GEOG 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Dune, Colluvium, Loess
Document Summary
Residual material-soils formed in place or consolidated bedrock. Water retention-how tightly water is held by soil and made available to plants. Cation exchange capacity-capacity to hold nutrients and make them available to plants. The study of the distribution patterns of living organisms and how these patterns change over time. Habitat-the kind of environment that an organism is adapted to. Niche-specific role or function in a given habitat. Species richness-the number of species in a given area (one measure of diversity) Diversity-within a species, number of species in an area, community level diversity (scale dependent) Abundance-number of individuals in a give area (per species) Ultimate source of energy is the sun. 1% of insolation reaching the earth"s surface is captured for use in photosynthesis. Greater than half of that is used for plant respiration. The remainder is stored in plant material available for consumption. How well is it understood at various scales. Fixation-converting nitrogen to a plant available form.
