The Biosphere and Biomes: Terrestrial Biomes

What is a biosphere?

- The worldwide sum of all ecosystems

What is a biome?

- The general enviroment (precipitation, temp, plants & animals, distrubution) of a large geographical area eg. tundra, dessert etc

(think minecraft biome)

What is a ecosystem?

- A ecosystem is a particular region/habitat and all of the living and non-living things within it

- Particularly focusing on the interactions between orginisms and their enviroment

How does the earths angle affect solar radiation?

- Because the earth is on an angle, different parts get different levels of solar radiation

- Near the equator solar radiation is more concentrated (like a flashlight close to an object). This makes it warmer

- Near the poles solar radiation is less concentrated, this means that the overall climate is cooler

What is climate?

- The long-term trends that shape an enviroment/area

- Climate is determined by latitude (how close/far an area is to the equator) and season

- Weather is short-term (what you feel when you go outside), climate is long-term

What are the 4 major components of climate?

Patterns/long-term trends of

- Temperature

- Precipation

- Sunlight

- Wind

How does solar radiation sustain life?

- Gives sunlight for plants to photosynthesis

- Makes clouds as evaporates water off land surface

- Makes wind as it causes heat to rise, creating currents

Global air circulation

- Caused by hot air rising (creating low pressure system) and then coming down again as rain

- High pressure system=cold wind, low pressure system=warm winds

- Global air circulation is why clouds move

- Global air circulation+earth rotating=wind

Global precipitation

- Made from solar radiation evaportating water off the earth's surface

- Warmer places have more evaporation

- Clouds are made by solar radiation

Relationship between precipitation and air circulation

- Global air circulation causes clouds to move on mass scales

- Rising air masses release water and cause high precipitation

- Decending air masses cause cause dry, arid enviroments

- Precipitation+air circulation=global air pockets found at 30 degrees latitude of the equator (6 in total)

How do seasons happen?

- The earth is on a tilt

- This causes different levels of sunlight exposure in the Northen and Southern hempisphere at different times of the year

- Lots of seasonality around high latitudes, around the equator there is more consistent annaul sunlight so less seasons

How do bodies of water impact global climate?

- Water going away from the equator is warm, wat going towards the equator is cold (equator heats water up)

- There are large predictable currents

- Large bodies of water moderate the climate of the nearby land

^ when land is hot, water is cool (morning). When water is hot, land is cool (night)

(Cool breeze from land/sea keeps the other in check)

Name the 8 main types of terristrial biome

- Tropical forest

- Desert

- Savanna

- Heathlands

- Temperate grassland

- Northern coniferous forest

- Temperate broadleaf forest

- Tundra

Tropical forest

- Found round the equator (tropics)

- Warm temp but high rainfall (tropics)

- Not much seasonal variation for temps

- Dif. forests have seasonal vs constant rain

- Statification (trees fightingf or light) of ecosystems

- Highest animal diversity of any biome

Desert

- Occurs in two bands north and south of the equator

- Coensides with desending dry air (air pockets)

- Inside conteints (land locked) (doesn't get many clouds bc far awaay from sea)

- Temp. is varibale between day and night

- Deserts are dry but not always hot

- Animals/plants have adapted to having very little rainfall (many desert animals are nocturnal)

Savanna

- Grass/wood land biome

- Animals and plants are fire tolerant

- Geographically between rain forests and deserts

- Sesonal precipitation

- Not high rainfall

- Lots of grass and vegiation

- Pretty warm

- Large herbivoes but highest no. of herbivores is insects

Heathlands

- Not many/doesn't cover wide geogrpahcial area

- Mid-latitude costal regions

- Seasonal temp

- Rainy winter and dry summers

- High amount of low (underground/root) level biomass

Tempreate grasslands

- Pricipiation is highly seasonal

- Can be very cold (-10 degrees), summer hot (30 degrees) and wet

- Main vegitation = grasses and forbs

- Adapted to droughts and fires

Nothern coniferous forest

- Geogrphaically largest biome on earth

- Different lvls of preciptation betweeen different areas

- Important for bird life (migration)

Temperate broadleaf forest

- Cooler areas futher way from the equator

- Lots of rain fall during all seasons

- Warmer summers, colder winters

- Vertical stratifiaction

- NZ!!!

- Main tree type is podocarp (for NZ)

Tundra

- Near the poles (cold)

- Low rainfall

- 2 types are artic and alpine tundra

- Cold winters (-20 degrees) and cooler summers

- Vegitation is herbacious (mosses, grasses etc.)

- Ground is fozen which prevents trees growing