Environment

Question 1

What are the characteristics of a rainforest?

Answer 1

• Close to equator
• Warm and humid climate with lots of rainfall
• Lots of vegetation

Layers of vegetation:
- Forest floor: Dark and gloomy, very few vegetation between trees, susceptible to flooding because of lack of plants
- Under canopy: receive very little sunlight, plants and shrubs have had to adapt to it
- Canopy layer: gets lots of sunlight; has most of the trees and is home to many animals
- Emergent: gets the most sunlight and has the tops of the trees

Question 2

What are the characteristics of deserts?

Answer 2

• Low precipitation; less than 250 mm of rain annually
• High evaporation rates
• Harsh conditions that lead to a lack of vegetations and wildlife

Question 3

What are the characteristics of grasslands?

Answer 3

• Transitional zones between rainforests and deserts
• Includes scrub, grasses, some trees that grow near water holes and seasonal rivers
• Has a wet season when vegetation grows and stores water in the hot and wet conditions
• Has a dry season where there is little rain so vegetation has to adapt

Question 4

What are the characteristics of tundra?

Answer 4

• Arctic areas
• Little precipitation
• Temp. remains below 0 degrees for most of the year
• Soil is frozen almost the whole year
• Treeless and flat

Question 5

What are the main types of aquatic environments?

Answer 5

Freshwater including lakes & ponds, streams & rivers, and wetlands

Marine areas

Question 6

What are the characteristics of different types of freshwater environments?

Answer 6

Lakes & ponds:
- Isolated
- Limited in wildlife diversity
- Have zones including littoral zone (plant habitat), limnetic zone (open water), thermocline, and profundal zone (deep water)

Streams & rivers:
- Water flows in one direction from source to mouth
- Temperature at the source is cooler

Wetlands:
- Combine water and land
- Land saturated with water, submerged most to all of the year
- Near other bodies of water
- Can prevent flooding as they provide more flow area
- Filter and purify dangerous pollutants and excess nutrients

Question 7

Explain some of the human impacts on desert environments?

Question 8

Explain some of the human impacts on rainforest environments?

Question 9

Explain some of the human impacts on grassland environments?

Question 10

Explain some of the human impacts on tundra environments?

Question 12

Explain some of the human impacts on freshwater environments?

Question 13

Explain some of the human impacts on marine environments?

Question 14

Explain sustainability in at least on biome.