Activity 2.3 – Biosphere and Interconnections

 Activity 2.3 – Biosphere and Interconnections

Chapter 4: Unit of Energy and Energy Transformation and Energy In an Ecosystem

Chapter 7: The Value of Biodiversity and The Organization of Life

Chapter 8: Biomes and Ecozones

My first Concept Map has the “Energy” concept colored in green and placed in the middle because I wanted to show the importance of that circle. All of the other main concepts are also located inside of a green circle. The two main ideas are “Energy Transformations” and “Units of Energy”. The Two units of energy I connected were joules and calories. On the left side, “Energy Transformations" is separated into four distinct categories, Thermal, Kinetic, Light and Chemical Energy. Also, I made sure to take note that light energy transformed into chemical energy through photosynthesis.

My Second Concept Map revolves around Biodiversity. I separated “Biodiversity” into two different sections, one about organization (how humans organize life) and the other about values (what biodiversity does/means to us). In yellow, connected to the “values” side, ecological, utilitarian and inherited values (like the beauty of nature) are all connected  because it shows how humans look at biodiversity. As for the Organization side, we organize living things by five different categories called classifications. Those classifications are Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, Animala.

My Final Concept Map was all about Biomes. You will probably notice that this one looks different because I used more curved lines to connect information. People identify biomes by their old growth vegetation as well as its dominant organisms. I also made two distinct sections, “Lake of Large Vegetation and Forests”. The concepts connected to forests are, Rain Forests, Boreal Coniferous Forests and Temperate Forests. The concepts connected to “Lack of Large Vegetation” are deserts and tundras. I also connected deserts and rainforests with the hot category and tundras and Boreal Coniferous Forests with the cold category. Despite the fact that the Boreal Coniferous Forests are not cold year around, I figured that they deserved a place in the cold category. “Boreal coniferous forest, or taiga, is an extensive biome of environments with a cold winter, short but warm growing season, and moist soil.” (Freedman pg.136).

Reference:

Freedman, Bill. Environmental science: A Canadian perspective. Halifax, Canada: Dalhousie University Libraries. (2018)