Terrestrial Biomes: Types and Characteristics

• Terrestrial biomes are large regions defined by distinct climates and organisms adapted to them
• Temperature is key in defining biomes near the poles
• Precipitation is more significant in temperate and tropical regions
• Abiotic factors like fires, floods, droughts, wind, and elevation also affect biomes
• The major biomes: tundra, boreal forest, temperate rainforest, temperate deciduous forest, temperate grassland, chaparral, desert, savanna, and tropical rainforest

Tundra Biome

• Treeless biome in the far north composed of boggy plains with lichens and mosses
• Experiences harsh, cold winters and short summers with little rainfall (10-25 cm)
• Soils are nutrient-poor with permafrost, a layer of permanently frozen ground
• Low primary productivity means relatively few species exist in great numbers
• Dominant plants are mosses, lichens, grasses, and grass-like sedges
• Animal adaptations include lemmings, voles, weasels, arctic foxes, snowshoe hares, ptarmigan, snowy owls, and musk oxen
• In summer, caribou and dozens of bird species migrate north to graze and nest
• Mosquitoes, blackflies, and deerflies thrive during summer weeks
• Slow recovery from disturbances; oil and gas exploration causes persistent damage
• Conifer trees are replacing tundra vegetation as the permafrost melts due to climate change
• Tree replacement leads to lower reflectivity and additional warming due to a positive feedback mechanism

Taiga Biome (Boreal Forest)

• A coniferous forest region in the Northern Hemisphere, south of the tundra
• Boreal forests have extremely cold and severe winters
• Precipitation is low, around 50 cm (20 in) per year
• The soil is acidic and mineral-poor with a thick layer of pine and spruce needles
• Dominated by black and white spruces, balsam fir, eastern larch, and other conifers
• It also includes deciduous trees such as aspen and birch
• Animal life includes caribou (migrating from the tundra for winter), wolves, bears, moose, rodents, rabbits, and smaller predators
• Abundant birds during summer migrate to warmer climates for winter
• Insects are plentiful with few amphibians and reptiles, except in the southern boreal forest
• Currently, boreal forest is the world’s top source of industrial wood and wood fiber
• Logging, gas and oil exploration, mining, and farming contribute to its loss

Temperate Rain Forest

• Coniferous forest on the northwest coast of North America, southeastern Australia, and southern South America
• Annual precipitation is high at more than 127 cm (50 in), with additional moisture from coastal fogs
• Temperature remains mild with narrow seasonal fluctuations due to coastal proximity
• Soil is relatively nutrient-poor but high in organic content
• Dominated by western hemlock, Douglas fir, western red cedar, and Sitka spruce
• Features epiphytes like mosses, club mosses, lichens, and ferns
• Diverse animal life includes squirrels, wood rats, mule deer, elk, numerous bird species, amphibians, and reptiles
• Temperate rain forests are rich wood producers that are devastated by overharvesting

Temperate Deciduous Forest

• Characterized by leaf-shedding, broad-leaved hardwood trees and seasonal climate
• Precipitation ranges from 75 cm to 150 cm (30 to 60 in) annually
• Soil has a topsoil-rich in organic material and a deep, clay-rich lower layer
• Dominated by oak, hickory, and beech in the northeastern and mid-eastern United States
• It also includes broad-leaved evergreen trees like magnolia in the southern areas
• Originally contained large mammals like puma, wolves, and bison, now absent but other common animals like deer, bears, and small species remain
• It's among the first biomes converted to agricultural use
• Traditional agricultural methods sustained soil fertility for thousands of years
• Intensive agricultural practices, overgrazing, and deforestation in the 20th century degraded some agricultural lands

Temperate Grassland

• Hot summers, cold winters, and fluctuating rainfall with annual precipitation from 25-75cm (10-30in)
• Soil has considerable organic material
• Grasses are sod formers that have roots and rhizomes that form a thick, continuous underground mat
• Periodic wildfires help maintain grasses as the dominant vegetation
• Largely converted to breadbaskets of the world as they provide growing conditions for crops like corn and wheat

Chaparral

• Hilly temperate environments with mild winters and abundant rainfall, combined with hot, dry summers
• Found in the Mediterranean Sea, North American Southwest, southwestern and southern Australia, central Chile, and southwestern South Africa
• Thin and infertile soil
• Frequent wildfires in the late summer and autumn
• Dominated by evergreen shrubs with drought-resistant pine or scrub oak trees
• Includes animals like mule deer, wood rats, chipmunks, lizards, and bird species

Desert

• Dry areas exhibit extreme daily temperatures with limited vegetation in temperate and subtropical regions
• Soil is low in organic material, but often high in mineral content, particularly salts
• Common plants: cacti, yuccas, Joshua trees, and sagebrush exhibiting small leaves to conserve water
• Small desert animals remain under cover during the day, emerging at night to forage or hunt
• Altered deserts through off-road vehicles
• Disturbed soil results in erosion and less vegetation to support native animals
• Cacti and tortoises are rare due to poaching
• Houses, factories, and farms require vast quantities of water, lowering groundwater levels

Savanna

• Tropical grassland with occasional trees like acacia
• Found in areas of low rainfall or intense seasonal rainfall with prolonged dry periods
• Temperatures vary little throughout the year
• Annual precipitation: 85 to 150 cm (34 to 60 in)
• Savanna soil is low in essential nutrient minerals due to heavy leaching during rainy periods
• Conversion into rangeland for cattle and domesticated animals occurs in many places

Tropical Rainforest

• Lush, species-rich forest biome where it is warm and moist throughout the year
• High precipitation, ranging from 200-450 cm, occurs almost daily
• Soil is highly weathered, mineral-poor, with little organic matter accumulation
• Located in Central and South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia
• Exhibits highest species richness and variety
• Trees support woody vines and epiphytic plants like ferns, mosses, orchids, and bromeliads
• ~90% of organisms live in the canopy
• Home to abundant insects, birds, reptiles, and amphibians
• Rainforest mammals, such as sloths and monkeys, live only in the trees
• Large ground-dwelling mammals like elephants also exist

Aquatic Ecosystems and their Categories

• Aquatic ecosystems contain free-floating plankton, swimming nekton, and bottom-dwelling benthos
• Plankton is small microorganisms that drift or swim freely
• They include phytoplankton, photosynthetic algae and cyanobacteria, and zooplankton
• Nekton is larger organisms like fish, turtles, and whales
• Benthos organisms live on the bottom and can include sponges, oysters, worms, clams, crawfish and aquatic insect larvae

Freshwater Ecosystems

• Include standing water ecosystems (lakes and ponds), flowing-water ecosystems (rivers and streams), and freshwater wetlands (marshes and swamps)
• Large lakes consist of the littoral, limnetic, and profundal zones
• Littoral zone is a productive, shallow-water area along the shore
• Limnetic zone is open water area where sunlight penetrates for photosynthesis
• Profundal zone is the deepest area where light does not reach
• Human effects on lakes and ponds include eutrophication (nutrient enrichment)
• Eutrophication accelerates runoff of fertilizers and discharge of sewage

Flowing-water Ecosystems

• Consist of different organisms based on current strength
• Streams with fast currents contain inhabitants with adaptations to attach to rocks, such as suckers
• streamlined and muscular fish
• Pollution and dam construction negatively impact rivers and streams

Freshwater Wetlands

• Include marshes, dominated by grass-like plants, and swamps, dominated by woody trees or shrubs
• Wetland soils are waterlogged and anaerobic
• Support plant communities and provide wildlife habitat to migratory populations, waterfowl, other birds, beaver, otters, muskrats, and game fish
• Threatened by pollution, development, agriculture, and dam construction

Brackish/Estuarine Ecosystem

• Transition zones between freshwater and marine habitats with varying pH and salinity
• Productive ecosystems with high organic matter and sediment nutrients
• Estuarine ecosystems filter water draining from land by natural means
• They act as a natural buffer between the land and the ocean

Chapter 8: Population Ecology

• Population ecology studies populations and their interactions with the environment
• Environment influences population density, distribution, age structure, and size
• Environmental carrying capacity limits population growth

Basic concepts of population ecology

• Population refers to individuals of a single species in the same area, likely to interbreed
• Population density measures the number of individuals per unit area or volume
• Populations grow when birth rate exceeds death rate, and decline when death rate exceeds birth rate

Factors Affecting Population Dynamics

• Resource abundance relies on the resources present like food, water, and space
• Life-history patterns: r-selection is a strategy for small species that reproduces early, is highly mobile, and has a short lifespan, k-selection occurs among larger animals with long lifespans and reproduces later and more thoughtfully
• Environmental factors include conditions such as climate, seasons, water, and light

Additional factors that affect population

• Organism interactions are a limiting factor to maintain population sizes below environmental capacity

World Population Milestones

• Neolithic Revolution: technology enables crop planting, harvesting, and animal domestication leading to population growth
• Industrial Revolution: fossil fuels provide energy, food and material production improve, and transportation booms
• Medical Revolution (1800s): the causes of infections are discovered that led to sanitation, hygiene, and a higher birth rate that increases the population.
• Green Revolution: the increase in agricultural production and efficiency creates new technologies to curb starvation
• Environmental Revolution: a proactive transition to green practices shifts energy sources, farming methods, technologies, and planning and policy

Chapter 9: Air and Air Pollution

• Earth's atmosphere contains 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% argon
• It also includes carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane
• Oxygen is essential for respiration
• Carbon dioxide is necessary for photosynthesis
• Nitrogen is a major component of proteins
• Air pollution causes health and environmental problems

Types of Air Pollution

• Point sources are identifiable and stationary (i.e. factory smokestacks)
• Nonpoint sources are diffused and not constantly emitting (i.e. cars)
• Degree of air pollution depends on source, emission rate, wind, and topography
• Primary pollutants are directly released into the air by point and nonpoint sources
• Secondary pollutants result from chemical reactions of primary pollutants

Sources of Air Pollution in the Outdoors

• Combustion of fossil fuels releases soot, carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen oxides
• Common airborne pathogens can cause diseases
• Particulate matter is composed of small solid or liquid droplets suspended in the air
• Photochemical smog results in airborne ozone, a reactive pollutant
• Chlorofluorocarbons affect ozone depletion
• Acid deposition and acid rain damage plants, animals, and human infrastructures

Controlling Air Pollutants

• Technologies such as electrostatic precipitators, fabric filters, and scrubbers can be installed in smokestacks
• Careful land-excavating activities and measures to increase energy efficiency can help reduce pollutants
• The Philippine Clean Air Act is a comprehensive air quality management policy

Types of indoor air pollutants

• Dust mites trigger allergic reactions
• Environmental tobacco smoke increases risks of cancer, respiratory diseases, and cardiovascular diseases
• VOCs (volatile organic compounds) cause headaches, breathing problems, and can be carcinogenic
• Soot can cause lung problems and asphyxiation
• Chlorinated chemicals are carcinogenic and affect the nervous system
• Asbestos causes asbestosis, a lung disease

Chapter 10: Global Atmospheric Changes

• Melting continental and polar ice is a sign of earth warming
• Human-caused climate change is an established phenomenon
• An increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide is the biggest culprit

Weather v Climate

• Weather is temperature, atmospheric pressure, precipitation, cloudiness, humidity, and wind at a certain time and place
• Climate factors include the sun's intensity, Earth's distance from the sun, tilt, distribution of water and landmasses, gas composition
• Latitude, elevation, distance from the ocean, and geographic location also influence climate

Factors that Sustain Life on Earth

• Solar energy provides energy for photosynthesis that leads to growth
• Biogeochemical cycles allow matter to continue circulating
• Gravity holds most matter in the troposphere
• Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere absorb infrared light, emitting energy from the earth's surface

Enhancing the Greenhouse Effect

• Major greenhouse gases are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, CFCs, and other halocarbons
• More GHGs cause more global warming that leads to the drastic increase of greenhouse gases linked to human activities
• Human activities include lessening carbon sinks, excessive fossil fuel combustion, generating halocarbons, and excessive product demand

Effects of Climate Change

• Global warming leads to rising sea level, melting glaciers and ice, and altered weather patterns
• Leads to health effects, loss of resources, indirect threats to life/property, habitat/food changes, and ocean acidification

Adaptation and Mitigation Responses to Climate Change

• Mitigation is reducing greenhouse gas emissions
• Planned adaptation is in response to changes caused by climate change

Preventative Measures of Mitigation

• Mitigation examples include: reducing energy use, increasing efficiency, energy-pricing strategies, planting forests, carbon capturing, efficient technology, renewable energy sources, insulation, management of agricultural soils

Protective Measures of Adaptation

• Protect the sea level by: constructing sea walls, moving inland, and channeling rivers to block salt water intrusion
• Adaptation to shifting agricultural zones

Ozone Layer Depletion

• Consists of O3 in the atmosphere that protects planet
• Ozone layer screens out 99% of UV radiation
• Thinning 3-20knm above the Earth increase UV radiation
• Chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons and halogenated ozone depleting substances lead to damage
• Thinning results in ozone holes and higher rates of skin cancer in areas including Australia
• A global initiative, the Montreal Protocol, was formed to eliminate depleting substances

Chapter 11: Freshwater Resources and Water Pollution

• Three-fourths of Earth's surfaces is water of which less than 1% available for human use
• 1.1 billion people live without adequate access to water
• Water is 5-10x more expensive than its wealthier counterpart
• Poor spend 20% of money on water
• Cost is large but coordination makes cost per person relatively low

Value of water

• We depend on water for our convenience: use with cooling, cooking, washing, farming, manufacturing, mining, energy production, and waste disposal
• Ninety-seven percent of water is salty and not consumable
• Uneven allocation results in regional water supply problems and conflicts
• Water predictions are that by 2025, more than one-third of the human population will live in areas where there isn’t enough fresh water for drinking

Water Properities

• High heat allows it to moderate temperature
• Water absorbs great deal of solar heat without substantially increasing in temperature
• Dissolving gases from the atmosphere and dissolving mineral salts from the land.
• Dissolving property may cause environmental issues (water pollution)

Water Resource Problems

• Too much water can result in flooding when the natural ability to contain channel water is lost Construction of buildings on floodplains adds to flooding Removing the plant cover results in increasing ability to absorb water
• Not enough water Arid lands limited by precipitation Semiarid land with more precipitation yet droughts
• Domestic and industrial wastes, leakage from water tanks, marine dumping, radioactive and atmospheric disposals are detrimental Heavy metals from disposal in lakes and rivers proving harmful to humans and animals

Natural Land and Water

• Is the product of an area that's undisturbed by heavy precipitation, in that the plant protected soil absorbs water, though some runs off into a river to spill over
• Rivers meanders allow to slow and seldomly cause significant damage
• Land is used for irrigation to raise agricultural productivity
• Over the years, the people used to drink the water from the tap, however, today, the bottled water is used.

Dangers of Aquifer

• Aquifer depletion happens when humans remove more groundwater than can be recharged
• Reduces water which drains and causes subsidence where the sinking of land occurs which effects water sources
• Saltwater intrudes along coastal areas when ground water is depleted which is also increased by see level rising and global warming (water turns salty for drinking)

Salinization

• Salinization is the effect of water where irrigation improves agricultural production of arid lands
• Irrigation results in salt accumulation though precipitation runoff, though rivers carry salt, then there is a gradual accumulation of salt in the soil
• Water basins are major sources of water
• They are municipal and generate domesticity, irrigational, and power supplies
• Larger than any other is the Cagayan River basin at 25,649 km2

Balili River

• With a length of 23.81 km, Balili River is located in Benguet that traverses the city of Baguio
• There is a presence of overpollution due to its population of over a half of the cities population which is blamed for its waste
• Management has led to its main goal of providing a sustainable supply and high quality water
• Used by people (sustainable) means mindful use of water where there is an opportunity in generations to come with economic aid and policy

Water Supply

• Obtaining by: building dams, diverting water, removing salt from seawater or salty groundwater (through desalination), conserving water, reusing water, water-use efficiency
• Dams generate power and offer long-term water, however, can be controversial

Dams and rivers

• Heavy sediment deposition
• Water downstream altered in habit
• Water usage by reducing through agriculture, recycling gray water, and reducing industrial waste

Types of Water Pollution

• Gray waste water that has been used for certain purposes, as well as industrial runoff, can be detrimental to the environment

Wastewater Treatment

• Primary treatment has mechanical processes in treatment plant
• Secondary treatment reduces the organic material
• Tertiary treatment reduces phosphorus and nitrogen
• Chemical coagulant traps suspended particles
• Filtration removes suspended materials
• Disinfection kills disease-causing agents

Chapter 12: Ocean and fisheries

• The island and the Philippines are blessed in income and resources such as fish. It is to be prided in our protein yet to remember oceans can only recover as much only through the ability.
• Man may abuse overfishing/ harvesting quick and not ability to reproduce

Oceanic Reports and fish

• Worldwide over 8-% species over fished
• In the US, 95% rate depleting over increasing demands
• Overfishing/pollution does not correct harvest population by 2048
• The ocean and air affect most ocean current while heat in the air cause circulation

El Nino, weather, and climate

• Two interacting air and ocean through oscillation, otherwise ENSO (the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, a scientific measurement of temperature within certain area or the Pacific) - La Nina: referred to cold phase, or otherwise ENSO (El Nino-Southern Oscillation, or any global scale to the climate impacts tends of opposite patterns. However normal to the winter being cooler northwesterm

Three Life zone classifications

• Three zones are intertidal tides and ocean Classification: Neritic and Ocean
• Pelagic and photic zones with and without life
• Ocean climate based on: coast effect, deep plain, and bottomless abyss classification

Marine Life

• Humans influence, aquaculture, shipping, pollution, and global climate all increase the threat and decline of our environment - Solution: limit our influence to marine environments

Food and Water

• Is impacted by over dumping
• Coastal and marine systems receive over pollution from land and contaminant from water
• Resources overuse can lead to degradation or that we should feel and understand this
• The most serious problem is overharvesting
• Aquacultures continue to increase and wild catched have never and are currently leveling