...Environmental Science Derick Stevenson AIU Online The grasslands of the world establish a major part of ecosystems in dissimilar areas of the world. The grasslands play a big part in parts of Africa, and also they have a lot of distinguishing properties. Grasslands inhabit almost all ecological regions and can be gathered into six groups. You have moderate grasslands, flooded grasslands, xeric and desert grasslands, and tropical and subtropical grasslands that can all be assembled into classes. (Webkil Designs copyright 2012) The abiotic and biotic factors of the grassland are contributory in determining the structure and purpose of the ecosystem. The different abiotic and biotic factors work differently in different types of grassland ecosystems conferring to their environmental conditions. The Abiotic and biotic factors play a main part in the existence of the grassland ecosystem. (Webkil Designs copyright 2012) The abiotic aspects of grassland basically consist of the climate. Climate is one of the most significant abiotic factors that form the ecosystem and includes rainfall, temperature, wind flow, ground moisture and more. Natural grasslands have a precipitation of 500mm – 900mm per year. The deserts have anywhere between 250mm a year. This type of rainfall preserves the moisture and cooperates with the abiotic and biotic factors of the grassland. Grasslands can also happen in high rainfall areas. Grassland climates array from cool to hot summers, and ice in the winter...
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...Lions. Nourishing. Kids. Imagination. Your adrenaline is running. You can see the African Safari slowly coming around in the room. The sun beating down on your neck. In the distance the lions are standing in the watering hole. There walking toward you, slowly, quietly. You think their not gonna see you. By the end the room is dark. Ray Bradbury’s short story “The Veldt,” takes place in a smart home — a home where it does everything for you, from feeding them and rocking them to sleep. Wendy and Peter have always loved the nursery their parents built for them. They remember everything that has happened in the past and the things that have happened now. Without the nursery the kids would have nothing. George and Lydia Hadley call this the veldt. The veldt is a room that you go into and it takes your thoughts and turns them into a reality on a wall. Doing every every thought from the smell to the sound. This is supposed to be a place for them to express themselves and also a way for psychologists to keep track of all thought patterns that are coming and going into the veldt. The kids are really used to having everything they want, so they are never told no by their parents. Since the veldt means so much to the kids it would kill them to have it taken away. One lesson the story suggests is that when children become spoiled they become naughty kids. From the very beginning, the author uses descriptive language to show how the kids are spoiled. In one of the scenes in the story it...
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...Tile: Buckskin Brigade What my picture about? My picture is about buckskin brigade. There riding horses and there is two dog and 15 Indians. There is eight men and about six women and a child. They look like their having fun and their clothes and equipment are made out of buckskin. They were by green river valley on their way to green river rendezvous. The rendezvous were usually in the first of July! They have come over union pass, which was the old pass leading from Wind River valley over into the headwaters of the green river and was the pass used by the Indians and trappers in the early days. Quotes! “You don't climb mountains without a team, you don't climb mountains without being fit, you don't climb mountains without being prepared and you don't climb mountains without balancing the risks and rewards. And you never climb a mountain on accident - it has to be intentional.” ~Mark Udall. “Mountains are the beginning and the end of all natural scenery.” ~John Ruskin "Over every mountain there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley." ~Theodore “If you don't have a mountain, build one and then climb it. And after you climb it, build another one.” ~Sylvester Stallone First person point of view! When I was a young man I was always on a horse. My pants were often cutoff just below the knee and a strip of trade blanket was wrapped around my legs to...
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...There are two types of grasslands, tropical and temperate. Tropical grasslands are warm year around and have a dry and rainy season. Temperate grasslands have an average of 10 to 30 inches of rain per year, have shorter grass, and have a growing and dormant season (Grasslands Terrain of Many Names). There are the Great Plains in the United States that cover from parts of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana and covers all of Kansas, Nebraska, South and North Dakota, and covers all the way up into parts of Canada. In Africa there is the African Savanna, which is a tropical grassland that covers 25 territories and South Africa. The abiotic structure of grasslands includes the climate; rainfall, temperature, wind flow, and ground moisture. The bedrock has an influence on the type of soil and what can and cannot be grown in that location, slopes and elevation, floods, fires, high temperatures and freezing temperatures are also abiotic structures. The biotic structures include any living thing in that ecosystem. Grass, rabbits, moles, elk, snakes, birds, bacteria and fungi are part of the biotic structures (tutorvista.com 2014). You cannot have one with out the other in an ecosystem. The grass needs the rain as well as the animals in order to survive. The temperatures help decide which type of animals and plant life will live in that area as well. Carbon function in the ecosystem is to be used by the plants for photosynthesis and to make organic molecules...
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...Introduction The gopher, also known as the Prairie Dog is one of the world’s pests. This small mammal has destroyed crops in a lot of counties. It feed on any grain or leaf plant it can eat. As a result people have trapped and shot these creature for many year. Size Gophers are a small, rabbit sized, mammal. They burrow their dens, or holes, in the soft dirt. The most common place to find them is in North Americas grass lands. They typically take to the fields where they can find food easily. Gophers usually travel and live in colonies, much like ants. And they only come out in the daylight. (Geographic, 1996-2014) (Gehmon) The Burrow Their burrows, or dens, is an extensive system of tunnels and chambers marked by mounds of dirt at the burrows entrance. These burrows have definite nurseries, sleeping quarters, and even toilets. They also include listening posts near exits. These posts make it so that they can safely keep tabs and movements on predators. The gophers spend a lot of time building and rebuilding their dwellings due to a many number of predators that take their former home. (Geographic, 1996-2014) Predators (Wildlife) There are many predators that endanger and steal from the lives of gophers. These predators consist of snakes, burrowing owls, and even rare black-footed ferrets, weasels. These predators hunt the gophers in their own dwelling, or burrow. Snakes often eat the prairie dogs, then use the burrow as their own. The same happens with the burrowing owls...
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...The black footed penguin are nice and pretty animal in the wild. It is hard to find this animals their just are found in a few places. The animals are going endangered. The scientific name for the black footed penguin is Spheniscus Demersus. The kingdom name for this animal is Animalia and the phylum is Chordata. There are different class for animals and the class for this animal is Aves. The order is Sphenisciformes and the family of the black footed penguin is spheniscidae. The common name of the black footed penguin is known as the African penguin. The black footed penguin are found in the southern shoreline of Africa. Some places are like around Namibia and South Africa. When close to birth this animal like being in warm latitudes in rocky, sandy, coastal areas. When the penguin is at it full growth it about 60 cm long and about two to four kilograms at weight. They have black back, wings, face, and feet. Their torso are white with a black spot and a black line across their chest. The male penguin are bigger then the females penguin. The face of the penguin is black which, is boarded by white on the eyebrows, and around the edge of their cheeks. There are a patch of pink skin above each eye and bill. When the penguin is out of the water for a period of time it is losing heat. Their eyes are hazel. When the penguin are first born they are layer with grey fluffy fur, which it take about two or three years before it grow the characteristics of an adult’s penguin. This penguin...
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...Identify impacts associated with agriculture Some time ago a quarter of earth was covered by grassland but all that changed for the reason of the loss of wildlife habitat most of the grasslands have been turned into farms. The majority of soils of the grasslands are wealthy and as a result just about approximately anything can be developed. Then again impoverished agricultural procedures can wreck soils maneuvering grasslands into unresponsively and unproductive. If the harvests are not well taken care off then as a result nutrients inside the soil are unprotected having mediocrity crops for many years. Assessed towards grassland farmlands receives insufficient wealth for the producing of offspring plus also farm animals ruin grassland. According to "Grassland Threats" (© 1996-2012 National Geographic Society. All rights reserved.), (“In United States only 5% of original grassland is still remaining.”) Grassland have several threats which are the nonstop of global warming affecting present grasslands by turning them into wasteland including the pattern changing of rainfall, city expansion are highly growing decreasing the grassland environment, having few crops growing, bugs, illness can extend without problems causing the requirement of toxic pesticides, dried plants, cold weather, wheat, and corn lets crops developed into natural prairie. Grasslands also have solutions for all its negative threats such as schools and teachers educating students more on exactly how to safe from...
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...we have and work on being happy on the things that are currently at hand while the latter talks about aspiring to gain more and improve. Contentment is as still as the earth while Ambition is as fierce as fire. The Greener Grass Syndrome has slowly spread throughout our workplace or our life. There are many of us who feel that the current pasture we are on are slowly depleting and is not making us happy any more. There is a lot who is thinking of the better pasture out there. What lies behind the mountain that hinders us from moving? Is there a greener grass out there that is a whole lot better than the current one that we are feeding on? Which weighs much greater, the current grass that I can mold and make it better or the unknown grassland in the beyond? Every time I think about this syndrome, it reminds me of the story of the sheep who feels that they are not treated right by their shepherd. Their grass in their pasture has ceased to grow because the shepherd failed to maintain it. The fence in the pasture is also ruined as the Shepherd is more concerned on the wool that the sheep is producing. In short, he forgot to make his pasture as safe place. One of the sheep rebelled and started digging a hole in the fence. Days have passed and the hole become larger and the sheep could easily fit in. The day has come for him to be free. The sheep proud and tall told the other sheep that there is a better pasture on the other side but nobody listened. So the proud sheep went on...
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...Forest ecosystem FOREST ECOSYSTEM A forest is more than just the trees. A single forest is a complete, functioning ecosystem that supports innumerable plant and animal species as well as earth, water, and air subsystems. The subsystems provide the essence of life of the forest and are in themselves a byproduct of forest systems, all of which are reciprocal and inter dependent. A forest ecosystem is a complex of living and non-living elements which interrelate. An ecosystem can be small (like your backyard) or large (like the planet earth). It depends on the range of individual species or group of species being discussed (e.g.: a salmon stock or a forest type), geology (e.g.: a mountain range or watershed), and other issues. Different organisms exist within the forest layers. These organisms interact with each other and their surrounds. Echo organism has a role or niche in sustaining the ecosystem. Some provide food for other organisms, other provide shelter or control populations trough predation. NEEDLE LEAF Needle leaf trees fall into two categories based on how they are attached to the twig coming off the branch of the tree. On coastal redwoods and true firs, the needles will be connected directly to the twig, growing off it like leaves off the branch of a common plant. On trees like spruce trees, the individual needles will be connected to the tree via a peg-like stalk, which is also known as a needle peg. Sometimes needles on conifers are bundled together...
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...goats and other animals they preyed on came back and repopulated the areas. Amur Leopard Also known as Far Eastern leopard is a leopard subspecies native to the Primorye region of southeastern Russia and Jilin Province of northeast China. Its ecological role: Amur leopards hunt a very wide variety of animals including roe deer, sika deer, badgers and hares. Amur leopards are threatened by poaching, encroaching civilization, new roads, exploitation of forests, and climate change. Methods of restoring populations Cut down poaching and other threats by funding appropriate conservation projects and educating and informing people about the importance of the Amur leopard Black-footed ferret Black-footed ferrets once occurred in grassland habitats throughout the Great Plains in 12 US states and 2 Canadian provinces, and possibly portions of northern Mexico. It’s a predator towards prairie dogs For a time, the black-footed ferret was harvested for the fur trade. The large drop in black-footed ferret numbers began during the 1800s through to the 1900s, as prairie dog numbers declined because of control programs and the conversion of prairies to croplands. Restoring large populations of prairie dogs to bring back a healthy and diverse prairie ecosystem and would be helpful in the recovery of the black footed ferrets. Arizona, New Mexico and the Chihuahuan desert: Sky Island In the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico lies a region boasting the highest...
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...Tropical Grassland (Savanna) A savannah can get so hot rounds dry up and the grass can catch fire. There will not be much food, water, or shade. If you are lucky it will rain up to 18 inches while you’re there. However if you go during the winter it won’t be freezing or hot, but it will still be dry. You won’t see many landforms but there will be dried valley’s and hills. Acacia trees are a main food source for giraffes. Leopards are one of the top predators in the Savannah. The Grass and bushes are food for the herbivores such as buffalo, wildebeest, zebras, etc. Those animals are food for other animals such as jackal, hyena, wild dogs, etc., and their food for lions, leopards, cheetahs, etc. Elephant numbers are plummeting because poachers are killing them taking their tusks and illegally selling them. Location Savannas are located north and...
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...We will study the black-tailed prairie dog population in a study area of greater than 100 miles in the Great Plans region of north-central Kansas for 20 years. The locations of the will contain approximately 50 prairie dog coteries and fabricated burrows. These burrow sizes will be similar to what would be found in nature. The depth of a burrow found in nature can ranges from about 1.0 to 1.5 meters below the ground surface (Hoogland 1995). The length of all the tunnels combined is around 9.0 to 12.0 meters in nature (Hoogland 1995). The total study area is 1,300,000 km2 of flat land covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. The Great Plains lie west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains from the United States to Canada (Rouse Jr 1974). Within this study area, we will account for the genders of each individual as well as breeding and non-breeding individuals. We will conduct the experiment as part of a long-term study of the reproductive success within the populations. These fabricated burrows will serve as a home for the 25 coteries placed in each one. The other 25 prairie dog coteries will serve as the control to ensure movement into our manufactured burrow did not change the behavior affects. We will capture several different coteries...
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...Identify impacts associated with agriculture Some time ago a quarter of earth was covered by grassland but all that changed for the reason of the loss of wildlife habitat most of the grasslands have been turned into farms. The majority of soils of the grasslands are wealthy and as a result just about approximately anything can be developed. Then again impoverished agricultural procedures can wreck soils maneuvering grasslands into unresponsively and unproductive. If the harvests are not well taken care off then as a result nutrients inside the soil are unprotected having mediocrity crops for many years. Assessed towards grassland farmlands receives insufficient wealth for the producing of offspring plus also farm animals ruin grassland. According to "Grassland Threats" (© 1996-2012 National Geographic Society. All rights reserved.), (“In United States only 5% of original grassland is still remaining.”) Grassland have several threats which are the nonstop of global warming affecting present grasslands by turning them into wasteland including the pattern changing of rainfall, city expansion are highly growing decreasing the grassland environment, having few crops growing, bugs, illness can extend without problems causing the requirement of toxic pesticides, dried plants, cold weather, wheat, and corn lets crops developed into natural prairie. Grasslands also have solutions for all its negative threats such as schools and teachers educating students more on exactly how to safe from...
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...GEOGRAPHICAL AND SPICES INFO: * It is located in extensive regions of Africa, Asia, Australia and South America. In the African savanna that occupies the east of the central area of Africa * Location * Some locations of savannas include: * Africa - Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, and Namibia * Australia * Central America - Belize and Honduras * South America - Venezuela and Columbia * Southern Asia * Abitoic facores: -fire Fire is the most important abiotic factor to the savanna. without the constant fires a tropical savanna could turn into a tropical forest -soil it is real important to plants and the animals that eat the plants -air Without it survival would be impossible. -water During the summer or dry season there really isn't a lot of water. Trees store water during the wet season so they have water during the dry season. * Plants * Grasses -Bermuda grass is one of the most common grasses in the tropical savanna biome. With its deep root system, bermuda grass has adapted to the savanna by dying off above ground during periods of drought, while maintaining growth beneath the soil. -Elephant grass grows in clumps and, despite its razor sharp leaves, provides shelter to several types of savanna birds. * Acacia Tree -A medium-sized tree, can reach 65 feet in height with a flat, round top and...
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...Warner 1 Nicholas Warner Instructor Grubbs English 112 26 Feb. 2015 Analytical Paper: The Veldt While many stories arguably have a hidden meaning, Ray Bradbury’s short sci-fi story “The Veldt” is often seen as one of the greatest examples; showing how families are too reliant on technology. The story is about a family who has recently moved into a new, more technologically advanced house with all sorts of mechanical wonders, which the children soon come to put on a pedestal and worship. The children also develop a disturbing reliance on all of the machines that are in their new home. The parents notice the house acting strangely and decide to shut it off, but the children don’t take it very well and it doesn’t end well for the parents. In the story Bradbury has created a utopia, but in the case of Bradbury’s creation, a lot of things go wrong, and the Hadleys’ world is turned on its head. Bradbury’s poetic writing style takes the reader out of the everyday world and into a fantasy world, not unlike a child’s fantasy. The world of “The Veldst” takes children’s fantasy and makes it concrete. Phrases in the story such as “Nothing is too good for our children” and “Every home should have one” (Bradbury, “The Veldt”) bring the reader’s attention to the material worship that dominate many American households. Warner 2 In this dark and troubling story, Bradbury shows the dangers that are quite possible with the speed and advancement of technology and how important communication...
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