Chapter 5

1. Chapter 5 Climate and Terrestrial Biodiversity

2. Chapter Overview Questions • What factors the earth’s climate? • How does climate determine where the earth’s major biome’s are found? • What are the major types of desert biomes? • What are the major types of grassland biomes?

3. Chapter Overview Questions (cont’d) • What are the major types of forest and mountain biomes? • How have human activities affected the world’s desert, grassland, forest, and mountain biomes?

4. Core Case StudyBlowing in the Wind: A Story of Connections • Wind connects most life on earth. • Keeps tropics from being unbearably hot. • Prevents rest of world from freezing. Figure 5-1

5. CLIMATE: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION • Weather is a local area’s short-term physical conditions such as temperature and precipitation. • Climate is a region’s average weather conditions over a long time. • Latitude and elevation help determine climate.

6. Earth’s Current Climate Zones Figure 5-2

7. Solar Energy and Global Air Circulation: Distributing Heat • Global air circulation is affected by the uneven heating of the earth’s surface by solar energy, seasonal changes in temperature and precipitation. Figure 5-3

8. Winter (northern hemisphere tilts away from sun) Spring (sun aims directly at equator) 23.5 ° Solar radiation Summer (northern hemisphere tilts toward sun) Fall (sun aims directly at equator) Fig. 5-3, p. 102

9. Coriolis Effect • Global air circulation is affected by the rotation of the earth on its axis. Figure 5-4

10. Cold deserts Westerlies Forests Northeast trades Hot deserts Forests Equator Southeast trades Hot deserts Forests Westerlies Cold deserts Fig. 5-4, p. 102

11. Convection Currents • Global air circulation is affected by the properties of air water, and land. Figure 5-5

12. HIGH PRESSURE LOW PRESSURE Heat releasedradiates to space Condensation and precipitation Cool, dry air Rises, expands, cools Falls, is compressed, warms Warm, dry air Hot, wet air Flows toward low pressure, picks up moisture and heat HIGH PRESSURE LOW PRESSURE Moist surface warmed by sun Fig. 5-5, p. 103

13. Convection Cells • Heat and moisture are distributed over the earth’s surface by vertical currents, which form six giant convection cells at different latitudes. Figure 5-6

14. Cell 3 North Cold, dry air falls Moist air rises — rain Polar cap Cell 2 North Arctic tundra Evergreen coniferous forest 60° Cool, dry air falls Temperate deciduous forest and grassland 30° Desert Cell 1 North Tropical deciduous forest Moist air rises, cools, and releases Moisture as rain Tropical rain forest 0° Equator Tropical deciduous forest 30° Desert Cell 1 South Temperate deciduous forest and grassland Cool, dry air falls 60° Cell 2 South Polar cap Cold, dry air falls Moist air rises — rain Cell 3 South Fig. 5-6, p. 103

15. Ocean Currents: Distributing Heat and Nutrients • Ocean currents influence climate by distributing heat from place to place and mixing and distributing nutrients. Figure 5-7

16. (a) Rays of sunlight penetrate the lower atmosphere and warm the earth's surface. (b) The earth's surface absorbs much of the incoming solar radiation and degrades it to longer-wavelength infrared (IR) radiation, which rises into the lower atmosphere. Some of this IR radiation escapes into space as heat, and some is absorbed by molecules of greenhouse gases and emitted as even longer-wavelength IR radiation, which warms the lower atmosphere. (c) As concentrations of greenhouse gases rise, their molecules absorb and emit more infrared radiation, which adds more heat to the lower atmosphere. Fig. 5-7, p. 104

17. Ocean Currents: Distributing Heat and Nutrients • Global warming: • Considerable scientific evidence and climate models indicate that large inputs of greenhouse gases from anthropogenic activities into the troposphere can enhance the natural greenhouse effect and change the earth’s climate in your lifetime.

18. Topography and Local Climate:Land Matters • Interactions between land and oceans and disruptions of airflows by mountains and cities affect local climates. Figure 5-8

19. Prevailing winds pick up moisture from an ocean. On the windward side of a mountain range, air rises, cools, and releases moisture. On the leeward side of the mountain range, air descends, warms, and Releases little moisture. Dry habitats Moist habitats Fig. 5-8, p. 105

20. BIOMES: CLIMATE AND LIFE ON LAND • Different climates lead to different communities of organisms, especially vegetation. • Biomes – large terrestrial regions characterized by similar climate, soil, plants, and animals. • Each biome contains many ecosystems whose communities have adapted to differences in climate, soil, and other environmental factors.

21. BIOMES: CLIMATE AND LIFE ON LAND Figure 5-9

22. Tropic of Cancer Equator High mountains Polar ice Polar grassland (arctic tundra) Tropic of Capricorn Temperate grassland Tropical grassland (savanna) Chaparral Coniferous forest Temperate deciduous forest Tropical forest Desert Fig. 5-9, p. 106

23. BIOMES: CLIMATE AND LIFE ON LAND • Biome type is determined by precipitation, temperature and soil type Figure 5-10

24. Cold Polar Tundra Subpolar Temperate Coniferous forest Decreasing temperature Desert Deciduous Forest Grassland Tropical Chaparral Hot Desert Savanna Wet Rain forest Dry Tropical seasonal forest Scrubland Decreasing precipitation Fig. 5-10, p. 107

25. BIOMES: CLIMATE AND LIFE ON LAND • Parallel changes occur in vegetation type occur when we travel from the equator to the poles or from lowlands to mountaintops. Figure 5-11

26. Elevation Mountain ice and snow Tundra (herbs, lichens, mosses) Coniferous Forest Latitude Deciduous Forest Tropical Forest Tundra (herbs, lichens, mosses) Polar ice and snow Deciduous Forest Coniferous Forest Tropical Forest Fig. 5-11, p. 108

27. DESERT BIOMES • Deserts are areas where evaporation exceeds precipitation. • Deserts have little precipitation and little vegetation. • Found in tropical, temperate and polar regions. • Desert plants have adaptations that help them stay cool and get enough water.

28. DESERT BIOMES • Variations in annual temperature (red) and precipitation (blue) in tropical, temperate and cold deserts. Figure 5-12

29. Tropical Desert Freezing point Mean monthly temperature (C) Mean monthly precipitation (mm) Month Fig. 5-12a, p. 109

30. Temperate Desert Freezing point Mean monthly temperature (C) Mean monthly precipitation (mm) Month Fig. 5-12b, p. 109

31. Polar Desert Freezing point Mean monthly precipitation (mm) Mean monthly temperature (°C) Month Fig. 5-12c, p. 109

32. DESERT BIOMES • The flora and fauna in desert ecosystems adapt to their environment through their behavior and physiology. Figure 5-13

33. Red-tailed hawk Gambel'sQuail Yucca Agave Jack rabbit Collared lizard Prickly pear cactus Roadrunner Darkling Beetle Bacteria Diamondback rattlesnake Fungi Kangaroo rat Primary to secondary consumer Secondary to higher-level consumer Producer to primary consumer All producers and consumers to decomposers Fig. 5-13, p. 110

34. GRASSLANDS AND CHAPARRAL BIOMES • Variations in annual temperature (red) and precipitation (blue). Figure 5-14

35. Tropical grassland (savanna) Freezing point Mean monthly temperature (C) Mean monthly precipitation (mm) Month Fig. 5-14a, p. 112

36. Temperate grassland Freezing point Mean monthly temperature (C) Mean monthly precipitation (mm) Month Fig. 5-14b, p. 112

37. Polar grassland (arctic tundra) Freezing point Mean monthly temperature (C) Mean monthly precipitation (mm) Month Fig. 5-14c, p. 112

38. GRASSLANDS AND CHAPARRAL BIOMES • Grasslands (prairies) occur in areas too moist for desert and too dry for forests. • Savannas are tropical grasslands with scattered tree and herds of hoofed animals.

39. Temperate Grasslands • The cold winters and hot dry summers have deep and fertile soil that make them ideal for growing crops and grazing cattle. Figure 5-15

40. Temperate Grasslands • Temperate tall-grass prairie ecosystem in North America. Figure 5-16

41. Golden eagle Pronghorn antelope Grasshopper sparrow Coyote Grasshopper Blue stem grass Prairie dog Bacteria Fungi Prairie Coneflower Secondary to higher-level consumer Primary to secondary consumer Producer to primary consumer All producers and consumers to decomposers Fig. 5-15, p. 113

42. Polar Grasslands • Polar grasslands are covered with ice and snow except during a brief summer. Figure 5-17

43. Long-tailed jaeger Grizzly bear Caribou Mosquito Snowy owl Arctic fox Horned lark Willow ptarmigan Dwarf Willow Lemming Mountain Cranberry Moss campion Primary to secondary consumer Secondary to higher-level consumer Producer to primary consumer All producers and consumers to decomposers Fig. 5-17, p. 114

44. Chaparral • Chaparral has a moderate climate but its dense thickets of spiny shrubs are subject to periodic fires. Figure 5-18

45. FOREST BIOMES • Variations in annual temperature (red) and precipitation (blue) in tropical, temperate, and polar forests. Figure 5-19

46. Tropical rain forest Freezing point Mean monthly temperature (C) Mean monthly precipitation (mm) Month Fig. 5-19a, p. 116

47. Temperate deciduous forest Freezing point Mean monthly temperature (C) Mean monthly precipitation (mm) Month Fig. 5-19b, p. 116

48. Polar evergreen coniferous forest (boreal forest, taiga) Freezing point Mean monthly temperature (C) Mean monthly precipitation (mm) Month Fig. 5-19c, p. 116

49. FOREST BIOMES • Forests have enough precipitation to support stands of trees and are found in tropical, temperate, and polar regions.

50. Tropical Rain Forest • Tropical rain forests have heavy rainfall and a rich diversity of species. • Found near the equator. • Have year-round uniformity warm temperatures and high humidity. Figure 5-20