Lecture 5.5 Flashcards
A type of community found in many places on earth
Deserts of the world
Rainforests of the world
Biomes
Our book identifies __ different biomes of the world
14
Determines what organisms are present in an area
Determines what plants/vegetation is there
The vegetation determines what animals are there
Climate
our source of life and heat
The sun
The rays of the sun hit the earth and some of the heat warms the
atmosphere
As you go up in elevation there is a
natural cooling process
Not straight relative to our orbit around the sun
Part of the year the northern hemisphere is more towards the sun and the other part of the year it is away from the sun – this gives us our seasons
Earth’s axis
It is warmer at the equator 0 degrees
Air is warmest in the middle and warm air tends to rise
The warm air flows up an down 30 degrees north and 30 degrees south
Sunbeams
Cool air cannot hold as much water as warm air
When the air goes upwards and cools off, it rains on the equator
Rainfall
The air at 30 degrees north and 30 degrees south is cooler and dryer and there are ___ here
deserts
A climate on a smaller scale
Climate on a very localized scale
Microclimates
Areas beyond where trees grow
Tundra
North/south of a particular latitude where no trees grow
arctic tundra
Above a certain altitude where no trees grow
alpine tundra
Arctic and alpine tundras combined make up __ % of our land area
20
Hypothesis concerning timberline
Why do trees stop growing?
- Excessive light
- Not enough carbon dioxide / carbon dioxide partial pressure
- Snow depth/ too much snow in the arctic and alpine
- Wind- it is clearly windier, trees grow crookedly in presence of strong winds*
- Heat deficiency, not enough warmth to grow enough*
- Length of the growing season = very short/ripening of twigs (able to go dormant)*
Intensity Solar radiation Temperature Precipitation Wind Soil frost activity Depth of soil thaw
Environment
List the four adaptations of animals
Hibernation
Microenvironments
Stay out and tolerate
Migration
What is the example of a creature in its microenvironment mentioned in lecture
Lemmings- go under the snow where they are right against the vegetation
List the adaptations of plants
Perennially Size: most are very small Growth rate: fast Reproduction: sexually and asexually Dormancy Hairs Heliotropism: flower of the plant follows the sun
