1. prairies (N America)
2. pampas (S America)
3. veldt (S Africa)
4. steppe (Central Asia)
5. Temperate grasslands (Australia)

Annual rainfall may range from 0.2 to 1m, but droughts occur periodically. This is much lower than the 0.85 to 1.5m in the savannas. Temperature range is much wider than in the savannas, ranging from -20 degrees to 10C. Temperature and rainfall follow a linear relationship, with both increasing as midyear approaches, then decreasing towards the end of the year.
The biodiversity here is much less vibrant than in the tropical grasslands, but still substantial. There are also insects like ants and grasshoppers, herbivores like prairie dogs and rabbits. These are preyed on by birds of prey. (Especially since this is a grassland, where the view is unobstructed by the flat land)
Today, the once abundant numbers of grazing mammals like the bison of N America and wild horse and antelope of Eurasia are still present, but in much smaller numbers. There are minimal trees here; instead temperate grasslands are dominated by herbaceous vegetation which supports most of the herbivorous fauna. These grasses are well-adapted for drought and cold, and fire. Much like in the savannas, the plants here have growth buds at the surface. Also, the plants have narrow, upright stems which help reduce heat gain during the hot summers, a characteristic of temperate grasslands along with harsh winters. The grasses in the more humid parts reproduce via underground stems and in the drier parts, reproduce by explosive action. Here, the grasses are much lower than those in the savannas for protection against the strong winds.
Unlike in savannas, where the growing season is determined by rainfall, the growing season here is determined by temperature, meaning that plants only grow and flower when temperatures hit 10C. When they flower though, they dot the landscape and make the temperate grassland much more colorful than their savanna counterparts. Every winter, the aboveground parts of grasses die off and these accumulate in the soil, making it rich and fertile in organic material. This is precisely the reason much of the temperate grassland has been converted to farmland.

Temperate Deciduous Forest

There are five layers here too, like the tropical rainforest.
The upper canopy consists of trees between 60 to 100 feet (much shorter than in the tropics). The lower canopy is made up of younger and shorter trees. The understory is the shrub layer. The fourth zone consists of short shrubs (mostly herbs). The ground cover consists of fungi and lichen.
Animals occupy several layers but there is much less organism diversity here as compared to the tropical forests. There is most light in spring that reaches the understoreys, and least light in midsummer when all the trees bear thick crowns of leaves which block out the sunlight. It is most humid in summer and more humid at night than during day.
Temperate deciduous forests are also mostly limited to the northern hemisphere, but they are closer to the equator than their coniferous counterparts. They are found in large patches of land over eastern Asia, Western Europe and eastern North America. There are also small areas on Australia. The average annual temperature here is 10C, with temperatures increasing towards midyear and decreasing toward year end. Precipitation is pretty even all year round, about 0.9m yearly, about the same as temperate coniferous forests. There are very distinct seasons here, as with temperate coniferous forests. During autumn, the leaves change to orange and red and during winter, they are shed in order to conserve water. New leaves are grown in spring.
The adaptations of the plants include leaning toward the sun. Besides migrating south and hibernating in the winter when food is scarce and weather is harsh, the animals are also camouflaged to look like the ground.
The soil is very fertile. Because of the slow rate of decomposition, like its coniferous counterparts organic material accumulates on the topsoil. This organic material gives out ions as it decomposes, supplying the plants with ample minerals for growth. Hence, deciduous forests make for good agricultural land, explaining the onslaught the farmers are waging upon them. China, Europe and North America have cleared most of them, leaving precious few species of trees left. The forests in Australia and other parts of the southern hemisphere are covered with different plants than those up north.
Spring is warm and breezy, summer hot and humid, fall cool and breezy and winter cold and frosty. However, unlike its coniferous cousin, there are no more larger mammals living here due to the extensive deforestation carried out by humans.
< a temperate deciduous forest in michigan
^ spring ^autumn

1:06 AM

.tts all folks.

Temperate coniferous forests

Temperate coniferous forests are thus named because the trees there, which bear chiefly needle leaves, never shed their leaves throughout the year. There is little rainfall here compared with their tropical counterparts, only about 0.3 to 0.9m annually. Temperatures also fall short in comparison because of location; coniferous forests are located furthest away from the equator relative to the other forests.
Temperate coniferous forests usually bear cones instead of flowers and needles instead of leaves. The cones stay on the tree all year along and are not shed at all, and they serve to conserve heat and water. Temperatures fall from between -40C to 20C. They are located only in the northern hemisphere, covering northern America and northern Europe, and some parts of Asia, in the higher, mountainous regions.
Coniferous forests are characterized by cold dry winters and warm wet summers. They are made up of mainly pure stands—hectares of trees made up of a single species. They are noted for the massive trees rarely found in other biomes.These forests consist of mainly two layers, upper and understory. There may also be a shrub layer that is made up of grasses which are frequently subject to wildfires that are ecologically important. Of all the forests, including tropical ones, the coniferous has the highest biomass, the result of low litterfall but low rate of decomposition because of the temperatures and decomposers, or rather, lack of.
In the boreal forests, which are coniferous forests higher up north, there is a layer of permafrost (frozen soil) which melts in summer, forming acidic bogs in low-lying areas. The animals living there are generally larger in size, excluding the ground birds.
The largest biome on Earth, these forests take up about 11% of the world’s surface area. The soil is mostly covered with needles that have been shed, and these needles acidise the soil, preventing other plants from growing on it. The soil is hence nutrient-poor and acidic, and does not support much life.

1:00 AM

.tts all folks.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Tropical Rainforest

These forests, which are responsible for the production of 40% of the earth’s oxygen, now cover only 2% of the earth’s surface amazing considering they are home to more than half the world’s flora and fauna. The trees here are not made up of pure stands, unlike temperate coniferous forests which are mainly made up of patches of forests with only one particular species of tree. Because of this tropical rainforests support the most diverse ecosystems of the world’s biomes.
Precipitation is among the highest, with annual rainfall above 2m, reaching 2.5m during the monsoon, and annual temperatures are slightly above 25C. Temperatures dip to 10-15C at night. Because of these stable conditions the vegetation is relatively dense.Compared with the temperate coniferous forests further away from the equator, where annual temperatures range from 21C to -1C. Because of its location, it receives much sunlight all year round and hence the never-ending growing season. Because of the dense canopy there are minimal winds passing through and most of the plants within the forest depend either on explosive action or animals to disperse their seeds.
Adaptations of the flora include the barks of trees. Bark, a tree’s outer covering, is essential to trees in the colder regions. Here, in a humid environment, the treebarks are mostly thin and branchless. Branches are unnecessary because of the dense uppercanopy, and thin bark is adopted because of the temperature, unlike the other colder forests where the trees have thick strong bark to protect them from water loss and low temperatures. Also, in order to protect themselves against the climbing plants, epiphytes and plant parasites, the barks are smooth.
The soil quality is commonly thought to be very fertile in order to support all this life, but in actual fact it is poor in nutrients because the heavy rain has washed most of it away.
The most distinctive feature is the five-layered structure; the emergents, canopy, undercanopy, shrub layer and undergrowth. The emergents consist of those trees that have umbrella- shaped canopies and shallow root systems, which they make up for with buttress roots that may protrude 3m aboveground and spread out 10m. The canopy is around 30m, and is the densest of all the layers. All the tree crowns may interlock over the bottom layers, and block out 90% of the sunlight. There is food in abundance here, so animals living here do not bother going down to scourge for food. The undercanopy is made up of trees growing up to 20m, and the shrub layer consists of shrubs and small trees which have leaves that point upwards to catch falling leaves and maximize surface area for sunlight absorption. The lowest layer, the shrub layer, is composed of minimal plant growth because less than 1% of the sunlight from up there manages to penetrate through. The fallen litter here is quickly broken down by decomposers such as earthworms, fungi and other plants.

8:32 AM

.tts all folks.

Tropical Monsoon Forests

Tropical monsoon forests are deciduous. This is in contrast to their rainforests cousins, which stay evergreen all year round. Only the undergrowth is evergreen in a tropical monsoon forest. The trees shed their leaves in the dry season in the earlier months of the year to minimize water loss.
During this time, the undergrowth gets exposed to more sunlight and hence grows denser. This “growth spurts” are not seen in the tropical rainforests. However, their high temperatures keep them from being classified as temperate forests, even though they have a wider temperature range of about 25C to 30C than their rainforest counterparts.
Also since there is a drought in the earlier part of the year, the trees cannot grow as tall as those in the rainforests. The canopy is hence less dense and more open, allowing for a thicker understory because more light passes through as compared to the rainforests where most of the light gets absorbed by the upper canopy.Tropical monsoon forests are generally found on hot lowlands outside of equatorial zones.
Adaptations include the trees synchronizing their flowering and fruit maturation to the dry seasons, where the temperature is highest and hence flowering occurs best.
Tropical monsoon forests are being chopped down for teak timber, an expensive form of timber.
The picture shows the trees with their leaves already shed.

8:32 AM

.tts all folks.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Reflective Essay Part I

GE2201
"This module looks at the different types of terrestrial environments or biomes that exist on Earth. It studies the natural environment of these biomes in terms of weather and climate; natural vegetation; soil formation; and rocks and landforms, as well as the culture, settlement pattern and agricultural activities of the people who reside in these different environments. It also highlights the fragility of the planet we live in, and suggests how our Planet is ailing, examining the causes and possible means of remedy. The module also studies why the relationship that we have with the environment must be reciprocal and symbiotic, and not exploitative."

Worlds within a world
There are many worlds inside of the one we share, planet Earth. Each one is unique to itself and has its own distinctive features.
These unique biomes are typicalised by their different environmental conditions and the flora and fauna habituating it.
There are various factors affecting the biome that an area will become, including but not limited to the precipitation and altitude, and soil quality in that area.

Biomes
Tropical Grasslands
Temperate Grasslands
Temperate Coniferous
Temperate Deciduous
Tropical Rainforest
Tropical Monsoon Forest
Mangrove

9:17 PM

.tts all folks.

Pek YangXuan
h0510084

GE2201
Terrestrial environments

sources
www.tropicalisland.de/borneo.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/C0113340/text/biomes/biomes.grassland.tropical.plants.html
https://royercenter.cwc.psu.edu/biodiversity/defined/biosphere/biome-savanna.html
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Laboratory/Biome/
http://www.panda.org/news_facts/education/university/habitats/index.cfm?habitatID=5

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