Chapter 52.

An Introduction to Ecology and the Biosphere

Due March 13, 2018

Assigned Questions (submit via Moodle)

1. Why is Vancouver warmer than Montreal in the winter, even though Montreal is at lower
latitude? (2-4 sentences; 4 points)

This is due to a few factors. One of them being that the nature of water is just so that it
has a surprisingly high specific heat capacity. Because of this and Vancouver’s extremely
close proximity to the Pacific Ocean, much of the heat that would normally escape, is
retained by the water allowing for warmer climate. Montreal on the other hand is not
surrounded by a body of water in the same way that Vancouver is. For this reason, the
land cools down much faster and the heat escapes resulting in colder overall climate.

2. Life in a tropical rainforest is vertically stratified. What abiotic factor probably changes
most dramatically across strata?

3. Vertical stratification would definitely involve sunlight as the main abiotic factor affecting
life anywhere, especially a tropical rainforest which is blooming with plant life which
requires sunlight to function. With leaves and canopies blocking off available sunlight, the
amount of sunlight available to the several different species of plant and animals will vary
depending upon their location, this shows great variation across strata.

4. What was the most confusing or interesting part of the chapter? Answer in 1-2 sentences.
(1 point)

The idea that there exists a species of animal called "semelparous" or big-bang organisms
that don't continually produce offspring while I thought indefinite reproduction was
categorical of all life on the planet ranging from bacteria, to ants to humans. I definitely
found that to be the most interesting fact that I learned from this chapter