Day 13 Five Sources

                    

 1. www.blueplanetbiomes.org/savanna.htm

2. education.nationalgeographic.org/media/african-savanna-illustration/

3. coolaustralia.org/wp-content/.../Australiantropicalsavannafactsheet.pdf

4.www.softschools.com › Facts › Biomes Facts

5. kids.nceas.ucsb.edu/.../savanna.ht...

  

These are the five most important sources that we used for our blog, thank you for reading our adventures, and keep an eye out for more to come. 

Travis and Jayda signing out......!!

Day 12 Animals And Their Adaptations

As Travis and i were traveling through the Australian Savanna we ran into some weird looking animals that we have never seen before. Of course we wanted to just watch them and experiment, but we did not forget our purpose of these trips. So, we observed the bird and we came up with what we think are the animal's adaptations. So, the first animals name is called an Emu and is known for its fluffy feathers and for it also having three toes, which they use as an assault weapon. Some adaptations of this bird are, its double quilled feathers, that allow it to maintain its body temperature, and in the cold they fluff there feathers to keep them warm. One last adaptation of this bird is that it is able to grind p their food with there gizzard since they do not have any teeth.

Another animal that we saw looking up into the trees was one that we were actually familiar with was the koala bear. This fuzzy bear is very common and is loved because of its cute appearance and friendly faces. There are many cartoons that have koala bears in them, and in those cartoons, this bear is actually portrayed as a friendly animal. This Marsupial is known for is lean, but muscular body, big ears, and yellow eyes. The koala bear also has adaptations that fit its lifestyle, such as having paws that have traction which allow them to climb trees without them slipping or falling down. another adaptation that it has is thick fur that help keep it cool, but at the same time warm when it gets cold.

Another common organism which this time is an amphibian is the red eyed tree frog which is highly known for its bright red eyes and hands and feet. This frog is often seen in the trees of the Australian Savanna climbing up and down, and jumping from tree to tree. Some known adaptations this frog has are its bright eyes, which cause its predators to think its poisoned and run away. Another adaptation that this frog is that its red eyes allow them to see at night, which make these frogs nocturnal. Its funny its red eyes, which is what it is known for contains the tthings it needs in order to survive in its enviroment

Day 11 Nitrogen Cycle

The Nitrogen cycle of this biome of course is all started by the sun on all plants while the plants are creating food through photosynthesis. Then as the  water is coming down, as precipitation the ground swelling is caused, and is putting carbohydrates into the soil which makes it possible for trees to be able to grow back after forest fires. Of course transpiration occurs through the leaves of the trees into the air and turns into condensation. Overall in this enviroment trees are very important because they turn carbon dioxide oxygen that we can actually breathe.

Day 10 Food Web

                                  

This food web contains some of the organisms that are located in the Australian Savanna. This food web of course is all started with the sun, which allow the producers to do photosynthesis and make food using the sun for other organisms. This food web also contains the primary consumers such as termites and kangaroos. Also the secondary consumers containing the magpie, and the frilled lizard. Lastly, this food web contains the tertiary consumers, which are the dingo, the wedge tailed eagle, and the laughing kookaburra.

Day 9 The Energy Pyramid

This energy pyramid shows various organisms located in the Australian Savanna which is bamboo as the producer, grubs, a the primary consumer, and the mountain gorillas acting as the secondary consumer. Lastly, the jaguar  is placed as the tertiary consumer. Each time going  up a trophic level ten percent of energy is retained or kept, and 90 percent overall is lost here in the Australian savanna         

Day 8 Resource Competition

                               

 
One example of resource competition between two organisms are humans and the koala bear, which is actually surprising because you would think this would be between two animals. In this situation this is caused because of the trees. The koala bears live in the trees and they always have, but humans need eucalyptus, which are located in these trees, and koalas also need this eucalyptus. So humans are cutting the trees down which is deforestation causing the koalas to die because they have no home to live in, so in this relationship the humans win by getting the resources that they need, and often leaving the koala bears with nothing at all.

Another example of resource competition is between the Red Eyed Tree Frog, this competition is actually between its own species. There are more male tree frogs then female tree frogs, so the tree frogs actually fight over the female tree frogs looking for a mate. The female then mates with the winner of the fight. This is almost like the world when there would be two worthy men that would fight over the queen, and whoever won got to marry the queen. Except in this situation this is actually between tree frogs.

Wombats have competed against cattle, sheep, and particularly rabbits and the competition against rabbits is because of livestock. Both the rabbits and the wombats need the livestock, so they are actually fighting each other for it. In this fight the rabbits are winning causing a decrease in wombat population. So, between the two organisms the rabbit is winning in this competition, and since the rabbits are winning wombats are now protected by NSW to keep them from going extinct.

Day 7 Density dependent and independent factors

As Jayda and I were walking through the Australian Savanna we started to wonder what the density independent and dependent factors were of this biome.  We asked some of the travelers that were traveling alongside us, but they had no clue. So with our brilliant minds we got the idea to find these factors based on the animal and plant adaptations. The most common density independent factors are forest fires, and floods. We knew that forest fires was one of them because of  how many of the trees in this enviroment have the adaptation to grow back after a forest fire, by ground swelling. The floods are another obvious density independent factor, because of how many flowers, plants ,and trees have roots that soak up water. These roots soaking up water prevent flooding because of how the water is absorbed in the soil of the plants.


Now we deciphered density independent factors, next we tried this with density dependent factors, which are predation, and competition between the species. Firstly predation was obviously one of them because of how some organisms have adaptations that allow them to survive from their predators such as frogs have a bright color in order to fool their predator and make them think that they are poisonous. Lastly competition between the species is one of the density dependent factors because in the Australian savanna their is a lot of competition of resources that are becoming scarce.

Day 6 Water Cycle in the Australian Savanna

                               

The interesting part of the Australian Savanna is that instead of the evaporation coming from the rivers, most of the evaporation comes from the trees in this enviroment which is called transpiration. The precipitation is different too, cause as you can see in the picture, this area receives 1720 millimeters. Then of course the runoff from the precipitation seeps through the grounds which is called percolation, and also in the rivers, for example the Howard river. Then as the ground receives water through percolation, it causes a wet season water table, which thus causes the bend by the Howard River. Then lastly, the groundwater collects in the groundwater surplus, and is used later on when the enviroment needs the moisture if it ever becomes too dry.

Day 5 Plants and Their Adaptations *Location Change*

  

                        

Since Jayda and i waned to go to a different location and travel, we decided we wanted to go to Australia so after a long flight we got here and the first thing we wanted to look at was the plants and their adaptations so we did, here is our conclusion.

Firstly, the Jarrah tree in the Australian Savanna is a 40- 50 meter high tree with a very long and distinct trunk. This trunk is is long and straight, and does not include any branches on this tree at, but is well known for its long characteristics. One very important adaptation that this tree has is called a lignotuber also known as underground swelling in the soil. This underground swelling is important because, the ground store carbohydrates. These carbohydrates allow the tree to grow back after a forest fire, or if anything causes it to catch on fire. This prevents deforestation because of how this tree is able to grow back.

Another eye catching plant that is more well known for its color and how it makes any garden look fantastic is this plant called a Kangaroo Paw. This plant is able to grow up to 10 centimeters long, and is loved by mostly all of the organisms whether, it is for its characteristics or if its for what this plant can produce to organisms, which is nectar. Many bees, and other organisms are often seen drinking nectar on this plant, but this plant has many more adaptations and can do much more as well. One adaptation this plant has is woolly hairs that help make it taste weird to its predators that are tying to eat the plant, so that it can survive.

Lastly, this organism is called the Cycas Armstrongii which is known for its very green and fluffy leaves. There is a low abundance of this plant because it is not fire resistant, and unluckily always caught on fire. Although, there is a low abundance of this plant, there are still characteristics and adaptations that this plant has that makes it relevant in this type of biome. For example, one adaptation it has is being able to cope with the dry season by obtaining moisture from lower layers of soil. Without this adaptation this plant would possibly be extinct due to all of the problems it faces on its own.

Day 4 Human Impact on African Savanna

                

                            As Jayda and I were driving through the African Savanna we met some people that kept telling us to stop and they were saying "We are the cause". Of course we stopped because we were confused, interested, and excited all at the same time. Those people were telling us that we are the cause of the Savanna becoming too hot just as the atmosphere. "How", Jayda said, and they replied "Your human activities have been the cause of smoke and exhaust going into the air as carbon making this place too hot". I replied with "how if we are barely even driving and it is our first time here"? They replied with "It is not just you that is causing this, all of the other humans have caused this too happen as well". They started pestering us so we left, and when we got to our destination we sat down and talked about what we learned from that mini experience. What we learned was, when humans generate pollution in the Savanna they are releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere causing not only the savanna to be hot, but also the carbon dioxide is going into the atmosphere and is trapping the suns heat around the planet causing it to become hotter. This is not safe because one day the earth will become too hot one day and possibly be destroyed. Also, thus is not good for the Savanna because it then causes the Savanna to become desert-like, and some of the organisms will have trouble living their. Another thing that the humans have done is kill animals for certain resources they need for decreasing the species and population of those important animals.

Day 3 symbiotic relationships

       

As Jayda and i were walking through the African Savanna, we saw a large giraffe that appeared before our eyes and we were scared at first. So, we just stood still and did not move but, we saw something very intriguing that was located on the giraffes back which was a tick bird. We decided to take minutes of observation of these two organisms and we were able to come up with this. The relation ship between these two organisms, is a mutualistic relationship. For example the tick bird gets to hitch a ride on the giraffes back, while the  bird is taking out pesky blood sucking ticks from the giraffe's back that harms this organism. This way both organisms are able to benefit from each other.

As we traveled through the savanna, we approached a massive animal that had  large horns on its head that we thought it used as a weapon to defend itself and saw a very small bird next to it. Right away we thought "these organisms have a type of symbiotic relationship", and we thought this because of how gentle this large animal was towards the very small bird. We then observed these two organisms and we thought this is a commensalism relationship between these two animals. For example, the egret is collecting nearby insects  that are disturbed among the African buffalo. Since the Buffalo is just finding the egret's food, the buffalo is not affected, but the egret is benefited, so this is a commensalism relationship.

As we were finishing up our travel Jayda grabbed her binoculars and looked out in the distance and told me to look. I grabbed the binoculars and saw an elephant and heard him making a sound almost as if he was in distress. I saw it flapping its trunk and it looked like he was scratching his skin, then Jayda came up with the conclusion that those were ticks on the elephants back. This is known as a parasitic relationship, where the elephant is the host and is getting harmed.While the tick which is the parasite is getting the nutrients it needs from the elephants back. Jayda said "I wish we could help it", but i said "it would probably attack us", and we left.

Day 2 Climatogram of The African Savanna

                     

In this climatogram you can clearly see that the African savanna has a very low temperature in the beginning, but as the months go on it gets higher. The same with the precipitation, they start off low, but it seems as if in the middle months is where the temperature is the highest and they get the most precipitation. August has the highest temperature of all the months, and the highest amount of precipitation was at approximately 255 centimeters.

Day 1 Blog Entry Summer and Winter Climate

Day 1 of our travel: Jayda and I are traveling through the African savanna for an experience of the climate for ourselves. Before traveling, we researched some information about the climate throughout summer and winter. Some interesting facts that we discovered were: in the savanna there is a distinct dry season which falls in the winter season, and the winter season occurs more than seven months of the year. We also stayed months here and discovered that the summer season is very rainy and this is the season where all of the rain is produced. Lastly, we discovered that the temperature ranges from 78 degrees to 86 degrees, temperature here does not change a lot, and when it does it is very gradual and not drastic. 

Introduction Page

                              Introductory Page To Our Blog

Hello, welcome to Jayda and Travis' travel blog. We are exploring the many different Savanna biomes located around the world. We are travelling to the countries of Africa, South America, Australia, and India,  to put together our interesting results. So prepare to get your mind blown with  all of these fascinating stories.