bio biosphere

The study of the interactions of organisms with their environments

Composed of living communities and nonliving physical and chemical factors

Fresh water and marine life

Categorized by climate and plant life

• Organism
• Population
• Community
• Ecosystem

• Called the biosphere
• Sum of all the Earth's ecosystems
• Most complex level in biology

living

Nonliving

Include all organisms

• Include atmospheric gases, energy, nutrients, and water
• Organisms are affected by both components of their environment

• One of the first to perceive the global dangers of pesticide abuse
• She documented her concerns in the 1962 book "Silent Spring"
• The book played a key role in the awakening of environmental awareness

• Solar energy
• Temperature
• Water
• Nutrients
• Other aquatic factors
• Other terrestrial factors

• A highly successful herbivorous running mammal of open country
• Their habitat is arid, windswept, and subject to extreme temperature fluctuations
• Pronghorns able to survive and reproduce under these conditions left offspring that carried their alleles into subsequent generations

Largely determined by the input of solar energy and the planet's movement in space

23.5

Rain and winds

Earth's rapidly moving surface deflects vertically circulating air, making the winds blow from east to west

The slower-moving surface produces the westerlies, winds that blow from west to east

• Have a profound effect on regional climates by warming or cooling coastal areas
• They are created by winds, planet rotation, unequal heating of surface waters, and the locations and shapes of continents

Rainfall is affected by location of mountains, prevailing winds, and ocean current patterns

75% of the Earth's surface

Light and availability of nutrients

• Productive areas where rivers meet the ocean
• The saltiness of estuaries range from less than 1% to 3%
• They provide nursery areas for oysters, crabs, and many fishes
• The are often bordered by extensive coastal wetlands

Sunlight and substrate

• The wetland at the edge of an estuary or ocean, where water meets land
• Salt marshes, sand, rocky beaches, and tide pools are part of the intertidal zone
• It is often flooded by high tides and then left dry during low tides

• The open ocean
• Supports highly motile animals such as fishes, squids, and marine mammals
• Phytoplankton and zooplankton drift in the pelagic zone

• The ocean bottom
• Supports a variety of organisms based upon water depth and light penetration

• The portion of the ocean into which light penetrates
• Photosynthesis occurs here

• A vast, dark region of the ocean
• It is the most extensive part of the biosphere
• Although there is no light, a diverse and dense population inhabits this zone

• Found in warm tropical waters above the continental shelf
• Support a huge diversity of invertebrates and fishes

• Pollution
• Native and introduced predators
• Human souvenir hunters

• Current
• Sunlight
• Nutrients

Lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, and wetlands

• Several types occur in the warm, moist belt along the equator
• Are the most diverse ecosystem on Earth
• Large-scale human destruction continues to endanger many species; it may also alter world climate

Drier, tropical areas and some nontropical areas

• The driest of all terrestrial biomes
• Characterized by low and unpredictable rainfall
• Desertification is a significant environmental problem

A shrubland with cool, rainy winters and dry, hot summers

• Found in the interiors of the continents, where winters are cold
• Drought, fires, and grazing animals prevent trees from growing
• Farms have replaced most of North America's temperate grasslands

• Grow where there is sufficient moisture to support the growth of large trees
• Nearly all of the broadleaf forests in North America have been drastically altered by agriculture and urban development

• Taiga
• Is characterized by long, cold winters and short, wet summers

• Lies between the taiga and the permanently frozen polar regions
• It is a treeless biome characterized by extreme cold, wind, and permafrost