Principles of Ecology (BIOL 330)

Week 7 Assignment: Exploring Ecosystems

20 points – 3 questions

Name: Divya Patel

Instructions
Please fill in the answers with red font. Use your notes and chapter materials to answer the following
questions. Save this document as a Word (.doc) or PDF file (.pdf) and upload to Canvas by the due date.

This week’s chapters provide an abundance of information about the global ecosystems, or biomes. To
make things a bit more manageable for you to study, this homework is simply a consolidation of the
week’s information. This homework will become very helpful to you when answering this week’s quiz
and the final exam.

1. Chapter 23: Fill in the following table to help you sort out the characteristics of terrestrial
biomes. Use your textbook and the Chapter 23’s “Study Area” online video (“Activity: Terrestrial
Biomes”) to help you answer this question. For mean annual temperatures and precipitation,
use Figure 23.2 on page 511 for help. I filled in the first biome to help you get started.
(10 points)

Biome Mean Annual Mean Annual Example Characteristic Features

Temperature Precipitation locations
(°C) (cm)
Desert -5 to 30°C < 50 cm Western USA, Shrub plants (cool deserts) to
Middle East, succulents (hot deserts). Plants and
Sahara, animals adapted to scarce water.
Western Animals include grazing herbivores,
Australia beetles, ants, locusts, lizards,
mammals.
Tropical Rain Forest 18 to 28°C 250 cm to 440 South America The tropical rain forests are
cm (amazon restricted primarily to the equatorial
basin), zone between latitude 10° N and 10°
Southeast S. Temperature warm throughout
Asia, West the year and rainfall occur almost
Africa (Gulf of daily. Rain forest account for more
Guinea, Congo than 50 percent of all known plants
basin) and animal species.
Tropical Savanna 18 to 28°C 50 cm to 150 South Savanna includes an array of
cm America, vegetation types representing a
Central continuum of increasing cover of
Australia, woody vegetation, from open
Southern grassland to widely spaced shrubs or
Africa tress and to woodlands.
Temperate Grassland -5 to 18°C 50 cm to 150 North Many grasslands exist through the
cm America, intervention of fire and human
Principles of Ecology (BIOL 330)

Central activity. Conversions of forests into

Eurasia, agricultural lands and the planting of
Argentina, hay and pasturelands extended
Southern grasslands into forested regions.
Africa. Long, short, and mixed prairies.
Animals include bison, prairie dog.
Temperate Shrubland -5 to 18°C 50 cm to 150 Western North Shrublands are plant communities
cm America, where the shrubs growth form is
Region either dominant or codominant.
bordering the There are communities of Xeric
Mediterranea broadleaf evergreen shrubs and
n Sea, Central dwarf trees.
Chile, the cape
region of
South Africa,
Southwestern
and Southern
Australia.
Temperate Forest 3 to 18°C 130 to 250 cm Europe, China, This biome is dominated by
parts of north deciduous trees which lose leaves
and south seasonally. Another name for these
America. forests is broad-leaf forest because
of wide, flat leaves on the trees.
Trees in temperate deciduous forests
lose their leaves in fall and regrow
them in spring.
Conifer Forest -5 to 3°C 50 to 200 cm Boreal forest Conifer forests, dominated by
Russia, North needle-leaf evergreen trees, are
America, found primarily in a broad
Europe, and circumpolar belt. Animals include
Asia, in the Caribou, moose, snowshoe hare,
high elevations arboreal red squirrel, wolf, lynx, pine
of mountains. martin, and owl.
Arctic Tundra -15 to -5°C 15 to 75 cm Northwest It encircles the top of the northern
Canada, hemisphere which is frozen plain,
Alaska, Siberia, clothed in sedges, heaths, and
Northern willows, dotted with lakes, and
Scandinavia. crossed by streams. Tundra falls into
two types: tundra with up to 100
percent plant cover and wet to moist
soil, and polar desert with less than 5
percent plant and dry soil.

2. Chapter 24: For the following aquatic ecosystems, describe what is found within their zones:
(6 points)

Ecosystem Zone Description of Zone Organisms Found within Zone

Principles of Ecology (BIOL 330)

Ponds and Lakes Littoral zone Also known as shallow water Pond fish, muskrat, diving
zone. This zone surrounds beetle, mallard, frogs, turtles,
most lakes and ponds and water scorpion, pond snail and
engulfing some ponds rooted plants.
completely. In this zone, light
reaches the bottom,
stimulating the growth of
rooted plants. Pg 541
Limnetic zone Beyond the littoral zone is Microscopic phytoplankton
open water, which extends to (autotrophs), zooplankton
the depth of light penetration (heterotrophs), nekton i.e. free
known as the limnetic zone. swimming organisms such as
Pg 541 fish.
Profundal zone This is the region where Leeches, annelid worms, some
effective light cannot species of insect larvae and few
penetrate. The starting point types of crabs and mollusks.
is marked by the
compensation depth of light,
the point at which respiration
balances photosynthesis. Pg
541
Benthic zone This region is also known as Bloodworm, insect larvae,
the bottom region, which is annelids, mollusks,
the primary place of crustaceans, flatworms.
decomposition. Pg 541
Streams and Rivers Headwaters Swift, cold and in shaded Shredders, processing large
(orders 1st – 3rd) forested regions. Primary sized litter and feeding on
productivity in these streams CPOM, and collectors,
is typically low, and they processors of FPOM. Few
depend heavily on the input of grazers, small fishes such as
detritus from terrestrial sculpins, darters and trout are
streamside vegetation, which also found.
contributes more than 90% of
the organic input. Pg 548
Medium-sized rivers More surface water is exposed Collectors, feeding on FPOM,
(4th – 6th) to the sun, water temperature transported downstream, and
increases, and as the elevation grazers, feeding on autotrophic
gradient declines, the current production are dominant
slows. Pg 549 consumers, and predators like
bottom feeding fish such as
suckers (catostomidae) and
catfish.
Large rivers (7th – 10th) This region is wider and Bottom dwelling collectors are
deeper. The flow volume the dominant consumers and a
increases, and the current very few phytoplankton and
becomes slower. associated zooplankton are
Sedimentation occurs in the seen.
Principles of Ecology (BIOL 330)

bottom region. Pg 549

Oceans Epipelagic zone It is also known as photic zone Various kind of algae and
and it reaches about 200m phytoplankton, small fish,
from the surface in which dolphins, jellyfish, whale, seal,
there are sharp gradients in sea turtles, tuna, corals and
illumination, temperature and sharks. Pg 553
salinity. pg 551
Mesopelagic zone This zone extends from 200 to Sperm whale, squid,
1000 m, where little euphausiid shrimp, swordfish,
penetrates and the catsharks, dragon fishes, some
temperature gradient is more other fishes, zooplankton,
even and gradual, without snipe eels. Pg 553
much seasonal variation. This
zone contains an oxygen
minimum layer and often the
maximum concentration of
nutrients (nitrate and
phosphate). pg 551
Bathypelagic zone This zone falls below the Sperm whale, vampire squid,
mesopelagic zone, where deep sea anglerfish, snake
darkness is virtually complete, dragon fish, amphipod, gulper
except for bioluminescent eel.
organisms, temperature is
low, and water pressure is
great. pg 551
Abyssopelagic zone This zone extends from about Algae, anemones, arrow worm,
4000 m to the sea floor. The cookie-cutter shark, crabs,
water temperature is too cold copepods, ctenophores,
mostly near freezing. pg 551 myctophids, mussels,
nudibranchs, segmented
worms, swallower fish,
tubeworms, pelican eel, viper
fish, lantern fish, umbrella
mouth gulper.
Hadalpelagic zone The only zone which is deeper Amphipods, decapods, rat tail
than the abyssopelagic zone, fish, liparid fish, snailfish, cusk-
which includes areas found in eels,
deep sea trenches and
canyons. pg 551

3. Chapter 25: This chapter reviews a number of unique coastal and wetland ecosystems. What
makes each unique from one another? (4 points)

Coastal or Wetland Defining Features

Ecosystem
Salt marsh Also known as tidal marshes occur in temperate latitudes where coastlines are
protected from the action of waves within estuaries, deltas, and by barrier islands
Principles of Ecology (BIOL 330)

and dunes. The structure is dictated by tides and salinity, which create a complex of
distinctive and clearly demarked plant communities. Pg 565
Mangrove forest Replacing salt marshes on tidal flats in tropical regions are mangrove forests or
mangals, which cover 60 to 75 percent of the coastline of the tropical regions. They
develop where wave action is absent, sediments accumulate, and the muds are
anoxic. They extend landward to the highest vertical tidal range, where they may be
only periodically flooded. Dominant plants include Rhizophora, Avicennia, Bruguiera,
and Sonneratia along with shrubs. Pg 566
Swamp Swamps are the forested wetlands. They may be deep water swamps dominated by
cypress, tupelo, and swamp oaks, or they may be shrub swamps dominated by alder
and willows. Pg 567
Peatland Wetlands that are characterized by an accumulation of partially decayed organic
matter with time are known as peatlands or mires. Pg 568
Bog Mires dependent largely on precipitation for their water supply and nutrients and
that are dominated by Sphagnum are bogs. Pg 569
Moor Raised bogs are popularly known as moors. As bogs depend on precipitation for
nutrient inputs, they are highly deficient in mineral salts and low in pH. Pg 569