2.4 How Climate Affects Vegetation

1. 2.4 How Climate Affects Vegetation Geography

2. Journal Entry • Write a paragraph correctly using each of the following words: • Their to where • Theretoo were • They’re two • Describe the climate in your area • Ex. PA is in the Northeast region of the United States. There are many very cold days, but there are many hot days too.

3. 2.4 How Climate Affects Vegetation • Vocabulary • Vegetation • Canopy • Tundra • Vertical climate

4. How does climate affect plants? • Climate and Vegetation • A climate must provide plants with water, sunlight, and certain nutrients, or elements, plants use as food. • Plants have adaptations which enable them to live in their particular climate. That means that over a very long time, small, accidental changes in a few individual plants made them better able to survive in a particular place.

5. What are the 5 types of climates? • Geographers predict the kinds of plants they will find in a climate. They discuss five broad types of climates: tropical, dry, moderate, continental, and polar. • Each has its own vegetation, or plants that grow there naturally.

6. Where are the tropical climates located? • Tropical Climates • Low latitudes • Two types, both are hot and wet. • Tropical wet and dry climate also has two season: one with much rain and one with very little rain.

7. In the rainforest, where do trees/plants that need shade grow? • The vegetation associated with these is tropical rainforest. • Growing conditions are perfect with much light, heat, and rain. • Thousands of plants grow in a rain forest. • Some trees rise 130 feet into the air • Their uppermost branches create a canopy. Little sunlight can break through this dense covering of leafy branches. • Other trees which are adapted to the shade grow to lower heights • Thousands of vines and ferns strive

8. Give 3 ways that plants survive in dry climates. • Dry Climates • Arid and semiarid climates are very hot but receive very little rain • Vegetation in dry regions is sparse • Plants grow far apart in sandy, gravelly soil • Shallow roots are adapted to absorb scarce water before it evaporates in the heat • Some plants have small leaves, which lose little moisture into the air through evaporation. • Other plants flower only when it rains so that as many seeds survive as possible

9. Where are the moderate climates?How many climates are found there? • Moderate Climates • Found in the middle latitudes • Three types • Mediterranean marine west coast, and humid subtropical. • All three climate types, rain is moderate • Seasonal changes, but temperatures hardly ever fall below freezing. • Wide variety of vegetation • Forests of deciduous trees, which lose their leaves in the fall

10. Which climate has the most precipitation? • Tall shrubs, low bushes—or scrub—wildflowers, and a variety of grasses. • The Mediterranean climate receives most of its rain in winter and summers are hot and dry. • Plants have leathery leaves, which hold in moisture during the dry summers • Of the three moderate climates, the humid subtropical climate has the most precipitation, heat, and humidity • Supports many types of vegetation. • Most marine west coast climates are mountainous—cooled b y ocean currents—they support more forests than grasss.

11. Where are Coniferous forests found? • Continental Climates • Summer temperatures are moderate to hot • Winters can be very cold • Supports grasslands and forests • Grasses tend to be tall • Certain areas in this climate region support large deciduous forests • In areas where winters are colder, coniferous forests are found

12. 2.4 How Climate Affects Vegetation • Coniferous trees have needles, not leaves, an d have cones to produce seeds. These adaptations provide protection through the winter • Regions with sub arctic continental climates are much drier, with cool summers and cold winters • Grasses are much shorter • Some sub arctic continental areas have huge coniferous forests, others have few trees

13. What vegetation grows in the polar climates? • Polar climates and their vegetation • Cold year around • Tundra which lies along the arctic circle, has short, cold summers and long, even colder winters • No trees grow here • Low shrubs b loom during brief summers. • Mosses and strange plants call lichens grow on the surfaces of rocks • Northern regions of the tundra is even colder and precipitation is very scarce • Only low grasses, mosses, lichens and a few flowering plants grow

14. 2.4 How Climate Affects Vegetation • Complete 2.4 review • Make sure that vocabulary is finished • You will have until tomorrow to finish your journal entry. Please have it word processed without error by tomorrow. • Complete worksheet in class