BIO120H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Volumetric Heat Capacity, Rain Shadow, Northern Hemisphere
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BIO120H1 Full Course Notes
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Document Summary
General trends of terrestrial vegetation with climatic variables. Vegetation growth (primary productivity) increases with moisture and temperature. So regions with certain combinations of moisture and temperature develop predictable, characteristic types of vegetation =biomes. Biome types depend on combination of temperature and precipitation. Drier warmer zones are complex because they also depend on seasonality :see sfe. The world sorts out into a triangular zone with different temperatures and precipitation create biomes. We live in temperate forest biome (cold enough to not have tropical plants but enough water to not be a desert) The warmer a biome is the more productive. Latitude mostly determines major terrestrial biomes; learn classification in sfe. Causes heavy rain forests at around 30 degrees latitude. Additional climate patchiness overlaid on basic latitudinal belts. Temperature: land changes temperature more readily than water; maritime climates are moderate, continental climates are extreme; oceans provide thermal inertia. Evaporation high from warm bodies of water, low from cold.
