Communities and Biomes

Activities

• Have students do this “Examining the Stages in Ecological Succession” (doc) worksheet.
• Try this “Comparing Ecosytems” activity. This is actually an activity to compare biomes.
• Do the “Drag and Drop” interactive game that has students place biomes in either the marine or land category.
• This “Communities and Biomes” (doc) wordsearch includes answers (doc).
• There are 7 activities on biomes at the “North American Biomes” site.
• The “Biomes” worksheet has students compare biomes.
• “Build a Prairie” is an interactive game that lets students choose the proper plants to inhabit a prairie.
• Try the “Communities and Biomes” (doc) crossword puzzle.
• “Exploring Biomes” (pdf) is a worksheet for comparison of biomes.
• American Field Guide’s  “Primary and Secondary Succession in America’s Forests”  unit has 3 activities and several video segments.
• This “Biomes” lesson from Teacher’s Domain (You must register for free to access) includes videos, maps, and readings in PDF form.
• Play the “Biome Builder” (pdf) an activity in which players acquire a certain number of KiloCalories in a Bingo-like game. Then, working in groups, they construct a tiny animal community within the limits of their resources.
• “Terrestrial Biome Bash” is a Quia hangman game.

Labs

• Have students do the “Building a Biome” lab where the teacher assigns a biome to each group and has them simulate it’s conditions.
• See the affect of acids on plant growth in the “Acids and Seed Germination” (doc) lab.
• Compare the water-holding capacities of sand, clay, and potting soil in the “Water-holding Capacity of Soils” (doc) lab.

Links

• Tutorial on ecological succession for NY state regents exam: http://regentsprep.org/Regents/biology/units/ecology/ecological.cfm 
• Another ecological succession tutorial: http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/9i.html 
• Tutorial on world biomes with good map: http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/world_biomes.htm 
• Summary of biome characteristics: http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/summary.html 
• Pictoral examples of ecological succession: http://www.countrysideinfo.co.uk/successn/ 
• “Mission: Biomes” contains a teacher resource page: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Laboratory/Biome/ 
• Good slides explaining and illustrating aquatic biomes: http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/esp/2001_es/. . . 
• Slides for land biomes: http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/esp/2001_es/. . .  
• Good pictures of ecological succession: http://library.thinkquest.org/17456/succession1.html 
• Habitats and biomes with pictures and graph: http://library.thinkquest.org/11922/habitats/habitats.htm 
• Another biomes tutorial: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibits/biomes/index.php 
• One final tutorial on biomes: http://www.worldbiomes.com/