Ecosystems within Ecosystems BC Science Probe 7 Section
Ecosystems within Ecosystems BC Science Probe 7 Section 1. 3 Pages 11 -14
Ecosystems
Ecosystems • Ecosystems can be very large or very small. • Some are as small as pop bottles left out in the rain. • Some are as big as provincial parks.
Ecosystems • An ecosystem is not really a place. • It is a set of interactions among the living and non-living parts of the environment! • There can even be ecosystems in other ecosystems.
Ecosystems • Think about some big and small ecosystems that you know of or can imagine…
Ecosystems • You could study: – One rotting log – One branch of a creek. – A whole valley. • They all count as ecosystems you just have to study the living and non-living parts that you find and how they work together.
Ecosystems • You can even count the whole Earth as an ecosystem. • It is called the biosphere. – It includes all the places on Earth where living things are found. – It goes from the top of Mount Everest to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
Ecosystems • Because the biosphere is so large, it is divided into smaller portions called biomes.
Ecosystems • Biomes are large areas of the Earth that have roughly the same temperatures and the same amounts of rain or snow.
Ecosystems • There are, of course, smaller ecosystems in the biomes. • All of these ecosystems overlap and connect to each other. • They are also connected to the ecosystems in the oceans.
Ecosystems • There are many different ecosystems in the oceans just like there are on land. • Deep ocean, open ocean, coastal areas… they all have very different living and non-living factors.
Ecosystems • Estuaries are special ecosystems where land ocean overlap.
Ecosystems • In estuaries, the salt water mixes with the fresh water creates a unique ecosystem for lots of plants and animals. • Many birds and salmon spend parts of their lives on the BC coast then move to a different ecosystem linking them together.
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