Year 11 Biology- Depth Study Organisation of Living Things: Salinity

There are hundreds of thousands of plant species on Earth, from liverworts less than an inch tall to giant redwood trees that reach hundreds of feet into the sky. With their great variety of forms, plants have adapted to nearly every type of habitat. This title provides a strong introduction to plant biology, clearly explaining how plants' structures enable them to make food, grow, survive challenging environments, and reproduce. The final chapter discusses the life of Carolus Linnaeus, whose plant taxonomy influenced classification in biology from his own era to the present day. The text meets the needs of the Common Core by helping readers learn the meaning of key terms as they are used in biology, as well as develop coherent understandings of important biological processes.

Australia has extremely serious problems of land and water degradation. After only two hundred years of our use, the damage to basic, life-supporting resources met systems, and the loss of biodiversity have been such that crisis point has been reached in many areas. Our land is crying out for help. The situation can no longer be ignored or shelved, nor can it continue to be dealt with in a piecemeal fashion, treating the symptoms of its declining health and not the causes the Ã?«unsustainabilityÃ?­ which is built into the land-use practices to which it is subjected. In order to understand the problems and to find long-term solutions, we need to see the big picture. When we see Australia in the global context, we find that it suffers the same problems as the rest of the world, created by pressures of expanding human populations and unsustainable use of basic resources. Global climate change will affect our continent and our lives just as it affects other lands and peoples. In the context of its island continent status, Australia has had a unique geological history which accounts for its poor soils and their erodibility; the nature of its rivers and groundwater supplies; its problems with salinity; and the specialised adaptations of its flora and fauna and the ecosystems which they comprise to the uniquely Australian environments which evolved through geological time. It is the driest vegetated continent, with 75% of its area under arid regimes - and arid lands are inherently fragile; it has a highly variable climate which compounds the effects of aridity; it is the flattest continent, with lowest overall relief, and its poor drainage accounts for its saline water-table; its biodiversity and the high level of endemism of its plants and animals are the result of its geological history, and preserving that biodiversity and preventing extinctions is our responsibility, and ours alone. Understanding the geological history which has made Australia unique enables us to understand why the imposition of European agriculture and land-use practices on this ancient, fragile land and the introduction of foreign animals and plants, has had such disastrous consequences. Listen. Our Land is Crying presents the big picture of land-use, the degradation of land and water resources, and some of the wonders of this amazing continent, and provides a prescription for ensuring a bright future for Australia.