Courtesy of Sanders School edexcel geography B

1. Battle For The Biosphere

2. Quick Starter …
• What is the biosphere?
• Use this to help!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9fEUG5Sg
NM

3. Answer …
• The regions of the surface and atmosphere of
the earth or another planet occupied by living
organisms.

5. What is an Ecosystem?
• A grouping of non living and living species that
interact with each other in their local
environment …
• A Biome on the other hand is just a large scale
ecosystem …

6. Quick Question …
• How many Biomes are there on
Earth?

7. Answer …
• There are 5 major biomes on Earth …
Aquatic, Deserts, Forests, Grasslands, Tundra

8. They Are Split Further …
• Aquatic – Freshwater and Saltwater
• Grassland - Savanna and Temperate Grassland
• Desert – Cold, Hot, Semi Arid, Coastal
• Forest – Tropical, Coniferous, Deciduous
• Tundra - Arctic and Alpine

15. Our Biosphere Is A Life Support System
• It regulates the gases that makes up the
atmosphere – plants absorb C02 and produce
oxygen for us to breathe in.
• It regulates the water cycle – plants slow the
flow of water to rivers to filter water to make
it clean.
• It keeps soil healthy for plants to grow – new
nutrients are provided by rotting plant
material.

16. Goods Provided For Us …
• Foods – Fish, Meat, Fruits, Nuts, Berries.
• Medicines – Vitamins, Plants used to make
medicines.
• Raw Materials – Timber, Bamboo, Rubber,
Water, Oil and Gas.

18. Threats To The Biosphere …
• Directly – Deforestation, Mining, Quarrying,
Farming, Overfishing.
• Indirectly – Pollution leads to … Sea
temperature rise, Seawater acidification,
melting of ice caps, Changes in amount of
rainfall, Treeline changes, Stress within
ecosystem due to rapid change.

20. Reasons For Deforestation …
• Timber used for buildings, furniture and fuel.
• Transport Routes
• Building Human Settlements
• Building Dams and power stations to provide
power.
• Mining and quarrying minerals for
construction industry, jewellery, etc.
• Creation of agricultural land ..

21. Management Of The Biosphere …
• RAMSAR – 1971, 168 countries signed a treaty to
conserve the worlds wetlands. Wetlands provide
rich biodiversity with many rare species.
Population Growth means wetlands are drained
for farmland.
• National Parks – Started in 1951, conserves areas
of natural beauty in the UK – 15 parks. Important
for leisure and to preserve wildlife and
environment. Threatened by any development
that would degrade ecosystems – eg: mining.

22. Quick Question …
• Describe one way of conserving
threatened environments?

23. Answer
• In the UK, National Parks conserve areas
of special beauty. The area covered by
the Parks is protected by law and any
development that would harm the
environment is not allowed.

24. Local Factors That Affect Biomes …

25. • Altitude – different plants grow at different
temperatures within the same biome. The
higher the altitude the lower the temperature.
• Rainfall – Different types and amount of palnts
will grow in different parts of the biome
depending on the amount of rainfall received.
Inland areas are usually drier than coastal
areas.
• Distance from the sea can affect temperature,
especially amounts of rainfall.

27. • Rock and soil type – this can affect how fertile
different areas are within a biome.
• Drainage – swamps and bogs occur where
drainage is poor. Fewer, more specialist plants
grow in boggy areas.

28. Sustainability
• Everything that we need for our survival and
well-being depends, either directly or
indirectly, on our natural environment.
Sustainability creates and maintains the
conditions under which humans and nature
can exist in productive harmony, that permit
fulfilling the social, economic and other
requirements of present and future
generations.

29. Possible Tensions

30. Economic

32. • Individuals and communities often want
to make lots of money, and may use
resources in the biosphere to do this.
This provides tensions as it may damage
the environment in the long term. This
would mean it’s not sustainable
economically either, and it may harm or
exploit others in the future.

33. Social

35. • To be socially sustainable something
must not benefit one group/individual at
the expense of another. It also means
consulting people on an equal basis. This
can provide tensions because if everyone
is to benefit, this may put the
environment at risk. There are also
economic tensions as some businesses
may flourish at the expense of others.

36. Environmental

38. Being environmentally sustainable means
not harming natural resources so they
cannot regenerate or continue in the long
term. There are economic tensions as
people want to make as much money as
possible, as well as social tensions as
everyone wants to improve the standard of
living.