Climate and Terrestrial Biodiversity: Introduction Introduction

 

What conditions make these adaptations so useful? Hot desert sands, wet and muddy rainforest floors, plains of frigid ice and snow—differences in temperature and precipitation around the planet result in an array of dramatically different ecosystems, each with a plethora of uniquely adapted organisms. What causes these differences in climate around the globe? What effect do human activities have on these diverse ecosystems? In this section, we’ll explore weather and climate, the array of terrestrial ecosystems, and the impact of humans on biodiversity to help answer those questions.

Camel humps
source		 Webbed feet
source		 Salamander skin
source		 Polar bear fur
source		 Succulent plant
source

 

Section Objectives Icon Lesson Objectives

 

After you have completed this lesson, you will be able to:

  1. Examine factors that influence climate.
  2. Identify and describe (including geographic locations) the major terrestrial biomes.
  3. Analyze the effects of human activities on the world’s terrestrial ecosystems.

Section Warm-Up Lesson Warm-up

 

AP Environmental Science: Human Impacts on Sustainability... a crowd of people.The Karoo biome is a desert ecosystem in South Africa with uniquely adapted plants and animals.  The earth’s climate is different at different latitudes due to differences in the amount of solar energy that reaches the earth and the way temperature is moved around by ocean and air currents. By the end of this chapter, you’ll be able to answer this question with the expertise of a scientist! Winds transport nutrients across the planet. You might be surprised to learn that dust blown from desert sands and soils can be deposited thousands of miles away into the ocean to support marine food webs or into the Amazon rainforest to nourish the soil.

The Karoo biome helps to support other ecosystems far and wide. In this chapter, you’ll learn more about the value of many different ecosystems. Desert ecosystems are fragile places where productivity is often low. Plants grow slowly and animals are careful to conserve resources. Climate change is a serious threat to these ecosystems, as you saw in the video on the Karoo biome. Human development is another threat as our cities encroach upon this fragile terrain. Resource extraction also threatens desert ecosystems.



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