Rainfall and Humidity
Based on annual rainfall:
Continuous: Tropical
Discontinuous: grasslands
No or very little: dessert (hot or cold)
Based on habitat:
Hydrocoles
Meso
Xero
Hydrophytes
Root shoot system:
Algae: surrounded by water
Bryophytes: rhizoids (roots like)
Pteridophytes (vascular system less develop)
Angio+Gymno- very well developed vascular system
When water availability high: low need of roots
Tropical rainforest
Temperate
Tropical grassland
Temperate grassland
Fauna depends on the flora
Humidity
Humidity is the concentration of water vapour present
in the air.
Water vapour, the gaseous state of Water, is generally
invisible to the human eye.
Humidity indicates the likelihood of precipitation, dew
or fog to be present.
Humidity depends on the temperature and pressure of
the System.
It also indicates the degree of dampness or Wetness of
the air.
Humidity of the air is mainly expressed in the following two ways
Absolute Humidity
The amount of actual water vapour per unit of air is known as absolute humidity
and expressed in grams per cubic metre of air.
For example, if the absolute humidity of air is 10 grams, it means that one cubic
metre of that air holds 10 grams of moisture in the form of water vapour.
Absolute humidity is variable and changes from place to place and with change in
time.
The capacity of air to hold water vapour fully depends on temperature. The capacity of
holding water vapour in the air increases with the increase in temperature. For
example at 10° C, temperature one cubic metremeter of air can hold 9.4 grams of
water vapour. If the temperature is increased to 20°C, its Capacity to hold water vapour
also increases to 17.12 grams per cubic metre of air
Absolute humidity is a measure of the quantity of water that can be extracted from the
atmosphere as precipitation. Cold air can supply only a small quantity of rain or snow
whereas warm air is capable of supplying a huge quantity of water
The weight of water vapour per unit weight of air is called specific humidity
Relative Humidity
Relative humidity is the most important and reliable measure of atmospheric moisture. It
states the relationship between the absolute humidity and the maximum capacity of the
air to hold moisture at the same temperature.
