Living World

An Ecosystem includes all living and non-living parts in an area. For example, in an Ecosystem of a freshwater pond, there is a wide range of consumers (the animals which eat things lower than them), producers (the plants and animals which have the nutrients needed to feed things higher than them) and other links which pass on nutrients.

In an Ecosystem, there are food chains and food webs. The difference between the two is that food chains give only a small amount linkages between species but a web gives every link.

In an Ecosystem, nutrients are passed on from a single producer to many consumers. Nutrients are passed back to the producer via the final consumer dying and leaving the nutrients back in the ground.

A Biome is a grouping of Ecosystems that have similar vegatation, structure and climate.

Biomes are grouped in separate areas of the world. This is due to the conditions which cover that area of the world. For example, Tundra is distributed across the top of the Northern Hemisphere, especially the North of Russia and Canada, which have very low temperatures.

The characteristics of a biome are also affected by the area of the biome. These factors are either Biotic or Abiotic. Biotic factors are living elements in an Ecosystem, including mammals, insects and birds. Plants have a large influence over Ecosystems. Abiotic factors are non-living conditions which can affect where plants or animals live.

In many Ecosystems, plants need to adapt in order to survive. A good example of sseing this is by looking at the Amazon Rainforest.

The plants and trees of the many layers of the Rainforest all compete for survival. in order to do this, they need nutrients and sunlight.

The roots of plants and trees are not designed to reach deep down into the soil to get nutrients. In fact, they grow widespread across the ground in order to absorb the only nutrients available which lie on the top layer of soil due to the rain washing them away. Then, the leaves of the plants have grown in size in order to absorb as much sunlight as possible. The trees which pop up above the rest of the upper canopy have a better chance of getting the most sunlight possible due to their strong and stable roots.

Likewise to plants, animals must adapt to their surroundings in order to survive. The best place to see these adaptions, is in the Tundra Biome.

For example, the Arctic Fox has adapted to eat a varied amount of different food due to harsh conditions making him have to eat as much as possible. Also, its coat keeps them warm and it has hair on its paws to prevent slipping.

Another example are Penguins. They have water-tight feathers for insulation, flippers for swimming, and huddle together for warmth. These adaptions clearly point to the fact that they are able to learn about how to cope in the cold.