BIOB11H3 Study Guide - Final Guide: Sargassum, River Ecosystem, Littoral Zone
Document Summary
Biosphere is the layer of the earth that supports most of the earth"s life forms. It"s sandwiched between the lithosphere, the earth"s surface crust and upper mantle and the troposphere, the lowest layer of the atmosphere. Biomes are large-scale biological communities shaped by the physical environment in which they are found. They are characterized by the most common type of plants distributed across them. Terrestrial biomes are classified by the growth form (size and morphology) and other characteristics, such as deciduousness, (whether they shed leaves in winter) thickness, succulence etc. some examples are (fig. The emergence of similar growth forms among distantly related animals in response to similar selection pressures is called convergence. The terrestrial earth is divided into several biomes: tropical rainforests are found between 10 n and s latitude where precipitation exceeds 2000mm/year. They contain ~50% of the earth"s species in ~11% of its terrestrial vegetation cover.
