Biomes

What defines a biome?

A large community of plants and animals that has developed as a result of environmental factors.

What are the two main abiotic factors that determine the distribution of terrestrial biomes?

Earth temperature and annual rainfall.

How do regions with similar abiotic factors relate to biomes?

Regions that experience similar abiotic factors will contain the same biome.

What will the ecosystems found in equivalent biomes contain?

similar communities due to shared abiotic factors and resultant convergent evolution

Tropical

Temperate

Taiga (Boreal)

Desert

Grassland

Tundral

What are adaptations in biomes?

Traits that increase survival chances in a specific environment, coming about through natural selection.

What are the temperature characteristics of a hot desert?

Very high daytime temperatures and very low nighttime temperatures.

What is the water availability in a hot desert?

Little water availability due to low annual rainfall.

Give an example of a plant adapted to hot deserts and its features.

Saguaro cactus

• stem has thick waxy cuticle, reduces water loss (evaporation)

• spines instead of leaves, reduces the SA of which water can be lost

• cells in the stem expand to store water

• a deep tap root to access water underground

• shallow surface roots to absorbs water from rainfall

What adaptation does the kangaroo rat have to survive in its biome?

• spend daylight hours underground to avoid daytime temperatures

• extracts enough water from diet to survive

What unique growth feature does the kapok tree have?

• rapid growth to absorb enough sunlight.

• wide buttress roots to support growth with a sturdy base

What adaptation does the orchid mantis have?

• appearance similar to an orchid flower to attract insects

• small and plain to camouflage amongst stems and branches