Introduction

 Environment is a term that encompasses all

living and non-living things occurring
naturally on Earth or some region thereof
 Ecology is the interdisciplinary scientific
study of the distribution and abundance of
organisms and their interactions with their
environment
 The environment of an organism includes all
external factors, including abiotic ones such as
climate and geology, and biotic factors,
including members of the same species and
other species that share a habitat.
 Environmental Science
 Environmental Science is an expression
encompassing the wide range of scientific
disciplines that need to be brought together to
understand and manage the natural
environment and the many interactions among
physical, chemical, and biological
components.
 Environmental Science provides an
integrated, quantitative, and interdisciplinary
approach to the study of environmental
systems.
 Environmental Studies is the systematic study
of human interaction with their environment.
 It is a broad field of study that includes the:
 natural environment
 built environments
 social environments
 and the sets of relationships between them and
the interactions of human beings and nature
 The discipline encompasses study in the basic
principles of ecology and environmental
sciences as well as the associated subjects such
as policy, politics, law, economics, social
aspects, planning, pollution control, natural
resources,
Ecosystem is a system of interdependent
organisms which share the same habitat, in an
area functioning together with all of the
physical (abiotic) factors of the environment
Biomes are climatically and geographically
defined areas of ecologically similar climatic
conditions such as communities of plants,
animals, and soil organisms, and are often
referred to as ecosystems.
 Biomes are defined by factors such as:
 Plant structures (such as trees, shrubs, and
grasses)
 Leaf types (such as broadleaf and needleleaf)
 Plant spacing (forest, woodland, savanna)
 Climate.
Biome
Tropical Forests
 A tropical rainforest is an ecosystem usually
found around the equator.
 They are common in Asia, Australia, Africa,
South America, Central America, Mexico and
on many of the Pacific Islands.
 The rainforests are home to more species or
populations than all other biomes combined.
 80% of the world's biodiversity are found in
tropical rainforests
 The leafy tops of tall trees - extending from 50
to 85 meters above the forest floor
 Organic matter that falls to the forest floor
quickly decomposes, and the nutrients are
recycled.
 Rainforests are characterized by high rainfall.
This often results in poor soils due to leaching
of soluble nutrients.
 The tropical rainforest is earth's most complex
biome in terms of both structure and species
diversity.
 It occurs under optimal growing conditions:
abundant precipitation and year round warmth.
 There is no annual rhythm to the forest; rather
each species has evolved its own flowering
and fruiting seasons.
 The trees are very tall and of a great variety of
species.
 One rarely finds two trees of the same species
growing close to one another.
 The vegetation is so dense that little light
reaches the forest floor.
 Most of the plants are evergreen.
 The leafy tops of tall trees - extending from 50
to 85 meters above the forest floor.
 Organic matter that falls to the forest floor
quickly decomposes, and the nutrients are
recycled.
 The branches of the
trees are adorned with
vines and epiphytes
 Epiphytes are plants that live suspended on sturdier
plants.
 They do not take nourishment from their host as
parasitic plants do.
 Because their roots do not reach the ground, they
depend on the air to bring them moisture and
inorganic nutrients.
 Many orchids and many bromeliads (members of the
pineapple family like "Spanish moss") are epiphytes.
 The tropical rain forest exceeds all the other
biomes in the diversity of its animals as well
as plants.
 Most of the animals — mammals and reptiles,
as well as birds and insects — live in the trees.
 Temperate Deciduous Forest

 This biome occupies the eastern half of the

United States and a large portion of Europe. It
is characterized by:
 Hardwood trees (e.g., beech, maple, oak,
hickory)
 Deciduous; that is, shed their leaves in the
autumn.
 The number of different species is far more
limited than in the jungle.
 Large stands dominated by a single species are
common.
 Deer, raccoons, and salamanders are
characteristic inhabitants.
 During the growing season, this biome can be
quite productive in both natural and
agricultural ecosystems.
 Taiga

 The taiga is named after the biome in Russia.

 It is a land dominated by conifers ( with cones)
 It is abundant with lakes bogs (wetland) and
marshes (wetland) .
 It is populated by an even more limited variety
of plants and animals than is the temperate
deciduous forest.
 Before the long, snowy winter sets in, many of
the mammals hibernate, and many of the birds
migrate south.
 Although the long days of summer permit
plants to grow luxuriantly, net productivity is
low.
 Temperate Rain Forest

 The temperate rain forest combines high

annual rainfall with a temperate climate.
 The Olympic Peninsular in North America is a
good example.
 An annual rainfall of as much as 150 inches
produces a lush forest of conifers.
 Relative proximity to the ocean, usually
coastal mountains.
 Temperate rain forests depend on the
proximity to the ocean to moderate seasonal
variations in temperature
 Creating milder winters and cooler summers
than continental-climate areas.
 Wildfires are uncommon because of constant
high moisture content in forest.
 Epiphytes, including mosses, are abundant.
 Temperate rain forests may be predominantly:
 coniferous, broadleaf deciduous, broadleaf
evergreen, or mixed forests, and occur in
temperate broadleaf and mixed forests
 Tundra

 The climate is so cold in winter that even the

long days of summer are unable to thaw the
frost beneath the surface layers of soil.
 Moss, some grasses and fast-growing annuals
dominate the landscape during the short
growing season.
 Swarms of migrating birds, especially
waterfowl, invade the tundra in the summer to
raise their young, feeding them on a large
variety of aquatic invertebrates and vertebrates.
 As the brief arctic summer draws to a close, the
birds fly south, and
 all but a few of the permanent residents, in one
way or another, prepare themselves to spend the
winter in a dormant state.
 Grasslands
 The annual precipitation in the grasslands
averages 20 in./year.
 A large proportion of this falls as rain early in
the growing season.
 This promotes a vigorous growth of perennial
grasses and herbs.
 Fire is probably the factor that tips the balance
from forest to grasslands.
 Fires — set by lightning and by humans —
regularly swept the plains in earlier times.
 Thanks to their underground stems and buds,
perennial grasses and herbs are not harmed by
fires that destroy most shrubs and trees.
 Desert

 Annual rainfall in the desert is less than 10 in.

and, in some years, may be zero.
 Because of the extreme dryness of the desert,
its colonization is limited to
 Plants such as cacti, sagebrush (small tree),
and mesquite (legumes) that have a number of
adaptations that conserve water over long
periods
 Fast-growing annuals whose seeds can
germinate, develop to maturity, flower, and
produce a new crop of seeds all within a few
weeks following a rare, soaking rain.
 Plants such as cacti, sagebrush (small tree),
and mesquite (legumes) that have a number of
adaptations that conserve water over long
periods;
 Fast-growing annuals whose seeds can
germinate, develop to maturity, flower, and
produce a new crop of seeds all within a few
weeks following a rare, soaking rain.
 Many of the animals in the desert (mammals,
lizards and snakes, insects, and even some
birds) are adapted for burrowing to escape the
scorching heat of the desert sun.
 Many of them limit their forays for food to the
night.
 The net productivity of the desert is low.
 High productivity can sometimes be achieved
with irrigation, but these gains are often only
temporary.
 The high rates of evaporation cause minerals
to accumulate near the surface and soon their
concentration may reach levels toxic to plants.
 Chaparral

 The chaparral biome is found in a little bit of

most of the continents:
 West coast of the United States, the west coast
of South America, the Cape Town area of
South Africa, the western tip of Australia and
the coastal areas of the Mediterranean.
 Similar biomes (with other names, such as scrub
forest, are found around much of the Mediterranean
Sea and along the southern coast of Australia.
 The trees in the chaparral are mostly oaks and
evergreen.
 All of these plants are adapted to drought by
such mechanisms as waxy, waterproof
coatings on their leaves.
 Lay of the land: The chaparral biome has
many different types of terrain.
 Some examples are flat plains, rocky hills and
mountain slopes.
 It is sometimes used in movies for the "Wild
West".
 Chaparral is characterized as being very hot
and dry.
 As for the temperature, the winter is very mild
and is usually about 10 °C.
 Then there is the summer.
 It is so hot and dry at 40 °C that fires and
droughts are very common.
 The animals are all mainly grassland and
desert types adapted to hot, dry weather.

 A few examples: coyotes, jack rabbits, mule

deer, alligator lizards, horned toads, praying
mantis, honey bee and ladybugs.