Geography geoecology essays

RoRo979

My class is doing culture and identity but I have no interest in that topic, was wondering if someone could send me some essays or let me know where some could be found, thanks in advance

Saz513

We've finished the geography course in class and now our teacher is basically working off "Exam Skills" by Sue Honan. It gives you sample essays for nearly every question that's been asked with lots of extra information

otter13

RoRo979 wrote: »

My class is doing culture and identity but I have no interest in that topic, was wondering if someone could send me some essays or let me know where some could be found, thanks in advance

I have a sample answer book, cold send you a few from there

RoRo979

bumping as still dont have a clue. I have heard that studying biomes itself is safe as at least one always comes up. i was going to do:
- human impact on biomes in regards to (logging, intensive agriculture and industrial development) due to 2012 q3
- impact of climate on soil and vegetation due to 2013 q2 although sample essay is hard to come by
- animal and plant adaptions

i can mic q 2 & 3 into characteristics of biomes if it comes up
Is this the most efficient and safest way or is there a better?

Saz513

I'd say you'd be fine if you knew:
-Characteristics of a biome
-Plant and animal adaptations
-Human activities and a biome
-Climate of biome and its impact on soil and vegetation


A quick recap on biome questions over the years:
2014: -Human activity
2013: -Effect of climate on soil and vegetation
2012: -Human activities (deforestation, intensive agri. and industrial development were specifically asked about)
2011: -Characteristics (choose three from climate, soil, flora, fauna)
-Human activities (it says economic activities so obviously logging, industrial development and intensive agri has you covered)
2010: -Impact of climate
2009: -Human activities
2008: -Human activities
-Characteristics


So, yeah, you should be safe

RoRo979

i heard climate of biome and its impact on soil and vegetations is more or less exactly the same as characteristics, is that true?

RoRo979

also one year the quetioned asked for biomes you have studied, i am only studying the tropical one but must i now prepare essays for the hot desert aswell incase they ask for 2? e.g 2014 q18 and 2009 q18

RoRo979

doing 4 essays, wondering if someone could make sure they are all ok and ready to learn and if these will indeed have me covered.

Characteristics of a biome:
In this essay I will discuss characteristics of the tropical broadleaf evergreen rainforest. I will discuss climate,soils, flora and fauna of this biome. A biome is a large glocal ecosystem. Each biome has a similar pattern of climate,vegetation etc. Biomes are normally named after there vegetation type e.g desert biome. The tropical rainforest biome is found 5 degrees north and south of the equator(the tropics) e.g south america, africa. south asia

Climate:
The tropical rainforest experiences a tropical climate, temp are High average 27 degrees + show little varitation
annual temp range is 2 degrees.
Climate is due to its position near the equator near the equator, the suns rays are direct so no real change in seasons.
although no real change in seasons the area the receives the most rain and highest temp do change resulting in slight drying and cooling at edge of rainforest biome in June and December.
angle varies only from 90 degrees to 66 degres when it is over tropic of cancer or tropic of capricorn.
equatorial zone is the region of maximum solar heating on the earths surface.
Sunrise at sunset at 6 o'clock
only 2% sunshine reaches forest floor
The biome experiences high levels of rainfall up to 6600mm per year
this rainfall occurs as suns rays are directly overhead heating plants and ground resulting in evaporation
There are up to 200 rainy days with 50% of the rain being its own evaporation.
the water condenses resulting in heavy daily rainfall, humidityup to 88%
Condition of warmth, moisture and sunlight are perfect for the growth of living things. As a result the the climate has led to high levels of bio-diversity
North east trade winds and south east trade winds converge in a low pressure zone close to equator, sun heats it and it rises + condenses.
Constant cloud cover helps to keep humidity high

Flora:
The natural vegetation is jungle/rainforest
The rainforest has a huge floral biodiversity. Rainforests have been called “earth’s lungs”. Many species of plants are yet unknown to science. These plants may contain cures needed by the modern medical society. Many rainforest plants have made adaptations to fit into this biome.
Rainforest trees that need extra support in shallow soils have buttresses, which are broad woody supports at the base of the trees.
Plants develop large drip tip leaves which catch more sunlight and are adapted for high rainfall amounts to run off. Epiphytes are plants that grow on other plants to get more sunlight and to avoid herbivores.
Lianas are woody vines that grow up tree trunks to get to the light; there are over 2500 different species of lianas.
The plants in the rainforest grow in 4 distinctive layers.
The emergent layer is the tallest of the layer of trees, which can reach heights of 80m.e.g mahogany. Because emergent trees are exposed to sunlight and breeze, which decreases humidity, smaller leaves. The trunks of these trees are thin as they don’t require protection from frost. The tops of these trees have umbrella shaped outlines.
the Canopy layer Between 20m and 40m is the canopy layer. Plants in this layer have a canopy of vegetation. Leaves are large to catch lots of sunlight. Trees have shallow buttress roots which capture nutrients.Plants found in this layer include vines and epiphytes. Leaves have holes or drip tips to shed the heavy rainfall.
An epiphyte is a plant that grows on another plant but is not parasitic, such as a fern.
The understory is under the canopy. 2- 20m. Tall non flowering shrubs. Plant growth in this layer is limited because of lack of sunlight. Ferns and vines grow in this layer also.
Forest Floor lower 2m. Very dark, as a result few plants grow here.
Vegetation in the tropical rainforest is dependent on the heavy, daily rainfall and hot, humid conditions.


Soil:
The climate has determined the soil type in this biome. The soil that develops in tropical rainforests is known as latosols.
latosol is the zonal soil associated with this biome
These soils endure high rates of weathering due to high rainfall. This rainfall also leads to rapid leaching.
Thin O horizon (humus layer) due to intesnse bacterial activity which rapidly decomposes dead matter. Tropical rainforests have low levels of humus because of huge amounts of decomposers (ants, fungi etc.)
Most minerals in the soil are removed except for iron. Layers of iron build up and this is called laterisation.
the chemical weathering process creates important mineral deposits through a process called ‘secondary enrichment’
this occurs as chemical weather and percolating water concentrate metals into economically valuable concentration
e.g Bauxite is formed due to leaching
Laterisation is a form of intense chemical weathering and leaching the occurs in hot climates.
Laterisation can reach many meters into the ground, these soils can be 40m deep. plants have adapted to this and grow quickly.
the B horizon is very deep and uniform in texture due to intense leaching
If this iron is exposed to air it turns to iron oxide, giving the soil its red colour.
This soil becomes infertile and acidic and if vegetation is removed it becomes useless for growth.
Tropical rainforests have low levels of humus because of huge amounts of decomposers (ants, fungi etc.)
Because plants grow so fast they absorb the available humus immediately using their shallow roots. These soils are, therefore, dependant on the climate, plants and animals for its supply of nutrients. Fast growing plants rapidly use the humus so it isn't leached into the ground
this short nutrient cycle give the impression that the last is very fertile but in fact once forest is removed has very little fertility and crops fail after 2/3 years.
There is a fine balance between the soil and the climate of this biome. If the trees are cut down the soil is deprived of its supply of nutrients and renders it unusable.
Exposed Latsols are baked into a hard brick-like laterite soil which is impossible to cultivate

RoRo979

Higher Level 2009 Q 18 Q: Assess how biomes have been altered by human activity. (80 marks)

In this essay I will discuss how biomes have been altered by human activity. These include industrial development, felling of tropical rain forests and intensive agricultural practices.. A biome is a large glocal ecosystem. Each biome has a similar pattern of climate,vegetation etc. Biomes are normally named after there vegetation type e.g desert biome. The tropical rainforest biome is found 5 degrees north and south of the equator(the tropics) e.g south america, africa. south asia

1. Felling of Tropical Rain Forests

- This Equatorial biome provides high temperatures and plentiful rainfall all through the year. The forest is dense and luxuriant and it's trees form an almost continuous canopy over the land.
- In the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, deforestation is occurring at an alarming rate. Commercial logging is responsible for removal of 500 million hectares a year.
- In 1800 there were 2.9 billion hectares of rainforest. Now there is only 1.5 billion hectares remaining. It has got so bad that 1 and a half hectares are lost every second. Experts believe that the last remaining rainforests will be consumed within 40 years.
- Logging usually involves transfer of control of the rainforest from the people ( how care about its preservation) to other companies how only want short term profit
- Deforestation is the clearance of forests.
- These clearances have normally been done by people outside the biome such as Europeans.
- Less than 2% of the natural rainforest along Brazil's Atlantic coast has survived. The tropical rainforest has decreased from 2.9 billion hectares to 1.5 billion hectares today.
- Many of these trees take 60 years to grow enough for timber usage.
- Logging is the process of cutting down trees and exporting them to make a profit.
- As Brazil is a rapidly developing country and economy, it uses it's mineral rich trees and as a result the government gets a portion of the timber profits.
- However, 80% of all timber logging activities are illegally done in the Brazilian rainforest to make outputs such as cheap plywood.
- Mining is another cause of felling tropical trees. Iron ore and copper are mixed in the rainforest which need hectares of cleared land to extract them.
- commercial logging is a clear example of unsustainable management of an important natural resource in many developing countries
- logging causes irreversible damage to the surrounding biodiversity.

2. Intensive agricultural practices

- Originally in the tropical rainforest, the natural native people like the Yanomani tribe practiced "slash and burn" and small areas of land were cleared for subsistence farming (growing enough to feed themselves).
- Slash and burn cultivation refers to when people remove the vegetation layer by hand and then burn the left over scrub vegetation that wasn’t of any use to them.
- After it's burned the land is ploughed that returns the charred nutrients back to the ground to act as a fertilizer.
- After some time the land was exhausted and the people moved on but due to the small size of the land, the forest took it over again and made it as good as new.
- This is called sustainable exploitation of the forest as it is managed well, causing very little harm to the forest biome.
- Difficulties arise when land is now allowed adequate time to recover - intensive farming results in irreversible soil degradation.
- 38% of deforestation from 1966-1975 due to cattle ranching
- between 1995 to 1998 land in amazon rainforest was given to 150,000 families

- Soils can be damaged due to the use of fertilizers and pesticides to kill all bugs around throws the entire ecosystem out of balance, harming plants and animals.
- Now the Brazilian government encourages larger-scale clearances for agriculture as 40 hectares of rainforests are lost every minute to agriculture use. If this continues, it’s
- Soil erosion is caused by the removal of the tree canopy (top layer of tree leaves). It can be in a case of 2-3 years a soil can lose it's fertility as it is deprived of it's foliage layer leading to a lack of humus.
- It is now called laterite soil as it has been baked in the sun and is useless to men. To prevent the cattle from starving, more land is felled to feed them as part of the vicious cycle.
- The Indigenous people have suffered due to intensive agricultural practices. In Brazil, 90 tribes have been wiped out due to industrial and agricultural spread into the biome.


3. Industrial Development

Industrial development is another heavy impact made by humans on biomes. Many developing industries require high levels of charcoal.
Charcoal is wood, which is burnt slowly and it is attained by constant industrial manufacture of forest materials cut down by humans. Couldnt find much info to finish, any info greatly appreciated

spurious

Please don't open multiple threads on the same thing.
Threads merged.

Saz513

RoRo979 wrote: »

also one year the quetioned asked for biomes you have studied, i am only studying the tropical one but must i now prepare essays for the hot desert aswell incase they ask for 2? e.g 2014 q18 and 2009 q18

I'd say you'd be better off doing an in depth study in one biome instead of skimming over two, really

Williamhicks

<mod snip advertising a paid site>

blackbird 49

You only need to study one biome, the questions are general so just apply it to your biome.

RoRo979

thats perfect so, how do those essays look, are they strong or should they be improved?