algae growth. When these algae die, dead organic matter accumulates in the water. This makes the water unusable and it kills many of the organisms living in the habitat. Stricter laws have helped to slow down this thoughtless pollution.
Destruction in marine regions
- Overfishing and pollution have threatened to make oceans into ecological disaster areas. Industrial pollutants that are dumped upstream of estuaries have rendered many marine habitats unsuitable for life.
- Oil spills are damaging to the marine environment, but yet only make up less than twenty percent of petroleum that enters the ocean.
- Almost forty percent of polluting oil comes from industrial runoff from cities that is carried by rainwater and rivers.
- In coastal regions, excess fertilizer from gardens and farms not only drains into the soil, but it gets carried into the ocean in the same way oil is. This provides an excess in nutrients to the water, which encourages the overgrowth of algal blooms and the process of eutrophication. This deprives the marine biome of its oxygen which in turn, smothers the creatures that live there.
- Offshore Dumping in addition to harmful petroleum and fertilizers, garbage and raw sewage are being disposed of into the ocean every day.
- Internal examinations of whales, sharks, dolphins and other aquatic life, have shown foreign items such as beer cans and plastic garbage bags have been accidentally ingested.
- Many coastal cities around the world empty their sewage into the ocean with little or no treatment at all.
- Human sewage not only contains fecal matter and urates, but also carries harmful bacteria that aren't naturally occurring in the marine ecoystems of the world. Human waste also contains trace amounts of medications and other controlled substances, which add up when combined with large amounts of the toxin-containing wastes.
- All of this is emptied into the ocean in staggering amounts and is destroying the marine environment.
- Tourism at Earth's Expense Cruise ships produce sewage, greywater, oily bilge, air pollutants and other hazardous wastes into the marine atmosphere.
- Though pollution released by freight ships is equally dangerous, the amount of people ordinarily found on cruise ships introduces this toxic combination of pathogens and wastes at higher, more concentrated amounts.
-Overpopulated sea-ports that connect cruise ships to other ports also experience a higher amount of marine pollution.
- Regulations pertaining to offshore dumping only require that cruise lines are a minimum of three miles from land before dumping their wastes into the ocean, and an estimated 175,000 gallons of sewage and other wastes are dumped daily.
- These same regulations allow the disposal of solid garbage materials twelve miles from land.
Why is teaching this important?
By educating people about the consequences of our actions, we can all gain a better understanding of how to preserve the earth’s natural biomes. The areas that have been destroyed the most will never regain their original forms, but conservation will help to keep them from getting worse.
Step 1- What is a biome?
Some of you are probably asking "What is a biome?" Well, a biome is is geographical location that is categorized by the plants and animals that inhabit those areas. When examining a biome, there are many things to look at to help distinguish its qualities. These different things range from climate, geology, soil types, water recourses, and even latitude of an area.
There are five main categories of biomes. These five categories are the aquatic biome, the desert biome, the forest biome, the grassland biome, and the tundra biome. These five biomes can be seperated into five different lessons that span out over the five days.
Day 1- Aquatic Biomes
Day 2- Desert Biomes
Day 3- Forest Biomes
Day 4- Grassland Biomes
Day 5- Tundra Biomes
You, the teacher, will review the biomes themselves. Explaing to the students what they are, just as I am going to do with you. Usually as a teacher you want to make all of your lessons inquiry based, but considering there is a good chance that students may not familiar with the material, you should keep the lessons to a point where students are still answering questions and discovering things on their own. Hold discussions, and have students answer questions whenever possible, also having students make real life connections is a part of this unit. If you incorporate all of these methods into your lessons, there is no doubt that you will be successful.
There are five main categories of biomes. These five categories are the aquatic biome, the desert biome, the forest biome, the grassland biome, and the tundra biome. These five biomes can be seperated into five different lessons that span out over the five days.
Day 1- Aquatic Biomes
Day 2- Desert Biomes
Day 3- Forest Biomes
Day 4- Grassland Biomes
Day 5- Tundra Biomes
You, the teacher, will review the biomes themselves. Explaing to the students what they are, just as I am going to do with you. Usually as a teacher you want to make all of your lessons inquiry based, but considering there is a good chance that students may not familiar with the material, you should keep the lessons to a point where students are still answering questions and discovering things on their own. Hold discussions, and have students answer questions whenever possible, also having students make real life connections is a part of this unit. If you incorporate all of these methods into your lessons, there is no doubt that you will be successful.
Introduction
Fellow Teachers!
It has come to my attention that you are all interested in teaching a unit on the world's biomes. There are many things that you must know about biomes before you can teach this to your students. Biomes are a vague subject to cover meaning there are a lot of parts to it. Since there are so many parts, you would have at least a week to cover all of the material. Depending on how in depth you want to go, this material could be covered for more than a week. But just for the sake that we do not want to spend two weeks on one unit, we will consider teaching this for a total of five days.
Some of you may be familiar with the biomes of the world, so this could simply be a review. But for others, this is something that they were introduced to and are able to recognize but do not know enough to go out and teach their students successfully.
Here I will give you all the information and recourses you will need to learn, study, and successfully teach this subject to your students.
It has come to my attention that you are all interested in teaching a unit on the world's biomes. There are many things that you must know about biomes before you can teach this to your students. Biomes are a vague subject to cover meaning there are a lot of parts to it. Since there are so many parts, you would have at least a week to cover all of the material. Depending on how in depth you want to go, this material could be covered for more than a week. But just for the sake that we do not want to spend two weeks on one unit, we will consider teaching this for a total of five days.
Some of you may be familiar with the biomes of the world, so this could simply be a review. But for others, this is something that they were introduced to and are able to recognize but do not know enough to go out and teach their students successfully.
Here I will give you all the information and recourses you will need to learn, study, and successfully teach this subject to your students.
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