1E3_2011 Group 1 - African Savannah

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on March 17, 2011 at 8:33:52 pm

Team Members

Names / Roles:

Maizurah (Leader)
Juen Woo (Wiki Writer)
Unica (Researcher)
Joel (Researcher)

Overview

In this section, it will provide a brief description of the ecosystem of African Savannah:

The African Savannahs are located in many places in Africa. It include the south of the desert place and the north of the rain forest area. Savannahs support life in western Africa, central Africa, eastern Africa and parts of the southern Africa because there are stretches of rain forest all across the continent.
The temperature is always warm, but the rainy wet season is followed at least 5 months of drought.
There is an estimated of 45 species of mammals, 500 species of birds, and 55 species of trees living within the African Savannah.

The following are images of the African Savannah:

Mammals Birds Trees

Physical Factors

The availability of light is sufficient as the trees is spaced widely so that the canopy of those trees do not cover the sunlight from reaching to the ground. Trees make up as little as 5 per cent to 30 per cent of the savannah so the space needed for the trees is not limited.

Savannahs have warm temperature year round. There are actually two very different seasons in a savannah, one is a very long dry season which is during winter and the other is a very wet season during summer. In the dry season only an average of about 26 cm of rain falls. Between December and February no rain will fall at all. Oddly enough, it is actually a little cooler during this dry season. But don't expect sweater weather; it is still around 21 degrees Celcius. In the summer there is lots of rain. In Africa the monsoon rains begin in May. An average of 97 to 161 cm of rain falls during this time. It gets hot and very humid during the rainy season. Every day the hot, humid air rises off the ground and collides with cooler air above and turns into rain. In the afternoons on the summer savannah the rains pour down for hours. African savannahs have large herds of grazing and browsing hoofed animals. Each animal has a specialized eating habit that reduces competition for food.

The availability of water there is scarce. Due to the little rainfall every year, the amount of water present in the African Savannah is very little. The water found there is freshwater so it the salinity of the water is zero. This means that the water quality for the animals found there is good. Since the pH of the water is neutral, it is pH7.

The soil at the savannah is very poor in nutrients. They have a hard crust or barrier at some depth of the soil. It is to separate the water and minerals salts for the shallow parts of the soil for the grasses to take in water. The water at this depth tend to dry up. So, having the hard crust help the trees in the savannah, which have long roots, to take in the minerals, nutrients and water from the deeper depth.

The air is very humid there as the water there tend to evaporate at a faster rate due to the high temperatures experienced.

Credits:

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/savanna.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savanna

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/savanna.htm

http://science.jrank.org/pages/5973/Savanna-water-economy.html

Classification of Living Organisms

The following is the classification of living organisms in African Savannah:

1. Producers

Trees - Trees in the African Savannah is one of the primary producers. It is fed upon by animals such as giraffes and elephants in the ecosystem.

Shrubs - A shrub is relatively similar to a bush. It is distinguished from a tree due to its shorter height of 5 to 6 metres as well as multiple stems. Shrubs are usually fed upon by animals such as zebras.

2. Primary Consumers

The zebras & elephants

3. Secondary Consumers

The cheetah and hyena

4. Tertiary Consumers

The termites and vultures

5. Decomposers

The mushrooms, insects and microorganisms

For each of the living organism, find a picture and write a short description on the organism. You may wish to include feeding habits, region in the ecosystem where it is normally found etc.