BIO120H1 Lecture Notes - Atmospheric Circulation, Soil, Herbivore
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BIO120H1 Full Course Notes
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Document Summary
Herbivory, disease, pollinators, seed dispensers, mycorrhizal fungi. Gradients at the global level: temp, rainfall, seasonality. Lower latitudes warmer (dry season wet season) Rainfall mostly depends on atmospheric circulation, offshore ocean currents, rain shadows. Higher angle (equator) = smaller area for photons from sun (hotter) Lower angle (high latitude) = more spread out since more surface area. Atmospheric circulation: hadley cells make equatorial regions rainy. Heated air rises, air cools as it rises: governed by adiabatic lapse rate, 5-10c/km. As air cools, water vapour condenses and falls as rain near equator. Air warms as it falls: adiabatic process is reversible. Dry, high-pressure areas at +/- 30 degrees. Air when it rises, is pushed to the north or to the south. (find diagram of cells on earth) intertropical convergence zone shifts seasonally land is easier to heat than water: so intertropical convergence tends to rise over land. Coupled cells + coriolis effect = prevailing wind patterns.
