Communities and Biomes Section 3.1 Communities Observe and Infer List changes that occur in your neighborhood in a year. Include changes that you have observed in plants, temperatures, or rainfall. Explain how your neighborhood is an ecological community. Accept all reasonable responses. Students should describe seasonal changes that they have experienced and include factors that have contributed to these changes (i.e. normal changes in temperature, daylight, or unanticipated factors such as excessive humidity). Students can also include changes to buildings, the street itself, or in the number of people living there.your neighborhood is a community because there is more than one species in the area. New Vocabulary climax community limiting factor primary succession secondary succession succession tolerance Use the new vocabulary terms to complete the following sentences. Succession is the orderly and natural change that takes place in communities over time. The colonization of barren land by pioneer organisms is primary succession The sequence of changes that take place after a community is disrupted by natural disasters or human actions is called secondary succession A stable community that undergoes little or no change is a climax community. Any factor that restricts the existence, numbers, reproduction, or distribution of an organism is a limiting factor. If an organism is able to survive and thrive in a changing environment it is showing tolerance... 22 Communities
Section 3.1 Communities (continued) Life in a Community SE, pp. 65 66 RE, pp. 24 25 Describe the community you can see outside a window of your classroom. List three abiotic and three biotic factors that contribute to that community. Biotic Factors green grass worms birds air soil sunshine Abiotic Factors Describe four limiting factors that cause trees not to grow above the timberline. 1. elevation is too high 3. 2. too cold 4. too windy soil is too thin Analyze the effect of drought as a limiting factor on producers, herbivores, and carnivores in a community. Use a specific example. Accept all reasonable responses. Drought may result in fewer producers (for example, the grass dies). Rabbits (herbivores) will also die, and the foxes (carnivores) that eat those rabbits will have less to eat and will die off or move. Sketch a standard bell curve similar to the one in the Limits of Tolerance figure in you book; include the Optimum range label. Below your figure, place the following in the correct location on the standard bell curve. right amount of sunlight right amount of water not enough water too much sunlight too much water not enough sunlight The bell curve should resemble the figure in the book. Not Enough Water and Not Enough Sunlight should be placed near the lower limit. Right Amount of Sunlight and Right Amont of Water should be placed in the middle of the curve. Too Much Water and Too Much Sunlight should be placed near the upper limit of the curve. Communities and Biomes 23
Section 3.1 Communities (continued) Succession: Changes Over Time SE, pp. 67 69 RE, pp. 25 26 Explain the difference between primary succession and secondary succession. Give an example of each. Accept all reasonable responses. Primary succession takes place on land where there is no living organism. An example is a place where a volcano has left cooled lava. Secondary succession takes place on land where the existing community has been seriously disrupted. An example is a forest fire. Create a concept map or diagram about succession with the words below. climax community grass lichens soil fire lava pioneer species trees Accept all reasonable responses. Students may make a landscapetype diagram or a concept diagram. CONNECT Sequence changes that might occur over one hundred years in a meadow. Accept all reasonable responses. 1. Grass grows freely. 2. Grasses become taller, thicker, wildflowers appear. 3. Scrub bushes and perennials appear. 4. Small animals and birds begin to live there. 5. Larger animals such as deer begin to live there. 6. Larger bushes and small trees enter the area. 7. Larger trees grow. 8. Grasses disappear. 9. More trees grow. 10. The meadow is now a forest. 24 Communities
Communities and Biomes Section 3.2 Biomes Skim Section 2 of your book. Write two questions that come to mind from reading the headings and the illustration captions. 1. Accept all reasonable responses. 2. New Vocabulary biome desert estuary Use your book to define each term. a group of organisms with the same climax communities the driest biome; an arid region with sparse or nonexistent plant life a coastal body of water, partially surrounded by land, in which fresh water and saltwater mix grassland intertidal zone photic zone plankton taiga temperature/deciduous forest tropical rain forest biome covered with rich soil, grasses, and similar plants portion of the shoreline that lies between high and low tides portion of the marine biome that is shallow enough for sunlight to penetrate heterotrophs and autotrophs that drift and float in the photic zone biome south of the tundra, boreal or coniferous forest with mineralpoor topsoils biome composed of forests of broad-leaved hardwood trees warm, wet biome located near the equator with lush plant growth and more species than any other biome tundra treeless biome that circles the poles and has permafrost Communities and Biomes 25
Section 3.2 Biomes (continued) Aquatic Biomes SE, pp. 70 74 RE, pp. 28 30 Describe the adaptations an animal in an intertidal zone needs to survive. Accept all reasonable responses. Animals must cling to rocks or sand during the incoming and outgoing tide. Such adaptations include suction cup claws, glue, and an ability to bury themselves in sand. List three examples of plankton and explain why they live in the photic zone. Examples include diatoms, eggs, and very young marine animals. They live in the photic zone because that is where sunlight can penetrate (for photosynthesis). Compare a marine biome, a freshwater biome, and an estuary. Identify the following in the rows of the table. Some boxes have been done for you. 1.an example of each type of body of water 2. characteristics of the water 3.where most of the organisms are located 4. examples of types of organisms 5. how nutrients are passed along and/or decay occurs Accept all reasonable responses. Marine Biome Freshwater Biome Estuary 1. open ocean pond, lake where stream meets sea 2. saltwater no salt in the water fresh and salt cold in deeper water waters 3. photic zone most in shallow, in thick grasses fewer in deep waters 4. plankton, animals insects, fish thick grasses, that eat plankton snails, crabs, (fish, whales, sharks) shrimp 5. plankton begin the bacteria break down stems and roots trap process, all animals organisms in cold food material for eat plankton or deep waters and small organisms, another animal that recycle nutrients other organisms eat eats plankton these little ones 26 Biomes
Section 3.2 Biomes (continued) Terrestrial Biomes SE, pp. 74 83 RE, pp. 30 32 Compare examples of vegetation and animals in each terrestrial biome by completing the table below. Biome Animal Vegetation tundra weasels, arctic foxes a few grasses and small plants, dwarf shrubs taiga elk, deer, moose fir and spruce desert hawks cacti, plants that conserve water grassland ferrets grasses, wildflowers, grains rain forest monkeys lush plant growth temperate forest mice, rabbits, bears deciduous trees Describe the biome in which you live. Accept all reasonable responses. Look for descriptive words about organisms, climate, and communities. CONNECT Describe adaptations that allow three particular organisms of your choice to survive in their biome. Accept all reasonable responses. The snowy owl survives in the tundra because it is camouflaged to avoid predators. Since the climate is cold with lots of snow it is a good place for a white owl. Cacti and kangaroo rats survive in the dry climate of the desert. The rat is adapted to use water resulting from the chemical breakdown of their food. Rats conserve moisture by coming out of their burrows at night when the humidity is highest. Cacti are adapted to conserve their water. Communities and Biomes 27