Ecosystems And Rainforests Flashcards
What is an ecosystem?
All the biotic parts and the abiotic parts of an area
Producers
Use sunlight energy to produce food
Consumer
Gets its energy by eating other organisms. They eat producers or other consumers
Decomposer
Gets its energy by breaking down dead material. Bacteria and fungi
The Nutrient Cycle
- When dead material decomposes, nutrients are released into the soil.
- The nutrients are then taken up from the soil by plants. The plants can be eaten by consumers.
3, when the plants or consumers die, the nutrients are returned to the soil. - This is called nutrient cycling
A food chain…
Shows what eats what
A food web…
Shows lots of food chains and how they overlap.
If one part of an ecosystem changes…
It affects all the other parts in the ecosystem
Tundra
Found at high latitudes in Northern Europe, Canada + Alaska. Winter are cold, summers are brief and little rainfall. Not many trees. Layer of permafrost.
Grasslands
Savannah - dry + wet seasons, between tropics. Grasses.
Temperate - high latitudes, more variation in temperature, less rainfall. Just grasses.
Boreal Forest
Winters cold and dry, summer mild and moist. Trees coniferous, evergreen and have needles
Deciduous forest
Mid latitudes. Summers are warm, winter is mild, rainfall all year. Deciduous trees
Tropical rainforest
Around equator, where it’s hot and wet all year round. Dense canopies of vegetation forming distinct layers.
Hot Desert
Little rainfall, between tropics, hot during day, cold at night. Shrubs and cacti are sparsely distributed.
Polar
North and south poles. Cold, icy, dry. Dark for months, short growing season of two months.