Increasing latitude decreases biodiversity. The equator has zero degrees latitude and as a result receives the most direct sunlight.
Species density is higher in the tropics (low latitude) than in temperate regions (high latitude) resulting in a latitudinal biodiversity gradient (LBG).
How does latitude and altitude affect biodiversity?
The decrease in diversity when moving from lower latitudes towards higher latitudes is referred to as Latitudinal Diversity Gradient. Generally it is observed that the diversity richness is more in the areas near the equator than at the poles. … Altitude also affects the diversity richness inversely.
Why is biodiversity higher in lower latitudes?
[1] Low-latitude areas have a greater incidence of solar energy, and often a higher air moisture content than higher-latitude areas. This fuels an elevated primary-productivity, providing more resources to the ecology as a whole, enabling competition, specialization and speciation.
Which latitude will have more biodiversity?
For more than three centuries Western science has known that biodiversity is greatest in the tropics. European explorers and traders returned from Africa, Asia and the Americas with thousands of specimens of previously unknown kinds of animals and plants.
How are latitude and longitude similar and different?
Latitudes are measured in degrees. Longitudes: The vertical lines running north-south, join the two poles.
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What is the difference between Latitude and Longitude?
| Latitude | Longitude |
|---|---|
| It is known as parallels | It is known as meridians |
| The length of the lines are different | The length of the lines are the same |
What is the relationship between diversity and latitude quizlet?
What is the relationship between diversity and latitude? As latitude increases, moving away from the equator at the center of the Earth toward either the North Pole or the South Pole, biodiversity decreases.
How does latitude affect vegetation?
Places located at high latitudes (far from the equator) receive less sunlight than places at low latitudes (close to the equator). The amount of sunlight and the amount of precipitation affects the types of plants and animals that can live in a place.
What is the relationship between latitude and vegetation?
(2) Shrubs and herbs tended to grow well at lower latitude and middle-lower altitude. Shrubs had greater species diversity at lower latitude and lower altitude, but the species diversity of the herbs was not sensitive to the influences of latitude and altitude.
Why does mountain vegetation change with latitude?
Above a critical level, which may vary between slopes on the same mountain and which is much higher on mountains at lower latitude, the climate becomes too harsh to permit tree growth; beyond that level grows alpine vegetation, dominated by herbaceous plants, such as grasses and forbs, or by low shrubs.
Why is biodiversity so much greater in the tropics than in higher latitudes?
The higher temperatures in the tropics cause higher rates of metabolism, ecological dynamics and coevolutionary processes, which generate and maintain higher biodiversity.
Why is there more biodiversity at the equator?
There might be more biodiversity near the equator because it’s warmer year round, allowing organisms to continue growing. Locations away from the equator will have cold winters that will slow growth for microorganisms, plants and animals.
What is the relationship between species richness and latitude?
The relationship between species richness and latitude is that they both relate the number of species in the community tp relative species in the community.
Is there more biodiversity on Earth near the equator or pole?
Species diversity is higher at the equator than at the poles. In biological terms, this is referred to as the latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG), in which the number of species increases from the poles to the Equator. This ranks among the broadest and most notable biodiversity patterns on Earth.
What causes latitudinal biodiversity gradient?
Climate stability hypothesis
Similarly to the climate harshness hypothesis, climate stability is suggested to be the reason for the latitudinal diversity gradient.
What latitude is the equator?
Latitude lines are labeled from the north pole (90 degrees north) to the equator (0 degrees) and down to the south pole (90 degrees south).