Biomes

Question 1

What is a biome?

Answer 1

a large region that has a characteristic climate and native species composition.

Question 2

What 3 variables drive the formation of a biome?

Answer 2

Water/precipitation
Temperature
History -> soil conditions

Question 3

What are the 4 soil horizons from top to bottom?

Answer 3

O (LFH), A, B, C

Question 4

What is in the O soil horizon?

Answer 4

Organic material that is freshly fallen at the surface to partially decomposed material a little deeper

Question 5

What is in the A soil horizon?

Answer 5

Minerals, clay, slit, sand with indiscernible decomposed material

Question 6

What is in the B soil horizon?

Answer 6

Clay, humus, materials leeched from A horizon, often has plant roots

Question 7

What is in the C soil horizon?

Answer 7

Weathered parent material that was the early part of the biome, bedrock

Question 8

What is the difference between an ecosystem and a biome?

Answer 8

A biome is much larger, and can contain many ecosystems. Can also appear to be one giant ecosystem

Question 9

Which 2 biomes are only found in the northern hemisphere and why?

Answer 9

Tundra and Boreal forest. There is no land mass in the south at the conditions for these biomes to form, and Antarctica is too dry and cold to be considered a tundra

Question 10

What determines the biome that forms if there is overlap in the climate conditions?

Answer 10

The history, the soil conditions will determine the biome.

Question 11

What kind of climate and soil conditions does the tundra biome have?

Answer 11

Cold and dry, which short summers and little evaporation of precipitation. Cold soil with low decomposition results in accumulation of organic matter (peat and humus). Soil is solid on top of a layer of permafrost. Landscape shaped by freeze/thaw processes.

Question 12

What kind of plant and animal life is found in the tundra biome?

Answer 12

Plants have most biomass below the ground, mostly perennial herbaceous plants. Animals: not a lot of diversity , mostly large and small mammals, birds, and insects in high abundance

Question 13

What are the human impacts on the tundra biome?

Answer 13

Oil and gas exploration, airborne toxin fallout, permafrost and decomposition rate alteration from increasing temperatures, CO2 production

Question 14

What kind of climate and soil conditions does the boreal forest biome have?

Answer 14

Winters longer than 6 months, cold and wet, low evaporation results in accumulation of water, low decomposition, acidic soils

Question 15

What kind of plant and animal life is found in the boreal forest biome?

Answer 15

Plants: Slow growing plants adapted to long cold winters with little nutrients, mostly conifers
Animals: large and small mammals, migratory birds, insects

Question 16

What kind of climate and soil conditions does the temperate forest have?

Answer 16

Warm and wet, heavy precipitation in fall, winter, and spring. Neutral or slightly acidic soil that are rich in organic matter, fertile

Question 17

What kind of plant life does the temperate forest biome have?

Answer 17

Large trees with large leaves that are vertically stratified.

Question 18

What kind of climate and soil conditions does the temperate grasslands biome have?

Answer 18

Wetter than deserts, but droughts are still common. Most rainfall is during the summer. Soils are deep, basic or neutral and fertile, large amounts of undecomposed organic matter, thick A horizon

Question 19

What kind of plant and animal life does the temperate grassland biome have?

Answer 19

Plants: herbaceous vegetation is dominant, most biomass underground.
Animals: smaller animals, once supported large herds of herbivores

Question 20

What are the human impacts on the temperate grasslands biome?

Answer 20

Is now an endangered biome from agricultural development Most fertile farmlands, but unsustainable from soil loss and irrigation

Question 21

What 4 factors control biomes?

Answer 21

Nutrients, Energy, Water, Temperature (NEWT)

Question 22

What is an ecozone?

Answer 22

A biome based off the evolutionary history of the species there

Question 23

What is an ecoregion?

Answer 23

A smaller area within an ecozone that takes the soil into account