1. The Biosphere
Chapter 15

2. Life in the Earth System
Biosphere is the part of the Earth where life exists. All of it. All of the Earth’s ecosystems make up the biosphere.
If you take out all of the water, air, and rocks you would have what’s called the biota: the collection of living things that live in the biosphere.
We have 3 other systems on Earth:
Hydrosphere: all of the Earth’s water, ice, and water vapor
Atmosphere: the air covering Earth’s solid and liquid surface
Geosphere: the features of Earth’s surface like the continents, rocks, and sea floor. This also included everything below the surface.

3. Life in the Earth System
All of these Earth systems are connected to one another.
One change can cause a butterfly effect to all of the other systems.
Example: Removal of plants from a riverbed
Gaia Hypothesis: The Earth is a living organism with all of it’s systems that yield a biosphere full of life. All of the systems are tied together to keep the Earth balanced.

4. Climate
Weather changes all of the time, but climate is the long- term pattern of weather conditions in a region.
Average temperature
Precipitation
Relative humidity
Rainy and dry seasons, cold winters, hot summers

5. Climate Factors that shape a climate:
Temperature
Sunlight
Water
Wind
Temperature and moisture play a large part in shaping ecosystems.
Microclimate is the climate of a small specific place within a larger area.
Example: South Florida vs. The rest of Florida or decaying hole in a log

6. Climate Earth has 3 climate zones: Polar, Tropical, and Temperate
The sun determines the climate
Sun’s rays don’t hit Earth equally because of the shape
The Earth’s tilt on the axis determines the seasons.

7. Climate Sun also heats the water and the air.
Warm air and water rises because it’s less dense.
As it goes up and cools (warm air holds more water) a large amount of precipitation falls
The movement of the air also leads to movement in the water to make currents.
Land makes a big difference in climate too
The closer you are to water the smaller the changes are to temperature.
Land heats up and cools down faster than water.

8. Climate
Coastal areas have higher humidity and more precipitation than inland areas.
Why do you think that is?
Mountains also have a role. As warm, moist air move towards a mountain it rises and cools, precipitation falls on the side facing the wind.
The downwind side is drier and cooler
Many plants and animals have developed adaptations to live in certain climates

9. Climate

10. Biomes Earth has 6 major biomes: Tropical Rainforest
Tropical Grassland
Temperate Grassland
Desert
Temperate Deciduous Forest
Temperate Rain Forest
Taiga
Tundra

11. Biomes Tropical Rainforest: Warm temperatures and lots of rain
Thick forests that can shade the forest floor
1% of sunlight makes it through the canopy (Uppermost branches of the trees)
Soil is thin with little nutrients
Most organisms live in the canopy area

12. Biomes Grassland is an area where the primary plant life is grass.
Tropical grasslands aka Savannahs:
Grass that stands 3-7 ft tall
Scattered trees or shrubs
4 in of rain a month
Temperate Grasslands:
20-35 in of rain a year; normally late spring-early summer
Fast spreading fires are common

13. Biomes
Desert receives < 10 in of rain annually, and are always characterized by very dry climate.
4 types of deserts: hot, semiarid, coastal, and cold
Hot deserts:
Daily summer temperature 100 degrees Fahrenheit
At night temp drops by 10 degrees Celsius
Winter temp can be 32 degrees Fahrenheit
Semiarid deserts:
Long dry summers
Low amounts of rain in the winter
Temperature rarely exceeds 100 degrees Fahrenheit

14. Biomes Coastal Deserts: Cold Deserts: Cool winters Long warm summers
Max temperature of 95 degrees Fahrenheit to 25 degrees Fahrenheit
Cold Deserts:
Precipitation falls evenly throughout the year and falls as snow in the winter
Summer temps 50 degrees Fahrenheit at night
Summer days 75 degrees Fahrenheit
Winter temps can drop below freezing

15. Biomes
Temperate Forest Biomes: distinguishable seasons; growing season is during mid-spring to mid-fall and depends on water
Temperate Deciduous Forest:
in of precipitation a year as rain or snow
Hot summers and cold winters
Deciduous trees drop their leaves and go dormant during the fall and winter

16. Biomes Temperate Rain Forest:
Does not receive precipitation evenly throughout the year
One long wet season and dry summers
98 in of rain a year
Have trees like Douglas firs, redwoods, and spruces
Coniferous trees keep their needles all year.

17. Biomes Taiga aka boreal forest located in cooler climates:
Long and cold winters 6+ months
Average winter temperatures are below freezing
Short summers with 2-3 months of frost-free days
in of precipitation a year
Coniferous forest is dominant

18. Biomes Tundra located beyond the taiga in far northern latitudes:
Winter is 10 months a year
Average winter temperature is below freezing
Ground below the surface is permanently frozen (permafrost)
Summer is 6-10 weeks
Precipitation is < 5 in a year

19. Biomes
Chaparral is characterized by hot, dry summers and cool, moist winters
Temperatures range 104 degrees Fahrenheit-50 degrees Fahrenheit
15-40 in of precipitation annually, mostly in winter as rain
Polar ice caps and mountains do not count as biomes because of varying climate change and polar ice caps have no vegetation
Polar ice caps are around the north and south poles
Animals need the sea to survive because of food
Polar bears are in the north, penguins are in the south
Mountains have what seem like different biomes at different levels of the mountains.

20. Biomes

21. Marine Ecosystems
We have different ways to classify the ocean into zones.
The easiest one is to divide the open sea (pelagic zone) and the sea floor (benthic zone)
The second is through the presence of light:
Photic zone: areas of the ocean that get plenty of light
Aphotic zone: areas of the ocean that get little to no light
The third way uses the distance from the shoreline and the depth as dividing factors.

22. Marine Ecosystems
The intertidal zone is the strip of land between the high and low tide lines.
Organisms here learn to adapt to different water levels, salinity, and temperature.

23. Marine Ecosystems
The neritic zone goes from the intertidal zone out to the edge of the continental shelf.
The depth could be a few centimeters-200 meters

24. Marine Ecosystems
Bathyal zone extends from the edge of the neritic zone to the base of the continental shelf.
Between 200 meters-2000 meters
The water is murky because of the silt build up.
Abyssal zone is below 2000 meters and is completely dark
This where the deep sea vents and chemosynthetic organisms are.

25. Marine Ecosystems

26. Marine Ecosystems
The neritic zone is only 1/10 of the total ocean area, but contains 40 times more biomass than the rest of the ocean.
A lot of it is plankton: tiny free-floating organisms that live in the water.
Zooplankton is animal plankton
Phytoplankton is photosynthetic plankton like algae
Phytoplankton is very important for life on this planet
Carries out majority of photosynthesis
70% of the oxygen you breathe can be traced back to the ocean

27. Marine Ecosystems
Coral reefs and kelp forests are also found in the neritic zone.
Coral reefs are found within the tropical climate zone where the water stays warm all year.
A coral reef can be home to species of coral
Fish, sponges and sea urchins live here too
Coral is an animal that has a mutual relationship with algae
Algae gets a home coral gets fed from byproducts of photosynthesis
Very delicate

28. Marine Ecosystems
Ecologists are trying to reintroduce the diversity in some areas by making artificial reefs.
Some shipwrecks and sunken oil rigs have become artificial reefs.

29. Marine Ecosystems
Kelp forests exist in cold, nutrient-rich waters like California’s Monterey Bay.
Composed of large communities of kelp, which is a seaweed.
Grows from the ocean floor up to the surface (sometimes 100 ft tall)
Areas of high productivity