GEOG 203 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Tallgrass Prairie, Tropical Rainforest, Shrubland
Document Summary
Plants and abiotic factors: temp (t) and moisture (m) Different species live under a wide variety of conditions, they have different tolerances, and different optimum growing conditions. Decreasing t cause a decrease in metabolic rates. Freezing can cause cell damage if ice crystals form in cells. They would cause physical damage to the cell and tissues. Cold tolerant species can expel excess water from cells to spaces between cells, where freezing will do no damage. High t can also cause stress - increased respiration (more about that later) and increased water loss, higher metabolic rates with physiological, biochemical and molecular changes in plant metabolism. Here is a potential gradient of t, m, and nutrients (abiotic factors) If we plotted the response of multiple species to a single environmental gradient it might look like: A large terrestrial ecosystem classified according to the predominant vegetation type and the adaptations of particular organisms to that environment.
