EO - Ecosystems and World Biomes Lesson

Ecosystems and World Biomes

Besides being found in Georgia, what do the Blue Ridge mountains and the coastal region off of Tybee Island have in common?

Besides being two different vacation spots, each is an example of an ecosystem. Remember that an ecosystem includes the community of organisms that live and interact with their environment. Ecology is the study of these interactions. So if ecology is the cornerstone of environmental science, it is essential to understand what interactions occur in an ecosystem.

Links in a Chain

What defines an Ecosystem?

Now it is time to look at ecosystem ecology, which looks at how organisms shift around energy, nutrients, and materials within a defined space.

Watch the video below.

So what exactly is an ecosystem?

An ecosystem is defined as: the interaction between living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) things in a specific space. Biotic factors are the components of the ecosystem that are living. Biotic factors include bacteria, fungi, plants, protist, and animal life that are found within a defined space. The abiotic factors are the nonliving components of a defined space. Abiotic factors can include but are not limited to water, air, minerals, and space. Ecosystems are defined based on the interactions between the biotic and abiotic factors – moving energy and matter.

Only about 29% of the Earth is covered by land. And while ecosystems do not have clear boundaries like states, there are common ecosystems around the world due to similar climate and precipitation and are classified into biomes.

Watch the video below to learn about biomes.

Around the world, we can find similar biomes with similar climate and precipitation. Examples of terrestrial biomes include tropical rain forests, savannas, deserts, coniferous forests, deciduous forests, and tundra. The map below shows the broad distribution of biomes on Earth.

Click on each area of the ecosystem to learn about each biome.

What do you notice about the relationships between temperature and rainfall between biomes?

It might be helpful to see all this on a handout.  Download a Biome Breakdown Links to an external site.

Organization of Life Challenge

Before You Go, You Need to Know

The following key points are from this explore section of the microlesson. You must know the following information before moving to the next lesson. This is just a summary of the key points.

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