The ecosystem of Alfindén

THE ECOSYSTEM OF MY VILLAGE

By: Susana San Juan & Ángela Enfedaque

WHAT IS AN ECOSYSTEM?

WHAT IS A BIOTOPE?

A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical enviroment.

A biotope is an area of uniform environmental conditions providing a living place for a specific assemblage of plants and animals. Biotope is almost synonymous with the term habitat.

WHAT IS BIOCENOSIS?

WHAT IS A HABITAT?

All the interacting organisms that live together in a specific habitat or biotope, forming an ecological community.In ecology, a community refers to an association of living organisms having mutual relationships among themselves and to their environment ,as an ecological unit.

A habitat is a place where an organism makes its home. A habitat meets all the environmental conditions an organism needs to survive. For an animal, that means everything it needs to find and gather food, select a mate, and successfully reproduce.

LA PUEBLA DE ALFINDÉN

La Puebla de Alfindén is a municipality in Spain, in the province of Zaragoza, in the autonomous region of Aragon. Belonging to the Comarca Central, it is located on the left bank of the river Ebro and near the mouth of the river Gállego. It has an area of 16.95 km² and a population of 6303 inhabitants.

41°37′54″N 0°45′03″O

The relief of the territory is characterised by the valley of the river Ebro and is therefore predominantly flat, except in the north, where some elevations of the Alfajarín mountains rise up to an altitude of 340 metres.

ABIOTIC FACTORS

Average temperature: 15.5Cº
Average precipitations: The annual rainfall is 408 mm | 16.1 inch.
Type of soil: Clay soil
Biotope: Middle course of the Ebro valley.

This area is a set of wetlands that contrast with the aridity of the Ebro depression, with special conditions that are favourable for vegetation, providing shelter for a large number of animal and plant species.

DID YOU KNOW THAT...?

La Puebla is divided into two parts, the upper zone (mount) used for hunting and the lower zone, used for farming and agriculture.

BIOTIC FACTORS: WOODLOUSE

(ONISCIDEA)

A woodlouse (plural woodlice) is a crustacean from the monophyletic suborder Oniscidea within the isopods. This name is descriptive of their being found in old wood.

Woodlice have a basic morphology of a segmented, dorso-ventrally flattened body with seven pairs of jointed legs, specialised appendages for respiration and like other peracarids, females carry fertilised eggs in their marsupium, through which they provide developing embryos with water, oxygen and nutrients.

Common rough woodlice feed on leaf litter, fungi, fallen fruit, dead animals and even faeces.

INTERESTING FACT: They even eat their own excrement, an act known as coprophagy!

BIOTIC FACTORS: WHITE STORK

(CICONIA CICONIA)

The white stork is a large bird in the stork family, Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on the bird's wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average 100–115 cm. A carnivore, the white stork eats a wide range of animal prey, including insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, small mammals and small birds. It takes most of its food from the ground, among low vegetation, and from shallow water.

White Stork

BIOTIC FACTORS: BLACK KITE

(MILVUS MIGRANS)

It is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors. Black kites can be distinguished from red kites by the slightly smaller size, less forked tail , and generally dark plumage without any rufous. It can be found in La Puebla de Alfinden because of its abundance in the valleys.
It comes to Aragón in the hot season and tends to nest in these areas, migrating in August, September and October.

LOOK AT THIS!

BIOTIC FACTORS:
THYMUS AND PAPAVER

The thymus is an aromatic perennial herbaceous plant; Several members of the genus are cultivated as culinary herbs or ornamentals when they are also called thyme after its best-known species. It grows in dry areas with low humidity such as the bush.

Red papaver grows in the outer parts of the village, in the wild. There are many stamens in several whorls around a compound pistil, which results from the fusion of carpels. The stigmas are visible on top of the capsule, and the number of stigmas corresponds to the number of fused carpels.