BIO120H1 Chapter 4: Struggle for Existence Part IV
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BIO120H1 Full Course Notes
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Latitudinal patterns: most important environmental variable to organism temperature, hot near equator, cold at the poles! Photon density per unit area decreases as we move toward the poles because of the inclining angle (from 90 to 0 )! The poles don"t receive much photon energy, it just goes off into space: seasonal variation in climate: happens due to the earth"s axis tilt at 23. 5 ! At equinoxes, sun is directly above the equator! Northern hemisphere"s summer solstice: 23. 5 n (tropic of cancer)! Happens when light hits surfaces that are not air (ex. land, water)! Surfaces absorb photons and reradiate them in long, infrared waves (ir)! Light is converted to heat; ir radiation is absurd by the atmosphere! Solar energy heats the earth"s surface, then the surface heats the air near the surface (p. 54)! Therefore solar energy actually heats the air at the bottom of the atmosphere, not at the top where its closest to the sun!
