ACTIVITY 5

BIOMES AND BIODIVERSITY

Objectives:
1. Identify biomes that are important for human activities and biodiversity protection.
2. Describe the characteristics of each biomes.
3. Describe how animals adapt to the different biomes.
4. Describe some of the endangered animals found in the Philippines.

Critical Thinking Questions

1. What are the causes/s of differences in climate in different locations?

One of the factors that can affect the different location of the Earth climate. The
first one is Latitude because it can change the climate, because it is related to the
length and intensity of sunlight an area receives. For example when the specific
continent is closer to the sun well those regions or continent will receive extremely
hotter climate rather than the North pole area. The second reason why other places or
location of the Earth experiencing different climate it's because of the effect or the
influence of the different type of biomes.

2. In what part of the world four seasons exist? Two seasons?

The country that experience four seasons are Canada, Australia, China, France,
Korea, Romania, Switzerland and Greece since these nations, are neither near the
poles.

Countries with two season are located in the tropics.

IN LATIN Brazil Jamaica, Puerto Rico,
AMERICA: and all the others)
Caribbean
Belize Islands (Cuba, Haiti, Colombia
Dominican Republic,
Bolivia Costa Rica
 Ecuador Equatorial Uganda
Guinea
El Salvador Zambia
Ethiopia
French Guiana Zimbabwe
Gabon
Guatemala IN ASIA AND
Gambia AUSTRALIA:
Guyana
Ghana Australia
Honduras
Guinea Bangladesh
Mexico
Guinea-Bissau Bhutan
Nicaragua
Kenya Brunei
Panama
Liberia Cambodia
Paraguay
Madagascar China
Peru
Malawi India
Suriname
Mauritania Indonesia
Venezuela
Mauritius Lao P.D.R.
IN AFRICA:
Mozambique Malaysia
Angola
Niger Maldives
Benin
Nigeria Myanmar
Burkina Faso
(Burma)
Rwanda
Burundi
Nepal
Senegal
Cameroon
Pacific Islands
Sao Tome and
Central African
Principe Philippines
Republic
Seychelles Papua New
Comoros
Guinea
Sierra Leone
Congo
Singapore
Somalia
Congo
Sri Lanka
(Democratic Rep) Sudan
Taiwan
Cote d' Ivoire Tanzania
(Ivory Coast) Thailand
Togo
Vietnam
3. What do plants need in order to survive? Do different plants have different requirements
for survival?

The plants have ingredients to survived these components are sunlight, water,
carbon dioxide, specific place to grow for example forest, trees, house and soon, and
nutrients. They also converted or use these components to create their food in the
process of photosynthesis. Plants require different components to survive because some
of the plants need specific temperature, pH level, and day length.

4. Why are certain populations vital in a specific biome?

Species or organism are essential in the different Biomes because these

organisms have adaptions to help them survive in different areas. It's because different
biome has different amount of energy to supply the population.

5. Why are there so numerous living species in the tropical rainforest?

Rainforests receive a large amount of sunlight since rainforest located in the

tropical region when rainforest collect large amount of the sun it gives energy to the plants
and animals this energy stored in plant vegetation that can be eaten by animals.

6. What are living organisms in the deciduous forest inactive during winter?

There are changes of the organism in the deciduous forest during winter because
when winter occur in this biome the organism or the plants and animals needs to adapt
the temperature to survive is like related to the survival of the fittest the who fits the one
will persist for a longer time.

7. What is adaptation?

In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly it is the dynamic

evolutionary process that fits a population of organisms to their environment, enhancing
their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the population during that
process. Thirdly, it is a phenotypic or adaptive trait, with a functional role in each individual
organisms that is maintained and has been evolved by natural selection.

A. Give examples of some structural adaptations exhibit by plants and animals?

 Cactus is a unique plant because cactus can live in the different biomes because
instead of leaves cactus use spines and it stored water on its stem that is why cactus can
adapt any biomes. While speaking about the adaptation of animals, most of the animals
living in this world have an extraordinary ability to survived or to adopt the changes of the
environment one of the skill is to camouflage this skill is beneficial for animals that being
chase by their prey. Another type of adaptation is hibernation this is a process of the
animals to survive freezing weather or climate they hibernate to survive such as
chipmunks, hedgehogs, bats and bears

B. Give examples of some behavioral adaptations exhibit by animals?

For animals that live in areas where resources such as food and water are scarce
for long periods of time, the ability to conserve fat and water in the body can mean the
difference between life and death. A stunning example of resource conservation comes
from the Bactrian camel, a two-humped ungulate that lives in the rocky and arid regions
of Central and Eastern Asia, where temperatures range from -20°F in winter to 100°F in
summer. Bactrian camels have a couple of key adaptations that help them to survive
these harsh conditions. First, their humps are filled with fat, which can be converted into
energy and water in lean times. Second, they can forgo sweating until their body
temperatures reach nearly 105°F.

8. What are the underlying socioeconomic forces and circumstances driving biodiversity
loss?
Multiple, interacting drivers almost always cause changes in biodiversity and in
ecosystems. A range of drivers causes biodiversity change. A driver is any natural or
human-induced factor that directly or indirectly causes a change in an ecosystem. A direct
driver unequivocally influences ecosystem processes. An indirect driver operates more
diffusely, by altering one or more direct drivers. Important direct drivers affecting
biodiversity are habitat change, climate change, invasive species, overexploitation, and
pollution.

https://www.greenfacts.org/en/biodiversity/l-3/4-causes-desertification.htm

9. According to McNeil and Shie (2000) ‘’Biodiversity is the life insurance of life itself’’.
Why? Explain.
 I can say that Biodiversity encompasses the variety of all life on earth. The
biodiversity we see today is the outcome of over 3.5 billion years of evolutionary history,
shaped by natural processes and increasingly, by the influence of humans. Biodiversity
forms the web of life of which we are an integral part and upon which we so entirely
depend.

Since today we are now in the timeline of modern technology this modernization
affects the biodiversity regarding the human needs because the increase of population
requires an increase of needs regarding food habitat. As we go deeper biodiversity adopts
the modernization to support our needs, and I can say that because of the modernization
the biodiversity is getting damaged because of our demand for needs. We should take
good care of our biodiversity by replacing what we gain by planting trees recycle the waste
we produce and convert it to a useful tool.

Applying the Concepts

1. Research about the different biomes.
a. Compare their locations
b. Compare their soil content.
c. Identify the dominant plants of each biome and associate them with limiting
factors that can affect their distribution such as temperature precipitation and soil.
2. Discuss some of the situations in the littoral zone and some of the adjustments that
living things have made to the conditions.
3. Research about the Laws regarding endangered species here in the Philippines and
the current conservation program offered by NGO’s or government agencies to protect
them.