Introduction To Sustaining Biodiversity And Biomes
- 1. Introduction to Sustaining Biodiversity and BiomesConcepts and definitions taken from Dodd, Law, Meyer & O’Brien, Senior Geography for Queensland 2, Jacaranda Plus, 2009.
- 2. IntroductionSince early times, the Earth has supported a huge variety of plant and animal species, as well as provided people with natural resources (water, soil, timber) and food.
- 3. There has always been the assumption that the sheer size of these systems gave the planet a degree of resilience that would enable it to ‘self heal’ from the effects of both human misuse and natural catastrophe.
- 4. In the past, natural processes erased many of these effects, but today things are different...Human impact on the natural environmentWorld population and technological developmentstimeImpact upon the natural environment/ world’s ecosystems
- 5. Interpreting the data:We can see from this graph that as population growth and technological developments continue, so does the damage caused to our natural environmentHuman expansion activities such as land-clearing, mining, urbanisation and energy consumption has placed enormous pressure on the planet
- 6. The environmental impacts of such expansion include:Loss of natural vegetationReduction in the quality of air, soils and waterWater scarcityPollutionDecline and complete loss of some plant and animal speciesOzone depletionGlobal warming and climate changeCoastal alteration for ports, harbours and marinas
- 7. EcosystemsAn ecosystem is an open system in which the inner-relationships between living and non-living things enable a range of organisms to exist. Examples include a forest, fallen logBiodiversity:Is a measure of the variety of plant, animal and micro-organism species that occupy an area.
- 8. Points to note about ecosystems:They are very complex as there are many ways in which organisms interact (slight changes to an ecosystem can have significant consequences)Ecosystems have the ability to adjust to change (absorb stress, adapt or undergo self-renewal)Over time, ecosystems undergo ecological succession whereby one type of community is gradually replaced by a more diverse array of species
- 9. Read p.p. 72-73 “Energy from the Sun”
- 10. The World’s BiomesWe know that the Earth has a variety of different landscapes (mountains, forests, deserts)You will find different landscapes in different areas due to the:ClimateRainfallSoilsTopographyAspect
- 11. The largest of these landscapes are called BIOMES and extend over large masses of landBiomes differ mainly because each contains its own unique ecosystem of plant and animal communities that have adapted to its physical conditions.
- 12. The largest biomes are:RainforestsDry forests, woodlands and shrub landSavanna woodlands and grasslandsDesert landscapesGrasslandsBoreal (coniferous) forestsFrozen landscapes-tundra and ice caps