Biomes and Soils

Flashcards on Biomes and Soil

Biome

A kind of climate envelope, climate being precip plus temperature over thirty year periods, that produces a home for common vegetation communities.

Biomes

Large scale ecosystem with relatively uniform vegetation primarily driven by temperature and precipitation.

Tropical Rainforest

Warm and wet biome, rainiest, with multi story canopy rich in species diversity and abundance. Close to maximum solar energy receipt all year and it's super wet with the ITCZ overhead.

Tropical Seasonal Forest

Warm biome, low latitude relatively close to the Equator. Seasonal surge in precipitation.

Tropical Savannah

Moving into more arid locations. Drier environment even though it's still warm.

Mediterranean Biome

A biome that is moderate in its temperature range because it approximate to the ocean. Areas that tend to be near zones of high pressure and so they tend to also be relatively dry.

Deserts

Defined variously as less than 12 inches of precipitation a year, the driest biomes with large temperature range.

Temperate Grasslands

Hugely productive regions for agriculture, Breadbaskets of the world.

Temperate Rainforest

Cool and wet biome, mid latitudes to maybe inching into the higher latitudes in terms of temperature. Near that zone of low pressure around fifty five or sixty degrees north and south.

Tundra

Cold dry environment, high latitudes or high elevations at more moderate latitudes. We've got at least part of the year where we're below freezing, if not all of it quite dry.

Soil

A natural body consisting of layers that we call horizons and those layers are comprised of mineral material that comes from the physical and chemical weathering of bedrock as well as organic matters that come from the surface.

Andesoles

Volcanic soils, not very common, but productive for coffee and other particular agricultural purposes.

Aridisols

Dry soils, soil moisture being a limiting factor.

Mollisols

Mid Latitude grassland soils, highly nutrient rich, they're highly productive.

Oxisols

Tropical rain forest soils. Highly weathered and leached. The soil itself is actually fairly nutrient poor.

Spodosols

PNW forest soils, typical of a cool and wet climate along with acidic inputs.

Entisols

Soils that are young and don't have distinct horizons, commonly because of disturbance.

Gelisols

Tundra soils, cold and dry, really gonna be limiting horizonation, the development of horizons.