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Biology 1MO3 > Chapter 47 - Climate and Biomes > Flashcards

Chapter 47 - Climate and Biomes Flashcards

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1
Q

Things that determine distribution of climatic zones

A

Solar radiation, wind and ocean currents, and topography

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2
Q

Biomes

A

Large, ecologically uniform areas whose characteristic species reflect climatic variation.

Global patterns of biological diversity reflect climate, history, and ecological interactions among species.

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3
Q

Climate

A

Long term weather patterns in a region or location (avg. weather)

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4
Q

Solar radiation

A

Depends on the angle that light hits along earth’s surface = surface area

By poles:
Rays span across a larger surface area
+ travel through more are = dissipation
+ light reflection

= colder avg. temp + more varied temp.

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5
Q

The principal control on Earth’s
surface temperature

A

The angle at which solar radiation strikes the
surface.

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6
Q

Temperature

A

The mean kinetic energy per molecule

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7
Q

Topography / impact of altitude

A

Temp down 6.5deg C per km increase in elevation

Why?
- less o2 molecules to contain kinetic energy
- earth’s surface is the hottest = heats things closest to itself

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8
Q

Topography

A

The physical features of the earth’s surface

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9
Q

What causes seasons

A

Earth rotates at a slight angle on its axis (tilt)
23.5 deg

= northern hemi gets most solar energy in June
=equator is temperate
= southern hemi gets most solar energy in Dec

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10
Q

Hadley cells

A

3 between pole and equator

When gas heated, volume up, density down = rises

Air cools as it rises 10-15km
then moves north or south from the equator 23-30 deg and densifies enough to sink

|
\ cold up
) ————
/ cold down
|

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11
Q

Coriolis effect

A

Earth rotates in a counterclockwise direction of circumference 40,000 km (right)

Then wind deflects to the right in the Northern Hemisphere, and winds in the Southern Hemisphere deflect to the left

|
<—– wind right
————– rotation ->
<—– wind left
|

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12
Q

Ocean currents

A

Winds push on water in the oceans, directing surface currents as shown here.

Water can carry much more heat than air, so ocean currents transport a great deal of heat to higher latitudes

Just as colder air sinks below warmer and less dense air, cold waters sink beneath less dense water masses.

At high latitudes, the sinking cold waters begin to move slowly along the seafloor toward the equator.

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13
Q

What does water do for global temperatures

A

Absorbs a lot of heat
+ a lot of surface area to distribute the heat along (more than rocks)

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14
Q

Types of wind

A

Easterly winds - go east to west

Westerlies - go west to east

Trade winds - above/below equator

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15
Q

Rainfall due to Hadley cells

A

The rise and fall of air masses governs the global distribution of rainfall.

Warm air can carry more water vapor than can cold air.

Where cold air drops = dry areas
Equator = wet + warm

Rainfall follows these patterns

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16
Q

Rain shadow effect

A

As wet air moves from the ocean up into the mountains, it cools, releasing its moisture as precipitation.

Moving past the mountains, air masses descend, warming as they go and taking up water vapor.

For this reason, lands in the rain shadow of the mountains are arid / dry.

ocean –> wet cold wind rainfall -^- –> cold wind falls + warms and absorbs moisture dry wind

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17
Q

​Evapotranspiration

A

Is the amount of water evaporated from Earth’s surface, either directly from ponds, rivers, and soils, or as water vapor transpired by plants.

Transpiration is only from the plant stoma.

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18
Q

The water cycle

A

Biggest water source is ocean
Then ice
Then groundwater (water inaccessible to plants)

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19
Q

Why do plants transpire

A

To bring nutrients from the soil to the leaves

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20
Q

Terrestrial biomes, evapotranspiration and precipitation

A

Regional climate determines the ratio of evapotranspiration to precipitation.

Deserts = low precip + a lot of evapotranspiration potential + low transpiration

Tropical rainforests = high precip. + a lot of evapotranspiration potential + unlimited transpiration = much growth and development

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21
Q

Convergent evolution and plants

A

Plants have independently evolved structures by convergent evolution as adaptations to particular climatic regimes.

ie. the same climate in different places = similar plants (through convergent ev.)

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22
Q

Tundra

A
  • coldest biome
  • close to north pole (above 65deg N)
  • few plants / plant diversity
  • low temp. / precip. / evaporation
    = permafrost

lichens, mosses, herbs, low shrubs, caribou, rabbits, wolves, foxes

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23
Q

Alpine

A
  • like tundra
  • no permafrost
  • more varied temps.
  • occurs below the snow line
  • windy + cold

grasses, herbs, mountain goats, llamas, marmots, wolves, cats, Himalayan snow leopard

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24
Q

Taiga / boreal forests

A
  • cool, moist forests
  • short rainy summers
  • 50deg to 65deg N
  • more diverse than tundra

birds, invertebrates, elk, moose, caribou, porcupines, hares, rodents, bears, lynx, mink, foxes, wolves, wolverines

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25
Q

Temperate coniferous forest

A
  • below 50deg N
  • 2 main areas in north america
    a. pacific coast = warm summer/mild winter + much precipitaton
    b. interior = less precip + colder winters
  • also japan, asia, europe
  • higher diversity than taiga
  • conifers such as ponderosa, lodgepole pines, engelmann spruce
26
Q

Deciduous forest

A
  • trees that lose their leaves
  • moderate temp and precipitation year round
  • diverse + many trees + snakes/lizards/amphibians
  • good soil
27
Q

Temperate grassland

A
  • cold winters + warm summers + some rain
  • midwestern US

buffalo, prairie dogs, pronghorns, horses, mammoths, prairie dogs, ferrets, badgers

28
Q

Desert

A
  • in continental interiors
  • 25deg to 35deg of equator
  • low precip. due to wind patterns

well adapted plants w deep roots, small primary consumers, lizards, rodents, snakes, cat species, coyotes, hawks/eagles

29
Q

Chaparral

A
  • western edge of continents
  • low precip.

woody drought/fire resistant plants, olives, acacia, oaks, eucalyptus

30
Q

Savanna

A
  • tall perennial grasses
  • seasonal rain
  • africa, southern south america, australia
  • fire maintains the biome
  • trees/shrubs drop leaves

large mammals are diverse + many, antelopes, kangaroos, zebras, giraffes, marsupials + rodents, high predator diversity, lions, hyenas, wild dogs

31
Q

Tropical rainforest

A
  • most diverse
  • warm temps, high precip.
  • rapid decomposition

few large grazers, many small mammals, primates, bats, rodents, diverse, bats, snakes, lizards
ants make up 30% of animal biomass

32
Q

deciduous vs coniferous

A

deci = leaves fall
coni = pine trees

33
Q

What do aquatic biomes depend on

A
  • the depth to which sunlight penetrates through water
  • climate
  • the availability of nutrients and oxygen
34
Q

One place with each biome

A

Tundra - northern Nunavut
Alpine - Switzerland
Taiga / boreal forests - Russia
Temperate coniferous - BC
Deciduous - southern Ontario (escarpment)
Grasslands - midwestern US / saskatchewan
Savanna - Nigeria
Desert - sahara desert in Egypt, center of australia
Chaparral - LA
Tropical rainforests - Brazil

35
Q

Why isn’t there a lot of O2 in water

A

Because oxygen gas dissolves in water only to a limited extent, surface waters directly beneath the atmosphere will have an O2 concentration about 20 times lower than that of the air.

  • Larger animals of aquatic biomes must move constantly to keep their gill systems well oxygenated.
  • Alternatively, they must live in places where currents naturally produce well-oxygenated water, such as cold running streams and rocky marine coastlines.
36
Q

Zooplankton

A

ex. small arthropods and fish

37
Q

Nekton

A

ex. fish

38
Q

Lakes

A

The Great Lakes contain 20% of all freshwater habitat in the world

39
Q

Rivers

A

Freshwater biomes made of moving water

Because of their currents, rivers and streams erode, transport, and deposit sediment, so that their shapes continually change

Usually well oxygenated esp. the fast moving ones

Some fish swim from oceans to rivers to reproduce

40
Q

Phytoplankton

A
41
Q

Freshwater biomes

A
  • vary with climate and topography
    = affects nutrient input and O2 availability
  • main ones are lakes and rivers
42
Q

What does it mean if a lake is physically stratified

A

The density of bottom waters keeps them from mixing upward with shallow waters

Organic remains that sink to deep waters provide food for respiring bacteria, which draws down oxygen levels.

Where nutrient influx is high, such lakes can become anoxic in their deeper parts; this is particularly common where human activities have increased nutrient loads entering the lake.

Seasonal changes affect stratification:
- occurs from spring to fall
- not winter bc everything is cold

  • Cooling of surface waters can eliminate temperature differences from top to bottom, causing previously stratified water masses to mix and bringing oxygen to deep waters and nutrients to the surface.

Cold water falls, warm water rises

43
Q

Are lakes or rivers more oxygenated

A

Rivers - more turbulent

44
Q

Estuary Biomes

A

An estuary is an ecotone / transition zone between saltwater and freshwater (ex. between a river and the ocean)

Tide slides under freshwater

Gradient of nutrients + hatchery areas = highly productive

45
Q

Features of aquatic primary producers in aquatic biomes

A
  • no need for structural support like wood/hard stems
  • no buried roots needed
  • can be buoyant cells
  • their distribution dictated abudance of consumers
  • organic matter becomes sediment = food for bacterial respiration, decreasing O2
46
Q

Saltwater biomes

A

cover 71% of earth’s surface = largest biomes

47
Q

The photic zone

A

Top layer, nearest to the surface of the ocean.

It lies between the surface and about 200 m deep.

Can have photosynthetic organisms.

48
Q

The neritic zone

A

Near the shore, with a shallow seafloor, relatively high availability of nutrients, and persistent sunlight.

Distinct biomes within the neritic zone include:

Intertidal
- more shallow
- btwn high/low tides

Coral reef biomes
- most diverse in the ocean
- low nutrient levels, but high primary production due to algae in the corals

49
Q

The oceanic zone

A

Deeper waters beyond the continental shelf.

Consists of:
Pelagic biome
- open ocean water
- 0-200 m deep = gets sun
- algae + cyanobacteria + plankton + protists + fish/squid

Deep-sea biome
- deep seafloor

50
Q

How do nutrients get into the ocean

A
  • Runoff from continents (supplemented by nitrogen fixation by marine cyanobacteria)
    = used by primary producers (shallow water)

In deep waters:
- Detritus (waste or debris) that rains downward from surface waters
- Chemoautotrophic bacteria (use chemical reactions to make their own energy)

51
Q

How does O2 get into the ocean

A

Photic zone = mixed by wind

Algae = primary production on continental shelves

  • In deeper waters, oxygen can be depleted by respiration as microbes feed on sinking organic matter.
  • In a few places, where surface primary production is high, the oxygen level in water masses just beneath the mixed layer declines to zero, forming an oxygen-minimum zone with distinctive microbial populations and only a limited presence of zooplankton and animals.
52
Q

Deep waters

A

On the deep seafloor and in the waters above it, oxygen is present, but food is sparse, consisting of a slow rain of particles from shallower depths.

  • at hydrothermal vents, where high concentrations of sulfide, hydrogen, and methane support primary production by chemosynthetic bacteria and archaea. These, in turn, support locally dense populations of animals
53
Q

Iron and primary productivity

A

Iron is usually the LR; when more is added it increases rate of productivity = more chlorophyll

Law of minimum: rate of primary production is dictated by the availability of the LEAST available nutrient

54
Q

Ocean productivity

A

Nutrients commonly limit primary production

Highest in oceans where:
- right next to land (runoff)
- where currents travel
- upwelling zones of nutrient-rich deep waters

55
Q

Terrestrial productivity

A

Sunlight, water, and nutrients limit rates of primary production

Highest on land where:
- hot + wet
- near equator

56
Q

Viruses in aquatic biomes

A

Lyse phytoplankton releasing organic matter for bacterial and archaeic respiration

57
Q

Ocean gyres

A

Circulating ocean currents

58
Q

Liebig’s Law of the Minimum

A

Primary production is limited by the nutrient that is least available relative to the needs of primary producers

59
Q

Latitudinal diversity gradient

A

Species diversity generally peaks near the equator and declines towards the poles

60
Q

Plant/mammal biodiversity

A

Same as productivity trends

Production = higher pop. = greater potential for selection of those best suited = more biodiversity

61
Q

Biodiversity hotspots

A

places with unusually large concentrations of species found nowhere else that are under threat from human activities

  • These areas occur predominantly in tropical to subtropical environments.
  • In part, this reflects the higher species diversity typical of lower latitudes.
  • Conservation biologists have designated 25 regions as biodiversity hotspots.

Biology 1MO3 (7 decks)

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