Climate and Distribution of Communities

Question 1

What is responsible for seasons?

Answer 1

earth’s tilt on its axis

Question 2

What does summer mean?

Answer 2

earth is tilted towards the sun

Question 3

What does winter mean?

Answer 3

earth is tilted away from the sun

Question 4

How much of the energy that is coming to the sun is absorbed by the atmosphere?

Answer 4

1/2

Question 5

What layer absorbs most of sun’s UV radiation?

Answer 5

ozone

Question 6

What is the greenhouse effect?

Answer 6

when atmospheric gases (like CO2) trap heat and radiate it towards the earths surface

Question 7

Why does the equator get more heat?

Answer 7

because equatorial heat is more direct and there is less atmosphere to pass through

Question 8

Why do poles get less light/heat?

Answer 8

because the poles are tilted and the heat has more distance to cover, and more atmosphere to pass through

Question 9

What two things determine how much heat is radiated onto the earth?

Answer 9

curvature of earth and atmosphere

Question 10

Does hot air rise or sink?

Answer 10

rise

Question 11

Does cool air rise or sink?

Answer 11

sink

Question 12

What type of air holds more moisture?

Answer 12

hot air

Question 13

How does global air circulation work?

Answer 13

1. at the equator, the warm air rises and picks up moisture
2. as it rises it cools and dumps water on the equator
3. then, the cool air finally comes back around 30o and the heats up/sucks up moisture to 60o

Question 14

What is the coroiolis effect?

Answer 14

because of the earths rotation, wind is deflected to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere

Question 15

What are upwellings?

Answer 15

movement of deep, cold, nutrient rich water to the surface

Question 16

What is a gyre and what does it do?

Answer 16

closed open circuit, it allows lands close by the (hot or cold) gyres to have the same temperature

Question 17

What is the rain shadow effect?

Answer 17

1. water is picked up by warm air and dropped on left side of a mountain (windward)
2. as the air cools and becomes warmer (when it travels down a mountain), it sucks up moisture and the climate becomes dry and humid (leeward)

Question 18

What happens when we increase 1000M in elevation isn both latitudes and mountains?

Answer 18

we decrease by 6 degrees

Question 19

What does a higher temperature and rainfall indicate about a biome?

Answer 19

that there’s higher productivity

Question 20

What biome has low precipitation, high temperatures, and high evaporation rates?

Answer 20

desert

Question 21

What biome has low precipitation, cold climate, and short growing seasons?

Answer 21

tundra

Question 22

What types of plants are found in the tundra?

Answer 22

perennial plants

Question 23

What biome has hot climate, moderate precipitation, has lots of fires, and has few trees?

Answer 23

savannahs

Question 24

What biome has cooler climate, moderate precipitation, only grass, and lots of fires?

Answer 24

temperate grasslands

Question 25

What biome has high diversity of trees, winter dormancy, and seasonal temperature change?

Answer 25

deciduous forests

Question 26

What biome has lots of rain, summer droughts, and large similar trees?

Answer 26

evergreen forest

Question 27

What biome has conifers, lakes and bogs, and low diversity?

Answer 27

taiga

Question 28

What is the continental shelf?

Answer 28

basically the coral reef, and i has high productivity

Question 29

What are open oceans?

Answer 29

part of the ocean with low productivity

Question 30

What are upwelling regions?

Answer 30

regions with a lot of phytoplankton

Question 31

What is the deep sea region?

Answer 31

largest habitat on earth

Question 32

What is an oligotrophic lake?

Answer 32

lake with little to no nutrients (hence low algae)

Question 33

What is a eutrophic lake?

Answer 33

lake with high nutrients and productivity, but it has depleted O2 levels the deeper you get

Question 34

What winds carry hot surface water westward?

Answer 34

strong trade winds

Question 35

What is el nino?

Answer 35

when hot water is not moved by strong trade winds, and so this decreases upwellings in Peru because there’s so cold air (so no new nutrients)