Weather vs

climate

How would you describe your climate, or the average, year-after-year conditions of

temperature and precipitation where you live? Does your area receive a great deal of

precipitation—rain and snow—or is your area very dry?

Weather

• Weather is the day-to-day condition of Earth’s atmosphere at a particular time and place.

http://www.instantdisplay.co.uk/weather.JPG

Climate• Climate is the average, year-to-year

conditions of temperature and precipitation in a particular region.

http://www.meteorologyclimate.com/climate-map.jpg

Sunlight

Some heatescapesinto space

Greenhousegases trapsome heat

Atmosphere

Earth’s surface

Sunlight

Most direct sunlight

Sunlight

Sunlight

Sunlight

90°N North Pole

66.5°N

23.5°N

0°

23.5°S

66.5°S

90°S South Pole

Arctic circle

Tropic of Cancer

Equator

Tropic of Capricorn

Arctic circle

Go to Section:

Greenhouse EffectDifferent Latitudes

The greenhouse effect is the natural insulating blanket or atmospherethat allows life to exist on earth. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and water vapor trap heat energy. Human activities have increased the amount of green house gases which is a cause of global climate change

Because earth is a sphere tilted on its axis, solarradiation strikes different parts of the Earth’s surface at an angle that varies throughout the year.

http://members.aol.com/pakulda/images/emclim.gif

Biotic Factors

ECOSYSTEM

Abiotic Factors

Go to Section:

Ecosystems are influenced by a combination of biological (living) or biotic factors and physical (non-living) or abiotic factors.

Examples:MooseBirdsTreesRabbit

Examples:TemperaturePrecipitationNutrients Soil type

Bay-Breasted WarblerFeeds in the middlepart of the tree

Yellow-Rumped WarblerFeeds in the lower part of the tree andat the bases of the middle branches

Cape May WarblerFeeds at the tips of branchesnear the top of the tree

Spruce tree

Section 4-2

Go to Section:

No two species can occupy the same niche due to competition

A relationship in which one animal (predator) captures and feeds on another animal (prey) is a predator-prey relationship.

A relationship in which herbivores feed on producers is herbivory.

Both interactions affect the size of populations in a community. Predatorsand prey evolve together. Herbivores and producers evolve together.

Predator-prey relationship Herbivory

A biome is a group of ecosystems that have the same climate and similar dominant communities

• A biome is defined by its unique set of abiotic factors, climate and characteristic ecological community.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Laboratory/Biome/Images/mission.jpg

Section 4-3

Compare/Contrast Table

Go to Section:

Ten Major BiomesBiome Precipitation Temperature Soil Diversity Trees GrassesTropical Rain Forest

high hot poor high dense sparse

Tropical Dry Forest

variable mild rich moderate medium medium

Tropical Savanna

variable mild clay moderate sparse dense

Desert low variable poor moderate sparse sparseTemperate Grassland

moderate summer hot rich moderate absent dense

Temperate woodland and Shrubland

summer low, winter moderate

summer hot poor low medium medium

Temperate Forest

moderate summer moderate, winter cold

rich high dense sparse

Northwestern Coniferous Forest

high summer mild, winter cold

rocky, acidic

low dense sparse

Boreal Forest

moderate summer mild, winter cool

poor, acidic

moderate dense sparse

Tundra low summer mild, winter cold

poor low absent medium

The major categories of freshwater ecosystems are:

Rivers and streamsLakes and pondsFreshwater wetlands

Estuaries are important wetlands which are a mixture of fresh and salt water

The marine ecosystem (ocean) is divided into zones based on depth and distance to shore.

landCoastalocean

Openocean

Oceantrench

Aphotic zone

Photic zone

Continentalshelf

Continental slope andcontinental rise

Abyssalplain

200m

1000m

4000m

6000m

10,000m

Go to Section:

Zones of the marine ecosystem