WHERE THE BUFFALO ROAM

The shortgrass prairie habitat of the American Bison is featured in this video.

In its tour through AP Environmental Science topics, the next installment of the Living World video series focuses on three additional biomes.  It begins by examining temperate grasslands, and explores the physical environmental factors that favor the development of grassland environments- continental climate, limited rainfall and wildfires.  It also explores the relationship between perennial grassland vegetation and the animal species it supports, notably the American Bison, Pronghorn Antelope and Black-tailed Prairie Dog.

The focus then shifts to rainforest environments, first temperate rainforests and then tropical.  It compares and contrasts these, illustrating the coniferous nature of the temperate systems and the vast diversity of broadleaf vegetation that fills tropical systems.  In both environments, abundant moisture produces trees of great size, although the longevity of temperate rainforest giants is unsurpassed.  The video concludes by depicting the bird life of both systems, highlighting in particular the specializations employed by the diverse avifaunas of tropical rainforest.

This video, like all in the series, is available through Arts and Academic Publishing, the publishing partner of Bird ConservationResearch, Inc.