Unit 1.2: Terrestrial Biomes

Vocabulary flashcards covering terrestrial biome characteristics, latitude patterns, air properties, atmospheric circulation cells, soil nutrient availability, biome shifting, and taiga key factors.

Terrestrial Biome Definition

A geographic region defined by its average annual temperature and average annual precipitation, which determine biome distribution in predictable patterns based on latitude.

Latitude Biome Pattern

The global distribution pattern where biomes closer to the equator are tropical, biomes at mid-latitudes ($30^\circ - 60^\circ$) are temperate, and biomes at higher latitudes ($60^\circ+$) are tundra and boreal forests.

Warm Air Physical Properties

Warm air rises and holds more moisture than cold air; as warm air rises, it expands and cools.

Cool Air Physical Properties

Cool air cannot hold as much $H_2O$ vapor as warm air, causing water vapor to condense into rain; after cooling and expanding, air sinks.

Hadley Cell

An atmospheric circulation pattern where direct sunlight at the equator ($0^\circ$ low pressure, ITCZ) warms air that rises, cools, and drops rain, after which cool dry air spreads out and sinks at $30^\circ\,N$ and $30^\circ\,S$ ($30^\circ$ high pressure), forming hot, dry deserts.

Tropical Rainforest Soil Nutrients

Soil that is nutrient-poor because high competition from many different plant species rapidly absorbs available nutrients.

Boreal Forest Soil Nutrients

Soil that is nutrient-poor due to low temperatures and slow decomposition rates of dead organic matter.

Temperate Forest Soil Nutrients

Soil that is nutrient-rich due to large accumulation of dead organic matter (leaves) and favorable warm temperatures and moisture for decomposition.

Tundra Soil Nutrients

Frozen soil (permafrost) that prevents decomposers from breaking down organic matter, leading to low soil nutrients, low water availability, and limited plant survival.

Biome Shifting

The change in geographic location of biomes on Earth as climate changes, such as boreal forests moving further north as tundra permafrost melts.

Aspen and Spruce Range Shift

Tree species facing northern migration because lower latitudes are becoming too warm for their survival as climate changes.

Taiga

Also called boreal forest, it is the largest terrestrial biome, characterized as a cool conifer forest in the upper Northern Hemisphere with low temperatures, precipitation primarily as snow, and nutrient-poor, acidic soil.