Ecosystems of the World

ECOSYSTEMS Ecosystems are dynamic interactions between plants, animals, and microorganisms and their environment working together as a functional unit. Ecosystems will fail if they do not remain in balance. No community can carry more organisms than its food, water, and shelter can accommodate. Food and territory are often balanced by natural phenomena such as fire, disease, and the number of predators. Each organism has its own niche, or role, to play. ONLINE SCHOOLINGS YOU EDUCATE. WE ILLUSTRATE. OF THE WORLD Graphic created by Robin Richards |t. @ripetungi | w. ripetungi.com Marine ecosystems can be divided into the following zones Oceanic. The relatively shallow part of the ocean that lies over the continental shelf. Profundal. Bottom or deep water. Benthic. Bottom substrate- sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. Intertidal. The area between high and low tides. Estuaries. Salt marshes; coral reefs; and hydrothermal vents. Many species of fish reproduce in freshwater, but spend most of their adult lives in the sea. Known as anadromous fish, these include salmon, trout but some fish are born in salt water, living most of or parts of their adult lives in fresh water; like eels. There are three basic types of freshwater ecosystems Lentic. Slow-moving water, including pools, ponds, and lakes. Lotic. Rapidly-moving water, for Baikal is home to more than 2,500 species of plants and animals, 2/3 of which can be found The Baikal seal is one of the only freshwater seal nowhere else in the world. species in the world. example streams and rivers. Wetlands. Areas where the Different from freshwater ecosystems by the presence of dissolved compounds, especially salts, in the water. Approximately 85% of the dissolved materials in seawater are sodium and chlorine. soil is saturated or inundated for at least part of the time. with Great Lakes in North America and Lake Baikal in Russia, containing 7/8 of this fresh surface water. Home to 0.6% all land surface water like rivers, lakes and ponds 41% of all marine containing 2.4% is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps species 97% of the world's water Gulf Stream, makes northwest Europe much more temperate than any other region at the same latitude. Ocean current is a continuous movement generated by the forces such as breaking waves, wind, Coriolis force, temperature and salinity differences and tides caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun. AQUATIC Freshwater containing covers 0.8% of aquatic ecosystems 97% of all surface water is in oceans 0.009% of its total water Marine covers 71% of world's surface Arctic (5,300,000+) Largest deserts (mi') Home to Arabian Gobi (500,000) 13% of world's Great Basin (900.000) Phytoplankton are responsible for much of the oxygen present in the Earth's atmosphere - half of the total amount produced by all plant life. As well as being the base of the aquatic food web, providing an essential ecological function for all aquatic life. Sahara (3,320,000+) (190,000) Thar (200,000) Desert population covers 33% of land masst Great Home to Kalahari Victoria (250,000) 34% of all marine species (360,000) Patagonian The temperature in deserts can reach 113 F in the summer and as low as 32 Fin the winter. (260,000) Antarctic (5,339,573) 20% of world's oxygen produced in Amazon Rainforest The saguaro is a large, tree-sized cactus species native to the Sonoran Desert, Sonora Mexico, and part of the San Felipe Desert. They take up to 75 years to develop a side arm, with some specimens living for more than 150 years. Grow anywhere from 15 to 50 feet tall. Forest covers 30% 32m acres of of land mass forest are loss each year Rainforest Location of Dead zones covers 6% of land mass Dead zones are locations in the oceans that are unable to support life due to depleted oxygen levels. Coral Reefs 500m people depend on coral reefs for food and income covers 1% of aquatic ecosystems Taiga makes up 27% of the world's forest cover Location of the Taiga Forest Some of these were as small as a square kilometre (0.4 mi'), but the largest dead zone covered 70,000 square kilometres (27,000 mi?). Grasslands covers 31% of land mass Of 845 reef building corals species 20% Home to 25% of all 27% Threatened Near Threatened 40-70% of all species of the world's habitats are indigenous Found throughout the high northerm latitudes, between the tundra, and the temperate forest, mostly from 52'N to 6'N, but with considerable regional variation and reaching 70'N in some area. marine species Due to coral mining, pollution, overfishing, blast fishing,the digging of canals and warming oceans Over 4,000 species of fish inhabit coral reefs Location of Grasslands Principal coral reefs and reef areas Experts estimates that we are losing 137 plant, animal and insect species every single day due to rainforest deforestation There are 3 principal reef types Fringing reef - attached to a shore or bordersitwith an intervening shallow channel or lagoon. Barrier reef -a reef separated from a mainland or island shore by a deep lagoon. Pulley Ridge Andros, Bahamas , Red Sea Coral Reef The American Black Bear is North America's smallest and most common species of bear, and can be found in the Taiga forest of North America. Belize Barrier Reef Bamier Reef Atoll reef - circular or continuous barrier reef extending all the way arcund a lagoon without a central island. Ghe Raja Ampat Is. Great Banier Reef New Caledonia Barrier Reef Maldives Grasslands cover nearly fifty percent of the land surface of the Africa. LAND