Temperature 2012/3/7
and precipitation decide what kind of plants is growing
Tree line: where Tree start and ends
What factors determine what grows where?
1. Soil condition: moisture(from precipitation, temperature and altitute)
2. Precipitation
3. Temperature
Biomes=F(Temp. Precip)
Why rest of the picture is not fill with the BOMES: the cold you get , the less
temperature and moisture you get. Air cant hold any water. Eg: Antarctica
As you increase the precipitation, you will get more moisture, lots of productivity
Average temperature distribution is latitudinal
Perceptible water is latitudinal
Arctic/Tundra
1. Mostly in northern hemisphere less in south
2. Climate is less sunlight and cold, very short growing season, deferred less
than 10% sunlight distribution/3. Some wildly plant there is also vey short
4. Insolation, the amount snow cause the
5. Not lots of soil
6. Glacier here 8000 years ago , most of plants are not adapted to grow on the
barren place
7. Within the tundra, water is collected under the barren sheets
8. There are few variety of animal, less large animal, not very productive here
9. No access to ocean, few greasers
10 million squares of alpines., here is cold due to : high altitude
In the alpine regions , why plants cannot grow here?
1. steep slopes(rock slide and avalanches),
2. the slope changes how much of sunlight you gets(northern slope and
southern)
3. harsh conditions(long winters, insect-dependent)
4. Similar to actic regions: few animal(no access to ocean, few greasers)
Boreal
1. North America and Asian
2. Lichens, rain deer
3. Tree relatively small, (long winters, ice in the snow)
4. Permafrost
5. Melting permafrost result in small plants growing
6. Trees here are young less than 90 years old, insect infestations here., roots
cannot grow so far down
7. Quite wet here, shrubs, define by the wet conditions
8. In Boreal, they accumulate peat, slightly more than the tropical
9. Methane production in the wet lands, there are no access for the gas to
release, slow acting process
Temperate Rainforest
1. Vancouver, northwest part of America and Newzeland
2. Conifers in here will take advantages in the hot summer condition
Reason for larger plants grow here
1. Lots of rain
2. More productivity
3. Mild conditions(no fire snow, any disturbance)
4. Deeper soil
3. Cold winters and really warm summer,
4. Fire can germinate the seeds
5. Large carnivores
Temperate Grasslands/Prairie
1. Sill enough moisture avoid to desertification
2. Climate is continental(hot summer, cold winter)
3. Annual plants, very deep roots(due to the drought in summer)
4. High abundance of large mammals
5. Fire is really important here, because is common, thunderstorms in the
summer, it can turn the plants to the nutrients in the soil
Temperate Scrublands/Chaparral
1. Very little rain(hot summers hot winters)
2. Less BIOMES
3. South Africa, California
4. Natural famous vegetation(less than 50 years old), lavender , grapes, citrius,
oil trees, due to agriculture history
5. Fire is common
6. Lots of population, good to live
Arid/ Desert
1. Cannot hold moisture in the air
2. Precipitation less than evaporation
3. Very hot in the day and
Reason to cause Desertification
1. Subtropical accessibility, the high pressure air cells here, high Pressure
cause dry air
2. No source of moisture
3. Cold Ocean currents
4. Lack of water
5. Landscape is special
6. Desert feature, less vegetation, plants always have spines and wax covers to
prevent water loss
7. Animals here
SAVANNA and SEASONA large are of tropical regions
1. Isolate Trees
2. Seasonal climate
3. Here is well adapted of Droughts
4. Small waxy leaves
5. Fire is common here due to dry
6. Plants here are well adapted to the local temp.
7. Many large animals
8. Winds shift precipitating methods
Humid Tropics
1. Lots of rain due to location, acqutorial
2. Heavily cells here
3. Forest here is more reproductive here, multiple layers
4. Southeast ASIA
5. Amount of energy here is more available
6. Forest here is very old
7. 90% of species lived here
8. Limit of productivity here is nutrient because Very old soil, all the nutrient is
already absorbed( all in the vegetation) or the rain has leached out them
9. High rate of nutrient recycling
10. Hugh carbon sink, huge resource of O2
Anthropogenic Biomes
1. Population density
2. Croplands
3. Pastures
4. Irrigation
Wildlands
1. Alpine tundra desert
2. 90% global tree covers
3. Least human influence
4. Very unproductive
Forest
1. Populated
2. Remote
3. Mostly the forest are populated
Rangelands
1. Residential
2. Populated
3. Remote
4. Very little tree coverage
5. Patagonia, Argentina
6. Using for greasing
Villages
1. Primarily in Asian
2. Densely populated
3. Different types
4. Types of villages
Urban
1. Huge population
2. Suburban
80% people lived in urban and village
Old world most densely populated( European and Asia), civilization
Anthropogenic Biomes