The Biosphere

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The Biosphere
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The Order of Things.

• Subatomic Particles ? Atoms ?molecules ?
  macromolecules ? Organelles ? Cells ? tissues ?
  Organs ? Organisms ?
• (Ecological Order) Populations ? Communities ?
  Ecosystems ? Biomes ? Biosphere

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Biogeography

• The study of the distribution of organisms and
  the processes that underlie distribution patterns
  (a central question evolutionary and ecological
  answer -

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Biogeographic Realms
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Factors that Affect Distribution

• Geologic history
• Topography
• Climate
• Species interactions

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Biosphere

• Sum total of the places in which organisms live
• Includes portions of the hydrosphere,
  lithosphere, and atmosphere

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Climate

• Average weather condition in a region
• Affected by
• amount of incoming solar radiation
• prevailing winds
• elevation
• precipitation

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Climagraph, San Diego, CA
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More Climagraphs
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Fig. 5.4
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The Atmosphere

• Three layers
• Outer mesosphere
• Middle stratosphere (includes ozone layer)
• Inner troposphere (where air is warmed by the
  greenhouse effect)

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Earths Atmosphere
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Ozone Layer

• Region 17 to 27 kilometers above sea level in the
  stratosphere
• Molecules of ozone absorb most layers of
  ultraviolet light
• Protects living organisms from excess exposure to
  UV light

3O2 ?-? 2O3 (ozone)
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Warming the Atmosphere

• Solar energy warms the atmosphere and sets global
  air circulation patterns in motion

Figure 49.4 Page 890
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Rotation and Wind Direction

• Earth rotates faster under the air at the equator
  than it does at the poles
• Deflection east and west

Figure 49.4 Page 890
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Global Wind Patterns
Trade winds, doldrums, and horse latitudes
Red Arrows Indicate Very Strong Winds
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Seasonal Variation

• Northern end of Earths axis tilts toward sun in
  June and away in December
• Difference in tilt causes differences in sunlight
  intensity and day length
• The greater the distance from the equator, the
  more pronounced the seasonal changes

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Earths Axis Tilts
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Ocean Currents

• Upper waters move in currents that distribute
  nutrients and affect regional climates

Figure 49.6 Page 892
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Rain Shadow

• Air rises on the windward side, loses moisture
  before passing over the mountain

Figure 49.7 Page 893
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Monsoons

• A monsoon is defined as a seasonal shift in wind
  direction, being derived from the Arabic word
  "mausim", meaning season.
• Affect continents north and south of warm-water
  oceans
• Can cause seasonal variation in rains

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Air Moves from Cool to Warm Regions
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Coastal Breezes

• Breeze blows in direction of warmer region
• Direction varies with time of day

Night
Afternoon
Figure 49.8 Page 893
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Biogeographic Realms

• Eight areas in which plants and animals are
  somewhat similar
• Maintain their identity because of climate and
  physical barriers that tend to maintain isolation
  between species

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Biogeographic Realms
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Biomes

• Regions of land characterized by habitat
  conditions and community structure
• Distinctive biomes prevail at certain latitudes
  and elevations
• A biogeographic realm generally composed of many
  biomes

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Fig. 5.2
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Olympic NP

• The most famous temperate rainforest is in the
  Olympic National Park of Washington state.
• It is locates on the western slope of an Olympic
  mountain where it gets about 200 inches of rain
  per year.

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Temperate Rainforest Great Smoky Mountains NP

• Each 1,000 feet of elevation gained is the
  equivalent of moving 250 miles north. This
  creates a temperature gradient combined with
• additional precipitation (GT 100 inches per year)
  classifies small sections of the Park as a
  temperate rainforest.

http//www.great.smoky.mountains.national-park.com
/info.htm
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Forests in the Great Smoky Mountains

• Five forest types dominate the Great Smoky
  Mountains.
• The spruce-fir forest caps the Park's highest
  elevations. (4500 5500 ft)
• A northern hardwood forest dominates the middle
  to upper elevations from 3,500- 5,000 feet.
• Drier ridges in and around the Park hold a
  pine-oak forest.
• A hemlock forest often grows along stream banks.
• The cove hardwood forest lines the valleys
  throughout the Park.

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Fig. 5.3
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Hot Spots

• Portions of biomes that show the greatest
  biodiversity
• Conservationists are working to inventory and
  protect these regions
• 24 hot spots hold more than half of all
  terrestrial species

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Conservation Internationals Definition

• Conservation International defines hotspots as
  "regions that harbor a great diversity of endemic
  species and, at the same time, have been
  significantly impacted and altered by human
  activities."

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Hotspots Map
http//www.usaid.gov/locations/asia_near_east/sect
ors/env/biodiversity_eastasia.html
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Ecoregions

• Large areas of globally important biomes or water
  provinces
• Currently vulnerable to extinction
• Targeted by World Wildlife Fund for special study
  and conservation efforts

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WWF global 2000 Project

• WWF has ranked the terrestrial Global 200
  ecoregions by their conservation status -
  classifying those ecoregions that are considered
  critical, endangered, or vulnerable as a result
  of direct human impacts, and those that are
  relatively stable or intact. Nearly half (47) of
  the terrestrial ecoregions are considered
  critical or endangered another quarter (29) are
  vulnerable and only a quarter (24) are
  relatively stable of intact.

http//www.panda.org/about_wwf/where_we_work/ecore
gions/global200/pages/mapdownload.htmmap3
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Map of WWFs Ecoregions
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Soil Characteristics

• Amount of humus
• pH
• Degree of aeration
• Ability to hold or drain water
• Mineral content

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Soil Profiles

• Layer structure of soil
• Soil characteristics determine what plants will
  grow and how well

Rainforest
Desert
Grassland
Figure 49.12 Page 896
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Deserts

• Less than 10 centimeters annual rainfall, high
  level of evaporation
• Tend to occur at 30 degrees north and south and
  in rain shadows
• One-third of land surface is arid or semiarid

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Sonoran Desert
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Temperate Grasslands

• Precipitation less than 60 centimeters per year
  and greater than 10 cm per year
• Temperature range -5 to 20 C0 (usually)

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Grasslands
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Dry Shrublands and Woodlands

• Semiarid regions with cooler, wet winters and
  hot, dry summers
• Tend to occur in western or southern coastal
  regions between latitudes of 30 and 40 degrees

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Dry Scrubland
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Savannas

• A savanna is a rolling grassland, dotted with
  trees, which can be found between a tropical
  rainforest and desert biomes.
• There are actually two very different seasons in
  a savanna a very dry season (winter), and a very
  wet season (summer).

http//www.rain.org/global-garden/biomes/BIOME_SA.
HTM
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Map of Savannas
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African Savanna
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Forest Biomes

• Tall trees form a continuous canopy
• Evergreen broadleaves in tropical latitudes
• Deciduous broadleaves in most temperate latitudes
• Evergreen conifers at high temperate elevations
  and at high latitudes

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Evergreen Broadleaf Tropical Forest
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Temperate Deciduous Forest
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Evergreen Forest, Pacific Coast
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Taiga

• Biome that borders the artic tundra
• Few trees
• Most common tree is the black spruce
• Can be considered an ecotone
• Low bio - productivity and diversity

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Taiga
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Taiga
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Arctic Tundra

• Occurs at high latitudes
• Permafrost lies beneath surface
• Nutrient cycling is very slow

Do not post on Internet
 Arctic tundra in Russia in summer
Figure 49.19  Page 903
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Alpine Tundra

• Occurs at high elevations
• No underlying permafrost
• Plants are low cushions or mats as in Arctic
  tundra

Do not post on Internet
Figure 49.19  Page 903
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Lakes

• Bodies of standing freshwater
• Eutrophic shallow, nutrient-rich, has high
  primary productivity
• Oligotrophic deep, nutrient-poor, has low
  primary productivity

Lake Zonation
LITTORAL
LITTORAL
LIMNETIC
PROFUNDAL
Figure 49.21 Page 904
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Thermal Layering

• In temperate-zone lakes, water can form distinct
  layers during summer

THERMOCLINE
Figure 49.22 Page 904
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Seasonal Overturn

• In spring and fall, temperatures in the lake
  become more uniform
• Oxygen-rich surface waters mix with deeper
  oxygen-poor layers
• Nutrients that accumulated at bottom are brought
  to the surface

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Eutrophication

• Enrichment of a body of water with nutrients
• Can occur naturally over long time span
• Can be triggered by pollutants

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Streams

• Begin as springs
• or seeps
• Carry nutrients
• downstream
• Solute concentrations influenced by streambed
  composition and human activities

Do not post on Internet
Figure 49.23  Page 905
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Ocean Provinces
neritic zone
oceanic zone
intertidal zone
continental shelf
sunlit water
"twilight" water
0
200
PELAGIC PROVINCE
bathyal shelf
BENTHIC PROVINCE
sunless water
1,000
2,000
abyssal zone
4,000
hadal zone
deep-sea trenches
11,0000 depth (meters)
Figure 49.24 Page 906
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Phytoplankton

• Floating or weakly swimming photoautotrophs form
  the base for most oceanic food webs
• Ultraplankton are photosynthetic bacteria

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Plankton Nets
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Diatoms and Dinoflagellates
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Primary Productivity

• Primary producers are usually the phytoplankton
• Productivity can vary seasonally

north temperate
north polar
tropical
Figure 49.25 Page 906
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Deep Ocean Food Webs

• Regions too dark for photosynthesis
• Marine snow supports a detrital food web
• Organic matter drifts down from shallower water
• Diverse species migrate up and down in water
  column daily

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Hydrothermal Vents

• Openings in ocean floor that spew mineral-rich,
  superheated water
• Primary producers are chemoautotrophic bacteria
  use sulfides as energy source

Do not post on Internet
Tube worms at hydrothermal vent
Figure 49.26  Page 907
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Mangrove Wetlands

• Tropical saltwater ecosystem
• Form in nutrient-rich tidal flats
• Dominant plants are salt-tolerant mangroves
• Florida, Southeast Asia

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Estuary

• Partially enclosed area where saltwater and
  freshwater mix
• Dominated by salt-tolerant plants
• Examples are Chesapeake Bay, San Francisco Bay,
  salt marshes of New England

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Estuarine Food Webs

• Primary producers are phytoplankton and
  salt-tolerant plants
• Much primary production enters detrital food webs
• Detritus feeds bacteria, nematodes, snails,
  crabs, fish

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Intertidal Zones

• Littoral zone is submerged only during highest
  tides of the year
• Midlittoral zone is regularly submerged and
  exposed
• Lower littoral is exposed only during lowest
  tides of the year

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Rocky Intertidal

• Grazing food webs prevail
• Vertical zonation is readily apparent
• Diversity is greatest in lower littoral zone

Do not post on Internet
Figure 49.29 Page 909
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Sandy Coastlines

• Vertical zonation is less obvious than along
  rocky shores
• Detrital food webs predominate

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Beaches
http//www.infocom.cqu.edu.au/Units/aut98/00101/DO
NE/Assign02/Nfi/beaches.jpg
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Beach Processes

• Sandy beaches form by the accretion of sand
  particles, the product of erosion, which have
  been carried in and deposited by waves.
• Once it forms, a beach changes continuously.
  Winds are constantly blowing the sand - often in
  the opposite direction of the waves.

http//www.amyingalls.net/jekyll/pages/beach/sandy
_b.html
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Accretion

• Accretion the process of growth or enlargement
  by gradual buildup. Barrier islands grow through
  the process of accretion. Currents wash the sand
  from the northern end of the island and deposit
  it on the southern tip.  

The growth of the islands in this manner causes
the islands to migrate up and down the coast.
Jekyll Island is migrating south toward Florida.
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Erosion

• ErosionErosion the process or state of being
  slowly worn away. Soil is eroded by wind and
  water .

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Biotic Factors

• Crabs and other animals are moving sand from the
  bottom up as they emerge from their burrows.
  Crabs can move several tons of sand in one day

http//www.amyingalls.net/jekyll/pages/beach/sandy
_b.html
THE GHOST CRAB, Ocypode quadrata
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Beach Dynamics

• Through the seasons, the waves constantly rework
  the sand and reshape the beach.
• During spring and summer, gentle waves deposit
  sand onto the beach platform forming a broad
  sandy slope called a berm.

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Summer Sand Accretion

• During the summer, the gentle waves build up sand
  on the beach platform.

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Berm

• A berm is a narrow shelf or ledge of sand and
  debris running parallel to the beach. It is made
  by the building up, or accretion, of sand.

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Winter Sand Removal

• Through the seasons, the waves constantly rework
  the sand and reshape the beach.
• During the Winter, storms often remove sand from
  the berm.
• The Southerly long shore current tends to move
  the entire barrier island southward.

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Sand Dunes

• Sand dunes are vital to the barrier island
  ecosystem. They provide shelter for shorebirds
  and sea turtles.

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Dune Sand Reservoirs

• Dunes also provide the necessary sand supply for
  the constantly changing beach.
• This supply of sand helps to control beach
  erosion - a problem many beaches experience.
• Sand dunes provide the first line of defense
  from severe storms and hurricanes.

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Dune Zonation

• There are three different zones in the sand
  dunes primary dunes, secondary dunes, and the
  interdune meadow.
• As the dunes get older, they migrate back toward
  the maritime forest.

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Interdune Meadows

• Between the dunes in a interdune meadow, water
  will begin to collect. If there is enough soil to
  hold this water, a swamp will form.
• These swamps are called sloughs (pronounced
  slews).

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Role of Freshwater

• Because they are far enough back from the ocean,
  sloughs contain fresh, and not salt water.
• Fresh water allows more animals and plants to
  live and grow.
• If enough time passes, the slough will find
  itself in a maritime forest.

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Later, alligator - 9-footer comes ashore on St.
Simons

• Fri, Aug 23, 2002
• By KAREN SLOAN
• The Brunswick News
• Tourists were not the only ones who wanted to
  enjoy the sun and surf on the beach near the old
  U.S. Coast Guard Station on St. Simons Island
  Thursday.
• A 9-foot alligator was found about 10 a.m.
  lingering in the waters about 20 feet from the
  beach.

http//www.thebrunswicknews.com/local/278347593804
907.php
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Upwelling

• Upward movement of water along a coast replaces
  surface waters that move away from shore

Figure 49.31 Page 910
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ENSO

• El Nino Southern Oscillation
• Climactic event that involves changes in sea
  surface temperature and air circulation patterns
  in the equatorial Pacific Ocean (Western Pacific
  waters become warmer)

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Between ENSOs

• Warm water and heavy rainfall move west across
  the Pacific
• Warm moist air rises in the western Pacific
  causing storms
• Upwelling of cool water along western coasts

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During an ENSO

• Trade winds weaken and warm water flows east
  across the Pacific
• Sea surface temperatures rise
• Upwelling along western coasts ceases
• Heavy rainfall occurs along coasts, droughts
  elsewhere

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Cholera Connection

• Cholera outbreaks correlate with rises in sea
  temperature
• Copepod population increases when phytoplankton
  increase in warming seas

Do not post on Internet
Copepod host of Vibrio cholerae harbors dormant
stage
Figure 49.34  Page 913