Grasslands and Deciduous Forests
Temperate Grasslands
Student Assessment:
-A Temperate grassland is a grassland that experiences the four seasons. This is different than the tropical grasslands known as Savannas. Savannas do not experience seasons, they stay relatively the same temperature all year.
The North American prairies in winter
-Like most biomes, it is the amount of precipitation that defines grasslands
-Grasslands receive enough precipitation to grow grass but not enough to sustain a forest. There are usually few trees growing in the grasslands.
-Dry thin soil is also a contributing factor to the lack of trees in a grassland
-Grasslands also suffer from fires
-The hot dry ground and dry grass easily leads to large fires. The grass recovers quickly from fires since grass grows from the bottom. Trees do not recover from fires because they grow from the top.
Grass is the most successful plant on the planet and it has helped humans survive all over the world.
-A large part of human societies where based on either rice or wheat crops
There are only a few large Temperate Grassland Biomes in the world
Here we can see all of the Grasslands in the world but remember the ones that fall in the tropics are not temperate grasslands
Class activity:
Get into groups of 4
You have 5 minutes to write down as many temperate grassland animals as your group can think of
The group that has the most after 5 minutes will win extra credit
We will be doing this for each of our biomes
There are a lot of animals that live in temperate grasslands. Grasslands are known for their large mammals
Homework:
-You need to have a picture of a temperate grassland and you need to have 10 unique animals that live in that biome. For each of those animals you need to label their taxonomy, where they live, what they eat, and a fact about them. They need to be from at least 3 different phyla and 6 different orders
Video:
We are going to watch the BBC Planet earth film on grasslands. The film includes all types of grasslands including tundra
Deciduous Forest/ Temperate Broadleaf Forests
-A temperate forest is a forest that experiences all fours seasons
-The temperate forest is full of deciduous trees
-These are trees that change color in the fall, lose their leaves in the winter and grow bright green leaves in the spring and summer
-Temperate forests receive a lot of rainfall, not enough to be considered a rainforest but enough to support the abundant biomass of trees
Temperate forests around the world
-Temperate forest support a large amount of biomass. There are many animals found in these biomes
Class activity:
Get into groups of 4
You have 5 minutes to write down as many temperate forest animals as your group can think of
The group that has the most after 5 minutes will win extra credit
We will be doing this for each of our biomes
Homework:
-You need to have a picture of a Temperate Forest and you need to have 10 unique animals that live in that biome. For each of those animals you need to label their taxonomy, where they live, what they eat, and a fact about them. They need to be from at least 3 different phyla and 6 different orders
Video:
Today we will be watching the BBC Video Planet Earth on Deciduous Forests
