What can you conclude about the importance of marine ecosystems to global food webs and the biosphere?
How does competition for resources lead to adaptations?
Organisms that are best suited for survival in their environment will be able to compete for limited resources better than organisms that are not well suited to their environment. The organisms that are able to get the resources they need are more likely to survive and pass their beneficial traits on to their offspring, which is what leads to species adaptation.
Compare the productivity of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems against the percent of Earth’s surface area they occupy.
Approximately 72% of Earth’s surface is covered by aquatic ecosystems, but they only account for supporting about 1/3 of the biosphere’s primary producers. This compares to terrestrial ecosystems which cover 28% of Earth’s surface yet account for the remaining 2/3 of the biosphere’s primary producers. Taken together this means terrestrial ecosystems are 5-6 times more productive than aquatic ecosystems per unit area.
What distinguishes rainforests from temperate forests?
While temperate forests can get up to 60 inches of precipitation a year, rainforests receive 80 inches on average. Rainforests also enjoy a mostly constant temperature of about 75°F year-round, while temperate forests have four distinct seasons: spring, summer, fall and winter.
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