Ecosystems

This map shows the eight biomes of the world. The orange area is tundra, purple is taiga, green is grassland, black is temperate forest, yellow is desert, blue is tropical rain forest, brown is chaparral and the white is ocean. Click on image for full size (84K JPG) Windows Original

Have you ever heard the word, ecosystem? Also called biomes, these regions of land make up the Earth's surface. All of the Earth's surface, with the exception of the ice in Antarctica and Greenland, fits into one of these ecosystems. But what is an ecosystem?

An ecosystem is a region of land that has its own unique climate and life. The amount of rainfall, temperature and sunlight makes each region the way it is. Each biome is filled with plants and animals that have adapted to that land. All together, the land and its inhabitants is called an ecosystem.

There are eight biomes in the world, and each one is different than the other. The first one is the ocean. This biome is the largest of all, since water makes up most of the planet. Rainforests are unique areas where strange animals thrive in the warm, wet climate. Colder areas that receive enough rain will see temperate forests form. If there isn't enough rainfall, grasslands will fill the region.

Dry, hot regions will become desert, while the frigid cold regions of northern North America and Asia are called tundra. Taiga is the named given to land in between the cold tundra and the warmer temperate forest and grassland biomes. And finally, a very small amount of land in Europe and Australia is called Chaparral.

Want to learn more about these regions and the animals that live there? Click on tropical rain forest, desert, temperate forest, tundra, grassland, or ocean.

A Podcast about how Northern forests and tropical forests play a part in the uptake of carbon.

NSF Podcast: "Degrees of Survival"

This map shows the eight biomes of the world. The orange area is tundra, purple is taiga, green is grassland, black is temperate forest, yellow is desert, blue is tropical rain forest, brown is chaparral and the white is ocean. Click on image for full size (84K JPG) Windows Original

Have you ever heard the word, ecosystem? Also called biomes, these regions of land make up the Earth's surface. All of the Earth's surface, with the exception of the ice in Antarctica and Greenland, fits into one of these ecosystems. But what is an ecosystem?

An ecosystem is a region of land that has its own unique climate and life. The amount of rainfall, temperature and sunlight makes each region the way it is. Each biome is filled with plants and animals that have adapted to that land. All together, the land and its life is called an ecosystem.

There are eight biomes in the world, and each one is different than the other. The first one is the ocean. This biome is the largest of all, since water makes up most of the planet. Rainforests are unique areas where strange animals thrive in the warm, wet climate. Colder areas that receive enough rain will see temperate forests form. If there isn't enough rainfall, grasslands will fill the region.

Dry, hot regions will become desert, while the frigid cold regions of northern North America and Asia are called tundra. Taiga is the named given to land in between the cold tundra and the warmer temperate forest and grassland biomes. And finally, a very small amount of land in Europe and Australia is called Chaparral.

Want to learn more about these regions and the animals that live there? Click on tropical rain forest, desert, temperate forest, tundra, grassland, or ocean.

A Podcast about how Northern forests and tropical forests play a part in the uptake of carbon.

NSF Podcast: "Degrees of Survival"

This map shows the eight biomes of the world. The orange area is tundra, purple is taiga, green is grassland, black is temperate forest, yellow is desert, blue is tropical rain forest, brown is chaparral and the white is ocean. Click on image for full size (84K JPG) Windows Original

Do you know what an ecosystem is? There are eight ecosystems in the world. They are called temperate forest, tropical rain forest, desert, grassland, tundra, taiga, chaparral and ocean. Each one is very different from the others. What makes them so different?

Well, how much sunlight and rainfall they get makes them different. So does the temperature! Also, each one has special plants and animals that live there.

Want to learn more about these regions and the animals that live there? Click on tropical rain forest, desert, temperate forest, tundra, grassland, or ocean.

A Podcast about how Northern forests and tropical forests play a part in the uptake of carbon.

NSF Podcast: "Degrees of Survival"