Wildlife Ecology and Management. Lecture notes by Peter Kabai

Physical Geography

Why are tropics hot?
Equator: sunlight perpendicular
More energy / unit on surface

Why are winters cold? Axis is tilted by 23,5 0.

Fredrik Venold: What causes the seasonal temperature changes in Oslo (student assignment)

Air rises at Equator
Travel to Poles
Sink at Poles
Travel back to Equator

More on that: Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Ch 6, Energy and Matter

Warmth and water: photosynthesis

Major bioms (dependence on precipitation and temperature

TUNDRA
BOREAL FOREST or TAIGA
TEMPERATE BROADLEAF DECIDUOUS FOREST
TROPICAL BROADLEAF EVERGREEN FOREST
TROPICAL SAVANNA
DESERTSCRUB
TEMPERATE GRASSLANDS
MEDITERRANEAN SCRUB

http://www.geog.ouc.bc.ca/physgeog/contents/6h.html

Kjersti Utaaker: The Greenhouse effect

2003 summer hottest in 500 years
Thousands of deaths were blamed on the heatwave
European researchers say last summer was the hottest on the continent for at least five centuries.

Less rain in a warmer world? Pollutants might reduce rainfall, even if more clouds will be generated by global warming

"It is theoretically possible that increases in the flux of fresh water from the Arctic can decrease the rate of the THC and cause a significant cooling effect in Northern Europe and Scandinavia and perhaps even trigger an increase in glaciation over much of the Northern
Hemisphere."

K. J. Meissner A R. Gerdes
Coupled climate modelling of ocean circulation changes during ice age inception

Patrick T. Gallagher
Changes in Climate Due to Disruptions of the Gulf Stream Current and Thermohaline Circulation System

excellent pdf file on bioms here

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	1. BIOMS: Major ecosystems on Earth This section is a brief introduction to Physical Geography and Biogeography

	Physical Geography
	SUN: Source of energy for Earth Short wave radiation to upper level atmosphere: 2 cal/sq cm/min To surface: 50% Back-radiation: long-wave (green-house effect)



	Why are tropics hot? Equator: sunlight perpendicular More energy / unit on surface

	Why are winters cold? Axis is tilted by 23,5 0. Fredrik Venold: What causes the seasonal temperature changes in Oslo (student assignment)

	Generation of precipitation Heat, Evaporation, Air rising, Cooling, Cool air holds less humidity -> Precipitation

	Air rises at Equator Travel to Poles Sink at Poles Travel back to Equator Steady winds from the Poles? Europe: western windsWHY? The Earth is rotating Rotating Earth breaks up air currents into six coils

	Why are tropics wet? Earth rotates East-West. Air lags behind. Coriolis effect. Although rain forests create most of their rain, winds also bring humid air from oceans to rainforests

	Mountains Air is forced upward by mountain. Air cools. Precipitation. Dry air descents. Arid areas: downwind of mountains. Temperature decreases by altitude

	More on that: Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Ch 6, Energy and Matter		http://www.geog.ouc.bc.ca/physgeog/contents/6h.html
	Biogeography
	Warmth and water: photosynthesis Figure: satellite image of chlorophyll averaged for 8 years.

	Major bioms (dependence on precipitation and temperature TUNDRA BOREAL FOREST or TAIGA TEMPERATE BROADLEAF DECIDUOUS FOREST TROPICAL BROADLEAF EVERGREEN FOREST TROPICAL SAVANNA DESERTSCRUB TEMPERATE GRASSLANDS MEDITERRANEAN SCRUB

	http://www.geog.ouc.bc.ca/physgeog/contents/6h.html Answerers to most of your questions: http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/kingworc/departments/geography/nottin

	TUNDRA low precipitation, low temperature, extremely short growing season, low primary production Alpine tundra More

	BOREAL FOREST or TAIGA more

	TEMPERATE BROADLEAF DECIDUOUS FOREST More
	TROPICAL BROADLEAF EVERGREEN FOREST participation: 200-400 mm temperature: 25 C high production rate Forest floor, understory, canopy, emergent layer more

	TROPICAL GRASSLAND (SAVANNA) precipitation: 75-125 mm, seasonal more

	DESERT SCRUB precipitation < 25 mm more

	TEMPERATE GRASSLANDS Prairie, pampa, steppe, puszta more

	MEDITERRANEAN SCRUB Chaparral more

	Human impact greenhouse gases
	Kjersti Utaaker: The Greenhouse effect
	CLIMATE CHANGE

	2003 summer hottest in 500 years Thousands of deaths were blamed on the heatwave European researchers say last summer was the hottest on the continent for at least five centuries.		BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3536819.stm More http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2000/climate_change/default.stm

	Less rain in a warmer world? Pollutants might reduce rainfall, even if more clouds will be generated by global warming		NSU http://www.nature.com/nsu/040329/040329-10.html

	Global warming causing ice-age in Europe? Read this BBC - OU article http://www.open2.net/landscapemysteries/article2_pg2.htm Picture shows the Great Conveyor belt transporting energy to the North. See original pic and article here. Student essay by Rickard Kohler here
	"It is theoretically possible that increases in the flux of fresh water from the Arctic can decrease the rate of the THC and cause a significant cooling effect in Northern Europe and Scandinavia and perhaps even trigger an increase in glaciation over much of the Northern Hemisphere."		http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2002/nsf02047/nsf02047_3.pdf
	More recently (2006): No new ice age for western Europe :-) the current is not weakening		http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19225763.900?DCMP=NLC-nletter&nsref=mg19225763.900 more on this here
	K. J. Meissner A R. Gerdes Coupled climate modelling of ocean circulation changes during ice age inception		http://climate.uvic.ca/people/katrin/s00382-001-0192-x.pdf
	Patrick T. Gallagher Changes in Climate Due to Disruptions of the Gulf Stream Current and Thermohaline Circulation System		http://rover.phy.uncwil.edu/phy475/spring03/students/gallagher/phy575paper.pdf
	Atmosphere, Climate & Environment Information Programme, aric Manchester Metropolitan University, 171 pages http://www.ace.mmu.ac.uk/Resources/Fact_Sheets/Key_Stage_4/Climate_Change/pdf/Climate_Change.pdf
	Ice age: Milankovitch cycles or galopping coroners? (New Scientist)
	A prize of $25 million for anyone who can come up with a system for removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere NewScientist
	Worst-case warming scenario may bring totally new kinds of tropical climate and cause others to disappear . If global warming continues unabated, many of the world's climate zones may disappear by 2100, leaving new ones in their place unlike any that exist today.		Scientific American
	Glaciers suffer record shrinkage Average glacial shrinkage has risen from 30 centimetres per year between 1980 and 1999, to 1.5 metres in 2006.		BBC

	excellent pdf file on bioms here