Introduction

• Environment is a term that

encompasses all living and non-living
things occurring naturally on Earth or
some region thereof
• Ecology is the interdisciplinary
scientific study of the distribution
and abundance of organisms and
their interactions with their
environment
• The environment of an organism
includes all external factors,
including abiotic ones such as
climate and geology, and biotic
factors, including members of the
same species and other species
that share a habitat.
 Environmental Science
• Environmental Science is an expression
encompassing the wide range of
scientific disciplines that need to be
brought together to understand and
manage the natural environment and
the many interactions among physical,
chemical, and biological components.
• Environmental Science provides an
integrated, quantitative, and
interdisciplinary approach to the
study of environmental systems.
• Environmental Studies is the
systematic study of human
interaction with their environment
• It is a broad field of study that
includes the:
• natural environment
• built environments
• social environments
• and the sets of relationships
between them and the
interactions of human beings
and nature
• The discipline encompasses study in the
basic principles of ecology and
environmental sciences as well as the
associated subjects such as policy, politics,
law, economics, social aspects, planning,
pollution control, natural resources,
• Ecosystem is a system of interdependent
organisms which share the same habitat, in
an area functioning together with all of the
physical (abiotic) factors of the
environment
 Biomes are climatically and geographically
defined areas of ecologically similar climatic
conditions such as communities of plants,
animals, and soil organisms, and are often
referred to as ecosystems.
• Biomes are defined by factors such as:
• Plant structures (such as trees, shrubs, and
grasses)
• Leaf types (such as broadleaf and needleleaf)
• Plant spacing (forest, woodland, savanna)
• Climate.
Biome
Tropical Forests
• A tropical rainforest is an
ecosystem usually found around
the equator.
• They are common in Asia,
Australia, Africa, South America,
Central America, Mexico and on
many of the Pacific Islands.
• The rainforests are home to more species or
populations than all other biomes combined.
• 80% of the world's biodiversity are found in
tropical rainforests
• The leafy tops of tall trees - extending from 50
to 85 meters above the forest floor
• Organic matter that falls to the forest floor
quickly decomposes, and the nutrients are
recycled.
• Rainforests are characterized by high rainfall.
This often results in poor soils due to leaching
of soluble nutrients.
• The tropical rainforest is earth's most complex
biome in terms of both structure and species
diversity.
• It occurs under optimal growing conditions:
abundant precipitation and year round
warmth.
• There is no annual rhythm to the forest;
rather each species has evolved its own
flowering and fruiting seasons.
• The trees are very tall and of a great
variety of species.
• One rarely finds two trees of the
same species growing close to one
another.
• The vegetation is so dense that little
light reaches the forest floor.
• Most of the plants are evergreen.
• The leafy tops of tall trees -
extending from 50 to 85 meters
above the forest floor.
• Organic matter that falls to the
forest floor quickly decomposes,
and the nutrients are recycled.
• The branches
of the trees
are adorned
with vines
and
epiphytes
• Epiphytes are plants that live suspended
on sturdier plants.
• They do not take nourishment from
their host as parasitic plants do.
• Because their roots do not reach the
ground, they depend on the air to bring
them moisture and inorganic nutrients.
• Many orchids and many bromeliads
(members of the pineapple family like
"Spanish moss") are epiphytes.
• The tropical rain forest exceeds all the other
biomes in the diversity of its animals as well as
plants.
• Most of the animals — mammals and reptiles,
as well as birds and insects — live in the trees.
 Temperate Deciduous Forest

• This biome occupies the eastern half of the

United States and a large portion of Europe. It
is characterized by:
• Hardwood trees (e.g., beech, maple, oak,
hickory)
• Deciduous; that is, shed their leaves in the
autumn.
• The number of different species is far more
limited than in the jungle.
• Large stands dominated by a single species
are common.
• Deer, raccoons, and salamanders are
characteristic inhabitants.
• During the growing season, this biome can be
quite productive in both natural and
agricultural ecosystems.
 Taiga
• The taiga is named after the biome in
Russia.
• It is a land dominated by conifers ( with
cones)
• It is abundant with lakes bogs (wetland)
and marshes (wetland) .
• It is populated by an even more limited
variety of plants and animals than is the
temperate deciduous forest.
• Before the long, snowy winter
sets in, many of the mammals
hibernate, and many of the birds
migrate south.
• Although the long days of
summer permit plants to grow
luxuriantly, net productivity is
low.
 Temperate Rain Forest
• The temperate rain forest combines
high annual rainfall with a temperate
climate.
• The Olympic Peninsular in North
America is a good example.
• An annual rainfall of as much as 150
inches produces a lush forest of
conifers.
• Relative proximity to the ocean,
usually coastal mountains.
• Temperate rain forests depend
on the proximity to the ocean to
moderate seasonal variations in
temperature
• Creating milder winters and
cooler summers than
continental-climate areas.
• Wildfires are uncommon because of
constant high moisture content in forest.
• Epiphytes, including mosses, are
abundant.
• Temperate rain forests may be
predominantly:
• coniferous, broadleaf deciduous,
broadleaf evergreen, or mixed forests,
and occur in temperate broadleaf and
mixed forests
 Tundra
• The climate is so cold in winter that
even the long days of summer are
unable to thaw the frost beneath
the surface layers of soil.
• Moss, some grasses and fast-
growing annuals dominate the
landscape during the short growing
season.
• Swarms of migrating birds, especially
waterfowl, invade the tundra in the summer
to raise their young, feeding them on a large
variety of aquatic invertebrates and
vertebrates.
• As the brief arctic summer draws to a close,
the birds fly south, and
• all but a few of the permanent residents, in
one way or another, prepare themselves to
spend the winter in a dormant state.
 Grasslands
• The annual precipitation in the grasslands
averages 20 in./year.
• A large proportion of this falls as rain early in
the growing season.
• This promotes a vigorous growth of perennial
grasses and herbs.
• Fire is probably the factor that tips the
balance from forest to grasslands.
• Fires — set by lightning and by humans —
regularly swept the plains in earlier times.
• Thanks to their underground stems and buds,
perennial grasses and herbs are not harmed
by fires that destroy most shrubs and trees.
 Desert

• Annual rainfall in the desert is less than 10 in.

and, in some years, may be zero.
• Because of the extreme dryness of the desert,
its colonization is limited to
• Plants such as cacti, sagebrush (small tree),
and mesquite (legumes) that have a number
of adaptations that conserve water over long
periods
• Fast-growing annuals whose seeds can
germinate, develop to maturity, flower, and
produce a new crop of seeds all within a few
weeks following a rare, soaking rain.
• Plants such as cacti, sagebrush (small tree),
and mesquite (legumes) that have a number
of adaptations that conserve water over long
periods;
• Fast-growing annuals whose seeds can
germinate, develop to maturity, flower, and
produce a new crop of seeds all within a few
weeks following a rare, soaking rain.
• Many of the animals in the desert (mammals,
lizards and snakes, insects, and even some
birds) are adapted for burrowing to escape
the scorching heat of the desert sun.
• Many of them limit their forays for food to the
night.
• The net productivity of the desert is low.
• High productivity can sometimes be achieved
with irrigation, but these gains are often only
temporary.
• The high rates of evaporation cause minerals
to accumulate near the surface and soon their
concentration may reach levels toxic to plants.
 Chaparral

• The chaparral biome is found in a little bit of

most of the continents:
• West coast of the United States, the west
coast of South America, the Cape Town area
of South Africa, the western tip of Australia
and the coastal areas of the Mediterranean.
• Similar biomes (with other names, such as scrub
forest, are found around much of the Mediterranean
Sea and along the southern coast of Australia.
• The trees in the chaparral are mostly oaks and
evergreen.
• All of these plants are adapted to drought by
such mechanisms as waxy, waterproof
coatings on their leaves.
• Lay of the land: The chaparral biome has many
different types of terrain.
• Some examples are flat plains, rocky hills and
mountain slopes.
• It is sometimes used in movies for the "Wild
West".
• Chaparral is characterized as being very hot
and dry.
• As for the temperature, the winter is very mild
and is usually about 10 °C.
• Then there is the summer.
• It is so hot and dry at 40 °C that fires and
droughts are very common.
• The animals are all mainly grassland and
desert types adapted to hot, dry weather.

• A few examples: coyotes, jack rabbits, mule

deer, alligator lizards, horned toads, praying
mantis, honey bee and ladybugs.