What are the Factors Affecting the Global Distribution of Biomes? Flashcards
What are biomes in relation to ecosystems?
They are global scale ecosystems
What is the global distribution of Temperate Grasslands?
In the US, argentina, South Africa and Hungary
What is the global distribution of Savannah?
central Africa, southern India, northern Australia and central South America
What is the global distribution of deciduous?
North America, East Asia, and a large portion of Europe, though smaller regions of temperate deciduous forests are also located in South America.
What is the global distribution of Coniferous?
50° to 60°N latitudes
What is the global distribution of Tropical rainforest?
Central and South America, western and central Africa, western India, Southeast Asia, the island of New Guinea, and Australia.
What is the global distribution of Tundra
North America, to Europe, and Siberia in Asia
What is the global distribution of chaparral?
the West coast of the United States, the West coast of South America, the Cape Town area of South Africa, the Western tip of Australia, and the coastal areas of the Mediterranean.
What is the global distribution of Polar Ice?
Polar environments are located in Northern Russia, Greenland, and Northern Canada in the northern hemisphere and Antarctica in the southern hemisphere.
How does latitude affect the global distribution of biomes?
In the lower latitudes, such as the tropics, temperatures are the highest. This is because the sun’s rays travel a shorter distance to the Equator and are therefore more concentrated.
However, in the higher latitudes, such as the polar regions of the world, temperatures are lowest. This is due to the Sun’s rays travelling a longer distance and being spread over a wider area of the Earth’s surface. When these rays approach the Earth, they do so at a sloping angle, resulting in lower surface temperatures.
How does temperature affect the global distribution of biomes?
Plants need sunshine and warmth to grow. Where annual temperatures stay above 210C there can be continuous growth throughout the year. However, if it becomes too hot, plants will wilt unless they have sufficient water.
How does rainfall affect the global distribution of biomes?
The amount and seasonality of rainfall is very important to vegetation growth. Heavy rainfall throughout the year allows forests to grow. In areas with dry seasons, plants will have to adapt to drought (xerophytic) and in monsoon areas flooding.
How does altitude affect the global distribution of biomes?
Temperatures decrease rapidly with altitude so mountains have distinctive ecosystem environments.
Aspect (the direction a slope faces) affects sunlight, temperature and moisture.
You can often see a distinctive tree line (above which trees cannot grow due to lack of temperature or rainfall).
How does distance form the sea affect the global distribution of biomes?
Land in the middle of continents experience more extreme temperatures.
Prevailing winds from the sea and ocean currents cool the land in summer mean that coastal areas have a milder climate.
Coastal areas also have much higher precipitation as air blowing in from the sea brings moisture.
