ENV222H1 Chapter 6: Environmental Change Ch. 6.docx

• School: UTSG
• Department: School of Environment
• Course: ENV222H1
• Professor: Simon Appolloni

Document Summary

Chapter 6- ecosystems in the environment similar climactic conditions are repeated in different geographical areas and result in similar assemblages of biological organisms, known as biomes. Biomes are defined as having climactically and geographically similar conditions that result in certain communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms. Unlike ecozones, biomes are not defined by genetic, taxonomic or historical similarities. Each biome has a characteristic assemblage of plants and animals that have adapted and evolved to these climactic conditions. Near the poles, temperature is generally the overriding climate factor defining a biome, whereas in temperate and tropical regions, precipitation is more significant than temperature. Canada"s terrestrial land base has been classified into biomes using the. Canadian committee on ecological land classification system as developed by natural resources canada. Tundra occurs in the extreme northern latitudes where the snow melts seasonally. The southern hemisphere has no equivalent of the arctic tundra because it has no land in the corresponding latitudes.