1. Climate and Terrestrial Biodiversity
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. Updates Online
The latest references for topics covered in this section can be found at the book companion website. Log in to the book’s e-resources page at to access InfoTrac articles.
InfoTrac: Of Chicks and Frogs. Steven Pinker. Forbes, August 14, 2006 v178 i3 p40.
InfoTrac: Nice Rats, Nasty Rats: Maybe It's All In the Genes. Nicholas Wade. The New York Times, July 25, 2006 pF1(L).
InfoTrac: Ancient shrub unlocks a clue to Darwin's 'abominable mystery.’ The Christian Science Monitor, May 18, 2006 p02.
The Jane Goodall Institute
Natural History Museum: Ancient Birds

5. Core Case Study 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.
Figure 5-1

6. 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.

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

8. Animation: Climate and Ocean Currents Map
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9. Animation: Air Circulation and Climate
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10. 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

11. Video: Seasonal Variation
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12. Coriolis Effect
Global air circulation is affected by the rotation of the earth on its axis.
Figure 5-4

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

14. 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

15. Animation: Air Circulation
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16. 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

17. Animation: Greenhouse Effect
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18. Animation: Increasing Greenhouse Gases
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19. 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.

20. Video: Global Warming
This video clip is available in CNN Today Videos for Environmental Science, 2004, Volume VII. Instructors, contact your local sales representative to order this volume, while supplies last.

21. Animation: El Nino Southern Oscillation
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22. 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

23. Animation: Coastal Breezes
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24. Animation: Upwelling Along Western Coasts
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25. 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.

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

27. Animation: Biomes Map
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28. BIOMES: CLIMATE AND LIFE ON LAND
Biome type is determined by precipitation, temperature and soil type
Figure 5-10

29. 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

30. 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.

31. Video: Desertification
This video clip is available in CNN Today Videos for Environmental Science, 2004, Volume VII. Instructors, contact your local sales representative to order this volume, while supplies last.

32. Video: Desertification in China
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From ABC News, Environmental Science in the Headlines, 2005 DVD.

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

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

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

36. Video: Caribou
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37. Video: Tundra Flyover
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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. Animation: Prairie Food Web
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42. Polar Grasslands
Polar grasslands are covered with ice and snow except during a brief summer.
Figure 5-17

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

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

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

46. 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

47. Animation: Rainforest Food Web
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48. Tropical Rain Forest
Filling such niches enables species to avoid or minimize competition and coexist
Figure 5-21

49. Temperate Deciduous Forest
Most of the trees survive winter by dropping their leaves, which decay and produce a nutrient-rich soil.
Figure 5-22

50. 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.
Figure 5-23

51. Video: Sequoias
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52. Temperate Rain Forests
Coastal areas support huge cone-bearing evergreen trees such as redwoods and Douglas fir in a cool moist environment.
Figure 5-24

53. 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.
Figure 5-25

54. 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.

55. 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
Fig. 5-26, p. 123

56. 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
Fig. 5-27, p. 123

57. 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
Fig. 5-28, p. 124

58. 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
Fig. 5-29, p. 124

59. Video: Eagle Fishing
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60. Video: Gopher
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61. Video: Grizzly Bears
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62. Video: Owl Hunting
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