A national park is a place, an area set aside by the government for conserving plants and animals in an organized way. They are also meant for public recreation, primarily due to their paramount scientific and historical significance. In national parks, all landscapes, flora, and fauna are kept in their natural state. The concept of …
The spectacular sight and the awe-inspiring beauty and grandeur of the Victoria Falls make it one of the greatest attractions in Africa. The waterfall is located in southern Africa on the river Zambezi at the border between two countries, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Width of 1,688 meters and an altitude of 108 meters make it the …
A food chain is a sequence of transfer of matter and energy through food, from one organism to another. Due to the fact that most consumers in a food chain feed on more than one type of plant or animal, an intertwined network of the food chain is often found in most ecosystems. This complex …
A body of land surrounded by water is called an island and going by its definition, we can find numerous islands in ponds, lakes, rivers, and mostly in oceans. We even know some continents that are surrounded by water, but as they are huge in size, they are not considered an island. For example the …
Aquaculture is a type of farming which involves the cultivation of aquatic organisms and aquatic plants for human consumption under controlled conditions. It is also known as ‘aqua farming’ or ‘aquiculture’. This type of farming activity is usually carried out in brackish, fresh or salt water. Various aquatic organisms are produced through aquaculture. This includes: …
An alpine biome describes an ecosystem that doesn’t contain trees due to its high altitude. These biomes are found in mountainous regions across the globe. Their elevation normally ranges between 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) and the area where a mountain’s snow line begins. Alpine biomes are home to only about 200 plant species, as their …
A pyramid of numbers is a graphical representation that shows the number of organisms at each trophic level. It is an upright pyramid in light of the fact that in an ecosystem, the producers are always more in number than other trophic levels. The pyramid of numbers was advanced by Charles Elton in 1927. Charles …
Biodiversity, or Biological Diversity, is the sum of all the different species of plants, animals, fungi and microbial organisms that live on Earth, including the various ecosystems in which they live on. Biodiversity also includes the genetic information that these organisms contain. Therefore, on a smaller scale, you can use biodiversity to describe the variation …
The biosphere is also known as ecosphere. It is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems, incorporating all life forms and their relationships, which includes their interactions with the elements of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere. Simply put, the biosphere is the space on or near the Earth’s surface where land, air, and water interact with …
Secondary consumers occupy the third trophic level in a typical food chain. They are organisms that feed on primary consumers for nutrients and energy. While primary consumers are always herbivores; organisms that only feed on autotrophic plants, secondary consumers can be carnivores or omnivores. Carnivores eat only animals, but omnivores eat both animals and plants. …
In an ecological food chain, consumers are classed into primary, secondary, and tertiary consumers. Primary consumers make up the second trophic level as they feed on primary producers. In other words, primary consumers are organisms that take up food directly from plants. Primary consumers are normally herbivores. They are also referred to as heterotrophs as …
Simply defined, a forest is a vast area including a large group of trees. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Forest is a minimum “Land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent or trees able to reach these thresholds in …
Overfishing is yet another environmental issue which means consumption of a species of fish from a body of water at a rate which is outpacing its natural reproduction. According to World Wildlife Fund (WWF), “overfishing occurs when more fish are caught than the population can replenish through natural reproduction.“ While overfishing sounds like a lucrative …
An ecosystem is a community of plants and animals interrelating with each other in a particular area, as well as with their non-living environments. The non-living environments encompass atmosphere, weather, sun, soil, and climate. An ecosystem can be expansive, with several hundreds of different flora and fauna all living with a delicate balance, or it …
An ecosystem encompasses living organisms and the nonliving elements of their environments. Hence, the components of an ecosystem include animals, plants, microorganisms, rocks, soil, minerals, atmosphere, and the surrounding water masses. An ecosystem can be huge, cutting across several nations, or it can be relatively small, such as the body of an animal, which is …