Introduction

Planet Earth is the home of a huge variety of different life forms. We refer to this as biodiversity. These plants and animals live in many different ecosystems. In order to classify these different regions, scientists refer to a particular physical environment that contains a characteristic array of plants and animals as a biome. The world’s land biomes are represented in the pie chart below. In addition to those biomes, we can also include freshwater and marine ecosystems. In this WebQuest you and your classmates will be reviewing characteristics of all of these biomes, including the aquatic ecosystems.

Task

In this WebQuest, you are challenged with researching each of the world’s biomes: tropical rain forest, tropical dry forest, tropical savanna, temperate grassland, temperate woodland and shrubland, temperate forest, northwestern coniferous forest, boreal forest, tundra, freshwater, and marine. You will be given a question sheet that will guide you through your research. As you are searching for answers, you should save some of your favorite pictures of the biomes to include in a PowerPoint presentation. This presentation will be part of your review for this unit.

Important information to note about biomes:

climate and weather (annual high and low temperature, average precipitation, types of weather)
animals (endangered and non-endangered species)
vegetation (major trees, shrubs, plants, crops)
landforms (mountains, rivers)
geographic location of the biome throughout the world

Process

Working with a partner, you should log into the computer using your username and password that I have provided for you.
Each group should identify their folder on the “R:” drive and save any collected information in this folder only.
Visit the web resources and begin your research, gathering the answers to your question sheet. This question sheet will be turned in at the conclusion of the project and graded for accuracy.
When question sheets have been completed, you may begin preparing the PowerPoint presentation.

PowerPoint Instructions:

Make a title slide called “Biomes of the World” and include you and your partners name and class period.
Prepare 1 slide for each biome you have researched. The slide should include 2-4 pictures that identify the specific biome. Examples include characteristic animals, plants, or abiotic factors.
Save the slide show in your folder on the “R:” drive.
The pictures you collect will be used later in class to quiz you on your knowledge about the world’s biomes, so pick good ones!

Resources

Exploring Biomes Questions.doc

Community and Ecosystem Dynamics

Missouri Botanical Garden

The World’s Biomes

Blue Planet Biomes

Evaluation

Your performance on this assignment will be evaluated on the guidelines listed in the following rubric. Grades will be earned based on each person’s completion of the question sheet along with the overall process and final presentation.

	Exemplary 4	Accomplished 3	Developing 2	Beginning 1	Score
Time Management	Routinely uses time well throughout the project to ensure things get done on time. Group does not have to adjust deadlines or work responsibilities because of this person's procrastination.	Usually uses time well throughout the project, but may have procrastinated on one thing. Group does not have to adjust deadlines or work responsibilities because of this person's procrastination.	Tends to procrastinate, but always gets things done by the deadlines. Group does not have to adjust deadlines or work responsibilities because of this person's procrastination.	Rarely gets things done by the deadlines AND group has to adjust deadlines or work responsibilities because of this person's inadequate time management.
Teamwork	Almost always listens to, shares with, and supports the efforts of others. Tries to keep people working well together.	Usually listens to, shares, with, and supports the efforts of others. Does not cause "waves" in the group.	Often listens to, shares with, and supports the efforts of others, but sometimes is not a good team member.	Rarely listens to, shares with, and supports the efforts of others. Often is not a good team player.
Quality of Work	Provides work of the highest quality.	Provides high quality work.	Provides work that occasionally needs to be checked/redone by other group members to ensure quality.	Provides work that usually needs to be checked/redone by others to ensure quality.
PowerPoint Presentation	Project includes all 4 required criteria including: title slide, one slide per biome, 2-4 pictures per slide, and pictures are useful and appropriate	Project includes 3 of 4 required criteria including: title slide, one slide per biome, 2-4 pictures per slide, and pictures are useful and appropriate	Project includes 2 of 4 required criteria including: title slide, one slide per biome, 2-4 pictures per slide, and pictures are useful and appropriate	Project includes 1 of 4 required criteria including: title slide, one slide per biome, 2-4 pictures per slide, and pictures are useful and appropriate
Exploring Biomes Question Sheet	All questions have been answered completely AND accurately.	All questions have been answered completely, and most are correct.	Most of the questions have been answered completely and accurately.	Some of the questions are left unanswered.

Conclusion

The world’s biomes are home to an amazing amount of biodiversity. After completing this assignment, you should be able to identify characteristics of each of the major biomes and also recognize how we classify biomes.

Unfortunately, in today’s world our biomes are changing. Some of this change is natural and some is due to human interference and destruction. It is important to note that measures need to be taken to preserve these biomes and their inhabitants. You may want to further research how humans are aiding in the destruction of some of these areas and what we can do to save them.

Credits & References

Mille, K. and Levine, J. Biology. Prentice Hall, 2002.

http://library.thinkquest.org/11922/habitats/habitats.htm

http://www.biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/Hotspots

http://www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/farabee/BIOBK/BioBookcommecosys.html

We all benefit by being generous with our work. Permission is hereby granted for other educators to copy this WebQuest, update or otherwise modify it, and post it elsewhere provided that the original author's name is retained along with a link back to the original URL of this WebQuest. On the line after the original author's name, you may add Modified by (your name) on (date). If you do modify it, please let me know and provide the new URL.

Based on a template from The WebQuest Page