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2E1 Group 1: African Savannah

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Overview

Below is a Map showing the types of forest:)

The African savanna are big areas of land that are covered in shrubs and grasses with a few trees. The temperature is between 60º and 75º all year. The seasons are still different, though. In the winter the savanna might get 4 inches of rain a month. In the hot, dry summer it is possible for absolutely no rain to fall. Most of the plants die in the summer, but the roots can live underground. The grass will grow back in the rains of winter. Many of the animals that live on the savanna are herd animals like gazelles, giraffes, and zebras that live on vegetation. There are many national parks in the savannas of Africa. People visit to go on safaris: trips to see the animals that live in the grasslands.

Countries: Kenya,Tanzania, Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia and Uganda.

It is tropical grassland, open or dotted with trees and rocky outcrops.

The most famous of the savanna people of Kenya and Tanzania are the Maasai tribe.

The Maasai people are just one of the many groups that live on the savanna of Africa. The Maasai tribe have lived in Africa for hundreds of years. They raise cattle. Families live together in groups of ten to twenty huts. Women build the houses and go for water. Sometimes they have to walk many miles to find water. Their main food is milk. They raise sheep and goats for meat.

As in other parts of Africa, people build their homes from materials they find on the land(branches,twigs,grass,mud)

African Savannah: The Ecosystem

Physical Factors

Temperature: between 60º and 75º all year .

No winter and summer seasons but there are two rainy seasons and two dry seasons a year. This varies according to latitude and may consist of one very short, wet season and one long, dry season. The changes between the wet and dry seasons are drastic and plants and animals must adapt to survive.

Water: Moves across Earth’s surface through organized networks of channels, known as rivers or streams. Although the flow of water may drainage basins. Watersheds play a critical role in the natural functioning of Earth’s environment. Physically, they integrate the surface water runoff into organized drainage nets. Economically, they play a critical role as sources of water, food, hydropower, recreational localities, and transportation routes. Ecologically, watersheds provide habitats for a wide range of flora and fauna. Individual rivers have different physical characteristics along their courses and create many of the landforms and landscapes within watersheds. Thus, the particular use of a river system is influenced by the nature of the individual river, the nature of the topography associated with the river, and where within the watershed one is located. African rivers often have unusual courses, waterfalls, and

rapids, and some lack deltas at the shore.

Salinity: A concentration (as in a solution) of salt

Mineral Salts:

Air:

Light:

PH:

Seasonal Habitat Changes

During the wet seasons,most of the water does not soak into the soil but collects or becomes runoff.
Drinking water is abundant and humidity is high,reducing evaporation.
During the dry seasons, only permanent water remains and low humidity makes water loss extreme.
Many small animal species either die or they leave their eggs to hatch with the rains. Large animals must migrate, change their diet, or do without food and water.
Fires occur during the dry seasons, encouraging re-growth of grasslands.

Plants

The savannah grassland consists of many species of grasses (Elephant Grass)

Elephant grass is a tall grass that originally came from Africa in 1913.
It grows in dense clumps of up to 10 feet tall.
In the savannas of Africa it grows along lake beds and rivers where the soil is rich.
Local farmers cut the grass for their animals, carrying it home in huge piles on their backs or on carts.
Yellowish or purple in color,the stems are coarse and hairy, and about 1 inch thick near the base.
The leaves are 2 to 3 feet long, pointed at the ends, and about 1 inch wide.
The edges of the leaves are razor-sharp.
This makes stands of elephant grass nearly impenetrable.
Many bird species make their home in the stands.

Animals

Herbivores with species ranging from insects such as grasshoppers, to large ungulates such as zebra and giraffe.

HERBIVORES: Only eat plants.

CARNIVORES :Meat Eaters.

African Savannah: Diversity

The number of species of animals present from season to season varies as a result of the following factors:

1.Life-cycles – many invertebrates and amphibians, such as grasshoppers and frogs, lay eggs and then die at the beginning of the dry season. The eggs do not hatch until the next day which rains.

2.Migration – animals dependent on daily water such as zebra move

to areas with permanent water during the dry season. Migratory birds such as eagles and swallows arrive with the rains from North Africa and Europe to escape the northern winter.

The population size of any one species is influenced by several factors:

Water availability – Most species reproduce at the beginning of the rains but

carnivorous, aquatic birds reproduce when water is low and fishes are easy to catch.

Food availability – Infant mortality in big cats increases as food becomes scarce;

scavengers are more abundant when other animals are dying from starvation.

Fire – Both natural and man-made fires occur frequently, preventing the development of bush land but encouraging grasslands which generate well after fires.

Classification of Living Organisms

Producers- Plants,trees, shrubs and short grasses

Primary Consumers-zebras and elephants

Secondary Consumers- lions, tigers, cheetahs, hyenas.

Decomposers-Mushrooms, insects and micro-organisms.

Food Web

Food web means a system of interlocking and interdependent food chains.

Below is the an example of a food web and hope you can understand them:)

OPEN UP THIS WEBSITE NOW FOR A CLEARER VIEW!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rONHTMkYu0I

This a food web presentation for YOU! CLICK!

Interrelationship in Ecosystem

Predator-prey relationship

Predator means animal that kills and eats other animal.

Prey means an animal hunted by another for food.

This a predator-prey relationship between a:

Lions- Gazalle

Lions-zebras

Hyenas-deer

Parasitism The characteristic behavior or mode of existence of a parasite or parasitic population. relation between organisms in which one lives as a parasite on another.

Mutualism An association between organisms of two different species in which each member benefits.]

Example of such mutuaism is the:

The ants hollows out th large torns of a plant for nests.