Transcript Biomes and Conservation

Biomes and Conservation
Biome
• Large areas with similar climates and ecosystems
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Tundra
Taiga
Temperate decidious forest
Temperate rainforest
Tropical rainforest
Desert
Grasslands
Aquatic ecosystems
Resources
• Natural resources- parts of the environment that
are useful or necessary for living organisms to
survive
• Renewable resource- natural resource that is
constantly recycled or replaced by nature
• Nonrenewable resources- not easily replaced.
– Petroleum- or oil, takes hundreds of millions of years
to form
– Fossil fuels- coal, oil, and natural gas are
nonrenewable that form in the Earth’s crust over very
long periods of time
Alternative energy
• Can be used to help conserve fossil fuels
• Hydroelectric power- energy from falling water used to
generate electricity
• Wind power- wind turns blades of turbine, which
powers electric generator
• Nuclear power- fission of uranium atoms generates
nuclear energy that is used to produce electricity
• Geothermal power- use heat from Earth’s crust to
generate electricity
• Solar energy- turns sunlight into electric current
Pollution
• Pollutant- substance that contaminates air, land,
or water
– Soot, smoke, ash, gases
• Acid precipitation- results from air pollutants
reacting with water in the atmosphere
• Greenhouse effect- increased carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere traps heat and can cause global
warming
• Ozone depletion- thinning of the ozone layer
caused by chlorofluorocarbons and can result in
increased UV radiation reaching Earth’s surface
Water Pollution
• When air or land pollutants enter rivers, lakes,
ocean
– Includes chemical pesticides, raw sewage,
fertilizer, oil spills
• Groundwater can become polluted as it seeps
through particles of rock or soil that collects in
underground pools called aquifers
Erosion
• Movement of soil from one place to another
Three “R”s of Conservation
• Conservation can prevent shortages of natural
resources, slow growth of landfills, reduce pollution
levels, and save money
• Reduce
• Reuse
• Recycle- reprocessing an item or natural resource for
reuse
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Steel
Plastics
Glass
Paper
Compost