U5.

The biosphere

By Marta Vázquez and Isa Balanza

 A Big Ball of Life
The biosphere is all about life; the
living world. All of the microbes,
plants, and animals can be found
somewhere in the biosphere. The
biosphere extends to the upper areas
of the atmosphere where birds
and insects can be found.
It also reaches to dark caves deep in
the ground or to the bottom of
the ocean.
The biosphere extends to any place
that life of any kind exists.
 Animal relationships
:

-Family groups: offsprings are fed

and cared for by mothers or parents.
-Hierarchical communities:
highly organised societies
-Gregarious species: move, migrate or
live in groups to protect against predators.
: two males
compite for a female.
Predation: a Parasitism: the
predator (leon) parasite (mosquito)
captures, kills and benefits while the
eats an animal of other organism,called
different species, the host, is hurt
called prey (zebra). (animal or human)
-Commensalism: A Mutualism: both
relationship which organisms benefit.
benefits one organism Examples: clownfish and
and doesn’t help or anemone or bees and
harm the other (cattle flowers.
egrets and cattle).
 Who’s eating who?

. It is made up of:
Producers: Plants and algae.They make their own food through
photosynthesis.

Consumers: they obtain their food by eating other living things.

- Primary consumers: herbivores and omnivores which eat
producers (f.e. rabbits and grasshoppers).
- Secondary consumers, such as foxes and toads, are predators
which eat primary consumers. Carnivores and omnivores are
secondary consumers. (The same animal can be both predator and
prey).
- Tertiary consumers, such as snakes and hawks, eat secondary
consumers.
Decomposers: They live on the remains of other living things
(fungi and bacteria).
Who’s eating who?

 Most living things are part of more than one food chain.
 There are many different food chains in an ecosystem and
most of them are connected.
 The connected food chains make up a food web.
• A species becomes ‘extinct’
when all the members are
died and there aren’t any one
alive.
• Extinction is often a natural
process and has occurred for
millions of years.
• About 65 millions years ago a
mass extinction caused the
extinction of the dinosaurs,
flying reptiles, ammonites, etc
 Biodiversity loss: causes and effects

• There are many natural • Biodiversity is essential

causes of extinction, for an healthy planet
but humans are and our lives.
responsible for most of
the loss of biodiversity • When a species is lost,
in the world. we cannot use it as
food, enjoyment,
• This is a result of many medicine, textile, etc.
destructive practices
and their
consequences.
 Some endanged species in Spain

-Endangered species are in

danger of extinction.
-Wildlife protection groups,
such as Adena and WWF,
protect them.
Iberian wolf

Iberian imperial eagle

Brown bear Bluefin tuna (atún rojo)

Spanish pupfish (fartet)

Lammergeyer
Iberian lynx Capercaillie (urogallo)
(quebrantahuesos)
National parks and biosphere reserves are created to
protect wildlife and its environment.

Doñana National park

Monfragüe National Park

Sierra Espuña Regional Park Salinas de San Pedro del Pinatar Regional Park