Abiotic Processes
Global Scale Patterns of Temperature and Precipitation
Subtopics
- Global physical processes, biomes
- Animation of Hadley cells, atmospheric pressure, and precipitation - spatial and seasonal variation in wind direction and precipitation at the global scale
- Best Coriolis demonstration. Ever. (side point - you do not weigh 3% less at the equator, as the guy says. The net acceleration of gravity at the poles is 980.665 cm/sec2 while at the equator it is 3.39 cm/sec2 less (due to a bigger offset by centrifugal force). If you weighed 100 pounds at the north pole on a spring scale, at the equator you would weigh 5.5 ounces less.)
Reading
- Chapter 2
Overheads
Animal Physiological Ecology
Subtopics
- Animal physiological ecology - some adaptive solutions to temperature and water limitation
- Polar bear emissivity
- Knut Schmidt Nielsen
- Charles Blagden
Reading
- Chapter 7
Overheads
Plant Physiological Ecology
Reading
- Chapter 6
Overheads
-
- OH set 5
- Supplementary figures for plant physiological ecology
Study Guide for Animal and Plant Physiological Ecology
Short quiz in class over abiotic processes (CH 2,6,7, OH set 3,4,5 and associated lectures) Wednesday Feb 12th.
Climate Change
Subtopics
- Carbon cycles, radiation budgets, anthropogenic effects, abiotic & ecological response
- NASA - decadal global temperature anomaly
- Keeling Curve, Vostok and other ice core data from NOAA
- Ice core temperature reconstruction
- GCM structure overview
- GCM visualization from NCAR CCSM model
- Positive feedbacks in GCMs contribute to forecast uncertainty
- (IPCC GCM emission scenarios)
- Ecological responses to climate change: figures and examples used in class:
- SUMMARY of ecological responses to climate change (puffin burrow cam)
Reading
- Chapter 27
- Parmesan & Yohe (2003) global fingerprint
