Why The Rugged Rocky Mountains

3. Thermal springs, such as Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park, have temperatures above 100°C. How does adaptation make it possible for living organisms to inhabit such an extreme environment?

The alpine biome is a beautiful biome that is very important on earth. Some of the most famous sites are in the alpine biome, including Mount Everest. But now humans poach in the alpine biome, so now lots of animals are endangered. Even though the hard climate causes problems, plants, animals and humans survive in the alpine

The tundra is by far the coldest type of biome, as it is known for its low temperatures, little precipitation, poor nutrients, and short growing seasons. Occurring primarily near the Arctic within the Northern Hemisphere, the soil may be frozen all year up to a few feet, which allows no tree growth. However, a few animals have adapted to these conditions. These animals include lemmings, hares, oxen, foxes, wolves, and more. Within the tundra biome there are two different types of tundra biomes, arctic tundra and alpine tundra.

In the northwest corner of New Mexico, in the high desert rangeland and foothills of the Rocky Mountains is the small town I grew up in, Aztec, New Mexico. Not too much stands out in this town; ranches and homesteads mostly failed and died in the mid 1900’s due to the rise of the oil and gas industry that surrounds it. Today that market is very fragile today fluctuating back-and-forth from good to poor staggering the employment rate as the market changes. This, I believe, lends to a terrible the lack of cultural diversity; most of the population in that area can be divided into three groups Caucasian, Hispanic, and Native American.

The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, extends for some 3,000 miles (4,800 km), that covers land in two North American countries! With a distance of 3,000 miles, the Rockies must have a variety of physical features and landscapes that makes it an attractive area to tour and explore. However, all of the human interest in this mountain range could come at a devastating cost. Disturbances such as resource extraction, tourism/settlement, and farming in the Rocky Mountain region must cease because they are causing major, irreversible environmental degradation.

The physical characteristics of the interior plains are spruce trees, pine trees, fir trees and its tundra landscape. Many know that spruce, pine and fir trees are used as a Christmas tree to hang up your ornaments during December 25th. But these trees are more important than that. Just like any other normal tree, these trees follow the photosynthesis cycle, and inhale carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen. People may not live in the Interior Plains, but they work there and need some oxygen to breathe!

The climate of the interior plains is continental, which basically means that the climate is relatively dry with extremely hot summers and cold winters. The weather is very diverse and may change quickly without warning. In the North of the physiographic region, the winters are long and the summers are short and cool whereas in the South, the the winters are harsh with little precipitation and long summers. Although the humid weather and the flat lands create an ideal place to grow crops like wheat and corn, the growing season itself is quite short, even in the southern region due to the lack of precipitation needed for diversified crops to flourish. The flat prairies east to the Rockies is a meeting ground for Arctic, Pacific and

goat. Try fighting with your head for a change… it’s a good one, even if it does

primates were able to migrate from Asia to North America 56 million years ago because of huge volcanic eruptions, which released an ample amount of greenhouse gases leading up to an intense period of global warming. Because of this, the vegetation of North America began to change. The cool forests turned into tropical rain forests who kept their leaves all year round so they can provide food and shelter for these primates, allowing them to migrate to North America. At About 70 million years ago, a piece of earth’s crust under the Pacific Ocean dove down under North America making it rise creating the Rocky Mountains. As the Rocky’s continued to rise, the land under the inland sea was forced up and all of the water drained into what is now

Mountain Goats - known as the Rocky Mountain goat, is a large hoofed mammal found in Vancouver, Canada.

The Colorado Mountains have been home to many strong females throughout history. Worthy of mention are a handful of women who came to the high country for very different reasons, but fell in love with the majestic beauty of the state, making it their permanent home and leaving an indelible mark on the tapestry of its narrative.

Artists and scientists are subtle and devoted in depicting the nature of reality. Innovation in the architecture scenes have been greatly driven by the advancements in science and technology such as the Pont du Gard. For a building to be certified living, it was required for it to produce the amount of energy it consumed yearly and to capture rain water for all its use in 12months. Painters in the 19th century were faced with a situation that endangered nature itself. A painter by the name Albert Bierstadt painted The Rocky Mountains, Lander’s Peak that caused a mass thrill that associated the canvas with the wealth of the natural resources. His paintings made the congress study geological features and mineral resources along the transcontinental

The Western Cordillera stands on the western edge of the continent, range after range of mountains separated by valleys and plateaus. The Western Cordillera is the youngest land form on the east coast region, the region has many lakes, forests, and is on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. A lot of the mountain ranges in this region are popular which is the Rocky Mountains, another well known mountain is Mount Washington. The formation of the Cordillera is when the North America and Pacific plates collided, causing the plates to push upwards forming mountains. There are three parts that form the Western Cordillera, the Rocky Mountains, Interior Plateaus, and the Coast Mountains. The Rockies are located on the east side of the Cordillera, the Rockies

Ovis Canadensis are native to the western regions of North America, including Idaho, Utah, California, Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico states, western Canada and Mexico [5]. Fodder, water and escape terrain are the principal components of their habitat [6]. Bighorn sheep inhabit alpine meadows, foothills, rugged canyons, ridges and remote mountains that have enough grass. They can typically be found in areas near bluff and uneven-surfaced cliffs [5]. Bighorn sheep undergo seasonal movements and generally have two distinct summer and winter ranges. Most of the year they spend on the lower-elevation, typically below 5000 feet (1524 meters), mountain pastures. Because they cannot paw through crusted or deep snow to feed, during winter population sometimes move to higher elevations, where slopes and ridges are cleared by sun and wind. The aspect of winter range is generally south or southwest. The spring range can be characterized the same as the winter range except for some distinct features. Rams respond to greenups along valleys and move to areas around salt licks in the spring [6]. The summer range is between 6000-8500 feet (1829-2590 meter) elevation [7]. The aspect of early summer is south and southwest, while in late summer more northerly exposures are

Tundra plants over the years adapted to sweeping winds and disturbances of the soil. Another adaptation is that they are short and cluster together to help endure the cold. Also they can carry out photosynthesis at low temperatures and low light intensities. Plants aren’t the only things that have had to adapt to the conditions, animals have had to as well.