Ch 52 Ecology / Biomes Flashcards
Ecology components
- Distribution and abundance of organisms
- Abiotic and biotic factors
- Interactions along a hierarchy of scales
Ecology is a ____ not ____
Science; advocacy
Tropical forest organisms - name 2
- Epiphytes
- Lianas
Epiphytes
a plant that grows on another plant but is not parasitic, such as the numerous ferns, bromeliads, air plants, and orchids growing on tree trunks in tropical rainforests.
Lianas
plants with long, flexible, climbing stems that are rooted in the ground, and usually have long dangling branches (vines)
Desert defined by…
Precipitation not temperature
Desert organisms have:
- Small waxy leaves
- storage organs
Savanna characteristics - 3 things
Grassland with scattered trees
Occurs in equatorial and subequatorial regions
Warm year-round
Chaparral characteristics - 4 things
Midlatitude coastal regions
Rainy winters, dry summers
Dominated by shrubs and small trees
Fire adaptations
Temperate grasslands characteristics - 3 things
Plains and prairies in North America
Dry winters, wet summers
Large grazers
Temperate broadleaf forests characteristics - 4 things
Midlatitudes in the Northern Hemisphere
Significant precip in all seasons
Deciduous trees
Hibernation + migration in the winter
Coniferous forests characteristics - 3 things
Largest terrestrial biome
Periodic droughts
Cone-bearing trees
Tundra characteristics - 2 things
Occurs at high latitude & mountaintops
Permafrost (frozen moisture in the soil)
Biome type dictated by
Climate (Temp + light + precip)
Highest amount of evaporation located
Near equator
Hierarchy of ecologies (smallest to largest)
Organism Population Community Ecosystem Landscape Global
Tropical forests are located…
In between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn
Sunlight strikes the _____ most directly
Tropics (23.5 north & south)
4 factors of climate
Temperature
Precipitation
Sunlight
Wind
2 causes of seasonal cycles
Earth’s tilted axis of rotation and its annual passage around the sun
Ocean currents influence climate along the coasts of continents by…
heating or cooling overlying air masses that pass
across the land
Why do oceans and large lakes tend to moderate the climate of nearby land?
Water’s high specific heat
Mountains influence 2 things
Air flow over land
Amount of sunlight that reaches area
every 1,000-m increase in elevation produces an
average temperature drop of
6 degrees Celsius
climograph
a plot of annual mean temp and precip in a region
ecotone
a transitional area of vegetation between two different plant communities
canopy
the aboveground portion of a plant cropping or crop, formed by the collection of individual plant crowns
Tropical rainforest characteristics - 4 things
High temp
Constant rainfall
Home to millions of species
Competition for light (closed canopy)
Desert characteristics - 4 things
30 degrees N and S
Temp variable
Precip low
Water conservation adaptations
Descending dry air _____ moisture
Absorbs
Ascending moist air _____ moisture
Releases
