Year 10 Geography mocks (the living world)

Biome - Biomes are large scale ecosystems defined by abiotic factors such as climate, soils and vegetation. The world's major biomes include rainforest, desert, savanna, grassland and tundra.

Biotic - Biotic components are all the living things in an ecosystem. They are the animals, the plants and the microorganisms. Biotic components also include the waste from living things and dead organisms

Abiotic - Abiotic factors in the environment can also be measured. For example, a thermometer can be used to measure the temperature of the soil, water or air

Biodiversity - Biodiversity is the total variation between all living things

Interdependent - All parts are dependent on one another, if any one of htem changes everything else is affected 

TUNDRA - Found at high latitudes in Northern Europe, Canada and Alaska. Little rainfall, cold, brief summer. Hardly any trees, vegetation mainly mosses, grasses and low shrubs. Permafrost.  Grassland -Two types of grassland. Savannah grasslands are found between the Tropics - dry and wet seasons low rainfall.Vegeation is grasses. Temperate grasslands are at higher latitudes where there is more variation in temperature and less rainfall. No trees just grasses.  Temperate deciduous forest - Found in the mid-latitudes where there are four distinct seasons. Deciduous trees lose their leaves in winter to help cope with the colder weather.  Polar - The North and South poles. Cold, icy dry. Dark for several months a year  .Hot desert - 15 and 35 degrees North and South of the equator where there's little rainfall. Very hot during the day and cold at night. Shrubs and cacti.  Tropical rainforest - Found around the equator between the tropics where it's hot and wet all year round.Lush forest, with dense canopies of vegetation forming distinct layers. Boreal forest - AKA Taiga Winters are cold and dry and summer is mild and mosit. Trees are coniferous, evergreen and have needles

Malaysia is South of Thailand, in South East Asia.

Causes of deforestation in Malaysia:

• Commercial farming (palm oil). Malaysia is hte largest exporter of palm oil. In the 70's many many plantations made - plantation owners receive 10 year tax incentive which leads to more.
• Subsistence farming - Tribes, hunt and gather and farm in small clearings the make. The clearing are small scale and sustainable.
• Logging - 1980's largest exporter of tropical wood. Two types - Clear felling where all is cut down, total destruction. Selective logging - Only fully grown and appropiate trees cut down. Trees that have important ecological value left alone.
• Energy development (Bakun dam) - Dam started making electricity in 2011, 205m it's Asia's highest dam outisde of China. Flooded over 700km²  of forest and farmland
• Mineral extraction - Tin, common in Penisular Malaysia. Drilling for oil and gas recently started.
• Population pressure - Transmigration encouraged. Poor urban --> countryside. 1950's to 80's 15,000ha felled for settlers who then set up planations

Examples:

Weathering of the rock beneath soil releases nutrients into the soil.

Micro-organisms help break down dead plants whihc release nutrients.

Climatic elements affect the plants such as seasons etc.

A food chain is a linear sequence of organisms through which nutrients and energy pass as one organism eats another; the levels in the food chain are producers, primary consumers, higher level consumers and decomposers. These levels are used to describe ecosystem structure and dynamics.