1 Landscapes and their landforms
Before you start
Main focus
One way of looking at the Earth’s natural environment is to look at the different ecosystems that form the basis of life on Earth.
Why it’s relevant to us
Knowledge of the Earth’s ecosystems is basic to understanding how the natural environment operates, how that environment can impact on people and the effects people may have on that environment.
Inquiry questions
- What is an ecosystem?
- What are the main characteristics of an ecosystem?
- How have natural forces combined to allow for the development of these ecosystems?
- How and why are ecosystems important to humans?
Key terms
- Climate
- Climax vegetation
- Decomposers
- Ecosystem
- Food chain
- Photosynthesis
- Primary producer
- Weather
Let’s begin
Geographers make sense of the world by dividing it into regions. The physical world around us – the plants, animals, soils, slopes and climate – can be divided into different-sized regions, depending on the scale of the study being undertaken. Even the study of a small part of the Earth’s surface may divide that area up into different ecosystems.
An ecosystem is a natural region – a hill slope, a pond, a beach, a backyard. This natural region is based on a physical feature upon which a group of plants, animals and microorganisms have developed. Some geographers studying ecosystems take a large-scale approach to their studies. These geographers examine relationships between plants and animals, and natural and human features, in a small area. Geographers who take what is known as a small-scale approach examine regions covering a much larger area. These regions are known as biomes and are the subject of the next chapter.
It is sometimes difficult to map ecosystems and biomes because they are subject to change – which may be long term, such as in the changes caused by the uplifting of mountains, or rapid, as in change following a cyclone, flood or bushfire.