2.3 – Biosphere and Interconnections

 What is energy? Energy is the capacity of a body or system to accomplish work. There are a ton of different forms of energy, whether they be man made or natural occurrences. There are electromagnetic energy waves that are made of radiation frequencies, (photons). We all know what radiation is, it is things like x- rays or UV light from the sun, it is at such high levels of energy being released that it can actually blind the human eye. Another type of energy is Nuclear energy, which is the energy that bonds two atoms together. Nuclear energy is important because everything is made of atoms! The most basic form of energy is kinetic energy, which has to deal with basically everything also, so it is broken down into two categories. Thermal kinetic energy is the actual tiny vibrations that are happening between atoms, and mechanical kinetic energy is when the atoms are in motion. Next we have gravitational energy which describes itself, it is of natural occurrence. When an object goes up there will be a natural release of energy forcing that object to fall down. There is compressed energy which is when there is a gas that is trapped inside of an object, and the pressure that is being held back by the closed container. Another form of energy that is stored and only released when necessary, is chemical. An example of a chemical energy are things like photosynthesis, natural gas changes like oxygen and carbon dioxide being released, and any other instance where a chemical compound holds energy and can release only when needed. Another energy that is created and then detained until needed is elasticity energy, which forms in the tension that is caused when an elastic object like a bow and arrow is pulled back. There are three “rules” when it comes to energy, and we know these as the three laws of thermodynamics. The first law is that energy can not be created nor destroyed. The second law is that energy can only occur spontaneously, and the third law is that it can never be completely and efficiently done.

Biodiversity is the variety that one ecosystem has of a certain life form found in any given habitat. There is so much genetic diversity, when I say the word “fish'' think about how broad of a statement that is. You do not know if I am referring to a catfish, a bass, a shark, a rainbow trout, or a Haelei Trout. But not even just in fish i mean every single special, like the different genetic variations that allow us to have so many different plants. Genetic variation is just the first level of organization when it comes to biodiversity categorizing. The second level is the “richness” of a given species, which has to deal with how thriving one species is doing in the habitat that you’re dealing with. The third level of organization has to deal with the variations of species in the given environment. For example there could be 1 gazelle per zebra, or three leafs of fungi per fungi eating animal. Having biodiversity is tremendously important because of all of the different values that nature has to offer us. We as humans has done really well utilizing the earth’s natural products, like we learned which certain berries, fruits, veggies, beans,and other plants to harvest that were safe to eat, but we also learned which berries, and plants could be used medicinally to help heal our bodies. With biodiversity we also have nutrient cycling which is important when it comes to vegetation and agriculture, because the earth relies on things to die and their remains go back into the earth and provide the earth nutrients so that the earth can give us things back in return. Biodiversity also deals with the provision of oxygen, which is obviously vital to the survival of life. All living organisms can be categorized into ⅕ of the animal kingdoms. The first and most basic level of the animal kingdom is monerans, which are singe celled organisms like bacteria. The second level is protists which can be unicellular or multicellular, and is algae specimens. The third is fungi, which is single celled yeast and multicellular fungi. Level four of the animal kingdom is plantae, which is all plants, and level five is animalia, which is all animals.

What is Biomes? Biomes are the many different global ecosystems. It is a collection of plants, animals, and microorganisms that have the same common characteristics where they live due to physical climate. Humans have a huge effect on many ecosystems due to our agriculture demands as well as our architectural needs or growth. There are a ton of different biomes but specifically our book mentions 8 give or take. There are the tundra biomes, which are treeless areas that have long cold winters and a short cool growing season. The  boreal coniferous forest biomes have a cold winter, and a short and warming growing season. The montane forest occurs at sub-alpine altitudes on mountains in temperate latitudes. There is the temperate rainforest which has a mild winter and it has precipitation year round because that area of land holds so much water. The temperate grassland or the savannah is in between the rainforest biome and the desert biome. The desert biome can be temperate or tropical and commonly occurs in continental interiors or in the rain shadow of mountains.The freshwater biomes are the lentic ecosystems that contain flowing water as occurs in lakes and ponds. There are also the wetlands which are the shallow flooded areas of land that contain fresh water, when it contains sea water it is known as the estuaries biomes. The estuaries biomes is the area between sea and land. Biomes can be broken down even more complexly though, and we call them ecozones. Ecozones are large landscapes or seascapes that contain distinct groupings of naturally assembled species and their communities. In Canada there are 15 terrestrial ecozones found and 5 marine. Since many counties share ecozones with one another there are constantly issues being faced. Two of the biggest problems being questioned between the United States of America and Canada is the raw sewage discharged by the city of Victoria BC, because they may be damaging the water quality in the US waters of Juan de Fuca Strait. Another issue at hand is that during the seasonal times of high water levels, the Devil’s Lake in North Dakota is released into the Sheyenne River that runs north into Manitoba. The government of Manitoba is concerned about down river flooding and invasive species making their way into the Red River.