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Biomes in Ecology: Boreal Forests, Tundra, Tropical Rain Forests, and Tropical Savannas, Slides of Ecology and Environment

An overview of various biomes in ecology, focusing on boreal forests and tundra in climate zone viii and ix, and tropical rain forests and savannas in climate zones i and ii. It discusses the unique characteristics, vegetation, and animal life of each biome, including the arctic tundra, taiga, amazon rainforest, and tropical savannas.

Typology: Slides

2012/2013

Uploaded on 01/22/2013

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Lecture 5: Biome Concept in Ecology
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Lecture 5: Biome Concept in Ecology

5. 5 Boreal and polar climate zones have

average temperatures below 5 oC

Boreal forest biome (Climate zone VIII)

Tundra biome (Climate zone IX)

Arctic Tundra

Tundra is treeless plain

Arctic tundra is a frozen plain, clothed in sedges, heaths, and willows, dotted

with lakes, and crossed by streams

Cold Temperature and low precipitation

Two types:

tundra: up to 100% plant coverage, wet to moist soil

polar desert: dry soil, less than 5% plant cover

Unique conditions:

permafrost: isolate and protect soil OM

vegetation: simple form, slow growth, allocate more to roots.

5. 6 Climate zones with tropical latitudes have

average temperatures exceeding 20 oC

Tropical rain forest biomes (Climate zone I)

Tropical seasonal forest/savanna biome

(Climate zone II)

Tropic rain forests in Amazon (a), Malaysia (b), and Northeast Australia (c)

High net primary productivity (NPP)

High diversity of plant and animal life

7% land surface, >50% plant and animal species

10-km2 contain 1500 species of flowing plants and 750 tree species.

Richest area in Malaysia, 7900 species

90% of all primate species live in the tropical rain forest

orangutan (an arboreal ape)

Gibbons, langurs, macaques

(Malaysian)

Gorillas, and chimpanzees

(Africa)

Lemurs

Beetles, butterflies

Tropical Savannas

Savanna: means the treeless areas of South America

Grassland with scattered trees.

Characteristics

Occur on land surfaces of little relief, often on old plateaus, dissected by

rivers

Poor in nutrients, especially P

Dominant species are fire-adapted, subjected to recurrent fires.

Grass cover with or without wood vegetation is always present

Woody component is short-lived (less than a few decades).

Two-layer vertical structure (ground level grass + shrubs or trees)

Support a large and varies assemblage of herbivores, invertebrate and

vertebrate, grazing and browsing.