GEOG 5 Gillespie Thomas 2012 Fall Week 1 Lecture 3 October 4 Announcements Required readings Chapters 1 and 6 Outline of Last Lecture I Discussion of biomes Outline of Today s Lecture II Outline of the remaining biomes Today s Lecture Ecosystems and Biomes continued Mediterranean Scrub Where The Med Central Chile South Africa Southern Australia CA Yes Why Summer s are hot and winter s are wet this is caused by the cold ocean currents Fire Yes very important part The plants are adapted to fire they have seeds that do not open unless heated by a huge fire Also have resprouting plants plants which have roots long underneath the ground so can grow back after a fire very easily Plants Shrubs 2m tall small leaves evergreen light colored leaves point upwards they have a distinctive smell eg Rosemary People s impact Urbanization agriculture wineries Conservation Status Bad Plant Adaptations in the Mediterranean Scrub Region Species Species that are Endemic Chile 3000 1600 South Africa 8000 5000 CA 4000 2000 The Med 25 000 13 000 Australia 5000 4000 These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Tropical Rainforests Where Amazon Congo South East Asia North Australia Madagascar CA No Why ITCZ Inter tropical Convergence Zone Orographic Precipitation idea of wet and dry side of mountains Fire No not a part of this biome Plants high closed canopy 50m tall shallow root system diversity in 1 Ha 1 Ha 100m X 100m there are 300 trees Epiphytes plants that live on top of other plants and lianas woody vines People s impact timber and agriculture tribal and commercial Conservation Status on mainland the conservation is realtively bad however on islands it is extremely bad as they are closed systems and cannot regrow so easily Tropical Dry Forest Where Mexico Central Asia South Asia India CA no Why ITCZ this creates the seasonality Orographic Precipitation this biome occurs on the dry sides of the mountains creating a dry climate with little precipitation Fire Not an important part of this biome Plants Short structure trees are a third of the size of those in tropical rainforests no epiphytes Trees are deciduous People s impact great place to live so highly populated agriculture use of the trees to create fires Conservation Status Ugly Tropical Savanna Where Brazil Venezuela Africa Australia India CA N0 Why Rainfall is only 50 100cm per year Fire yes very important Plants grasses These grasses are annual meaning they follow a cycle of grow die fire grow etc Also scattered trees with thick bark People s impact agriculture and cattle grazing Conservation Status bad Desert Where Hot Deserts Mexico Sahara Australia Cold Deserts Iran Gobi Desert South Argentina CA yes Sonoran desert hot desert Colorado hot desert Great basin cold desert Mojave cold desert Why 50 cm of precipitation per year or less Fire N0 Plants Hot deserts succulents store water eg cactus spines annuals Cold deserts non succulents due to freezing certain trees eg Joshua trees People s impact very limited maybe some oil Conservation Status Very good