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As stated in an article from Montana State University in its Institute on Ecosystems: "An ecosystem can be small, such as the area under a pine tree or a single hot spring in Yellowstone National Park, or it can be large, such as the Rocky Mountains, the rainforest or the Antarctic Ocean."
The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial factor in shaping plant community, biodiversity, metabolic processes and ecosystem dynamics for montane ecosystems. [ 1 ]
The ecology of the Rocky Mountains is diverse due to the effects of a variety of environmental factors. The Rocky Mountains are the major mountain range in western North America , running from the far north of British Columbia in Canada to New Mexico in the southwestern United States , climbing from the Great Plains at or below 1,800 feet (550 ...
The lowest-elevation biotic zone in the Sierra Nevada is found along the boundary with the Central Valley. [5] This zone, stretching in elevation from 500 to 3,500 feet (150 to 1,070 m), is the foothill woodland zone, an area that is hot and dry in the summer with very little or no snow in the winter. [5]
Arctic ecology is the scientific study of the relationships between biotic and abiotic factors in the arctic, the region north of the Arctic Circle (66° 33’N). [1] This region is characterized by two biomes: taiga (or boreal forest) and tundra. [2]
When we [who?] look at the climate of the taiga, we [who?] are looking at average temperatures, abiotic factors such as precipitation, and circulatory patterns. According to the study in Global Change Biology, the average yearly temperatures across the Alaskan and Canadian taiga ranged from −26.6 °C to 4.8 °C.
The abiotic factors that environmental gradients consist of can have a direct ramifications on organismal survival. Generally, organismal distribution is tied to those abiotic factors, but even an environmental gradient of one abiotic factor yields insight into how a species distribution might look.
Over 81 million people live permanently at high altitudes (>2,500 m or 8,200 ft) [52] in North, Central and South America, East Africa, and Asia, and have flourished for millennia in the exceptionally high mountains, without any apparent complications. [53] For average human populations, a brief stay at these places can risk mountain sickness. [54]