Climate limiting factors

1. What may be the most important factor that affects biodiversity?

2. What are the other key factors?

1. climate

2. precipitation (amount, timing and distribution), long term changes in climate (climate change)

Why is climate a key factor that affects biodiversity.

Climate is a key factor that affects biodiversity as it determines the types of species that can thrive and adapt to particular conditions.

How does temperature affect the metabolic rate of an animal?

Extreme temperatures can limit the species that can survive, reasons including metabolic rate - in extremely cold temperatures metabolic rate slows, reducing energy production, whilst in extremely hot temperatures the organism's ability to supply energy might be exceeded - and enzyme function, which speeds up certain processes within living organisms. If the temperature is warmer or cooler than the optimum temperature for enzyme activity then the rate of reaction starts to decrease rapidly. 

1. How much water makes up a tree? What species has adapted to survive on less water? And how have they adaptes

1. Trees are around 50% water so many species require a certain amount of water - around 2 to 3 cm per week - to grow and thrive.

2. Species such as the baobab can survive with significantly less than this,.

3. They have adapted to arid climates and can store up to 120 000 litres of water in their trunks.

Provide an example of how a species may adapt to rising temperatures that accompany climate change.

As temperatures become warmer, some species may migrate to higher latitudes or altitudes. The American pika has migrated to higher altitudes as they can be vulnerable to heat stress when temperatures rise.

What to factors affect the survival of vegetation?

amount of direct sunlight and water availability