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10/14/2019

Desert Biology

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​This week we will be exploring biology of the desert using the words that we have learned and learning some new words, we will create a model of the desert and the beings that live there.
​


VOcabulary



Biosphere: the regions of the surface, atmosphere, and hydrosphere of the earth (or analogous parts of other planets) occupied by living organisms.
Atmosphere: air, Hydrosphere: water

Biome: a large naturally occurring community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat, examples: desert, forest or tundra.

Biomes of the World - tundra biome, desert biome, marine biome, grassland biome, taiga biome, temperate grassland biomes, temperate deciduous forest biome, tropical rain forest biome, savanna biome, polar ice biome

Flora: plants

Fauna: animals

Habitat: a place where an organism or a community lives, more specific, examples: the grassland, coral reef, underground, a pond, a river

Environment: the environment is all of the natural materials and living things, including sunlight. If those things are natural, it is a natural environment. Environment includes the living and nonliving things that an organism interacts with, or has an effect on it. Includes rocks.

Community: an interacting group of various species in a common location. For example, a forest of trees and undergrowth plants, inhabited by animals and rooted in soil containing bacteria and fungi, constitutes a biological community.

Population: individuals of a certain species found in an area—all the squirrels that live in a park; all toads that live in a pond.
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Ecological Hierarchy: Population, community, ecosystem, biome and biosphere
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Relationships Between Organisms


Symbiosis: relationship between living organisms

Food Chain:
organisms feed from lower trophic level.

Food Web:
multiple food chains.

Trophic levels:
producers, consumers, herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, detritivores, decomposers.

Decomposers: mushrooms, eukaryotes, break down dead things

Detritivores: consume decaying plant materials: earthworms and millipedes


Consumer: Any organism that eats

Producer: Organism that makes their own food using sunlight, or absorbs sunlight, plants absorb blue and red light and reflect back green light

Heterotrophs are Consumers

Autotrophs are Producers

Cyanobacteria: Cyanobacteria, also known as Cyanophyta, are a phylum consisting of bacteria and the endosymbiotic plastids. They commonly obtain their energy through photosynthesis. They are the only photosynthetic prokaryotes able to produce oxygen.

Endosymbiotic Theory: the theory that chloroplasts and mitochondria used to be free living bacteria (prokaryotes) and now are part of eukaryotic cells

Prokaryotes: no cell nucleus, have plasmids

Eukaryotes: have nucleus and organelles

Primary consumer: eats the plants

Secondary Consumer: Eats the organism that eats the plants

Tertiary Consumer: Large predator
Picture
https://www.askiitians.com/forums/Zoology/write-a-short-note-on-various-trophic-levels-in-a_141741.htm
Picture

A species' place in the food web is their trophic level.
​

​Physical aspects of the environment


Erosion: the process of scraping away the surface, or being eroded by wind, water, or other natural agents. Grasses slow down erosion and help water seep into the ground.

Groundwater: water in the soil and in crevices of rock, underground, on its way down, it trickles for years until it reaches an aquifer or gets absorbed by roots

Aquifer: underground water reservoir, water can be extracted using a water well.

Precipitation: water in the air, drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, graupel and hail

Picture
https://www.epwater.org/our_water/water_resources/our_aquifers

Cycles



Nitrogen: Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen plays an important role in the health and growth of all plants, and it is responsible for the green leaves you see growing on them. Nitrogen helps plants photosynthesize, which is a process that involves using energy from the sun to break down water and carbon dioxide so that sugars are formed.

Nitrogen Cycle: Nitrogen from the air goes into soil and bacteria turn it into a type of nitrogen that plants can use. It involves nitrogen fixation, nitrogen fixing bacteria, assimilation, ammonification, nitrification, nitrifying bacteria, denitrification, denitrifying bacteria, atmospheric N2, ammonia, nitrates, nitrites. 

Nitrogen Fixing Bacteria: bacteria's that are able to convert atmospheric nitrogen into essential compounds required by the plants. Plants cannot directly take in nitrogen from atmosphere. So there are certain bacteria's which helps the plant to do so.

Nitrogen Fixing Plants: plants don’t pull nitrogen from the air on their own. They actually need help from a common bacteria called Rhizobium. The bacteria infects legume plants such as peas and beans and uses the plant to help it draw nitrogen from the air.


Picture
https://biologydictionary.net/nitrogen-cycle/

​Carbon Cycle
: We breathe out carbon dioxide, CO2 and plants take it to make glucose (sugar) and release oxygen in the process. It includes: Atmospheric CO2, cellular respiration, photosynthesis, combustion, death and decomposition, fossil fuels, erosion from marine organisms.
​
Picture
https://scied.ucar.edu/carbon-cycle

​Water/ Hydrogen Cycle:
 Water evaporates and rains back down. It included: ground water, percolation, run off, transpiration, precipitation, evaporation, water vapor.

​
Picture
https://pmm.nasa.gov/education/water-cycle
https://www.earth.com/earthpedia-articles/water-cycle/

​Phosphorous cycle: when it rains, water brings phosphorous down from rocks in mountains and it nourishes plants

​Plants need:
 NPK, Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potassium
​
 
​​​
Picture
https://biologydictionary.net/phosphorus-cycle/

Some of the Populations in the
​Chihuahuan Desert Biome Community:


Environment:

​The mean annual precipitation for the Chihuahuan Desert is 235 mm (9.3 in) with a range of approximately 150–400 mm (6–16 in)


Environment includes nonliving things that affect living things: mountains, slope, valleys, soil, sand, rocks, river, ponds, arroyos, driftwood…


Producers: Opuntia Cactus, Barrel Cactus, Yucca, Ocotillo, Mesquite, grasses, annual wildflowers, sage, cyanobacteria, lichen (Algae and Fungi)


Primary consumers: insects, beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars, rabbits, mice (both primary and secondary consumers, they eat seeds and also insects), termites, bees, wasps, butterflies, Quail, deer


Secondary Consumers: most rodents, scorpions, tarantulas, centipede, birds that eat insects, water bugs, assassin bugs, ladybugs, parasitic wasps, armadillo, skink lizard, ants


Tertiary Consumers: coyote, hawk, eagle, owl, rattlesnake, roadrunner, mountain lions


Decomposers: earthworms, mushrooms, nematodes




Activity


Let's build a model of the desert that represents mountains, valleys, rivers, the food chain, and the many cycles involved in a biome.
​

Picture
Photo by:  Richter MachThunder
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Picture

​Producers:
 Opuntia Cactus, Barrel Cactus, Yucca, Ocotillo, Mesquite, grasses, annual wildflowers, sage, cyanobacteria, lichen (Algae and Fungi)
​

Lichen
​

Picture
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Prickly Pear, Opuntia
​
Picture
http://purelifeherbs.com/product/tuna-opuntia-ficus-powder-4oz/

Barrel Cactus
​

Picture
http://museum2.utep.edu/chih/gardens/plants/DtoF/ferrocac.htm

Yucca
​

Picture
http://museum2.utep.edu/chih/gardens/plants/TtoZ/yuccatreculeana.htm

Ocotillo
​
Picture
https://jornada.nmsu.edu/blog/5-things-you-didnt-know-about-ocotillo

Mesquite
​

Picture
https://www.azfirescape.org/galiuro/ecosystem-description/apacherian-chihuahuan-mesquite-upland-scrub

​Creosote

Picture
https://www.desertusa.com/flowers/Creosote-Bush.html

​Desert Grasses

Picture
https://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/research/livestock_range/BL793/welcome.html

​Grassland

Picture
https://www.nps.gov/articles/southwest-grasslands.htm

​Shrubland

Picture
https://www.desertusa.com/desert-food-chain/food-chain-10.html

Less grasses means more erosion
​

Picture
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/A-regime-shift-observed-in-the-Chihuahuan-Desert-of-New-Mexico-based-on-observations-at_fig1_272480464

Desert Wildflowers
​

Picture
https://www.desertusa.com/wildflo/FieldGuide/fieldguide.html

Primary COnsumers



​Primary consumers: insects, beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars, rabbits, mice (both primary and secondary consumers, they eat seeds and also insects), termites, bees, wasps, millipede, butterflies, Quail, deer
​


​Fairy Beetle

Picture
https://bugguide.net/node/view/292409

​Grasshoppers

Picture
https://www.nps.gov/bibe/learn/nature/lubbers.htm
Picture
https://bugguide.net/node/view/1095978

Caterpillars and moths
​

Picture
https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2016/05/22/sphinx-moths-coming-soon/

​Rabbits

Picture
https://www.nps.gov/whsa/learn/nature/desert-cottontail.htm

Quail

Picture
https://trepanddoc.wordpress.com/2015/08/24/why-do-the-quail-cross-the-road/

Detritivores consume decaying plant matter
​

Picture
http://scienceviews.com/indian/millipede.html

Secondary Consumers



Secondary Consumers:
 most rodents, scorpions, tarantulas, centipede, birds that eat insects, water bugs, assassin bugs, ladybugs, parasitic wasps, armadillo, skink lizard, ants
​


Sopulgid Sun Spiders
​

Picture
https://www.desertusa.com/insects/solpugids.html
Picture
http://www.desert-scorpions.com/
Picture
https://www.livescience.com/60240-north-american-desert-tarantulas-photos.html
Picture

Crissal Thrasher, eats bugs, spiders, seeds, fruits
​

Picture
https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/crissal-thrasher

Armadillo
​

Picture
https://www.desertusa.com/animals/armadillo.html

Tertiary Consumers



​Tertiary Consumers
: coyote, hawk, eagle, owl, rattlesnake, roadrunner, mountain lions


Coyote
​

Picture
https://www.nps.gov/whsa/learn/nature/coyote.htm

Hawk
​

Picture
https://www.desertmuseum.org/visit/rff_redtail.php

Owl
​
Picture
http://museum2.utep.edu/educate/learninglinks/burrowingowl.htm
Picture
http://old.wildsonora.com/image-content/cactus-ferruginous-pygmy-owl-saguaro
Picture
https://www.nps.gov/im/chdn/bibe.htm

Rattlesnake
​

Picture
http://chihuahuandesert.weebly.com/heterotrophs.html

Roadrunner
​

Picture
https://www.desertusa.com/birds/roadrunner-bird.html

Decomposers


Picture
Picture

Desert Food Web Concept Map


Picture

Types of research



​Botany: study of plants

Entomology: study of insects

Arachnology: study of arachnids such as spiders and scorpions


Ornithology: study of birds


Herpetology: study of amphibians and reptiles


Mammalogy: study of mammals



Birds of the Desert



Eagles



Horned Lizard



Desert Rodents



Symbiosis in the desert


  • Commensalism/mutualism between roadrunner and pricklypear cactus, mutualism if poo is a good fertilizer. 

  • Commensalism: an association between two organisms in which one benefits and the other derives neither benefit nor harm.
 
  • Parasitism between opuntia moth and prickly pear cacti  
​
  • Parasitism: A relationship between two organisms in which one organism (the parasite) benefits and the other (the host) is harmed.
​
Picture

Each species is classified according to Their Taxonomy 


Taxonomy: classification of organisms

  • Kingdom 
  • Phylum
  • Class
  • Order
  • Family
  • Genus 
  • Species

Activity


Diorama of the desert
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​We made conductive clay, potatoes conduct electricity too

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Energy from the sun is stored in food 
​
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​Select four desert animals and teach your classmates about them:

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