Introduction

In this blog, we will cover three ecosystems of the world, the Tundra, the Savanna, and the Tropical Rain Forest. There will be explanation for all of them, including at least one food chain and indigenous vegetation. Location of at least one example of relevant ecosystem will be provided, as well as its climate. Enjoy the blog!

Tundra

We will start off by educating you, the readers, about the tundra. Did you know that the Artic Tundra is the world's youngest biome? Originally, tundra comes from the Finnish word "tunturia", which means barren land. The tundra was formed 10,000 years ago, around the north and south pole. The Arctic Tundra makes up 20% of the Earth's surface, having usually cold weather and starky land. The ground in an area of tundra is frozen permanently, hence vegetation is scarce in an area near tundra. The only vegetation that are low lying enough to survive are plants like mosses, heaths, and lichen. Having cold and dark winters and melted snow and permafrost in the summer, the tundra springs with wildlife during the summer, being covered with marshes, lakes, bogs, and streams that breed thousands fo insects and migrating birds. The tundra is also home to animals d

uring the winter, though not as much. One example would be the arctic fox. Located at the northern american tundra. Arctic foxes usually make homes by burrowing in frost-free ground. Arctic foxes are scavenger. Sometimes, they follow polar bears or other predators and eat the remains of its meal. These house cat-size animals vary from about twelve to sixteen inches long and weight from six to twelve pounds. They have short, stubby legs and a bushy tail to wrap around itself for warmth. Arctic foxes have white hair in the winter and grey hair in the summer. These animals have also adapted stealthy movements from its nature. The food chain of the Tundra goes something like this. Produces such as livernorts, grasses, caribou moss, and lichens are eaten by primary consumers like pikas, musk ox, caribou, lemmings, and arctic hares. Then, these animals are eaten by secondary consumers such as arctic foxes, brown bears, arctic wolves, polar bears, kittiwakes, and snowy owls. Scavengers include the arctic foxes. Decomposers include mosses, lichen, and fungi.

Tropical Rainforest

The next ecosystem we will cover is the Tropical Rain Forest. The Tropical Rain Forest is a region of year-round warmth, receiving 50 to 260 inches of precipitation per year. Average humidity is between 77 and 88% and has an average of 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Indigenous vegetation includes the life-saving plant, periwinkle, an anesthetic, curare, and quinine. Over 2,500 species of vines grow in Tropical Rain Forests. Tropical Rain Forests cover less than 6% of Earth's land surface, and they produce 40% of Earth's oxygen. One famous Tropical Rain Forest is the Amazon Rain Forest. Tropical Rain Forests have four distinct layers in them : the emergent, the upper canopy, the understory, and the forest floor. Emergent trees are widely placed, and are 100 to 240 feet tall with small leaves, straight trunks, and few branches. These trees support the upper canopy. The upper canopy allows light to shine on top of it, but greatly reduces the lighting below it, in the understory. Many animals live on the upper canopy and never come down because of the abundant supply of food and water. The understory, or lower canopy, is made up of small trees, shrubs, and plants. Humidity is high here and is in constant shade. Few shrubs and plants grow in the forest floor because of the little light on the forest floor. The top soil is thin and poor quality. A toucan would eat a vine, a tiger could eat the toucan, and the tiger would be slowly decomposed by worms and undergrowth bacteria. Other animals are plentiful in rain forests, such as insects like butterflies, mosquitoes, stick insects, and huge colonies of ants. These insects can be eaten by a variety of animals, and them by more. The cycle is seemingly endless.

Savanna

Savannas, or tropical grasslands, are made up of rolling grasslands lined with shrubs and isolated trees. Savannas can be found between tropical rainforests and desert biomes. There is not enough rainfall to support forests here. Savannas are made up of two seasons that differ: A long, dry season, and a wet season. In the dry season, about four inches of rain will fall. However, from December to February, no rain will fall at all. Strangely, it actually gets cooler in the dry season. In the wet season, or summer, rain is plentiful. The African monsoons begin in May. An average of fifteen to twenty-five inches of rain falls during this period. I also gets hot and very humid during the rainy season. African savannas have large herds of grazing and browsing hoofed animals. Each animal has a specialized eating habit that reduces that competition for food. There are many different savannas in the world. African savannas. The Serengheti Plains of Tanzania which contain animals such as lions, zebras, elephants, giraffes, and animals with hooves graze and hunt.Many herbivores survive here because they can move around and eat the plentiful grass. This is prey for many carnivores. This brings us to the Tanzanian Savanna food web. With plenty of sunlight in this area, grass is found very commonly. This is food for herbivores such as zebras, elephants, and animals with hooves. Once lions and tigers arrive nearby, they will eat these herbivores. Finally, decomposers such as bacteria or fungi will decompose the bodies of all the animals. Some decomposers will even decompose other decomposers! On the other hand, South America contains savannas which contain few species of animals. There are savannas in Brazil, Columbia, and Venezuela that occupy two and a half million miles of land. Here, capybara and deer have adapted to semi aquatic life, and plants have adapted to growing for long periods in standing water. Brazil's cerrado is an open woodland of short, twisted trees. Here, there is much diversity, and several plants exist here and no where else on Earth. There is also a savanna in northern Australia where eucalyptus trees take the place of acacias in the Australian savanna. There are many species of kangaroo here, but not much diversity in other species.

The Carbon Cycle

Now that we have learned about each of the major ecosystems of the world, lets learn more about the one major element that makes up the ecosystems: carbon. Carbon, a chemical element, can be found everywhere, all over the Earth. To begin things, carbon can be found all over the atmosphere in the carbon dioxide that makes up the atmosphere. Carbon is also stored in fossil fuels, along with certain types of rocks, shells, and animals. Carbon is also part of the dissolved soil found in the surface of the ocean, the bottom of the ocean, and underground. Finally, carbon is stored in plants and trees. Although carbon is stored in most objects, more complexity arrives when studying where carbon moves. One area to look where carbon moves would be a city, along with a lake, and a forest. In forests, trees and plants absorb carbon dioxide during the process of photosynthesis, and store carbon as they grow. When plants release some of this carbon into the atmosphere, this is called respiration. After the plants and trees die, they fall to the ground and decompose into material that makes up fossil fuels. Being that fossil fuels are made up of carbon, this is another example of how carbon moves in all sorts of directions. Hence, we can conclude that carbon is everywhere and moves in all sorts of directions. Although this may occur with plants and trees on land, the same cannot be said for the carbon cycle in water. Through a process called diffusion, gases that contain carbon move in between the atmosphere and the surface of the ocean. The one point that does not change between the carbon cycle on land and the carbon cycle on water, is that plants, both on land and water, use carbon dioxide in the process of photosynthesis. When primary consumers eat the plants that stored carbon through photosynthesis, the carbon gets passed on to the primary consumer. These animals and plants, then release carbon dioxide back into the water through respiration. When these plants and animals die, similar to the scenario on land, they fall to the bottom of the ocean and decompose. This compost can develop into fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, that is made up of carbon. Some sea creatures have the ability to remove carbon from the ocean and use it to make their shells. When these animals die, they settle at the bottom of the ocean. Although it takes a very long time for rocks to form and wear down, this process moves carbon in water. As for the city, it depicts how humans affect the carbon cycle by our daily activities.

Carbon Sources and Carbon Sinks

Carbon sinks are living things or objects that take in carbon. The difference between carbon sinks and carbon sources is that carbon sinks take in carbon and carbon source release or store carbon. A few examples of carbon sinks are redwood trees, landfills, and the ocean.

Carbon sources are living things or objects that contain and give off carbon. Carbon sources can be identified by the actions of the living things or the objects. For example, a carbon source is people breathing, driving a car, factory gases, or burning fossil fuels. When carbon is released, scientists call the objects or living things release agents.

Release Agents and their Harmful Effects

Release agents are living things or objects that release carbon into the air. Release agents are similar to carbon sources in the fact that they both store and release carbon. A few examples of release agents are volcanoes, forest fires, and humans. With all of these release agents and many more, some harm the environment.
Humans greatly influence the carbon cycle through many activities. For example, when we extract fossil fuels and burn them for energy, this is called combustion. Another example would include deforestation. Deforestation occurs when we cut or burn down trees, which allows carbon dioxide to move throughout the air and settle in the atmosphere. Since carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, this would contribute to global warming, making these two carbon sources harmful.