Hot desert Biome

In class our assignment was to create a brochure on a biome. I was assigned a hot desert biome. This biome would not be very suitable for humans becuase it gets to hot and in the night it gets hot as anything. In my research i found out about the organisms that call the desert home. There are not a lot of different types of animals found in the desert, but the ones that are there are cool. My favorite is the Armadillo Lizard. I think that that animal would beatdown any animal in the desert. Doing the brochure on the biome was an enriching experience, but I will never know truly how things go down in the desert. I will not because I have never been there. In order for someone to truly know what happens in the desert, they have to live there .

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/desert.htm

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The Biome Project

 

An assignment we had to do in biology last week was find information on a biome and create a brochure on it. I did marine biomes. Other people did freshwater, tundra, hot and cold deserts, rainforests, or other climates. Everyone’s project was very interesting. I got a lot of information from http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibits/biomes/index.php. Freshwater biomes consist of lakes, ponds, streams, rivers, and wetlands. Before this project I did not know that freshwater areas actually do contain salt, although it is less than1%. My subject, marine biomes consist of oceans, coral reefs, and estuaries. I mainly focused on coral reefs because they are so interesting. The diversity of life in coral reefs is amazing. Thousands of different organisms live together. Before this project, I did not know that a coral reef is actually a mass of living things, called polyps. After they die a new one grows on the old ones skeleton. This is the way that coral reefs grow, skeletons building up, and a coral reef can grow around one inch per 100 years! Desert biomes are also very interesting. Deserts can be hot or dry. Most people think of deserts as hot, barren, sandy land, but one example of a cold desert is Antarctica. They are also semiarid and coastal deserts. Forest biomes cover about 1/3 of the earth. There are tropical, temperate, and boreal forests. Grassland biomes are another biome people did projects on. There are tropical grasslands, savannas, and temperate grasslands. Temperate means moderate, or not extreme. The last biome is the tundra. There are alpine tundra and arctic tundra. Tundra is the coldest of all biomes. I defiantly learned a lot from this biome project and think that earth science about populations and habitats are very interesting.

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Earth’s Biomes

Personally, I thought that researching my biome was interesting. I learned a ton of information about the freshwater biome from the research that I did, and I also learned additional information from the presentations that were given in class too. Most of my research was focused on marshes like the everglades in Florida. Some of the animals that live in the everglades are the alligator, crocodile, and over 350 species of birds. I also found the arctic, savanna, and tropical biomes very interesting. In a freshwater biome, particularly in the everglades, about 60 inches of rain fall per year. Overall finding out all of this new information about biomes that I did not fully know about was very eyeopening and interesting.

water

Jake G.

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Biomes of The World

I was sitting in class one day when my teacher told us we were going to be learning about biodiversity in the different biomes of the world and the creatures and plant life that inhabit them. The only thing is she put a twist on learning the unit. She said instead of her giving us a big lecture on the different biomes and the fauna and flora that inhabit them she told our class of about twenty to choose a biome and make a brochure on that biome.I ended up choosing a deciduous forest and I found it interesting that many of the biomes are classified by how many seasons they have. For example my biome had four seasons Summer,Winter,Fall, and Spring whereas other biomes such as the Tundra only have two seasons Summer and Winter. I also found out from my class mates presenting their own brochures that a rain forest has very poor soil but a deciduous forest has very rich soil I found that very perculiar because one would think that an area with so much life would have very good soil but because of all the rain the nutrients are washed away but in the deciduous forest the ground keeps most of its fertility. A couple other determining factors on the biomes are the temperature the climate and the elevation. I thought the way we learned this unit was very interesting and it probed our thinking and creative abilitys and introduced us to a new way of learning. So instead of learning about envirments that are long gone we could learn about enviornments that interest us.

Jeff H.

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Learning the Biomes of Our World

Learning about the biomes in the world was very interesting, and i learned alot of information. There are several biomes that make up our world. Some are hot and some are cold, and they all are unique.

We were assigned to research one biome and make a brochure advertising it. I thought that this was a great way to learn the information. I researched the freshwater biome. The freshwater biome is home to many organisms such as fish, frogs, and turtles. Freshwater biomes contain little or no salt. After doing our separate research on specific biomes, we got together as a class to share our findings. During this time, we listened to what people had to say, and learned a little about each biome. I thought that this was an effective way of learning the material.

-Dori

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Biodiversity Day

Today is International Biodiversity Day, one of my absolute favorite topics (ask any of my students)! People around the world are recognizing the value of biodiversity better than the people of the this country do.  Peasant Haitian farmers are refusing to plant Monsanto seeds and have vowed to burn them, calling the seeds “…a very strong attack on small agriculture, on farmers, on biodiversity, on Creole seeds…and on what is left of our environment in Haiti.”  Elsewhere, an island in the Pacific, the Republic of Nauru, is actively fighting to regain their island biodiversity following a decade of mining.

Teaching biology this year has not been as satisfying as I would have expected it to be, had I not been told to stick closely to the curriculum of the Science Department. Biology could have been a lot more enjoyable if we were not trying to teach every biology topic that has the potential to be on the MCAS exam. The curriculum attaches ecology to the end of the year where, in my mind, it should start off the year and be referenced as other topics are investigated. While I could not start the year with ecology, I have been integrating the ideas throughout the year, as I could.

This past week I introduced the H I P P O acronym to causes of loss of biodiversity. We thought about the procession of plants in a rocky or watery landscape, and went outside and looked at examples of succession on and near our school campus. Students then, sitting beside the pond, drew a series of pictures that illustrated succession. After creating biome travel brochures, we presented them and discussed differences between the flora and fauna of the various biomes, while sitting in a circle in the sun. The week felt like a kinder, gentler classroom.

The seniors put a trampoline on campus as a joke; it made a great spot to sit and talk.

This week my plan is to overlap MCAS prep with more discussions of biodiversity, keystone species, and the devastation of the Gulf oil spill. The oil spill is obviously not in our ten-year-old books, nor is it on the curriculum, but it provides a good opportunity to discuss the impacts of humans on the biosphere. It is my belief that teachers and curriculums need to be flexible enough to take in current events and make connections between what is “in the book” and what is happening here and now.

 So on this beautiful day, if there’s one single thing you should do, you should go outside.

 ~ Ms. McCarron

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