BACKGROUND:
Different organisms like different conditions.
Throughout the world in regions where there are similar conditions there
are not always the same animals. For instance, the elephants like
grassland conditions, but yet there are not elephants of the North American
grasslands. There are individuals that live only in a specific geographic
area, they are called native or endemic. For instance, Koala bears
are only found naturally in Australia and Panda bears in China. These
animals are native to the appropriate geographic area.
Biomes give us a way to compare the flora and fauna of an area,
but we still have to consider that some animals have adapted to a specific
geographic area. The factors that have caused this are many and complicated
including physical barriers that would prevent species from moving from
one place to another (migrating). However, a biome will generally
support organisms that are ecologically equivalent especially in respect
to the food web.
PROCEDURE:
- When you feel that the students have
found enough organisms you may want to make a master list of the organisms
on the board or butcher paper. Discuss the different organisms with
the students, keeping in mind the problem whether certain organisms are
native or endemic to an area. You will find that the answer is yes.
Just make sure that you tell students that zoos don't count, because they
are not natural.
- They will use the biomes that are on the Inflatable Animal
Globe and try to find animals or plants that are found on those biomes.
It will take students a while to organize and locate the different organisms.
- You may want to use the worksheet enclosed to help get
pictures of organisms. You also may want to use the Internet to find
different sites that might help find the type of biomes that organisms
live. We recommend using a search engine.
