1. Climate and Terrestrial Biodiversity
Chapter 7

2. Dust Blown from West Africa to the Amazonian Rain Forests

3. 7-1 What Factors Influence Climate?
Concept 7-1 An area's climate is determined mostly by solar radiation, the earth’s rotation, global patterns of air and water movement, gases in the atmosphere, and the earth’s surface features.

4. The Earth Has Many Different Climates (1)
Weather
Climate
Air circulation in lower atmosphere due to
Uneven heating of the earth’s surface by the sun
Rotation of the earth on its axis
Properties of air, water, and land

5. The Earth Has Many Different Climates (2)
Currents
Prevailing winds
Earth’s rotation
Redistribution of heat from the sun
Link between air circulation, ocean currents, and biomes

6. Natural Capital: Generalized Map of the Earth’s Current Climate Zones

7. Global Air Circulation

8. Energy Transfer by Convection in the Atmosphere

9. Global Air Circulation, Ocean Currents, and Biomes

10. Warm, less salty, shallow current
Figure 7.5
Connected deep and shallow ocean currents. A connected loop of shallow and deep ocean currents transports warm and cool water to various parts of the earth. This loop, which rises in some areas and falls in others, results when ocean water in the North Atlantic near Iceland is dense enough (because of its salt content and cold temperature) to sink to the ocean bottom, flow southward, and then move eastward to well up in the warmer Pacific. A shallower return current aided by winds then brings warmer, less salty—and thus less dense—water to the Atlantic. This water can cool and sink to begin this extremely slow cycle again. Question: How do you think this loop affects the climates of the coastal areas around it?
Cold, salty, deep current
Fig. 7-5, p. 143

11. Greenhouse Gases Warm the Lower Atmosphere
CO2
CH4
N2O
Greenhouse effect
Human-enhanced global warming

12. Flow of Energy to and from the Earth

13. The Earth’s Surface Features Affect Local Climates
Heat absorption by land and water
Effect of
Mountains
Rain shadow effect
Cities
Microclimates

14. Rain Shadow Effect

15. 7-2 How Does Climate Affect the Nature and Locations of Biomes?
Concept 7-2 Differences in average annual precipitation and temperature lead to the formation of tropical, temperate, and cold deserts, grasslands, and forests, and largely determine their locations.

16. Climate Affects Where Organisms Can Live
Major biomes
Latitude and elevation
Annual precipitation
Temperature

17. The Earth’s Major Biomes

18. Generalized Effects of Elevation and Latitude on Climate and Biomes

19. Figure 7.11
Climate graphs showing typical variations in annual temperature (red) and precipitation (blue) in tropical, temperate, and cold deserts. Top photo: a popular (but destructive) SUV rodeo in United Arab Emirates (tropical desert). Center photo: saguaro cactus in the U.S. state of Arizona (temperate desert). Bottom photo: a Bactrian camel in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert (cold desert). Question: What month of the year has the highest temperature and the lowest rainfall for each of the three types of deserts?
Stepped Art
Fig. 7-11, p. 149

20. Figure 7.12
Climate graphs showing typical variations in annual temperature (red) and precipitation (blue) in tropical, temperate, and cold (arctic tundra) grassland. Top photo: wildebeests grazing on a savanna in Maasai Mara National Park in Kenya, Africa (tropical grassland). Center photo: wildflowers in bloom on a prairie near East Glacier Park in the U.S. state of Montana (temperate grassland). Bottom photo: arctic tundra (cold grassland) in autumn in front of the Alaska Range, Alaska (USA). Question: What month of the year has the highest temperature and the lowest rainfall for each of the three types of grassland?
Stepped Art
Fig. 7-12, p. 151

21. Monoculture Crop Replacing Biologically Diverse Temperate Grassland

22. Chaparral Vegetation in California, U.S.

23. Santa Monica Mountains, CA

24. Figure 7.15
Climate graphs showing typical variations in annual temperature (red) and precipitation (blue) in tropical, temperate, and cold (northern coniferous and boreal) forests. Top photo: the closed canopy of a tropical rain forest in the western Congo Basin of Gabon, Africa. Middle photo: a temperate deciduous forest in the U.S. state of Rhode Island during the fall. (Photo 4 in the Detailed Contents shows this same area of forest during winter.) Bottom photo: a northern coniferous forest in the Malheur National Forest and Strawberry Mountain Wilderness in the U.S. state of Oregon. Question: What month of the year has the highest temperature and the lowest rainfall for each of the three types of forest?
Stepped Art
Fig. 7-15, p. 154

25. Black-crowned antpitta45
Harpy eagle
Emergent layer 40 35
Toco toucan
Canopy 30 25
Height (meters) 20
Under story
Wooly opossum 15
Figure 7.17
Stratification of specialized plant and animal niches in a tropical rain forest. Filling such specialized niches enables species to avoid or minimize competition for resources and results in the coexistence of a great variety of species. 10
Brazilian tapir
Shrub layer 5
Black-crowned antpitta
Ground layer
Fig. 7-17, p. 156

26. Temperate Rain Forest in Washington State, U.S.

27. Mountains Play Important Ecological Roles
Majority of the world’s forests
Habitats for endemic species
Help regulate the earth’s climate
Can affect sea levels
Major storehouses of water
Role in hydrologic cycle

28. Mount Rainier National Park in Washington State, U.S.

29. More Mountains!

30. 7-3 How Have We Affected the Word’s Terrestrial Ecosystems?
Concept 7-3 In many areas, human activities are impairing ecological and economic services provided by the earth’s deserts, grasslands, forests, and mountains.

31. NATURAL CAPITAL DEGRADATION
Major Human Impacts on Terrestrial Ecosystems
Deserts
Grasslands
Forests
Mountains
Large desert cities
Conversion to cropland
Clearing for agriculture, livestock grazing, timber, and urban development
Agriculture
Figure 7.20
Major human impacts on the world’s deserts, grasslands, forests, and mountains. Question: Which two of the impacts on each of these biomes do you think are the most harmful?
Timber extraction
Soil destruction by off-road vehicles
Release of CO2 to atmosphere from burning grassland
Mineral extraction
Hydroelectric dams and reservoirs
Soil salinization from irrigation
Conversion of diverse forests to tree plantations
Increasing tourism
Overgrazing by livestock
Urban air pollution
Depletion of groundwater
Increased ultraviolet radiation from ozone depletion
Damage from off-road vehicles
Oil production and off-road vehicles in arctic tundra
Land disturbance and pollution from mineral extraction
Pollution of forest streams
Soil damage from off-road vehicles
Fig. 7-20, p. 158