4.4 & 4.5 Notes

1. 4.4 & 4.5 Notes

2. Land Biomes The 6 most common biomes are: • Tundra • Taiga • Temperate Deciduous Forest • Tropical Rain Forest • Grassland (Prairie, Tropical Savanna, Chapparal) • Desert

3. Tundra Found in parts of Canada, Alaska, and Siberia

4. Tundra – “The Cold Desert” • Found at latitudes around the North Pole • Less than 25 cm precipitation yearly • Very cold year round (-40ºC in winter) • @Cold, dry, treeless region@

5. Tundra – “The Land of the Midnight Sun” • Winter lasts 6 to 9 months with no daylight • Summer is short and cold with 24 hours of sunlight a day

6. Tundra- • Soil is poor • Permafrost • Layer of permanently frozen soil

7. Found in parts of Canada, Alaska, and Russia Taiga or Coniferous Forest

8. Taiga- • Warmer and wetter than the Tundra • Winters are long and cold • 35 to 40 cm of precipitation yearly (mostly snow)

9. Found in Europe, the eastern part of the U.S.A., and China Temperate Deciduous Forest

10. Temperate Deciduous Forest • Found below 50ºN latitude • 75 to 150 cm precipitation yearly

11. Temperate Deciduous Forest • Wide range of temperatures with 4 seasons • Below freezing in winter to 30ºC in summer

12. Layers of Vegetation @Canopy- tree tops that shade the ground below@ Understory- shrub layer Forest floor- dark and moist layer of dead leaves, twigs, and seeds

13. Layers of Vegetation Canopy

14. Layers of Vegetation Understory

15. Layers of Vegetation Forest floor

16. Found near the equator in Africa, South America, Australia, and the Pacific Islands Tropical Rain Forest

17. Tropical Rain Forest • Found near the equator • 200 to 225 cm precipitation yearly

18. Tropical Rain Forest • Hot and humid all year • Temperatures are fairly constant around 25ºC

19. Life in the Tropical Rain Forest @The tropical rain forest is a lush, productive ecosystem containing more than half of all the species that live on Earth.@

20. Grassland - Prairie “The Bread Basket of the World” Found on every continent.

21. Grassland • Wet seasons followed by a season of drought • 25 to 75 cm precipitation yearly

22. Desert Found on every continent. The driest biome on Earth

23. Desert • Extreme temperatures- Very hot during the day and cool at night

24. Desert • Very little rainfall • Less than 25 cm precipitation yearly

25. Water Depth • @Water depth strongly influences aquatic life because sunlight penetrates only a relatively short distance through water.@ • The sunlit region near the surface in which photosynthesis can occur is known as the photic zone.

26. Are aquatic habitats warmer near the equator or the poles? • Aquatic habitats are warmer near the equator and colder near the poles

27. Temperature and Currents • At the surface of an aquatic habitat, is it hotter or colder than the bottom of the aquatic habitat? • Temperature in aquatic habitats also often varies with depth. The deepest parts of lakes and oceans are often colder than surface waters.

28. Nutrient Availability • Organisms need certain substances to live, such as oxygen, nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. • The type and availability of these dissolved substances vary within and between bodies of water, greatly affecting the types of organisms that can survive there.

29. Freshwater Ecosystems • Freshwater ecosystems include streams, lakes, and freshwater wetlands (bogs, swamps, and marshes). • Often, a chain of streams, lakes, and rivers begins in the interior of a continent and flows through several biomes to the sea.

30. What is this?

31. Freshwater Wetlands • A wetland is an ecosystem in which water either covers the soil or is present at or near the surface for at least part of the year. • Wetlands are often nutrient-rich, highly productive, and serve as breeding grounds for many organisms. • Freshwater wetlands purify water by filtering pollutants and help to prevent flooding by absorbing large amounts of water and slowly releasing it.

32. An estuary is a special kind of wetland, formed where a river meets the sea. • @Estuaries contain a mixture of fresh water and salt water@

33. Marine Ecosystems • This diagram shows the different zones in an ocean.