Name: Honors MYP Biology Summer Assignment: Biomes and Energy Ecology Unit Welcome to Honors MYP Biology! This assignment will give you background information needed to deeply understand our first topic of study in the fall: Ecology. Everyone enrolled in Honors MYP Biology for the fall of 2014 should complete this packet individually. The packet will be due at the end of the first week of school. You may use trusted online resources from educational institutions and the online version of our textbook- chapters 18, 20, and 21. The website for the online textbook, login information and password are listed below. If you have any questions feel free to direct questions to Mrs. Carlino. My email address is lcarlino@uscsd.k12.pa.us. Website: my.hrw.com Login: mhonorsbio Password: e5k3k Do not wait until August to begin this assignment! Learning Targets: 1. I can explain how the sun directly and indirectly determines the characteristics of biomes. 2. I can describe several abiotic characteristics of biomes. 3. I can use food webs, food chains, and energy pyramids to represent energy movement in a biome. What are biomes? The biosphere is the relatively thin layer on the surface of the Earth from the thermal vents at the bottom of the ocean floor to the top of Mt. Everest, where all known living organisms are found. Within that biosphere there are large ecosystems termed biomes that can be found at multiple locations in the biosphere. Biomes can be broken down into two broad categories: terrestrial and aquatic. Terrestrial biomes are land biomes that are characterized by similarities in climate, soil quality, and dominant form of plant life. Aquatic biomes are water biomes that are characterized by the type of water, amount of light, and nutrients available to organisms. Biome Formation The sun either directly or indirectly determines all properties of biomes. For each of the following statements circle the underlined choice that best completes the statement. 1. Generally speaking, as latitude increases from 0 degrees at the equator to 90 degrees at each pole, the amount of direct sunlight increases or decreases leading to an increase or decrease in the quantity and species of producers and an increase or decrease in the average temperature of the biome.
2. As the sun s energy evaporates water on major bodies of water like the ocean rain clouds form. Generally speaking the further a biome is from the ocean the more or less precipitation it receives. 3. As elevation increases there is an increase or decrease in greenhouse gases that trap the sun s energy resulting in an increase or a decrease in the average temperature of that biome and an increase or decrease in the amount of liquid precipitation it receives. 4. In the ocean the deeper one travels the amount of penetrating light increases or decreases resulting in more or less producers like plankton and therefore more or less consumers like fish. 5. Seasonal melting of Antarctic ice results in the movement of very dense salt water from more shallow areas to deeper areas on the ocean floor resulting in the underwater currents that bring dissolved nutrients from the sunless bottom of the ocean deep up to the sunlit shallows of the neritic zone resulting in an increase or a decrease in the amount of plankton which results in an increase or decrease in the amount and type of species of fish in the neritic zone.
Biome Biome Classification Research each of the terrestrial biomes listed in the first column. In each column use the choices listed at the top of the column to describe each biome. For the last column write one fact that sets that biome apart from all other biomes. Latitude 0-30 30-60 60-90 Liquid Precipitation Low Medium High Temperature Cold Hot Seasonal Soil Thin Frozen Depleted Rich Major Producers Shrubs Grasses Trees Succulents Unique Facts Tundra 60-90 Low Cold Frozen Shrubs Only biome where permafrost is found Coniferous Forest/ Taiga/ Boreal Forest Deciduous Forest/ Temperate Forest Tropical Rain Forest Grassland Desert
Some of the largest biomes on the planet are aquatic biomes. Complete the following table. In the second column classify the water as salt, fresh, or brackish. In the third column explain what conditions would lead to this biome s formation in a particular location. In the third column identify one unique fact about that biome that sets it apart from all other aquatic biomes. Biome Intertidal Ocean Zone Water Salt water Freshwater Brackish water Salt water Conditions for Formation Shallow water near the coast of the ocean Unique Fact Greatest number of species of any oceanic ecosystem Neritic Ocean Zone Oceanic Zone Estuaries Lakes/Ponds Rivers/Streams Wetlands Energy Relationships in Ecosystems The biosphere is a materially closed system, but in terms of energy it is an open system meaning that matter (atoms) cycles but never leaves the planet while the energy necessary for life primarily comes from outside the planet and leaves as wasted energy in the form of heat. In all terrestrial biomes and most aquatic biomes the source of energy for life is the sun. Producers are organisms that are able to capture the sun s energy and convert it into organic (carbon containing) molecules necessary for life by the process of photosynthesis. All non- photosynthetic life forms rely on the consumption of producers either directly (primary consumers) or indirectly (secondary, tertiary etc. consumers).
One helpful way to map the energy relationships in a biome is through a food web. A food web uses arrows to show how energy moves from producers in the biome to all of the consumers through predation. Organisms that consume the same prey are competitors with each other. Within a food web a single energy pathway can be traced. This simplified, linear pathway showing the movement of energy from producers to primary consumers, to secondary consumers, and to tertiary consumers is termed a food chain. Each link in the food chain is termed a trophic level. In an ecosystem the population decreases as energy gets passed up the food chain. Ecologists represent the relative populations of organisms in a food chain through an energy pyramid. In an energy pyramid, the first trophic level (producers) is always the biggest and represents the greatest population. The highest trophic level is represented by the smallest piece of the pyramid showing the lowest population in the food chain. Representing Energy Movement in Biomes 1. Pick a biome and research a food web containing a minimum of 10 organisms with at least two producers. Create a food web in the space provided below. 2. What biome did you pick? 3. Identify a predator- prey relationship from your food web and write it below. 4. Identify two organisms that are in competition with each other for the same prey.
5. Using your food web create a food chain with at least three trophic levels (links). Number the trophic levels and name each trophic level as either a producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, or tertiary consumer. 6. Using your food chain create an energy pyramid. Put a star next to the organisms in the energy pyramid that are present in the lowest population.