ENVS200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Biome, Species Richness, Thermocline

• School: University of Waterloo
• Department: Environmental Studies
• Course: ENVS200
• Professor: Anne Grant

Document Summary

At the time of the equinoxes in september and march, solar radiation hits the. Equator at exactly 90 degrees, while sunlight further north and south hits the. Heat is redistributed across the planet through the hadley, ferrel, and polar cells. The hadley cells move heat away from the equator, and the polar cells move heat towards the poles. The ferrel cells are created by the interaction of the hadley and polar cells. The coriolis effect diverts winds to the east and west. A world traveler repeatedly recognizes characteristic regions with particular types of vegetation, such as desert, savanna, and rain forest, which ecologists call biomes. Tropical rain forest is the most productive of the earth"s biomes, with a rate of primary production. Epiphytes: plants that grow on other plants, rooted on the damp upper branches. Leaf litter decomposes faster than in any other biome, and as a result the soil surface is often almost bare,