BIOL208 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Vapor Pressure, Transpiration, Water Potential
2 May 2016
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Document Summary
The richness of species declines as you go from the equator towards the poles. Spatial variation can be strong, even over small scales: Microclimate: a climate specific to smaller areas, distinctively different from the general climate examples: sand on the surface vs. under the surface, burrows, soil under a shrub . Aquatic environments change less than the air temperature or the surface temperature. Water has a high specific heat capacity, it takes more energy to produce temperature. Water has latency of vapourization (it takes a lot of energy to change physical states) This is not to say that water doesn"t have microclimates, a tree"s shade may cause a. Organisms may have adaptations to microclimates to help them better thrive, this may include: Adapting to one side of a mountain (plants) The law of toleration: the distribution and abundance of species depends on deviations between local condition and the organism"s optimum condition for survival. (see in class diagram).
