In five pages ecosystems are described and then examined in a comparison of slopes facing north and south along with definitive characteristics of each. Three sources are cited in the bibliography.
Name of Research Paper File: D0_BBecoNSR.doc
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
a south facing slope. Bibliography lists 3 sources. BBecoNSR.doc ECOSYSTEMS: North and South Written by B. Bryan Babcock
for the Paperstore, Inc., October 2000 Introduction As we move into a new century we become more aware of how hard we were on the planet in
the last one hundred years. This discussion examines the general criteria of an ecosystem, and then illustrates what an ecosystem is by describing one on a north facing slope,
and one on a south facing slope. Ecosystem An integrated ecosystem incorporates changes, occurring over time, in dynamic balance. To determine the nature of the ecosystem, one evaluates
the climate and surrounding terrain in relation to air movement, how much of the area is in sun and how much is shade, the amount of water available and the
condition of the soil. Temperature and precipitation in the form of rain or snow, have a combined effect on plant and animal life. Ecological systems are independent systems of
plants, animals & a biotic environment. They have structures through which energy & nutrition move. These systems are both resistant to change, and paradoxically subject to it as well.
The boundaries of an ecosystem are usually defined by the person studying it. Ecosystems tend to interconnect, so it is often difficult to tell where one ends and the
other starts. Ecosystems are smaller than "biomes," and a community is smaller than an ecosystem. In disagreement with our original definition, PCS Education Systems (2000), claims an ecosystem has "both
living and nonliving components. Living components of an ecosystem include plants and animals." We might guess that this branch of science is still relatively recent, since the meanings of