Biota and Climate

The word biota is a collective term, simply meaning “living organisms.” Strictly speaking this includes human beings, but here the focus is on nonhuman living things. Climate can be defined as the average weather conditions of a place, determined over a long enough period of time to ensure that the full range of conditions normally experienced is taken into account, while unusual conditions happening within the measurement period do not unduly influence the average. Climate is therefore commonly calculated from weather conditions over a period of 20 to 50 years and includes temperature, precipitation, daylight, and wind, among other variables. Biogeography focuses directly on the study of patterns of life in both space and time. The biotic environment is an important part of “the environment” ...