terrestrial ecosystem student worksheets

TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS

1. The structure of ecosystems

2. What are terrestrial ecosystems?

Olga de la Morena The structure of ecosystems

The structure of ecosystems 1

1. The structure of ecosystems

The Biosphere is the life of the Earth. It includes a living organisms and all organic

matter.

An Ecosystem refers to the organism which live in a particular area, the relationships

between them, and their physical environment, for example a lake.

Ecosystems have two components:

� The Biocenosi is the set of living beings in the ecosystem: animals, plants, fungi

and all types of microorganisms. Biotic factors are the effects which other

organisms have on a living being in its environment.

� The Biotope is the inorganic part of the ecosystems, the physical environment.

Abiotic factors are the physical and chemical elements in an ecosystem, which

affect living organisms.

Biocenosi Biotope

ECOSYSTEM

Fuente: Intef



Activity 1.1

Watch the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wfs2L5IydY) and fill in the

gaps below using words from the word bank. You might use a word more than

once.

Hello,

welcome to your science class

today we are talk about biotic and abiotic factors in ecosystems.

Take a look at this. This is an ____________, you can find living and non living things.

Let's see you can identify: plant, insect, animals and fungi are living things. Can you

see some of the nonliving things? rock, soil, ________, temperature, __________, and

wind and __________ are nonliving things.

Why are biotic and abiotic factors in form in an ____________?, you will see. First of

all, __________ factors interact with each other, they protect themselves, they

reproduce and they __________ each other.

Look at this picture: the plant been eaten by the __________, the caterpillar is eaten by

the __________, now the snake is going to __________ the frog and the owl is going

to eat the snake. This is what we call a __________ __________, sometimes the man

is on top of this food chain.

Now, what would happen to this food chain if one of these animals or living things

disappear? Well, then is why we considerer __________ factors in form, because

abiotic factors determine __________ in ecosystems.

Here, we have another ecosystem, this is the __________ and you know the deserts

are very dry soil. Camels and __________ survive because they are adapted to the live

without water. Think about the hippopotamus, do you thing a hippopotamus could living

in a desert?, off course no. Hippopotamus need to be by nonliving things in water.

Think about fish, ocean fish leave in __________ _________, river fish leave in fresh

water. Ocean fish could not survive in fresh water that is another example how abiotic

factors influence live in an ecosystem.

I'm sure you going to remember very well what biotic and abiotic factors are and the

important in an ecosystem.

Now, lets see to remember. What are the __________ factors in an ecosystem? Biotic

factors are the __________ parts at the ecosystem. Now, What are some of the

__________ factor we find in ecosystem? well, there are many but some are

Frog, humidity, abiotic, temperature, biotic, sun, ecosystem, live, caterpillar, water, eat, food

chain, living, desert, salt water, rocks, cacti



__________, soil, __________, wind and water. Why do living things need each

other?, because they protect themselves, they reproduce and they eat each other.

Activity 1.2 Complete the chart like an example

Biotic factor Abiotic factor

Temperature X

Owl

Hippopotamus

Fungi

Wind

Tree

Water

Frog

Sun

Camel

Cacti

Rock

Snake

Soil

Activity 1.3 Match word with description

1/ Abiotic factors ______ Refers to the organisms which live in a zone, the relationships between them and their environment

2/ Biotic factors ______ Are the physical and chemical elements in an ecosystem, which affect living organisms

3/ Ecosystem ______ Are the effects which other organisms have on a living being

Olga de la Morena The terrestrial ecosystems

The terrestrial ecosystems 4

2. What are terrestrial ecosystems?

Terrestrial ecosystems are ecosystems where organisms can live an land,

surrounded by air.

The distribution of organisms depends mainly of abiotic factors related to the climate,

as temperature, light and humidity.

There are three large zones in each hemisphere:

� Frigid zone, cold zone from the Poles to the Polar Circles

� Temperature zone, area between the Polar Circles and the Tropics

� Torrid zone, hot area



Activity 2.1

Find the name of the ecosystems and match it with the correct photo

T U N D R A Z X E A I V J

S U L K I Y M M P Q D W O

M E D I T E R R A N E A N

A S T O I R R O N E C K G

H I O T B T H Y O I I N R

Q U Y P R A I G U I D E A

F R E E S A M T R Y U S S

J I S T P O L A R M O L S

P E R T I E N I W R U T L

D O M I N A T G A I S L A

O E I L B L E A M H C A N

R A I N F O R E S T A D D

-forest

-forest



Activity 2.2

Read the following data. Then name each ecosystem. Use the ecosystem

names of activity 1

Climate Zone

Terrestrial ecosystem Characteristics

- Extremely cold temperatures, heavy glaciations - twenty-four hours of daylight in summer, and complete darkness at mid-winter - Flora: there aren't any vegetation - Fauna: Polar bears, emperor penguin,

- The soil is permanently frozen - Flora: moss and lichens - Fauna: lots of reindeers and lemmings

Cold zone

- Long, dark cold winters; abundant snow

- Short, warm, humid summers - Flora: pine and fir trees.. - Fauna: lynxes, wolves, artic hares and bears..

- Cold and warm seasons, abundant rainfall - Flora: oaks, beech, chestnut tree.. - Fauna: foxes, squirrels, wolves, bears.. Temperate

zone

- Warm, dry summers; mild winters; low rainfall - Flora: holm oak, cork oak.. - Fauna: rabbits, reptiles, wild boars, a variety of birds..

- Dry, wet seasons; warm temperatures all year round - Flora: grass, bushes, scattering of trees.. - Fauna: zebras, giraffes, gazelles, lions..

- Very high daytime temperatures, very low night time temperatures

- Extremely low rainfall - Flora: cacti - Fauna: camels, lizards, birds, small mammals

Hot zone

- High rainfall and high temperatures all year round

- Different layers of flora and fauna - Flora: small to very large trees - Fauna: snakes, iguanas, bats, birds, monkeys..



Activity 2.3 Look at the graphs for each Ecosystem and compare the

precipitation and temperature. Write the sentences below

It rains more

It rains less

It rains as much

in the Tundra

in the Rainforest

in the Desert

than in the

as in the

Tundra

Rainforest

Desert

Temperature is higher

Temperature is lower

Temperature is similar

in the Tundra

in the Rainforest

in the Desert

than in the

as in the

Tundra

Rainforest

Desert

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

TUNDRA RAINFOREST DESERT



Activity 2.4A

Fill in the gaps below using words from the word bank. You might use a word

more than once.

The _______ regions of Earth, are the

regions of Earth surrounding its _______

poles (the North and South Poles). These

regions are dominated by Earth's polar

_______ caps, the _______ resting on the

Arctic Ocean and the _______ on the

continent of Antarctica.

Polar regions are characterized by the polar _______, extremely _______

temperatures, heavy _______ wherever there is sufficient _______ to form

permanent _______, and extreme variations in _______ hours, with twenty-four

hours of daylight in _______, and complete darkness at mid-winter

There are polar _______, emperor _______ and blue _______ but there aren't

any _______.

1/ Which of the ecosystems you know the text refers? _________________

2/ Describe the characteristics of this ecosystem to your partners without

using the words in the words bank. Your partner guesses which one.

Write the sentence before

Example: There is permanently frozen soil

There aren't any plants

The temperature is always below zero degrees

This ecosystem is __________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

Bears, southern, cold, polar, ice, glaciations, climate, precipitation, penguin,

summer, whales, northern, vegetation; geographical, daylight



Activity 2.4B

Fill in the gaps below using words from the word bank. You might use a word

more than once.

This type of _______ lies between the

_______ regions and the _______, where

there are four distinct seasons, and is

comprised primarily of trees that annually

lose their _______ as cold weather

approaches (_______). As the hours of

daylight _______ in the fall _______, the trees remove chlorophyll from the

_______, providing us with a spectacular range of _______ before they

_______ to the ground.

Temperate _______ _______ are most notable because they go through four

_______: hot summers and cold winters and plentiful ______.

There are _______, squirrels, snowy _______ and bald _______. The most

important vegetation are oaks, _______ and chestnut trees.

1/ Which of the ecosystems you know the text refers? _________________

2/ Describe the characteristics of this ecosystem to your partners without

using the words in the words bank. Your partner guesses which one.

Write the sentence before

Example: This ecosystem is in the temperate zone

There are squirrels and oaks

The precipitation is abundant

There is __________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

Foxes, deciduous, leaves, eagles, polar, colour, forest, season/s, shorten,

tropics, owls, fall, beech, rainfall



Activity 2.5

Imagine you work in a theme park. Your company wants to create a

greenhouse where recreate the world's climate zone. With a partner, design and

draw a sketch for your greenhouse. Only one ecosystem in each climate zone

(remember there are three climate zones: cold, temperate and hot).

1/ Decide the ecosystem of each area.

Why you have chosen this ecosystems?

2/ Decide the distribution of ecosystem on the sketch

Why you have chosen this distribution?

3/ Include for each ecosystem

• World distribution (image)

• Temperature and humidity

• kind of plant you want include in your design (photos)

• kind of organism you want include in your design (photos)

4/ Explain your design to de class. You can use the previous questions

terrestrial ecosystem student worksheets

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