Geography - weather, climate’s & ecosystems

• Ecosystem


  A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment
• Key living and non-living components of an ecosystem

  • Animals
  • Plants
  • Insects
  • Bacteria
  • Rocks
  • Soil
  • Water
  • Sunlight
• Biomes

  A large naturally occurring community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat, e.g. forest or tundra
• Rainforests

  Regions with high annual rainfall of over 1,800 mm (70 inches) and a hot and steamy climate
• Equatorial climate


  Warm and wet, as tropical rainforests are located on or close to the Equator
• Vegetation in the tropical rainforest


  • Has adapted to thrive in its hot, wet climate in various ways
• Climate


  Comprises many day-to-day values of the weather affecting a particular place
• Factors affecting climate


  • Altitude
  • Winds
  • Distance from sea
  • Aspect
  • Latitude
• Temperate climate


  Cool, wet winters and warm, wet summers in the UK
• The west tends to be cooler and wetter than the east, the north cooler than the south. Temperatures decrease with altitude
• Why it rains


  Water droplets in a cloud condense and combine, becoming heavier until they fall to the ground
• Anticyclone

  A large-scale circulation of winds around a central region of high atmospheric pressure, clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the southern hemisphere
• Weather


  The state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy
• Ways to observe and record the weather


  • Thermometers
  • Weather vanes
  • Rain gauges
  • Barometers
  • Hygrometers