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Terrestrial ecosystems occupy 55,660,000 mi 2 (144,150,000 km 2), or 28.26% of Earth's surface. [5] Major plant taxa in terrestrial ecosystems are members of the division Magnoliophyta (flowering plants), of which there are about 275,000 species, and the division Pinophyta (conifers), of which there are about 500 species.
(The scale bar is 1 m.) Ecosystem ecology is the "study of the interactions between organisms and their environment as an integrated system". [2]: 458 The size of ecosystems can range up to ten orders of magnitude, from the surface layers of rocks to the surface of the planet. [4]: 6
[1] Biogeographic realms are characterized by the evolutionary history of the organisms they contain. They are distinct from biomes , also known as major habitat types, which are divisions of the Earth's surface based on life form , or the adaptation of animals, fungi, micro-organisms and plants to climatic, soil , and other conditions.
Ecosystems may be habitats within biomes that form an integrated whole and a dynamically responsive system having both physical and biological complexes. Ecosystem ecology is the science of determining the fluxes of materials (e.g. carbon, phosphorus) between different pools (e.g., tree biomass, soil organic material).
The predominant ecosystem in the Flatwoods is pine forest, but there are also cypress swamps and sloughs in the Eastern Flatwoods. [48] Along the eastern border of the Everglades is the Atlantic Coastal Ridge, rising 20 feet (6.1 m) in elevation, and curving to the southwest, gradually decreasing in elevation until it meets Taylor Slough.
The Commission's 1997 report, Ecological Regions of North America, provides a framework that may be used by government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and academic researchers as a basis for risk analysis, resource management, and environmental study of the continent's ecosystems. [1]
The German term Landschaftsökologie – thus landscape ecology – was coined by German geographer Carl Troll in 1939. [10] He developed this terminology and many early concepts of landscape ecology as part of his early work, which consisted of applying aerial photograph interpretation to studies of interactions between environment and vegetation.
The paper's worst-case scenario for both stressors had only 53% of the original rainforest area surviving as a continuous ecosystem by 2050, with the rest reduced to a severely fragmented block. [57] Another study estimated that the rainforest would lose 69% of its plant species under the warming of 4.5 °C (8.1 °F). [58] [failed verification]