Video Worksheet: Planet Earth “Pole to Pole”
Part A: Define the following vocabulary terms using your textbook:
Abiotic – Physical rather than biological; not derived from living organisms.
Biotic – Relating to or resulting from living organisms.
Herbivore – An animal that feeds on plants.
Carnivore – An animal that feeds on other animals.
Ecology – A branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings.
Part B: Answer the following questions about each biome as you watch the video:
Polar 1 (Arctic)
a) List two abiotic factors that affect life in the arctic:
1. Extreme high temperature and weather (-70 degrees centigrade in the winter)
2. No sun
b) List one biotic factor that affects life in the arctic:
1. Animals such as penguins and polar bears hibernating.
c) List one carnivore from the video that lives in the arctic:
1. Polar bears.
Tundra
a) List two abiotic factors that affect life in the tundra:
1. In summer, the sun does not set. Bringing 24 hours of sunlight
2. Food from pastures – for the caribou
b) List two biotic factors that affect life in the tundra:
1. Migration of caribou herds
2. Wolves
c) List one herbivore from the video that lives in the tundra:
1. Caribou
d) List one carnivore from the video that lives in the tundra:
1. Wolves
e) What is the main source of energy for the herbivore?
Tall grasses and shrubs from pastures.
f) What is the main source of energy for the carnivore?
The other biotic creatures that live there in the tundra.
Boreal Forest (Taiga)
a) What kind of tree inhabits boreal forests?
Broad leave trees which replace conifers when the summer starts.
Temperate (deciduous) Forest
a) What kind of tree inhabits temperate forests?
There is a scarce amount of vegetation in the forests in winter.
b) List two abiotic factors that affect life in the temperate forests:
1. Harsh winters
2. Destruction of habitats
c) List two biotic factors that affect life in the temperate forests:
1. Prey for predators to consume
2. Plants for herbivores to feed on.
d) List one herbivore from the video that lives in a temperate forest:
1. Deer
e) List one carnivore from the video that lives in a temperate forest:
1. Amur leopard
f) Why are the carnivores that you saw in the temperate forest segment so scarce now?
The Amur leopard is scarce because it has nearly been pushed to the verge of extinction with the main causes of hunting and poaching.
g) What causes the Earth to have seasons?
As the earth spins annually around the sun, it spins around on its tilted axis which creates the seasons.
Tropical Forest
a) List two abiotic factors that affect life in tropical forests:
1. Canopies of the trees which make the forest floor darker and damper
2. Sunlight
b) List two biotic factors that affect life in tropical forests:
1. Millions of different pieces that inhabit the tropical forest
2. Mating of animals.
c) The rainforest covers 3% of the planet surface, but contains 50% of its species!
Ocean (marine)
a) List two abiotic factors that affect life in the oceans:
1. The sun
2. The amount of tidal waves which bring fertilising nutrients.
b) List two biotic factors that affect life in the oceans:
1. Sharks
2. Seals – prey for other carnivores
c) List one carnivore from the video that lives in the ocean:
1. Sharks
Desert
a) List two abiotic factors that affect life in the desert:
1. The rain/ water
2. Natural disasters (heavy dust storms)
b) List two biotic factors that affect life in the desert:
1. Migration for food and water
2. Insects which are snapped up by the plovers to feed on
c) List two herbivores from the video that live in the desert:
1. Elephants
2. Zebras.
d) List two carnivores from the video that live in the desert:
1. Plovers
2. African hunting dogs.
e) Which abiotic factor has the biggest influence on the desert organisms? Why?
Rain because without it no organism can survive.
Mountain
a) List two abiotic factors that affect life in the mountains:
1. Temperature / sunlight
2. Water
Polar 2 (Antarctic)
a) List two abiotic factors that affect life in the Antarctic:
1. Summer / sun
2. Water
b) List one biotic factor that affects life in the Antarctic:
1. Penguins which keep their eggs safe and let them hatch when summer comes
In a minimum of six sentences, describe some interesting facts that you learned about an animal, a biome and an environmental adaptation.
The amur leopard is near to extinction as there are only 40 left in the wild, which is due to the large amount of poaching and hunting which victimises them leading to near extinction. The dessert biome is a very dangerous environment due to the fact that there is very little water and when it does come it comes very rarely. The African Kalahari Desert is interesting as the animals have nearly trekked for 4-5 months just to find some water in which a small number of animals died, either because they were hunted or because they did not have sufficient food, water or energy left. Natural disasters affected the animals since the dust storm was a big one which lasted for a large amount of time and the animals had to work twice as hard to trek since the storm was blowing in the opposite direction from them. Animals have to adapt to the condition they live in because if they cannot cope with the extreme weather or temperature they can die. Animals can adapt to these conditions as they are built with the necessities to do so, such as penguins and polar bears have a large amount of blubber so they can survive the harsh, cold winter. Also, animals can migrate or hibernate to adapt to get through the harsh environmental conditions.
Biotic:
Abiotic:
Part C: After watching the video:
After watching the video, label the globe shown below with changes in biotic and abiotic features as you travel from pole to pole.
Describe the relationship between the type of biome and latitude.
The relationship between the type of biome and latitude is that with the latitude the climate changes and the biomes which lie between the latitudes have different temperatures and weather conditions of their own. The biomes which are located at a far distance from the equator (high latitude) have higher and colder weather conditions. For example, Antarctica and the arctic. The biomes which are near the equator (lower latitude) have warmer weather conditions. For example, the Amazon Rainforest. Animals have to adapt and/ or change because of these conditions.
Activity sheet
Biomes of the world
The biosphere is divided into regional patterns called biomes.
1 Investigate the features that define a biome. Record your findings in the table below.
Biome
Features of this biome
Abiotic factors common to this biome
(eg. Rainfall, average temperature)
Rainforest
Rainforests range from hot to wet tropical forests to temperate forests and have plenty biodiverse animal and bird species.
Rainfall, sun’s energy and average temperature.
Savannah
Savannahs have two distinctive seasons which are the rainy and the dry seasons. They are mainly covered with trees and grasses.
Rainfall, sunlight.
Grassland
Grasslands are biomes which are covered in acres of grass which may or may not have trees. There are two types of grasslands – tropical grasslands and temperate grasslands. These are mainly inhabited by grazing animals.
Sun’s energy, temperature/ climate.
Desert
Deserts are places which receive low rainfall and can be either hot or cold such as Antarctica or the Kalahari Desert in Africa. Deserts are mainly located where the tropic and temperate zones meet.
Rainfall and temperature.
Tundra
Tundras are generally biomes which have cold temperatures and have no trees but instead have small shrubs, grasses, mosses and lichens. They are located in the higher latitudes around the polar zones.
Temperature, sunlight.
Taiga
Taiga biome also has two distinctive seasons which are summers and winters. The summer in taiga is usually a short and wet one and the winter season is usually a long cold one. It is covered with trees and are made from land shaped by the movement of glaciers.
Climate, soils, rainfall.
Deciduous forest
The deciduous biome has four seasons – winter, spring, summer and autumn, although the temperature is always changing it has a high amount of moisture which make the soil rich.
Soil, temperature.