ES 100 Lecture 5: Biomes
8 Feb 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Primary succession - a community begins to develop on a site previously unoccupied by living organisms. Ex: a lava flow creates a new land area that is colonized. Secondary succession - an existing community is disrupted and a new one subsequently develops at the site. Climax community community that develops last and remains the longest. Disturbance - any force that disrupts established patterns of species diversity and abundance, community structure, or community properties. Biomes - areas sharing similar climatic, topographic and soil conditions, and thus the same basic types of biological communities. Temperature and precipitation are among the most important determinants in biome distribution. Earth"s rotational axis is tilted 23. 5o relative to its path around the sun, leading to: Seasonal variation with latitude of most intense solar heating of earth"s surface general increase in seasonal variation from equator poleward, especially in n hemisphere. *important: grassland and shrublands are less about temperature and more about amount and seasonality of precipitation.
