Activity 2.3 – Biosphere and Interconnections

In this concept map, I explored biodiversity. Three main factors contribute to whether or not an ecosystem has biodiversity. First, is genetic variation which is the DNA that makes up an organism. Then, there is species richness is the number of different kinds of species in an environment. Lastly, there is the variety and dynamics of ecological communities on larger scales. This is the abundance and the interaction of species in large biomes.

    Biodiversity is the variety of species and their interaction with their environment. There are three main contributors to whether an ecosystem is biodiverse. First is genetic variation. Genetic Variation is composed of the DNA of an organism. This DNA is what gives an organism its unique attributes. Every organism has a special DNA sequence of its own. As an environment changes, the species’ DNA will change as they form mutations to adapt to their environment. Having genetic variation is a very desirable attribute of an ecosystem. It means that the species in that ecosystem will have an easier time adapting to these environmental changes that occur, like forest fires, tornados, hurricanes, climate change, and human activity like deforestation. This also allows for species to have a greater resistance to diseases. When a new disease is introduced to a population, having genetic diversity means that natural selection will be able to take place without doing detrimental damage to a species' population. Second is species richness which is the number of varied species in an ecological community like parks, provinces, countries, and biospheres. Areas like tropical rainforests are known for having lots of species richness. Lastly, is the variety and dynamics of ecological communities on larger scales. Biodiversity at the level of landscape, also known as ecoscapes, is associated with the number of different communities that occur within a specified region, as well as their relative abundance, size, shape, connections, and spatial distribution. (Freedman, B. (2018)). If a large-scale ecosystem only has a few species, it has low biodiversity even though it is a large ecosystem.  

For this map, I looked into the many different biomes and their many sub-biomes. There are two main kinds of biomes. First, there are land or terrestrial biomes which consist of tundras, deserts, rainforests, grasslands, and savannas. Then, there are the aquatic biomes which are marine and freshwater. There are also anthropogenic ecosystems that are human-made like cities and agricultural lands.

    

    There are many biomes on Earth that are unique and contain their own flora and fauna. Land biomes have a large variety of sub-biomes. There are tundra, which are treeless and have long cold winters with a short growing season. There are two kinds of tundra, alpine and arctic. Deserts commonly occur in continental interiors or in mountain rain shadows. They also have two types, tropical and temperate. Rainforests can either be tropical or temperate depending on where they are located. Tropical rainforests contain the most biodiversity of any biome. Grasslands in the US are temperate and referred to as prairies. There are also tropical grasslands, however. The two main types of aquatic biomes are freshwater and marine. The main freshwater biome is a wetland. There are several kinds of wetlands like swamps, marshes, bogs, and fens. Marine biomes cover most of our planet. There are open oceans that can either be pelagic or benthic. Pelagic is strongly influenced by physical and chemical factors, particularly waves, tides, currents, salinity, temperature, light intensity, and nutrient concentration. (Freedman, B. (2018)). Benthic is supported by a sparse rain of dead biomass from the surface. Another marine ecosystem is coral reefs, which are a tropical marine biome that develops in shallow, infertile places close to land. There are also continental shelves that occur near the shores of continents and are shallow because they overlie an underwater projection of the landmass. Lastly, estuaries that are open to the sea but are semi-enclosed in an embayment. (Freedman, B. (2018)).

This concept map is all about Energy and its different forms. There are three main types of energy. There is Kinetic, which is formed from bodies in motion. There is also potential energy, which is energy that is stored and can become kinetic or electromagnetic. And there is electromagnetic energy, which is an energy that travels in waves.

    Energy is a vital part of all ecosystems. It is what allows all life on earth to exist and thrive and there are many kinds. Kinetic energy is energy in motion. There are two types of this energy. First, there is mechanical kinetic energy. This is associated with any object that is in motion, meaning it is traveling from one place to another. Then, there is thermal kinetic energy which is associated with the rate at which atoms or molecules are vibrating. The next type of energy is potential. Potential energy is the stored ability to perform work. There are several kinds of this energy. First, gravitational potential energy which results from gravity, or the attractive forces that exist among all objects. Next, chemical potential energy is stored in the bonds between atoms within molecules. Then there is Electric potential energy, which is needed to move a charge against an electric field. There is also elastic potential energy which is stored because of the deformation of an elastic object. Next, compressed gases also store potential energy, which can work if expansion occurs. The last kind of potential energy is nuclear. Nuclear potential energy results from the extremely strong binding forces that exist within atoms. The last type of energy is called electromagnetic energy. Electromagnetic energy is measured in wavelengths. There are many different wavelengths like gamma, x-ray, ultraviolet, visible light, infrared, microwave, and radio. (Freedman, B. (2018)).

Resources:

Freedman, B. (2018). Environmental science: A Canadian perspective. Halifax, Canada: Dalhousie University Libraries.