Wildlife Ecology and Management (Peter Kabai)

1. BIOMS: Major ecosystems on Earth

Physical Geography SUN: Source of energy for EarthShort wave radiation to upper level atmosphere: 2 cal/sq cm/min To surface: 50%

Back-radiation: long-wave (green-house effect)

Glass ~ large molecules Greenhouse gases: water (H2O), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), and carbon dioxide (CO2) Aerosol particles (brown cloud) Methane: 60% of global methane emissions are caused by human-related activities fossil fuel production, animal husbandry (enteric fermentation in livestock and manure management), rice cultivation, biomass burning, and waste management. nitrous oxide: human-related sources of N2O are agricultural soil management, animal manure management, sewage treatment, mobile and stationary combustion of fossil fuel, and nitric acid production. Naturally from a wide variety of biological sources in soil and water, particularly microbial action in wet tropical forests.

Brown cloud: aerosol particles from woodfire, cars, factories Ramanathan et al. 2007. Nature: abstract, news Measured aerosol concentration and solar fluxes directly by light weight aeroplans. Brown clouds enhanced atmospheric solar heating by 50% Atmospheric brown clouds are mostly the result of biomass burning and fossil fuel consumption. They consist of a mixture of light-absorbing and light-scattering aerosols and therefore contribute to atmospheric solar heating and surface cooling. The sum of the two climate forcing termsthe net aerosol forcing effectis thought to be negative and may have masked as much as half of the global warming attributed to the recent rapid rise in greenhouse gases.... Here we use three lightweight unmanned aerial vehicles that were vertically stacked between 0.5 and 3 km over the polluted Indian Ocean. ... We found that atmospheric brown clouds enhanced lower atmospheric solar heating by about 50 per cent... . We propose that the combined warming trend of 0.25 K per decade may be sufficient to account for the observed retreat of the Himalayan glaciers


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

Why are winters cold? Axis is tilted by 23,5 0. Please read Fredrik Venold's essay on seasonal temperature changes in Oslo (student assignment)

Air rises at Equator Travels to Poles Sinks at Poles Travels back to Equator Steady winds from the Poles? No, not really... What's going on here?

The Earth is rotating: Coriolis force

Earth rotates on its axis fromWest to East Air lags behind Coriolis effect Rotating Earth breaks up air currents into six coils

Major winds on Earth

		Major warm and cold currents

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

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

Uplift of air: cooling -> precipitation Descending air (high pressure): no cloud formation

Mountains Air is forced upward by mountain Air cools Precipitation Dry air descents Arid areas: deep in the continents, downwind of mountains

Convective uplift: air warms Orographic uplift: mountains drive the air Frontal uplift: warm and cool air clashes

Cold and hot winds meet Hurrican:radar image Eye of typhon

Biogeography

Global temperature: 21st February 2006

Annual precipitation

Warmth and water: photosynthesis Figure: satellite image of chlorophyl avareged 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

Please, note: you need to be able to fill in the blank graph

Bioms and vegetation

		Terrestrial bioms of Earth

Tropical Broadleaf Evergreen Forest: The Rainforest Precipitation: 200 400 Temperature: 20-350C High growth rate Tall trees shadow - levels Forest floor, understory, canopy, emergent layer High productivity 2 million species (50% of all) more


Why are tropics wet? Although rain forests create most of their rain,

winds also bring humid air from oceans to rainforests

DESTRUCTION OF RAIN FORESTS Commercial logging Clearing land for grazing animals and for Subsistence farming Shallow soil, low carrying capacity,agriculture cannot be sustained, erosion Carbon to atmosphere:adds to global warming

SAVANNAS: tropical grasslands Rainfall: 75-125 cmRain is seasonal Temperature < 18 oC Vegetation: perennial grasses (controlled by grazing fire) Fauna: greatest diversity of ungulates> 40 species more



DESERT, DESERTSCRUB
Rainfall: < 25 cm more

TEMPERATE GRASSLANDS (Prairie, pampa, steppe, puszta) Precipitation: 25-50 cm (rain and snow) more

Vegetation. Perennial grasses and perennial forbs No grazing: invasive plants

TEMPERATE (MEDITARRANIAN) SCRUB: Chaparral Precipitation: 40-100 cm (summers are dry!) Vegetation: (evergreen) shrubs more

Regular burns stabilize vegetation. Global warming: frequent fires

TEMPERATE BROADLEAF DECIDUOUS FOREST Precipitation: 50 150 cm Temperature: ~ 6 month growing season More

TAIGA OR BOREAL FOREST Largest terrestrial biom Rainfall: 40 100 cm (mostly snow) (but low evaporation, high humidity) Temperature: 50-100 frost free days Vegetation: Needleleaf trees Fauna: large herbivores, fur-bearing predators more

Trillemarka area: the last unlogged landscape in Norway wiki Temperate coniferous forests (taiga or boreal forest)


TUNDRA Tundra: from Finnish tunturia= treeless plain Temperature: extremely low (3-12 oC in summer) Precipitation: variable (15 25 cm) Arctic tundra
		extremely short growing season, low primary production More
Alpine tundra (mountains)


HUMAN IMPACT
Exponential growth during industrial phase

Mexico city today and in 1628



Human impact greenhouse gases

insecticides: DDT was banned (Stockholm Convention), however, traces of DDT can be detected in YOUR tissues.

Ozone hole





IN THE NEWS (follow the links if interested)
How to Buy Time in the Fight against Climate Change: Mobilize to Stop Soot and Methane SciAm Sperm whale faeces 'offset CO2 emissions' BBC Iron defecation by sperm whales stimulates carbon export in the Southern Ocean html A new study from Toronto researchers suggests that the collapse of a large portion of the Antarctic ice sheet would shift the very axis of the Earth. here




See aquatic bioms here excellent pdf file on bioms here