Climate Terrestrial Biodiversity Biomes Field Ecology Climate Terrestrial Biodiversity Biomes

Overview Questions 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?

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?

Blowing 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.

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.

Earth’s Current Climate Zones

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.

Coriolis Effect Global air circulation is affected by the rotation of the earth on its axis.

Convection Currents Global air circulation is affected by the properties of air water, and land.

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

Ocean Currents: Distributing Heat and Nutrients Ocean currents influence climate by distributing heat from place to place and mixing and distributing nutrients.

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.

Topography and Local Climate: Land Matters Interactions between land and oceans and disruptions of airflows by mountains and cities affect local climates.

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.

BIOMES: CLIMATE AND LIFE ON LAND

BIOMES: CLIMATE AND LIFE ON LAND Biome type is determined by precipitation, temperature and soil type

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.

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.

DESERT BIOMES Variations in annual temperature (red) and precipitation (blue) in tropical, temperate and cold deserts.

Tropical Desert Month Mean monthly temperature (C) Freezing point Mean monthly temperature (C) Mean monthly precipitation (mm) Figure 5.12 Natural capital: climate graphs showing typical variations in annual temperature (red) and precipitation (blue) in tropical, temperate, and cold deserts. Top photo shows a popular but destructive SUV rodeo in Saudi Arabia (tropical desert). Center photo shows saguaro cactus in the United States (temperate desert). Bottom photo shows a Bactrian camel in Mongolia’s Gobi (cold) desert. Month

Temperate Desert Month Mean monthly temperature (C) Freezing point Mean monthly temperature (C) Mean monthly precipitation (mm) Figure 5.12 Natural capital: climate graphs showing typical variations in annual temperature (red) and precipitation (blue) in tropical, temperate, and cold deserts. Top photo shows a popular but destructive SUV rodeo in Saudi Arabia (tropical desert). Center photo shows saguaro cactus in the United States (temperate desert). Bottom photo shows a Bactrian camel in Mongolia’s Gobi (cold) desert. Month

Polar Desert Month Mean monthly precipitation (mm) Freezing point Mean monthly precipitation (mm) Mean monthly temperature (°C) Figure 5.12 Natural capital: climate graphs showing typical variations in annual temperature (red) and precipitation (blue) in tropical, temperate, and cold deserts. Top photo shows a popular but destructive SUV rodeo in Saudi Arabia (tropical desert). Center photo shows saguaro cactus in the United States (temperate desert). Bottom photo shows a Bactrian camel in Mongolia’s Gobi (cold) desert. Month

DESERT BIOMES The flora and fauna in desert ecosystems adapt to their environment through their behavior and physiology.

GRASSLANDS AND CHAPARRAL BIOMES Variations in annual temperature (red) and precipitation (blue).

Tropical grassland (savanna) Freezing point Mean monthly temperature (C) Mean monthly precipitation (mm) Figure 5.14 Natural capital: climate graphs showing typical variations in annual temperature (red) and precipitation (blue) in tropical, temperate, and polar (arctic tundra) grasslands. Top photo shows wildebeests grazing on a savanna in Maasai Mara National Park in Kenya, Africa (tropical grassland). Center photo shows wildflowers in bloom on a prairie near East Glacier Park in the U.S. state of Montana (temperate grassland). Bottom photo shows arctic tundra with caribou in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (polar grassland). Month

Temperate grassland Month Mean monthly temperature (C) Freezing point Mean monthly temperature (C) Mean monthly precipitation (mm) Figure 5.14 Natural capital: climate graphs showing typical variations in annual temperature (red) and precipitation (blue) in tropical, temperate, and polar (arctic tundra) grasslands. Top photo shows wildebeests grazing on a savanna in Maasai Mara National Park in Kenya, Africa (tropical grassland). Center photo shows wildflowers in bloom on a prairie near East Glacier Park in the U.S. state of Montana (temperate grassland). Bottom photo shows arctic tundra with caribou in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (polar grassland). Month

Polar grassland (arctic tundra) Freezing point Mean monthly temperature (C) Mean monthly precipitation (mm) Figure 5.14 Natural capital: climate graphs showing typical variations in annual temperature (red) and precipitation (blue) in tropical, temperate, and polar (arctic tundra) grasslands. Top photo shows wildebeests grazing on a savanna in Maasai Mara National Park in Kenya, Africa (tropical grassland). Center photo shows wildflowers in bloom on a prairie near East Glacier Park in the U.S. state of Montana (temperate grassland). Bottom photo shows arctic tundra with caribou in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (polar grassland). Month

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.

Temperate Grasslands The cold winters and hot dry summers have deep and fertile soil that make them ideal for growing crops and grazing cattle.

Temperate Grasslands Temperate tall-grass prairie ecosystem in North America.

Polar Grasslands Polar grasslands are covered with ice and snow except during a brief summer.

Chaparral Chaparral has a moderate climate but its dense thickets of spiny shrubs are subject to periodic fires.

FOREST BIOMES Variations in annual temperature (red) and precipitation (blue) in tropical, temperate, and polar forests.

Tropical rain forest Month Mean monthly temperature (C) Freezing point Mean monthly temperature (C) Mean monthly precipitation (mm) Figure 5.19 Natural capital: climate graphs showing typical variations in annual temperature (red) and precipitation (blue) in tropical, temperate, and polar (cold) forests. Top photo shows the closed canopy of a tropical rain forest in the western Congo Basin of Gabon, Africa. Middle photo shows a temperate deciduous forest in the U.S. state of Rhode Island during the fall. Photo 9 in the Detailed Contents shows this same area of forest during winter. Bottom photo shows a northern coniferous forest in the Malheur National Forest and Strawberry Mountain Wilderness in the U.S. state of Oregon. Month

Temperate deciduous forest Freezing point Mean monthly temperature (C) Mean monthly precipitation (mm) Figure 5.19 Natural capital: climate graphs showing typical variations in annual temperature (red) and precipitation (blue) in tropical, temperate, and polar (cold) forests. Top photo shows the closed canopy of a tropical rain forest in the western Congo Basin of Gabon, Africa. Middle photo shows a temperate deciduous forest in the U.S. state of Rhode Island during the fall. Photo 9 in the Detailed Contents shows this same area of forest during winter. Bottom photo shows a northern coniferous forest in the Malheur National Forest and Strawberry Mountain Wilderness in the U.S. state of Oregon. Month

Polar evergreen coniferous forest (boreal forest, taiga) Freezing point Mean monthly temperature (C) Mean monthly precipitation (mm) Figure 5.19 Natural capital: climate graphs showing typical variations in annual temperature (red) and precipitation (blue) in tropical, temperate, and polar (cold) forests. Top photo shows the closed canopy of a tropical rain forest in the western Congo Basin of Gabon, Africa. Middle photo shows a temperate deciduous forest in the U.S. state of Rhode Island during the fall. Photo 9 in the Detailed Contents shows this same area of forest during winter. Bottom photo shows a northern coniferous forest in the Malheur National Forest and Strawberry Mountain Wilderness in the U.S. state of Oregon. Month

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

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.

Tropical Rain Forest Filling such niches enables species to avoid or minimize competition and coexist

Temperate Deciduous Forest Most of the trees survive winter by dropping their leaves, which decay and produce a nutrient-rich soil.

Evergreen Coniferous Forests Consist mostly of cone-bearing evergreen trees that keep their needles year-round to help the trees survive long and cold winters.

Temperate Rain Forests Coastal areas support huge cone-bearing evergreen trees such as redwoods and Douglas fir in a cool moist environment.

MOUNTAIN BIOMES High-elevation islands of biodiversity Often have snow-covered peaks that reflect solar radiation and gradually release water to lower-elevation streams and ecosystems.

HUMAN IMPACTS ON TERRESTRIAL BIOMES Human activities have damaged or disturbed more than half of the world’s terrestrial ecosystems. Humans have had a number of specific harmful effects on the world’s deserts, grasslands, forests, and mountains.

Natural Capital Degradation Desert Large desert cities Soil destruction by off-road vehicles Soil salinization from irrigation Figure 5.26 Natural capital degradation: major human impacts on the world’s deserts. QUESTION: What are three direct and three indirect harmful effects of your lifestyle on deserts? Depletion of groundwater Land disturbance and pollution from mineral extraction

Natural Capital Degradation Grasslands Conversion to cropland Release of CO2 to atmosphere from grassland burning Overgrazing by livestock Figure 5.27 Natural capital degradation: major human impacts on the world’s grasslands. Some 70% of Brazil’s tropical savanna—once the size of the Amazon—has been cleared and converted to the world’s biggest grain growing area. QUESTION: What are three direct and three indirect harmful effects of your lifestyle on grasslands? Oil production and off-road vehicles in arctic tundra

Natural Capital Degradation Forests Clearing for agriculture, livestock grazing, timber, and urban development Conversion of diverse forests to tree plantations Damage from off-road vehicles Figure 5.28 Natural capital degradation: major human impacts on the world’s forests. QUESTION: What are three direct and three indirect effects of your lifestyle on forests? Pollution of forest streams

Natural Capital Degradation Mountains Agriculture Timber extraction Mineral extraction Hydroelectric dams and reservoirs Increasing tourism Urban air pollution Figure 5.29 Natural capital degradation: major human impacts on the world’s mountains. QUESTION: What are three direct and three indirect harmful effects of your lifestyle on mountains? Increased ultraviolet radiation from ozone depletion Soil damage from off-road vehicles