BIOL 122 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Santa Barbara City College, Tropical Africa, Multimodal Distribution
Document Summary
Convergent evolution= similar enviro, distantly related, similar adaptations. Biome= geo regions with orgs with similar adaptations. Cactus in az and euphorb in namibia= convergent evolution. Major terrestrial biomes are characterized by dominant plant coverage. Dictated globally by intersection of temp and annual precipitation. Min 200cm rain a year, at least 10/month (consistent) 3 regions= neotropical rainforest, african rainforest, indo malaysian rain forest. Nutrient poor soil due to a lot of rain and a lot of plant growth. Human impact trees up to 55m suffer water stress lianas and epiphytes grow on other plants to reach canopy. Deforestation/land conversion exposes landscape to erosion mudslides, floods tropical seasonal forest/savanna biome. As much as rainforests and almost nothing in other months. Nutrient poor soil, similar to other tropical biomes. Fire and grazing are important in maintaining dominance of grass. Herbivory is convergent but many diff org fulfill that role.
