Biology 2601A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Latent Heat, Glossary Of Leaf Morphology, Transpiration
8 Oct 2014
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Document Summary
Body temperature is maintained even though the outside environment is different from the body temp (either very above/low) Some environments are better than others (they"re moderate) while others have a lot of variation. Ectotherms don"t vary with the environment, but they do not generate heat by themselves. Minimize (to cool) or maximize (to warm) radiation absorption. This is a long-term adaptive response (cold: dark leaves) Rolling leaves and pointing them vertically reduces sun interception, saving water. The heat load on a leaf exposed to full sunlight is very high - plants want to avoid this. As the wind is passing through the leaf"s surface, it"s taking away some of the energy with it: shape effects this. So the core of the leaf is a little warmer in the center. You can get the same species to do that same. Leaves can also lose their heat through transpiration: it withdraws huge amounts of heat & cools it.
