Chapter 4: The Terrestrial Environment

Question 1

Maintenance of the balance of water between organisms and their surrounding environment

Answer 1

Water balance

Question 2

Water evaporating from the surfaces of cells via the process of diffusion due to lack of moisture and hydration

Answer 2

Desiccation

Question 3

The total leaf area of a plant exposed to incoming light energy relative to the ground surface area beneath the plant

Answer 3

Leaf area index

Question 4

A natural product formed and synthesized by the weathering of rocks and the action of living organisms

A collection of natural bodies of earth, composed of mineral and organic matter and capable of supporting plant growth.

Answer 4

Soil

Question 5

What is soil for?

Answer 5

The medium for plant growth

The principal factor controlling the fate of water in terrestrial environments

Nature’s recycling system, which breaks down the waste products of plants and animals and transforms them into their basic elements

A habitat to a diversity of animal life, from small mammals to countless forms of microbial life

Question 6

Physical and chemical breakdown of rock and its components at and below Earth’s surface

Answer 6

Weathering