ch52 Flashcards
Which choice below describes a feature of grassland that explains why its remnants are concentrated in arid regions of North America and central Asia?
The soil is fertile and most grassland has been converted to farmland.
A _________ compares annual temperatures and rainfall in different _________.
climograph; biomes
Factors that influence global climate patterns include all of the following except _________.
longitudinal variation in sunlight intensity
Temperature, precipitation, sunlight, and wind are the major components of __________.
climate
An ecologist might conduct research to answer which of the following questions?
How do tapeworms adapt to life in the human intestine?
When people speak of the “rain shadow” of the California Coast Range, they are referring to ___________.
the scarcity of rain on the eastern flank and adjacent lowlands compared with the western flank
The movement of individuals or gametes away from their areas of origin or from centers of high population density is called _________.
dispersal
An immature frog (a tadpole) lives in a pond or lake. However, the adult frog possesses special adaptations that permit it to survive in a terrestrial environment. These special adaptations __________.
help prevent the adult frog’s body from drying out
Zonation in aquatic zones includes all of the following except the ________ zone.
detritus
A thermocline is a ____________.
narrow layer of abrupt temperature change in most lakes and the ocean
Communities that exist in the aphotic zone ultimately depend on food manufactured by chemoautotrophic bacteria or ___________.
algae and cyanobacteria that live in the photic zone
Below the photic zone of the ocean, __________.
food chains are detritus-based
The term that describes a lake that is nutrient-poor and oxygen-rich is _________.
oligotrophic
Bodies of water tend to moderate climate because __________.
the hydrogen bonding in water gives it a high specific heat
In a rather infamous case of species transplantation, starlings were introduced into North America from Europe in 1890 by an eccentric Shakespeare fan. Though the actual range of starlings was originally in the eastern hemisphere, it is clear that North America was part of its __________ range.
potential
The region that is characterized by a vast realm of open, blue water is called the _________ zone.
oceanic pelagic
Terrestrial biomes include all of the following regions except the _________ region.
limnetic
Why are many of the world’s deserts located at latitudes between 30°N and 30°S?
Dry air, originating at the equator, descends toward Earth’s surface between 30°N latitude and 30°S latitude.
What is the importance of turnover in temperate lakes?
It brings oxygen-rich water to the bottom, and nutrient-rich water to the surface.
Rooted plants are found only in the __________ zone of a lake.
littoral
Characteristic of surface ocean currents is that the ____________.
North Atlantic and North Pacific subtropical gyres all flow in a clockwise direction
Fringe wetlands develop __________.
both along the coasts of lakes, where water flows back and forth because of falling and rising lake levels, and along the coasts of seas, where water flows back and forth because of tidal action
An abiotic effect that restricts tree growth at high elevations is __________.
ultraviolet radiation
North American and African desert plants have similar features but different evolutionary paths due to __________.
convergent evolution
