Biomes and Ecosystems Essay -Amber Sweatt

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Grand Canyon University *

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220

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Biology

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Jul 2, 2024

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docx

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1 Biomes and Ecosystems Amber Sweatt Department of Science, Grand Canyon University BIO-220: Environmental Science Angelica Alcala 6/17/2024

2 Biomes and Ecosystems 1. Refer to the infographic provided and choose a biome to describe with an example ecosystem. After reviewing the infographic, I chose to discuss the Tropical Rainforest Biome. Rainforests have a warm yearly climate and experience high levels of precipitation. Due to the heavy rainfall, rainforests have dense, lush vegetation. This vegetation consists of a variety of species of trees and other plants that provide shelter and food for the abundant about of species of insects and animals. The consistent warm climate the trees are evergreen or in bloom year-round. Tropical Rainforest also have high decomposition rates causing the soil to be rich in nutrients. The ecosystem that I will be discussing in more depth is the Amazon Rainforest, located in Brazil, South America. When referring to biodiversity, the Amazon rainforest is the richest in the world housing several million species of insects, plants, birds, and other animals (Augustyn, 2017). 2. Provide one example of a keystone species found in the biome/ecosystem. Why is this keystone species important to the biome/ecosystem? What defines it as a keystone species Keystone species play a significant role within their ecosystem with many species being impacted directly or indirectly by their presence. Keystone species can fall into different categories such as predators that help control overpopulation, pollinators and seed dispersers that assist with local plant life, or ecosystem engineers that change the environment for other organisms. Keystone species are extremely important for maintaining the structure, function and stability of their respective ecosystems. Depending on the category of the keystone species they are responsible for providing other organisms with things like shelter and food (Salata, 2022). In the Amazon Rainforest a keystone species is the leafcutter ant. The leafcutter ant falls into the category of ecosystem engineer. They do their work both above the ground as well as deep below it. Fungus grows underground on the chewed-up leaves. They can aid or prevent fungal growth through removing contaminates or by releasing a special secretion. This underground fungus provides nutrients to the soil. Leafcutter ants impact vegetation growth by pruning the plants, it encourages plant growth. They also occasionally collect seeds which aid in seed dispersal (“Leafcutter Ant | Insect Tribe,” 2019). 3. Provide an example of an invasive species found in the biome/ecosystem. What are some of the negative impacts this invasive species has on the ecosystem? What is being done to mitigate impacts? In the Amazon Rainforest the Golden Mussel is an invasive species. The Golden mussel which originated in Asia, was introduced to South America accidently on

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