CHAPTER 52:

The Physical Environment and Biogeography of life

SECTION 52.1
Ecology is the study of the interrelationship among organisms and the environment

● Organisms on earth are interconnected with one another and with their environment.
● Ecology: is the exploration of these interconnections.
● Ecologists focus on many scales or levels of organization:
individual,population,communities,ecosystem,landscape or the global biosphere.
● Population: is a group of individuals of the same species within a given area that have the
potential to interbreed and interact with one another.
● A community is an assembling of interacting species living together at the same place and time.
● Both living/biotic and nonliving/abiotic are components of the environment.
● The movement of energy and nutrients as well as organisms can affect higher levels of organisms.
Including landscape, geographic areas that include multiple ecosystem.= biosphere.

SECTION 52.2
GLobal Climate is a fundamental component of the physical environment

● Weather is the short-term state of atmospheric conditions at a particular place and time.
● Climate refers to the average atmospheric conditions, and the extent of their variation, at a particular place
over a longer time (years to millennia)

SOLAR RADIATION DRIVES GLOBAL CLIMATE PATTERN

● The energy that drives global climate patterns ultimately originates from the Sun.
● Of the solar radiation that hits Earth, about 30% is reflected back to space and the rest is absorbed either by
the atmosphere (20%) or the surface of Earth (50%).
● Atmosphere: has many gases and traps heat energy. If the earth had no atmosphere the surface temperature
would be -18 celsius.
● Greenhouse gases : carbon dioxide, methane , nitrous oxide (N2O) these gases allow sunlight into earth’s
atmosphere but trap heat that is radiating back out toward space.
● Increase in greenhouse gasses = increase the flux of infrared radiation back to Earth’s surface= has a
warming effect on climate.
● The amount of radiation received on Earth varies with latitude and with the seasons.
● These differences are driven by some well-known characteristics of Earth: it is a sphere that orbits the Sun, it
spins on a tilted axis, and it has both land and water

EARTH IS A SPHERE,CREATING LATITUDINAL VARIATION IN GLOBAL TEMPERATURE AND

PRECIPITATION

● Earth is a sphere, the intensity of solar radiation hitting its surface varies with latitude. This latitudinal
variation in solar energy depends primarily on the angle of the Sun’s rays striking Earth.
● At high latitudes (i.e., areas toward the North and South Poles), incoming solar energy is distributed over a
larger area (and thus is less intense) than at the equator, where sunlight strikes the surface perpendicularly.
● When the Sun’s radiation comes in at an angle, it must pass through more of Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in
more of its energy being absorbed or reflected before reaching Earth’s surface.
● Differences in solar energy input explain why the average global temperature varies with latitude, with
warmer temperatures at the equator and colder temperatures at the poles

● land heats up the air above it more than does the ocean (which absorbs more heat), the greater proportion of
land to ocean in the Northern Hemisphere creates warmer air temperatures than those in the Southern
Hemisphere.
● Air in the region surrounding the equator receives the greatest input of solar energy.
● When a parcel of air is warmed, it expands, becomes less dense, and rises. As it rises, however, it starts to
cool at higher elevations
● Cool air cannot hold as much water vapor as warm air, so the expanding, cooling air releases moisture in the
form of precipitation.
● Eventually the rising air at the equator reaches the boundary between the troposphere, the atmospheric layer
above Earth’s surface, and the stratosphere, the next layer up.
● The stratosphere is warmer than the troposphere at this boundary, causing the tropical air to stop rising and
eventually move either north or south as newly warmed air rises to replace it.
● Eventually this air starts to cool as it exchanges heat with the atmosphere and meets colder air traveling
from higher latitudes.
● When this cool, dry air, which lost its moisture as it rose over the equator, reaches latitudes of about 30°N
and 30°S, it begins to sink under high atmospheric pressure, making the climate at these latitudes dry.

● At about 60° latitude, air rises again due to its warming at Earth’s surface.
● As this air rises, it cools and releases precipitation, creating wet climate conditions at temperate latitudes.
Eventually this air reaches the stratosphere and moves north or south. The cold, dry air traveling at higher
latitudes eventually reaches the cold polar region, where it descends.
● Despite the amount of snow and ice at the poles, high latitudes at or near 90° actually receive little
precipitation and can be thought of as “polar deserts”

EARTH SPINS ON AN AXIS PRODUCING PREVAILING WINDS AND OCEAN CURRENT

● Earth’s rotation, which moves east to west, is responsible for generating global wind and ocean currents.
● Earth is a sphere, the velocity of its rotation around its axis is fastest at the equator, where its diameter is
greatest, and is slowest close to the poles. This difference creates the Coriolis effect, which is the
deflection of air or water as a result of differences in Earth’s rotational speed at different latitudes.
● The interaction of Earth’s rotation and north–south air mass movement sets up a pattern of circulating
surface air referred to as prevailing winds
● Prevailing winds blow from east to west in the tropics (the trade winds); from west to east in mid-latitudes
(the westerlies); and from east to west again above 60°N or 60°S latitude (the easterlies).
 ● Ocean currents are driven by prevailing winds, which move water by means of frictional drag.
● The trade winds, for example, cause currents to converge at the equator and move westward until they
encounter a continent . At that point, the strong Equatorial Countercurrent brings some of the water back
eastward.
● the remaining water divides, some moving northward and some southward along continental shores.
● These patterns of water movement set up rotating circulation patterns called gyres (Greek gyros, “spiral”),
● which rotate clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

● Because ocean currents transport heat, they have a tremendous effect on Earth’s climates
● The poleward movement of warm water from the tropics transfers large amounts of heat to high latitudes
● Similarly, currents flowing toward the equator from high latitudes bring cool, wet winters to some western
coastal regions that are otherwise warm and dry.
● Ocean currents act much like a conveyor belt, transporting warm water and precipitation from the equator
toward the poles and cold water from the poles back to the tropics. Thus, ocean currents regulate global
climate, helping to counteract the uneven distribution of solar radiation reaching Earth’s surface. Without
 currents in the ocean, regional temperatures would be more extreme—super hot at the equator and frigid
toward the poles—and much less of Earth’s land would be habitable.

THE TILT OF EARTH'S AXIS AND ITS ORBIT RESULT IN SEASON

● The tilt of Earth’s axis, coupled with Earth’s orbit around the Sun, is responsible for seasonal changes in
climate.
● Earth’s axis is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees, changing the amount of sunlight a particular region receives
over the course of a year as Earth orbits the Sun.
● This tilt causes seasonal variation in temperature and day length.
● Higher latitudes experience greater seasonal variation than lower latitudes do.
● Around the equator, day length and seasonal temperatures change only slightly over the course of the year,
although there are seasonal shifts in precipitation patterns.
 SECTION 52.3
Topography,vegetation and human modify the physical environment

Three factors that impact global climate is :1.Earth’s topography

2. Vegetation
3. Effects of humans.

EARTH’S TOPOGRAPHY AFFECTS THE LOCAL AND REGIONAL PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

● Earth’s topography, meaning its shape and surface features, has been formed over geological time and
provides the basis for much of the variation in local and regional physical conditions.

LAND

Rain Shadow
● Mountains create elevational gradients in temperature, precipitation, and sunlight. For example, mountains
show progressively colder temperatures and greater precipitation at higher elevations, creating different
environmental conditions over relatively short distances.
● When a mountain range occurs adjacent to an ocean, a rain shadow is often created, whereby one side of the
mountain has a wet climate and the other side has a dry climate.
● Rain shadows occur when winds deliver moist air evaporated from the ocean to the windward side of the
mountain, where the air rises, cools, and releases rain or snow. On the leeward side of the mountain the now-
dry air descends, warms, and produces arid condition

Inversion layer

● Temperature inversion occurs when there are layer temperature extremes that produce afternoon heat and
morning cold.
● A valley concentrates heat from the sun during the day and as the heat rises which forms a warm air layer
( an inversion layer).
● The inversion layer traps cold,dense, and moisture-laden air that then descends into the valley overnight,
producing fog.

OCEAN

● In the photic zone, the layer of water is reached by enough sunlight to support photosynthesis.
 ● the coastal zone, which extends from the shoreline to the edge of the continental shelf, and the ocean
zone, which extends beyond the coastal zone.
● The coastal zone is diverse and highly productive, supporting high densities of pelagic, or floating,
plankton and fishes.
● The portion of the benthic coastal zone lying between the high and low tide levels is the intertidal zone,
where tidal movements create conditions of highly variable light and temperature, alternately exposing
organisms to air and water.
● Estuaries form where rivers meet the sea, creating variability in salinity, sediment, and light conditions.

Upwelling

● Upwelling is a process in which offshore winds in combination with the Coriolis effect push warmer surface
waters away from the shore, allowing deeper, colder, and nutrient-rich bottom water to rise to the surface.
● Upwelling affects local and regional climate on the coast by creating cooler and moister conditions
● upwelled waters support high rates of primary production by phytoplankton, which in turn support dense
consumer populations. Most of the world’s great fisheries are concentrated in upwelling zones.

VEGETATION AFFECTS THE LOCAL AND REGIONAL PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT, ESPECIALLY

CLIMATE

● Evapotranspiration: water moves from the earth’s surface into the atmosphere. It covers both water
evaporation and transpiration.
● Albedo is an expression of the ability of surfaces to reflect sunlight (heat from the sun)
● Convective heat loss is the transfer of heat from a body to moving molecules such as air or liquid.
● When forests are cut and replaced by vegetation such as grasses, the albedo effect and convective heat loss
intensify while evapotranspiration decreases, causing overall air temperatures to rise and precipitation to
decrease, creating more arid conditions.
HUMANS HAVE TRASNFORMED THEIR PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT,INCLUDING URBAN
CLIMATE

● Cities also produce more heat through the burning of fossil fuels from cars, factories, and
buildings. Parks can serve to cool the surrounding air through the evapotranspiration of trees and
other vegetation.
● In addition, the temperature differential between cities and the surrounding countryside can
create “country breezes,” air movement generated as rising warm air from the city is replaced by
cold surface air from surrounding rural areas.

SECTION 52.4
Biogeography is the study of how organisms are distributed on earth

● Biogeography is the scientific study of the distribution and diversity of organisms on Earth.
● Patterns of biogeography are interconnected across a hierarchy of scales, ranging from global to
regional to landscape to local.
● Terrestrial biomes are groupings of ecologically similar dominant plants shaped by patterns of
temperature and precipitation.
● Earth’s diversity varies from continent to continent, forming biogeographic regions and
reflecting evolutionary isolation as a consequence of Earth’s geological history.
● Earth’s diversity varies with latitude. Hypotheses explaining this variation rely on multiple
factors, including geographic area, time, climate, and productivity.
● The evolutionary separation of species can be attributed to two basic processes, vicariance and
dispersal. Vicariance occurs when a physical barrier prevents dispersal and divides a species
into two or more discontinuous populations. Dispersal occurs when the members of a species
cross an existing barrier and establish a new population elsewhere.
SECTION 52.5
Geographic Area and human affect regional species diversity
● When the number of species increases , the area of the island increases.
● Decrease in species , when there is more distance from the source of species or increase in species
pool.

● According to theory of island biogeography

The size (area) of the island. The smaller the island, the fewer resources it provides, the greater the
potential for competition, and the higher the extinction rate will be.
Larger islands provide more resources and can sustain larger populations (which tend to have lower
extinction rates than small populations).

Distance of the island from the species pool. The farther the island is from the source of
immigrants, the lower the immigration rate—the rate at which new species arrive—will be