Biomes and Ecosystems (Gareth Stevens Vital Science: Earth Science)

I bought this book for my 12 year old daughter to help her learn about biomes. It has a lot of good information. Easy to understand. She has dyslexia so the little blurbs are better for her to read through and comprehend.

LOVED this book. It was perfect for my 1st grader for the 1st 6-weeks of Classical Conversations, Cycle 2 curriculum. It was not too hard to read and it hit all the topics I needed it to hit!

An ecosystem consists of both living (biotic) and nonliving (abiotic) systems. For example in "a forest ecosystem, biotic components include everything from microscopic bacteria to delicate mosses to trees that may have first sent roots into the soil more than one hundred years ago." Everything in an ecosystem works together to make it function as a whole and each biotic and abiotic thing has an effect on the entire system. For example, just take a look at the small honeybee and the effect our environment would be without them! Biomes cover broad areas of the earth, say deserts, mountainous areas, the poles or oceans. A biome can be "defined by the type of climate each biome has and the type of plants and animals that live there.In this book you will be able to take a close look at the interaction of ecosystems and biomes. You will learn about biotic and abiotic interactions (from the microscopic to the community), habitats, niches, ecosystem diversity, photosynthesis, the food chains, food webs, "energy pyramids," the distribution of consumers in the pyramid, the competition for resources, rainforests, predator/prey relationships, relationships between species (mutual and destructive), the water cycle, the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle, humanity's place in these cycles, the greenhouse effect, changes in ecosystems (succession), climate change, how biomes are affected by climate and much more.This is a very thorough, clear, concise interesting book and the writing from one topic to the next is seamless. The print is small and there is a lot of information packed in these pages. There are numerous informative sidebars, photographs and illustrations scattered throughout the book. In the back of the book is an excellent index a glossary, and additional recommended book, film and web site resources. Do you think you can make a difference in protecting our Earth's resources? This is a good place to start reading about what we have to lose if we don't take care of it!