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Chapter 6

Chapter 6. Communities, Formations, and Biomes. Mediterranean Biome. Winter wet, summer dry Warm summers, mild winters Found in conjunction with cold ocean currents Valley forest, open woodlands, shrublands, grasslands California – chaparral – oak ( Quercus spp)

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Chapter 6

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  1. Chapter 6 Communities, Formations, and Biomes

  2. Mediterranean Biome • Winter wet, summer dry • Warm summers, mild winters • Found in conjunction with cold ocean currents • Valley forest, open woodlands, shrublands, grasslands • California – chaparral – oak (Quercus spp) • Chile – matorral – Northfagus obliqua and Acacia • South Africa – fynbos • Australia - eucalyptus • Europe – maquis – Pines (Pinus spp), Cedars (Cedrus spp), Fir (Abies spp)

  3. Mediterranean Biome • Vegetation dependent on long summer drought, fire, and low soil nutrients • Annuals more common than perennials • Drought strategies (avoiders) • Black sage (Salvia mellifera) loses all but outer leaves in summer • Shrubs – dimorphism • California valley oak (Quercus lobata) – deep tap roots • Low soil nutrients makes deciduousness impractical

  4. Mediterranean Biome • Fire-tolerant species • Scarification, serotinous cones, thick bark, resprouting • Invasives from Australia: melaleuca, eucalyptus

  5. Temperate Grassland • North America – prairie • South America – pampas • Eurasia – steppe • South Africa – grassveld • Variable temperature and rainfall • Fertile soils • 20% herbs, 80% grasses on grasslands • Trees along waterways

  6. Temperate Grassland • Shortgrass – arid regions • Shallow, extensive root system • 1 foot tall • Tallgrass – wetter regions • Deep roots to access water table • 6 feet tall • 1% remains • Fires common • Invasive annual grasses

  7. Tallgrass prairie (right) Shortgrass prairie (below)

  8. Temperate Forest • Variable temperatures and rainfall • In the Southern Hemisphere, evergreens • In the Northern Hemisphere, deciduous • General structure: canopy, subcanopy, herb layer • Biodiversity dependent upon glacial history • Deciduous forest increasing as farms abandoned – second-growth forest

  9. Temperate Rainforest • High rainfall, mild temperatures, close to oceans • Moisture from fog and orographic lifting • Large, long-lived, evergreen trees • Redwoods, Douglas fir • Lower diversity than temperate deciduous forest and tropical rainforest

  10. Coniferous Boreal and Montane Forest • Northern Hemisphere • Pine, Spruce (Picea spp.), and Fir in North America and Europe • Bristlecone pine (Pinus aristata) • Larch (Larix spp) in Asia • Krummholtz – high elevation shrublands • Little understory growth • Fire-tolerant plants

  11. Boreal forest - Spruce (below) Bristlecone pine krummholtz (above)

  12. Geography of Biomes

  13. Tundra Biome • Found beyond treeline in the Arctic (Arctic Tundra) and in high mountians (alpine tundra) • Variable temperatures and rainfall • Lower elevations and latitudes: willow (Salix spp.), shrub birch (Betula nana), alder (Alnus spp.), sedges, grasses, herbs, and mosses – low arctic tundra

  14. Tundra Biome • High arctic tundra (polar desert) – higher elevations and latitudes – arctic willow (Salix arctica) and heliotropic flowering plants • Perennials • Low biodiversity and biomass • With the exception of crowberry (Empetrum nigrum), arctic and southern hemisphere alpine tundra have no similar species

  15. Tundra Biome Arctic willow • Threats: • Resource extraction • Mining • Snowmobiles • Global warming crowberry

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