Biomes Of The World Essays - Forest Ecology, Forests, Climate, Taiga

Biomes Of The World A biome, also known as life zones, consists of all plants, animals, and other organisms, as well the physical environment in a particular area. A biome is characterized by its plant life, climate, and location. The climate and physical features determine the boundaries of a biome. A biome is made up of many different ecosystems. The ecosystems tend to have the same pants and animals as neighboring biomes around the boundaries. The major biomes are the tundra, taiga, tropical rain forest, temperate forests, desert, grassland, savanna, chaparral, and marine. Each biome has its own characteristics such as the tundra. The tundra is a biome that is located in the Northern Hemisphere of the world. It circles the North Pole and reaches down to the taiga. The tundra has a very cold and harsh climate, especially in the winters. The average winter temperatures is about -30?F and average summer temperatures is roughly 37-54?F. The yearly amount of precipitation, which includes melting snow, averages to about 6 to 10 inches. With these conditions it makes for a short growing season of about 50-60 days. In some parts it can be up to 180 days. This is only found in the more southern part of the tundra. Another aspect of the tundra includes the vegetation that is found there and the adaptations that have been made. The tundra is known for its cold temperatures, but also its limited plant species. The growth of the vegetation is primarily low to the ground and the biomass of plants is concentrated in the roots. Here the plants reproduce more likely by division and building than by flower pollination. Some of that growthforms that you will find in the tundra include tussock, mats or cushion plants, rosettes, and dwarf shrubs. Other examples of plants include lichens, mosses, sedges, perennial forbs, dwarfed shrubs (heaths, birches, and willows), cotton grass, liverworts, and 400 varieties of flowers. Tundra plants over the years adapted to sweeping winds and disturbances of the soil. Another adaptation is that they are short and cluster together to help endure the cold. Also they can carry out photosynthesis at low temperatures and low light intensities. Plants arent the only things that have had to adapt to the conditions, animals have had to as well. Animals of the tundra have had to adapt to the long cold winters and to having to raise their young quickly in the summer. Some other adaptations of animals include thick insulating cover of feathers or fur; large, compact bodies; pelage and plumage that turns white in the winter and brown in the summer; the ability to accumulate thick deposits of fat during the short growing season; hibernation; and migration. Some of the animals that are found living in the tundra are lemmings, voles, caribou, artic hares, squirrels, artic foxes, wolves, polar bear, ravens, snow buntings, falcons, loons, ravens, sandpipers, terns, snow birds, mosquitoes, flies, moths, grasshoppers, black flies, artic bumble bees, cod, flatfish, salmon, and trout. Some of these animals are shared with other neighboring biomes but some are only home to the tundra. The tundra is the simplest biome in terms of species composition and food chain. The neighboring biome of the tundra is the boreal forest (taiga). The taiga is a biome that reaches completely across Canada and into the interior of Alaska. The climate is like the tundra in the sense that it has long, severe winters that last up to 6 months. The summers on the other hand are rather short. Although compared to the tundra, the growing season is longer and warmer. The mean annual precipitation is 15 to 20 inches. Throughout the year the temperatures range from the lows in the winter to highs in the summer. The taiga is also found to be very humid. The kinds of plants that have adapted to this kind of climate include needle leaf, coniferous trees such as spruce, fir, pine, and larch or tamarack. These trees are the dominant plant species of the taiga. Some other types are alder, birch, and aspen. Trees of the taiga are typically shallow rooted due to the poor soils, the rocky conditions, and the discontinuous permafrost. The plants living in this biome

Emmitt Till Essays - Emmett Till, MOSE Project, Free Essays

Emmitt Till Essays - Emmett Till, MOSE Project, Free Essays Emmitt Till Emmit Till was like any other ordinary boy. He lived in Chicago in 1955 with his mother. But this summer he was going to visit his Uncle Mose who lived down south. Down south and Chicago were totally different. First of all, you couldn't go to a school with someone that wasn't your color, you couldn't go to any bathroom you wanted and couldn't eat where you wanted. In other words, it was segregated. Now, let me get back to my story. I can't wait till go I down south. I wonder what it will be like.said Emmit. I think you'll like it, but stay out of trouble ya hear. said Emmit's mom. Ok. said Emmit. The next day Emmit arrived. He met up with his Uncle Mose and went straight to his Uncle's house. So how old are you now? said Uncle Mose. Fourteen. said Emmit. So, yah like fried chicken? said Uncle Mose. Yeah said Emmit. Good cause thats what we having for dinnersaid uncle Mose So they had dinner and Emmit went to bed.The next day Emmit went outside to go meet some new friends, but he took his junior high school graduation picture with him. A few minutes later he met two boys named Tony and Stacey. Emmit said, Look at my class picture. Tony said, Why are there white people in your class? Emmit said, I don't know. Why don't you? Stacey said, They aren't allowed in our school. Tony said, Since you hang around white people so much, I dare you to go talk to that white lady in that store. Emmit said, Ok. So Emmit went to the candy store and bought candy. He paid for it and before he left he said Bye baby. to a white woman in the store and then her husband came running after him, but Emmit was too fast and he ran all the way home. That night Uncle Mose asked Emmit, What did you do today ? Who me?,said Emmit Yes you. said Uncle Mose. Oh ummm, well ummm, I made some new friends, said Emmit. Why are you so nervous? said Uncle Mose. Why ya say that Uncle Mose? asked Emmit. Well, ya stuttering. said Uncle Mose. Is that why well I'm cold and I'm shivering? said Emmit. Cold in Alabama? You must be sick or something because I'm sweating, said Uncle Mose. Well I'm tired so I'm going to bed.said Emmit. Ok, see yah in the morning.said Uncle Mose. But Uncle Mose didn't know that Emmit was going to be kidnapped that night. In the middle of the night two men came and kidnapped Emmit. They drove him to the Hallatachie River. First, they beat him up with a bat and then they got 75 lbs bag of cotton gin, tied it around his ankle with barb wire , and threw him in the river Afterward they had a trial about the Emmit Till case. Those two men were found innocent. Emmit's family had two other trials and they were still found innocent. The reason why those two men were found innocent was because it was the 1950's and it was segregated and the trial had an all white jury.