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Chapter 7: Climate and Terrestrial Biodiversity

What Factors Influence Climate?

The Earth Has Many Different Climates

  • Weather: Local area’s short-term temperature, precipitation, humidity, windspeed cloud cover, and other conditions.

  • Climate: Area’s general pattern of the atmosphere over a long period of time.

  • Ocean Currents: Prevailing winds and earth rotation.

  • Tropical: Equator, intense sunlight

  • Polar: Poles, little sunlight

  • Temperate: In-between tropical and polar

El Nino- Southern Oscillation

  • El Niño-Southern Oscillation: It happens every few years. Prevailing winds in the tropical Pacific Ocean change direction. It affects much of earth’s weather for 1-2 years

Greenhouse Gases Warm the Lower Atmosphere

  • Greenhouse gases: H20, CO2, CH4, N2O

  • Greenhouse effect: Gases keep the earth warm and habitable

  • Moist air rises cool and releases moisture as rain

Earth’s Surface Features Affect Local Climates

  • Rain Shadow Effect: Most precipitation falls on the windward side of mountain ranges.

How Does Climate Affect the Nature and Locations of Biomes?

Climate Helps Determine Where Organisms Can Live

  • Major biomes: Large land regions with certain types of climate and dominant plant life

  • Abiotic factors

    • Latitude

    • Elevation

    • Precipitation

    • Temperature

There Are Three Major Types of Deserts

  1. Tropical deserts: Hot and dry most of the year. They have few plants and are often deserts that are seen in movies.

  2. Temperate deserts: Temperatures are high in the summer and low in winter and they have more precipitation.

  3. Cold deserts: Winters are cold and summers are hot. Precipitation is also low.

  • They have fragile ecosystems

    • Slow plant growth

    • Not a lot of species diversity

    • Lack of water

There Are Three Major Types of Grasslands

  • Grasslands: This happens in areas that are too moist for deserts and too dry for forests.

  • Tropical

    • Savanna: Brazing and browsing animals

  • Temperate: Cold winters and hot and dry summers, with tall and short grass prairies

    • Chaparral:

  • Artic tundra: Fragile biome with plants close to the ground. They also have short summers and the animals there have thick fur

    • Permafrost: Underground soil that stays frozen

  • Alpine Tundra: Above the tree line in the mountains

How Have We Affected the World’s Terrestrial Ecosystem?

Major Human Impacts on Terrestrial Ecosystem

  • Deserts

    • Large desert cities

    • Soil destruction by off-road vehicles

    • Soil salinization from irrigation

    • Depletion of groundwater

    • Land disturbance and pollution from mineral extraction

  • Grasslands

    • Conversion to cropland

    • Release of CO2 to the atmosphere from burning grassland

    • Overgrazing by livestock

    • Oil production and off-road vehicles in the arctic tundra

  • Forest

    • Clearing for agriculture, livestock grazing, timber, and urban development

    • Conversion of diverse forests to tree plantations

    • Damage from off-road vehicles

    • Pollution of forest streams

  • Mountains

    • Agriculture

    • Timber extraction

    • Mineral extraction

    • Hydroelectric dams and reservoirs

    • Increasing tourism

    • Urban air pollution

    • Increased ultraviolet radiation from ozone depletion

    • Soil damage from off-road vehicles

Chapter 7: Climate and Terrestrial Biodiversity

What Factors Influence Climate?

The Earth Has Many Different Climates

  • Weather: Local area’s short-term temperature, precipitation, humidity, windspeed cloud cover, and other conditions.

  • Climate: Area’s general pattern of the atmosphere over a long period of time.

  • Ocean Currents: Prevailing winds and earth rotation.

  • Tropical: Equator, intense sunlight

  • Polar: Poles, little sunlight

  • Temperate: In-between tropical and polar

El Nino- Southern Oscillation

  • El Niño-Southern Oscillation: It happens every few years. Prevailing winds in the tropical Pacific Ocean change direction. It affects much of earth’s weather for 1-2 years

Greenhouse Gases Warm the Lower Atmosphere

  • Greenhouse gases: H20, CO2, CH4, N2O

  • Greenhouse effect: Gases keep the earth warm and habitable

  • Moist air rises cool and releases moisture as rain

Earth’s Surface Features Affect Local Climates

  • Rain Shadow Effect: Most precipitation falls on the windward side of mountain ranges.

How Does Climate Affect the Nature and Locations of Biomes?

Climate Helps Determine Where Organisms Can Live

  • Major biomes: Large land regions with certain types of climate and dominant plant life

  • Abiotic factors

    • Latitude

    • Elevation

    • Precipitation

    • Temperature

There Are Three Major Types of Deserts

  1. Tropical deserts: Hot and dry most of the year. They have few plants and are often deserts that are seen in movies.

  2. Temperate deserts: Temperatures are high in the summer and low in winter and they have more precipitation.

  3. Cold deserts: Winters are cold and summers are hot. Precipitation is also low.

  • They have fragile ecosystems

    • Slow plant growth

    • Not a lot of species diversity

    • Lack of water

There Are Three Major Types of Grasslands

  • Grasslands: This happens in areas that are too moist for deserts and too dry for forests.

  • Tropical

    • Savanna: Brazing and browsing animals

  • Temperate: Cold winters and hot and dry summers, with tall and short grass prairies

    • Chaparral:

  • Artic tundra: Fragile biome with plants close to the ground. They also have short summers and the animals there have thick fur

    • Permafrost: Underground soil that stays frozen

  • Alpine Tundra: Above the tree line in the mountains

How Have We Affected the World’s Terrestrial Ecosystem?

Major Human Impacts on Terrestrial Ecosystem

  • Deserts

    • Large desert cities

    • Soil destruction by off-road vehicles

    • Soil salinization from irrigation

    • Depletion of groundwater

    • Land disturbance and pollution from mineral extraction

  • Grasslands

    • Conversion to cropland

    • Release of CO2 to the atmosphere from burning grassland

    • Overgrazing by livestock

    • Oil production and off-road vehicles in the arctic tundra

  • Forest

    • Clearing for agriculture, livestock grazing, timber, and urban development

    • Conversion of diverse forests to tree plantations

    • Damage from off-road vehicles

    • Pollution of forest streams

  • Mountains

    • Agriculture

    • Timber extraction

    • Mineral extraction

    • Hydroelectric dams and reservoirs

    • Increasing tourism

    • Urban air pollution

    • Increased ultraviolet radiation from ozone depletion

    • Soil damage from off-road vehicles

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