Thursday, October 28, 2010

What is the difference between communities,ecosystems and biomes?

A population is a group of the same species.  These
populations come together to form a community.  The community exists within an ecosystem
that supports the lives of species that inhabit it.  The ecosystem consists of the
community of living species as well as the non-living environmental factors (air,
sunlight, rocks, ground, etc...)that create the environment for the community.  Biomes
are a collection of ecosystems that similar environmental factors and communities that
they can exist in the same geographic location.  Biomes are large.  There are 7 major
biomes:  coniferous forest, deciduous forest, desert, grassland, rainforest, shrubland,
and tundra.


Here is an example.  Suppose a family of
squirrels has built a nest in an oak tree.  There is also a nest of bald eagles in the
treetops.  Moss grows on the bark on the tree.  The squirrels, the eagles, and the moss
come together on this tree to form a community.  This community along with environmental
factors, such as rain fall, temperature, etc... make up the ecosystem for this
community.  When these ecosystems combine, they form the biome of a deciduous
forest.


I have included a world map of the major
biomes.

No comments:

Post a Comment

What is the meaning of the 4th stanza of Eliot's Preludes, especially the lines "I am moved by fancies...Infinitely suffering thing".

A century old this year, T.S. Eliot's Preludes raises the curtain on his great modernist masterpieces, The Love...