Ecosystems:

1. Can you remember what an Ecosystem is? Would you be able to describe and define it? Relationship between living and non living, e.g. tree soil, water, bird, seed and air 2. What is so special about a Deciduous Woodland Ecosystem? Can you explain how they contribute to the Nutrient Cycle? The leaves fall off in winter and do not grow back until spring. Certain animals and plants can live in deciduous woodland. The leaves fall off and die and form the litter layer, then are decomposed and eaten by insects, bacteria, fungus, animals, parasites etc, then becomes humus. Humus is the top layer of soil that is very rich with nutrients and very good for gardening. 3. How do Britains seasons affect the undergrowth in deciduous woodlands? Less undergrowth will grow in spring and summer. This is because there is more foliage, so the canopy of leaves prevents a lot of sunlight from getting through, so the plants cant grow. 4. Burnham Beeches is an ancient deciduous woodland site that is now used for recreation, conservation and preservation. The woodland is managed and new habitats have been created to encourage biodiversity - an increase in species. Another way the woodland is managed is through Coppicing and Pollarding. Can you tell the difference? Why are these techniques used? Recreation- walk (maybe with dogs), picnic, escape from city life. Conservation- of rare plants and animals Preservation- It is an SSSI (a site of specific scientific interest), which means nothing can be killed or taken out of the park. Also, the pollarding of old trees. Education- Schools use Burnham Beeches to teach, and also families may come for outings Pollarding- Farmers cut the tree to about a metre tall, and allow the shoots to grow. They then grow directly towards sunlight, therefore being very straight. Some animals, plants and bacteria can only live in old, decayed pollards. Coppicing- Farmers chop the tree about half a metre off of the ground. Then they cover the stump in twigs and branches. This makes sure that rabbits cannot eat the growing sprouts. The sprouts grow between the twigs towards the sunlight, and will grow thin but straight. Both types make the trees live about 500-600 years. 5. How many animals did you spot grazing amongst the trees? What is this use of the woodland called? There were cows, deer and sheep. This is called wooded pasture.

6. How might fallen trees contribute to the ecosystem? Can you remember your food chain, the role of the decomposers and the link to the nutrient cycle? Fallen trees decompose and make more humus.

7. How have animals and plants adapted to the Desert Ecosystem and why? 3 animals and plants- 1. Jack Rabbit large surface area of ears to dissipate heat 2. Kangaroo Rats- kidneys retain most water from the urea and return it to blood stream. 3. Camel- stores fat in their hump so they can use the store of fat when they are starved. 8. What makes Antarcticas ecosystem so fragile? What is being done to protect it? There are very few components of the ecosystem, so taking out one step would collapse the whole ecosystem. 9. What is a food web, how does it work and how does it affect an ecosystem?

A food web looks like this:

Eagle Sun Grass Rabbit Fox

Caterpillar

Bird

Weather and Climate:

1. Can you tell the difference? Weather is day-to-day, whereas climate is over a period of time, normally 30 years. 2. How does it rain? What are the different types of rain and how are they formed? Convectional rain is when the sun beats down on water, heats it up and makes it evaporate. It rises and condenses, and then it falls as rain. Relief rain is when there is water vapour that is moving with the wind. The wind blows towards a mountain, and the rain condenses as it moves up the mountain. It then rains at the top of the mountain after cooling and condensing. Relief rain has a rain shadow: an area behind the mountain or hill that gets no rain due to the relief. Frontal rain is when there are two patches; one of cold air and one of warm air. The warm air is forced up over the cool air, where it cools, condenses and rains. 3. Although Britain is said to have a temperate maritime climate, there are certain factors that influence the climate in different parts of Britain. Can you remember what those factors are and how they influence the climate so that the north is different to the south; the west is different to the east; why summer and winter temperatures are not the same across the country and why the amount of rainfall is different across the country? The north is different to the the south as the wind comes up from the Southwest of Europe up to the Southeast of England, bringing warm weather. There are no mountains in the way, however, the wind temperature changes in Wales and Scotland, as there are many mountains. 4. Can you remember how to read climate graphs similar to the one we did on the UK climate? Dont forget to read off the correct axis and that the rainfall is a bar chart and the temperature is recorded as a line graph. Remember annual, monthly, minimum, maximum and the range of temperature/rainfall figures.