Lecture 5 BIOL 2`14

Terrestrial Biomes

A factor causing global variation in climate

the angle at which the sun’s rays hit the earth

At higher altitudes, light strikes the earths surface at…

lower angles and is spread over a greater area

What is the cause of the uneven heating of the earths surface

spherical shape and tilt of earth’s axis

• Warm air rises

• cools, condenses, falls as rain

• cooler, dry air falls back to the surface

Location of tropical forests

equator

location of deserts

30 degrees North and South

• little precipitation

Coriolis effect

cause deflection of surface winds is clockwise in the N hemisphere and CCW in the S hemisphere

• deflect b/c of tilt and motion

• Earth is titled therefore earth’s circulation is not directly N and S

Soil Defintion

complex mixture of living and nonliving material

• not static, constant state of flux

O horizon

Organic layer: freshly fallen organic material

• most superficial layer

• leaves

A horizon

mixture of minerals, clay, silt, sand

• decomposing from the old layer passed down by leaching

B horizon

clay, humus, other materials leached from A horizon

• contains plant roots

C horizon

weathered parent material

Know Climate Diagrams

okay