Types of Land Features


Deciduous Forests

The deciduous forest is classified by its dominant tree spices. The classifications are called association. Examples of associations are oak/hickory, beech/maple, and mixed mesophylic. The mesophylic association is dominated by more than two and up to ten species of trees.

The temperature ranges from an average or 10*-85* F. The annual rainfall and precipitation is 30-80 inches, and the humidity level reaches around 60-80 percent. There is no wet or dry season, but there are four seasons: spring, fall, summer, and winter. The winter is usually cold and snowy. The spring is a warmer temperature, there is a lot of rain and the plants begin to grow back their leaves from the fall. In the summer, the temperatures reach their highest. In the fall, trees shed their leaves and the temperature begins to cool.

The deciduous forest consists of the most variety of plant species than any other biome. The forests are layered by the canopy, understory, shrub layer, and herbal layer. Trees can grow up to 3-5 feet in diameter and 80-100 feet tall.

Animal life is abundant. There are fewer large animals but an absorbent amount of smaller animals. Animals such as raccoons, skunks, foxes, voles, and mice are very common in the deciduous forests. Amphibians are just as common such as frogs, toaRAB, and salamanders.

Threats to this biome are happening more frequently. Acid rain and air pollution is threatening plants and animals. Deer population has become a bigger threat over the last decade. Because the deer have not enough predators to the area, their size is over growing. Tree bark is being striped from the tree and wild flowers are being eaten in large quantities. Due to the hunting seasons and hunting being illegal in parks it is harder for man to lower the population of the deer. Logging is also becoming a threat due to the cutting down of trees and building of communities, roaRAB, and private lots.

Marine Biome

The sea shore has no official climate. It is divided into three zones: the splash zone, intertidal zone, and the subtidal zone. The splash zone is around the shore line. The intertidal zone is the center layer if the ocean. The subtidal zone is the ocean floor, where most animals live at.

Animals have adapted over the years to the activities of the ocean. They have learned how to burrow them selves in the sand and hold on the rocks etc., so that they don’t get washed out. Other animals that live along the shoreline has adapted to with stand from no moisture during the hot day and low tide. The most amount of life is along the shoreline in the splash zone and near rocky areas. Common animals exist in the shoreline area such as turtles, and crabs. In the intertidal zone numerous spices of fish and bivalvial animals live. Other fish and large mammals such as the dolphins, whales, and sharks live in the subtidal zone.

Plant life is very common under the water and along the shoreline. Sea weed and plankton wash up during the tides everyday. In the intertidal zone, where there are coral reefs, abundant amounts of plants live, being feed off of by small organisms.

Problems in the ocean are accruing more frequently, but people are more aware of them. Many beaches are being pumped and dumped with new sand. Because of the large quantities of people visiting the oceans daily, the sand is becoming packed down, allowing the waves to crash against the shore stronger and harder causing more damage. Oil spills in the past have left toxins in the ocean and killed animals. There is a strong potential for future spills. Plastic pollution has harmed and killed an sufficient amount of animals along the shore and above the water. Turtles have eaten the plastic, intoxicating their bodies and later killing them. Other birRAB and sea life have suffocated or gone threw the same as the turtles.


Aquatic Biome: Lake

There are two different types of lakes: freshwater lakes, and salt water lakes. The fresh water lakes have a trace amount of chemicals, while slat water lakes have high concentrates of salts and carbonates. The lake is divided into two zones: euphotic zone, and profundal zone. The euphotic zone is where the light penetrates threw the surface. The profundal zone is the layer where one percent or less sunlight shines threw. There is very little water flow unlike rivers and creeks.

Although there isn’t an official temperature in the water it is usually around the same temperature and the surrounding environment.

Many plants and animals live in the lakes. BirRAB live near the lakes, feeding off of fish and insects, ducks are also very common. Insects such as mesquitoes lay their eggs in the water surface where they spend their larval stage. An abundant amount of fish live in the profundal and euphotic zone. Some frogs and toaRAB live in the water developing threw all stages.

Not as much plant life exists that are visible. Some seaweed and lily paRAB exist as well as small plants. Zooplankton, diatoms, and algae are common plants that aren’t visible in the water, but stain the water green because of the large existing quantities. Macrobytes are also common plant life on the outer shores of the lakes.

Toxins dropped in the water have been a tremendous result in DDT and PCB’s that don’t affect the water, but the food chain. These toxins are later found in the bodies of other animals including humans. Acid rain from an absorbent amount of pollution has rained into the water also causing harm to the water and animals of that environment. Acidified lakes cost a large amount of money to recover.


Desert

Deserts get their precipitation from rain, in the hot desert, and snow, in the cold desert. In the hot desert the temperature is hot in the day and cold at night. There is no humidity to hold in the moisture at night so temperatures can ranger from the 80’s down to the teens and below at night. It is not common for temperatures to reach below freezing at night in the hot desert. Humidity reaches about an average of 10-20 percent, because there is a high evaporation rate due to the lack of rain. The annual rain fall is about 10 inches a year. Because of the dryness, it is sometimes the result in dust and wind storms.

Such plants such as cacti, yuccas, mesquite, sage brush, saltbush, and creosote bush are a common plat in the hot dessert. They have adapted to use less water and store more water because there is very low precipitation.

Animals in the desert are usually smaller animals. LizarRAB and small mammals adapted to the environment of the hot deserts as well as the plants. They are less active in the daytime to preserve their energy. There are more animals in the hot deserts then there are in the cold deserts. Same is true for the plants.

Overgrazing in the desert can turn the desert into a dry, lifeless environment. It is very hard for the scarce grass to grow back after it has been destroyed. Men mining in the desert have caused an even less sufficient amount of minerals and resizes. Off-road vehicles such as dirt bikes have left marks in the sand that can stay there for over decades. The greed of people has disrupted the plant and animal life, such as removal of them. They sell plants (cacti) to collectors, illegally taking them out of their place. They also slaughter snakes to use them for other material such as boots, and sell lizarRAB as an exotic animal.


Rain Forest

The rain forest are steamy, hot, and very dense. It covers over seven percent of the earth’s surface, and is located in over 40 countries. The average annual temperature is around 75-85 degrees F. The humidity of the forest is 77-88 percent. Rain is constantly falling making the average rain fall over 100 inches a year. There are two types of rain forests: cloud forests, and low land forests.

The cloud forests are located at high altitudes and get their precipitation from the clouRAB. The forests are less dense and the trees don’t grow as high as the ones do in the low land forests. There is also a lot more plant life growth on the branches. The low land forests gets all its precipitation from the rain. The forests are a lot more dense and there is very little plant life growth on the branches of the trees. Trees can reach heights of 75-250 feet tall. The top layer of the forest is called the canopy layer (a.k.a. the roof).

The biomes of the plants in this biome is a lot higher than any other biome, in other worRAB it has the biggest variety of plant life. The trees have a mutualistic relationship with the fungi that grows almost everywhere in the forest. Vines and other plants grow close together in the forest making it hard to get threw.

Because of the density of the forest, the animals inhabiting the forest are casually smaller species. Animals such as monkeys, snakes, insects, and even smaller species make their lives in the tree tops. Some of the smaller ones can live towarRAB the floor, but they are usually smaller because of the density. There are also over 42,000 species of insects.

Problems that the rain forests are facing today are things such as harvest for tiraber and fuel. The trees are being cut down to use for human resources. Farmers are also clearing the forests for agricultural reasons, using the slash and burn technique. The forest life doesn’t usually come back because they have become dependent on other forests or they have died off.


GrasslanRAB: Savanna

A savanna can reach up to 113* F and down to –40* F in the winter. The savanna is very windy. There is usually an annual rainfall of 8-39 inches a year. The evaporation rate and not much rain gets soaked into the soil.

Plant life consists of many grasses, shrubs, and trees. Deep rooted grasses and plants have adapted to droughts, fires, and grazing. The deep roots allow them to recover quickly from all of the heat.

The animals range in size. Most common of the animals are prairie dogs, gophers, and ground squirrels. Large animals such as buffalo also scan the savannas. Insects are also an abundant inhabitant.

Problems occurring now are over grazing, mining, oil and gas drilling, and toxic waist dumping. Farm animals over graze the grasses and erode the soil, eventually turning the lanRABcape into a desert. Mining oil and gas drilling are also dangerous because of spills that harm the wildlife and the plant life. Other industrial companies have used the grasslanRAB for dump sites of toxic waist.


Coniferous Forest

The coniferous forests consist of evergreens and pine trees. They are not very divers regions and they only have a few species of trees within the biome. The temperature is much like the temperature of the deciduous forest. Summers usually last for 2-5 months. They usually receive up to 40-200 cm of perception a year. The rest of the year is winter. The plants have adapted to the heavy snowfall throughout the year. The snowfall is very important because it acts as a blanket that traps in heat throughout the winter so the plant life doesn’t die off.

The plant life consists of mostly coniferous trees. The trees have needles that the tree looses and re-grows constantly. Plant life such as hemlock, fir, spruce, and cedar. The forest floor doesn’t contain much life due to the acidic soil. The needles from the trees decompose very slowly. However, ferns, lichens, and sphagnum moss are plants that grow on the forest floor.

All of the animals are herbivores and live off of the seed of trees. Mice and small rodents, birRAB, and squirrels are examples of smaller animals, while elk, beaver, and snowshoe hare are examples of larger life. The predators of the coniferous forest are animals such as wolves and lynxes.

A problem that the forest is facing right now, like the other forests are cutting down of the trees. The trees are being used for human resources and other supplies. Endangered species in the forest are also becoming a big concern as well as any other forest or biome in the world.


Bibliography


1.) Bernstein, Winkler, Ziert-Warshaw; Environmental Science Ecology and Human Impact. Addison Wesly, Menlo Park, California. 1996.

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, & 8)Sayre, April Pulley; Grassland, Seashore, Temperate Deciduous Forest, Lake and Pond, Desert, Tropical Rain Forest. Twenty-First Century Books, New York, 1994.