extreme enviroments

Polar

- Continental or maritime climates.

- Low precipitation - less than 50mm a year. Polar air is dense so it sinks towards the ground.

- 4 month summer. 8 months temps are below 0 degrees c.

Arid

- Hot temps.

- Little rainfall / precipitation.

What Is Life Like?

- Little resources.

- Soil is thin and infertile.

- Little rainfall/ precipitation.

- High temps,

- Train has to deliver resources to cook due to it being so remote.

- Small population.

Rain-Shadow = when air descends from the mountain, it is drier. This creates a rain shadow. 

- This results in low rainfall due to the rain shadow.

Drought Tolerance

- Mechanisms that help a plant survive droughts. 

- e.g plants shed leaves to prevent water loss.

Succulence 

- When plants store water in their leaves, stems or roots. 

- Absorb large amounts of water.

Drought Avoidance 

- Plants may survive one season, have a rapid life cycle and die after seeding. 

- Only germinate when soil has moisture. 

Arid Climates

- Flat roofs to collect water.

- White walls reflect sunlight.

- Small windows reduce light.

- Air conditioning to cool buildings.

Polar Climates

- High pitched steep roofs to allow snow to slide off.

- Triple glazed windows to keep heat in doors.

-Houses on stilts in areas of permafrost, to prevent hear melting the ground.

Hunter Gatherer = someone who finds edible plants and animals by hunting and gathering.

- Aboriginals link to this because they survived by doing this method. e.g aborginal crafts were based around hunting etc. 

Aboriginals

- They are unique as they live with few valuable possessions, they have deep knowledge of the medical properties of plants and they have learnt to conserve water and firewood.

- They are of value to humanity because they notice issues such as global warming before us. They also provide us with more knowledge of medicines.

Outmigration = to leave one region or community in order to settle in another 

Cultural Dilution = Result of tourism and settlement by in-migrants where outside influences cause a culture to lose unique characteristics. Ancient languages are changed and replaced. 

Pollution = Happens due to resource exploitation e.g oil in polar regions. 

Land Degradtion = results from poor management which accelerates desertification in drylands and permafrost melting in polar regions. 

What Is El Nino?

- Abnormal weather pattern that is caused by the warming of the Pacific Ocean.

How does it affect Austrailia?

- Austrailia's rainfall is reduced through winter to spring.

Affects Of Climate Change On Outback

- Droughts will become more frequent, reducing the water supply for people and farmers.

- Evaporation will increase, reducing water supply.

- Bushfires will be more common.

Why will species mirgrate due to melting sea ice and permafrost?

- Polar bears will find it hard to hunt for food and may starve.

- No food.

- Messed up ecosystems.

Diguettes = lines of stones placed in the fields along contour lines with the aim of braking overland water flow and encouraging the deposition of sediment upslope. 

Single Crop Farming

- plough all the land.

- moisture easily evaporates.

- one crop planted.

Multi Crop Farming

- plough only where crops are.

- moisture evaporates only on parts where dug.

- several crops planted and mixed toghether.

What did it want to acieve?

- cut greenhouse gases by 5.2% by 2012, it was agreed in 1997. 

- 197 countries signed up. Some didn't meet the targets and others such as USA didn't sign it at all. Temps only reduced by 0.1 percent.