Wednesday 24 June 2009

Our Ecosystems Blog

Hi Grade 4

This is where you have published your research on Ecosytems. All the information and pictures you have collected will be seen by anyone who visits our blog.

You can go straight to your posting by clicking on the page name below.

Desert by 'In the Pool'
Desert by 'On the Beach'
Grasslands by 'Ice Cream'
Grasslands by 'Jet Plane'
Ponds and Lakes by 'Skateboarder'
Rainforest by 'Horse Rider'
Rivers and Streams by 'Ping Pong'
Shoreline by 'Biker'
Shorelines by 'Shopping'
Taiga by 'Ice Tea'
Temperate Oceans by 'GoKart'
Temperate Oceans by 'Rugby'
Temperate Rainforests by 'Snoozing'
Tropical Oceans by 'Riding and Dancing'
Tundra by 'Sailing'
Wetlands by 'On a Journey'

Happy blogging

Ms Hayes

Banner image credits: classroomclipart 2008

Desert by 'In the Pool'







It is really hot in there and really dry and animals leave there like cobra, insect, camels, scorpion
And it’s hot during the day and cold during the night.

DESERT are found in Sahara, Oceania, Asia, Gobi desert, Arabian Desert, Namib desert, Gibson Desert, Kalahari desert, Australian Desert.

Shorelines by Shopping


Shorelines
Shorelines animals:

Fishes:
Conger Eel

Birds:
Avocet
Crab Plover
Herring Gull
Magnificent Frigate bird
Snowy Sheathbill
White-Collared Kingfisher


Reptiles:

Diamondback Terrapin
Estuarine Crocodile
White –Bellied Mangrove Snake


Mammals:

California Sea Lion

Harbor Seal

Where do we find shorelines?
We find shorelines everywhere because the world is surrounded by sea and it is like beach and we find them wherever we need a little swim!


How does it look like?

A Shoreline looks like a beach because it is a beach so there is sand, a big sea some trees some seaweed in the water, crabs, fishes, birds, and a lot of other things.

The Landforms

GULF
SPIT
SHOAL
WHARF
FJORD
CRATER
STRAIT
ICE BERG
ESTUARY
RIVER
HORIZON
ARM
BAY

Ponds and Lakes by Skateboarder
















Ponds and Lakes
Under water plants
(Canadian pondweed) Introduces into Europe, in about 1850. It grows fast and has chocked many water waves. The leaves grow in 3s on the stem. The flowers of the plant are rare. Up to 3.5 m long. June –September.
(Stonewort) This plant does not have any flowers. It is found in the chalky water or salty water. It is brittle and snaps easily. The plant was eaten by ducks. Also it is muddy. Up to 20 cm long.
(Water starwort) This water weed is often seen in ditches, streams and ponds. The upper leaves just float on the surface, the plant on the surface looks like a star shape. There are some very small flowers at the base of the leaves. Up to 50 cm long. May –September
(Spiked water milfoil) Very common in chalky water. There are many small invertebrates shelter on the underwater leaves. The slender grows above the water. Up to 3.5 m long. June-July.
(Mare’s tail) Narrow leaves, are grouped around stem. There are tiny flowers that appear at the base of leaves. It partly submerged in still or slow moving water. Up to 1 m long.
(Water violet) Long stem and feathery leaves are underwater. The cluster of the flowers rise up to 40 cm above the water. Rare. Found in ditches, ponds and lakes. May- June.
Floating-leaves plants
(Water crowfoot) Common in lowland parts of Britain. Most of the plant is underwater, but the flowers cover the surface of ponds and streams in May and June. It’s muddy on the bottom of the plant. Flowers 1-2 cm long.
(Frogbit) It spreads across ponds and canals by putting out runners. On the bottom of the shelter are many water animals, the flowers are about 2.5 cm across. June –July.
(Yellow water-lily) Glossy floating leaves look like blunt, rounded arrowheads. Seed heads shaped like light bulbs. There are yellow flowers, there about 7 cm across. June-August.
(White water- lily) Flowers and leaves float on the surface of the water. There are nearly the same as yellow water lily’s only, that the white water lily’s has sometimes pink, and usually it’s white. The flowers are up to 20 cm across. June-August.
(Ponds) Ponds are places where people swim, and also animals live there. All the things I wrote are all the things I wrote are all the things that live there, like ducks, fishes, birds that eat some things, beavers, water snakes, frogs, turtles, water beetles, bugs, dragonflies, moths, mayflies, springtail, water spiders, snails, leaches, worms, tiny water animals, water rats, and so many plants.
(The food chain) In here they contain only small different kinds of wildness that live in ponds and lakes. There are enough food and oxygen for fishes, small insects, and plants and all kinds of animals to survive. On the picture of the food chain they show an example of the small animals or plants that get eaten by the bigger fishes, insects and so on…………
Ducks: (Mallard) Common all year around. It’s only the female, or duck, gives a familiar loud noise ‘’ quack’’ they catch small animals and plants they build nests on the banks 58 cm long.
(Teal) It’s the smallest European duck. The duck was born in Britain. It sometimes swims in water also can eat some small insects underwater, and it’s a very shy bird. 35 cm long.
(Ponds and lakes are sometimes dangerous) you might see some worms and leeches that live in there they suck human blood. There hard to take off, in Russia I saw a leech in a pond and I was scared. Also water snakes are dangerous to but were rare. They eat frogs and they lay and egg before they die. Jellyfishes are a bite dangerous, but they are only in sea or ocean they shook you and it hurts.
(Were in the world the ecosystem found) Ponds and lakes are found in every country in the world there are more water then earth. If you see in a map there are some spaces on earth or narrows this is where they are found. And there are no humans that live there.

Wetlands by 'On a Journey'

Wetlands


Wetlands are damp marshes where water is found and which can form lakes and pools. Some wetlands are formed naturally and others are made by humans. Wetlands will form wherever water has been trapped by rocks or water resistant soil.

Many small animals without backbones live in the soft wetland ground. These are eaten by shrews, frogs and toads. Birds that live on the shore (sandpipers) will use their long, thin beaks to poke inside the mud to eat the small animals. Kingfishers and herons eat the fish in the shallow parts of the wetlands as well as frogs and toads.

Mosquitoes and dragonflies lay their eggs in the water and try to look for food on the land. Insect eating animals will have their nests nearby and seed birds will feed from the seed heads of the reeds. Antelopes, foxes, lions, elephants and deer will drink the water from the wetlands.

There are different types of wetlands. Tundra Wetlands are found in Canada, Alaska, the USSR and Scandinavia. These areas are always full of snow and when the snow melts in the springtime, the water cannot drain through the frozen soil. Therefore it lies in pools on the surface. Mosquitoes and insects breed and migrating birds settle there for a while.

Rivers and Streams by Ping Pong




Rivers and streams information River creatures
Anaconda
Class Reptiles
Order: lizards and snakes
Size: 9m (291/2ft)
Family: pythons and boas.
Conservation status: No threatened.
Scientific name: Eunectes murinus.
Habitat: swampy river valleys, stream banks.
Range: south America south to Argentina.
One of the world‘s longest snakes, the anaconda spends much of its life in slowly fresh water but also climbs small trees and bushes.
Boutu
Class: mammals
Order: whales
Size: 1.8-2.7m (6-9ft)
Family: river dolphins
Scientific name: Inia geoffrensis
Range: Amazon basin
Diet: Fish, some crustaceans. Conservation status: vulnerable. Habitat: rivers, streams.
The boutu has a total of 100 teeth or more! Their eyes are very small seem to be more working than those of other river dolphins. Boutus feed normally on small fish and some crustaceans using echolocation clicks to find their prey.
Two notes: the river has a lot of fish and I only chose the anaconda and the boutu.
How is a river formed?
A river is formed when water flows naturally between clearly defined banks. When rain falls or snow melts some of the water runs off the land forming trickles of water in folds of the land. These trickles eventually merge together to form a stream.
When a river flows over bands of hard then softer rock there will probably be one or more waterfalls or rapids where the different types of rock meet.
There are a lot of streams in valleys.
The longest rivers in the world!
River Country Miles Kilometers
Nile Egypt 4,145 6,670
Amazon Brazil 4,000 6,404
Chang jiang-yantze China 3,964 6,378
Mississippi-Missouri U.S.A. 3,740 6,021
Yenisei-Angara Russia 3,442 5,540

Hydroelectric power
What is a dam?
A dam is normally made by man it is build across a river flow however some dams are built to make electric power.
These are electric turbines inside a dam. When the water from the dam passes through the turbines it spins. It makes electricity.
Cross section of river zones
When rivers run into the ocean where rivers meet the ocean is called the mouth of the river. Soil and dirt carried by these rivers is deposited at the mouth and new land is formed. The new soil-rich land is known as a delta. The Amazon River is the second longest river in the world. Like all large rivers the Amazon deposits a lot of soil and sediment forming a delta as it enters the ocean. Its delta is located in brazil.

Tundra by Sailing

Tundra animals
The frigid cold and deep snow makes the animal’s life very difficult. All of the animals must adapt to survive. Some have grown thick fur which turns white in the winter. Others find a small Place to hibernate during all winter. Some animals in Tundra (and information of them):
Gyrfalcon
The gyrfalcon can be dark, white or gray. He eats small birds. His size is 51 63cm (20 25 in).His scientific name is: Falco rusticus.
Ruddy turn stone
Ruddy turn stone eats: Insects, plants, crustaceans, mollusks. His size is 18 – 23 cm (7-9 in) his scientific name is: Arenaria interpres
Snow bunting
Snow bunting eats seeds he is 16 cm (61/4 in). Scientific name is: plectrophenax
Arctic tern
Arctic terns are white and gray, with long, pointed wings and tail. They have a black head with a narrow red Beak and red feet.
Walrus
Walruses are often found in water. A walrus has two set of flippers that work like paddles in the water. It also has bristly mustaches and two long tusks on each side of its mouth.
Weasels
Weasels have long, slender bodies with short legs and a pointed head. In summer they have reddish-brown fur, which helps them blend in with the tundra’s bare earth and moss. In winter their fur turns pure white except the nose that is pink. An all-white weasel is also called an ermine. Weasels hunt day and night for lemmings, mice, rabbits, and birds. They are excellent hunters because they can move with lightning speed.
Lemming
Lemmings are furry little mouse like animals that live in underground tunnels called burrows. Because the ground of tundra is so frozen, lemmings line their burrows with grass and moss to keep out the eldest. A lemming’s fur is gray-brown, black, and white.
Snowshoe Rabbit
The snowshoe rabbit gets its name from its big wide feet. The size and shape of these help it to hop on top of deep snow and to swim in the lakes.
Polar bear
Polar bears have a white furry coat and a thick layer of fat below their skin to keep them warm.