Chapter 4 - Climate & The World's Biomes

Question 1

What is a rainshadow?

Answer 1

It occurs when air masses rise to go over mountains, cool, and then drop moisture as they do, so the downwind side, the descending air is very dry, creating a rainshadow (that location gets very little rain)

Question 2

What is the global conveyor belt?

Answer 2

It is the ocean circulation that is critical to redistributing heat across the earth (scientists fear it may slow down due to climate change). It is important in helping to mitigate human driven global climate change because cold oceans absorb large quantities of CO2 & traps it in the deep ocean

Question 3

What is a biome?

Answer 3

It is a characteristic region with particular types of vegetation
- ex. desert, savanna, rainforest

Question 4

What is a primary production rate?

Answer 4

It is the total amount of photosynthesis per area for a defined length of time. Tropical rainforest have the highest rate of primary production (800g of C/m^2/year)

Question 5

What is an epiphyte?

Answer 5

It is a plant that grows on other plants and tends to be rooted on damp upper branches. They depend on the sparse resources of mineral nutrients they extract from crevices and pockets of humus on tree branches.
- ex. moss

Question 6

What does species richness mean?

Answer 6

It describes the number of species in an area and is very high in tropical rainforests

Question 7

What is a savanna?

Answer 7

It is a biome that is constantly warm, and only has reliable rain for part of the year, while the rest is relatively dry. The vegetation consists of grassland with scattered small trees (because they can only grow in the rainy season)

Question 8

What is a grassland (prairie)?

Answer 8

It is a biome that has moderate rainfall and rich soils. They cover 5% of earth’s surface and tend to experience seasonal drought. Many are cultivated.

Question 9

What is a desert?

Answer 9

It is a biome that can be too arid to bear any vegetation (includes hot and cold deserts) and where rainfall occurs, its timing is unpredictable. They cover 10% of earth’s surface. Plants that grow here are either opportunistic and germinate with unpredictable rains, or are long-lived with sluggish physiological processes

Question 10

What is a temperate forest?

Answer 10

It is a biome that includes a variety of vegetation (although deciduous trees dominate) and has mild winters, where droughts are rare. They have diverse perennial flora that grow on the forest floor in rich soils. Large portions of these forests are cut down for agriculture.

Question 11

What is succession?

Answer 11

It occurs when portions of a forest has been cleared for agriculture and it takes time to regrow. In the process, it will go through many tree species

Question 12

What is a boreal forest (taiga)?

Answer 12

It is a biome that is mainly coniferous trees with short growing seasons and cold winters that limits vegetation and its associated fauna. Fire is important for many tree species reproduction. Its young soil (recent glaciation) and permafrost are also constraints

Question 13

What is permafrost?

Answer 13

It is when water in the soil stays frozen throughout the year, creating a permanent drought

Question 14

What is a tundra?

Answer 14

It is a biome that has polar air masses and cold temps all year round and vegetation consists of low shrubs, grasses, mosses and lichens. Permafrost is a dominant feature here.

Question 15

What is a watershed?

Answer 15

It is a land area where all water draining from it comes from a particular stream/river.

Question 16

What is a riparian forest?

Answer 16

It is a an area where forests grow along a river. In grasslands, streams are often shaded by riparian trees and the species are adapted to grow in a narrow strip along streams where water is plentiful. Important for keeping water cool and unpolluted.

Question 17

What are floodplains?

Answer 17

They are nearby land that water from rivers often flow onto in times of high discharge.

Question 18

What are phytoplankton?

Answer 18

They are the dominate producers in deep lakes where very little light can reach the bottom

Question 19

What are zooplankton?

Answer 19

They feed on phytoplankton which leads to very different food web than with rooted plants

Question 20

What is the thermocline?

Answer 20

It is a transitional layer that lies below the surface of lakes and in the summer, the temp rapidly decreases. It acts as a barrier for the exchange between surface layer and deeper colder water.

Question 21

What are wetlands? What are the types of wetlands?

Answer 21

They are intermediate ecosystems between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and are classified by the type of vegetation that grows in them.

1. swamps
2. marshes/fens
3. bogs

Question 22

What is a swamp?

Answer 22

It is a type of wetland that is dominated by trees

Question 23

What is a marsh/fen?

Answer 23

It is a type of wetland that is dominated by grasses & sedges

Question 24

What is a bog?

Answer 24

It is a type of wetland that is dominated by sphagnum mosses (usually acidic)

Question 25

What is the photic zone?

Answer 25

It is the surface layer of the ocean where light penetrates (photosynthesis can only occur in this zone!)

Question 26

What is a symbiont?

Answer 26

It is a species that lives in close relationship with another species. - ex. in deep sea hot vents, many chemo-autorophic bacteria are symbionts of animals by living inside of them and providing them with nutrients (basically mutualism)

Question 27

What are gyres?

Answer 27

They are large masses of semi-isolated surface water in the ocean that is surrounded by circular currents of water moving clockwise in the Northern H. and counterclockwise in the Southern H. They influence biomes and where organisms exist

Question 28

What is an upwelling system?

Answer 28

It brings nutrient-rich deep-ocean waters steadily upwards into the photic zone to keep phytoplankton buoyed near the surface so they continue to have plenty of light. They tend to occur along coasts with narrow continental shelves.

Question 29

What is a continental shelf?

Answer 29

It is the area of seabed around a large landmass where the sea is relatively shallow compared with the open ocean. Typically stretch 80km from shore and have water depths less than 150m

Question 30

What is the intertidal zone?

Answer 30

It is the part of the shoreline that is submerged at high tide but exposed to air in low tide. The extent of this zone depends on the height of tides and the slope of the shore.

Question 31

What is the littoral zone?

Answer 31

It the permanently submerged zone that begins below the low-tide mark where a variety of communities, including coral reefs, occur depending on characteristics

Question 32

What is coral bleaching?

Answer 32

Coral reefs boast high biodiversity, but climate change threatens this because warm temps cause algal symbionts to leave which means the coral starts to bleach and can die.

Question 33

What is an estuary?

Answer 33

It is a salty, semi-enclosed water body that exchanges water with more open coastal waters and often occurs near the mouth of a river where outflowing fresh water mixes with seawater

Question 34

What is anoxia?

Answer 34

It is the complete absence of oxygen in an environment. - ex. salt-wedge estuaries have dense salt-water that causes a salinity gradient that makes them prone to low-oxygen conditions in bottom waters, or even anaerobic (anoxia).