Lecture 5: Physical Environment Flashcards
As we did in class, be able to reason through the abiotic factors in an environment and how these affect the kinds of organisms that live there
- temperature
- precipitation
- altitude
- latitude
The difference between climate and weather
- climate is long-term weather in a specific area
- weather is conditions in the atmosphere during a short period of time
What determines global climate patterns +
the distribution of solar energy
- solar energy determines global climate patterns
- energy distrubution is determined by earth’s movement in space & the shape of earth
What climate is composed of
- temperature
- precipitation
- sunlight
- wind
latitudes of major regions on Earth and how they are affected by sunlight angle
- 90N: North pole (low angle)
- 66.5N: temperate
- 23.5N: tropic of cancer
- 0: equator
- 23.5S: tropic of capricorn
- 66.5S: temperate
- 90S: south pole (low angle)
what occurs during solstices and equinoxes in each hemisphere
- june solstice: summer in the northern hemisphere, winter in the south
- december solstice: summer in the southern hemisphere, winter in the north
-march equinox: spring in the north, fall in the southern hemisphere - september equnox: fall in the north, spring in the south hemisphere
what produces air and water circulation patterns
rotation of earth on its axis
know everything or “plant refresher” and how these strategies are influenced by the environment
- water moves through plants via transpiration (stomata open and close)
- plants use finite resources in different ways (some have woody tissue, some produce leaves)
- plants can be evergreen or deciduous: either they drop their leaves all at once or individually over time
The factors that have the strongest influence on where terrestral + aquatic organisms reside
Terrestrial: climate
Aquatic organisms: light and nutrient availability
