Environmental Science Set 1 Flashcards
What does terrestrial mean?
Terrestrial means land based.
What can the world be divided into?
The world can be divided into biomes
What is a biome?
A biome is a large area of land that has a similar climate and is characterized by a unique mixture of plants and animals
What makes the plants and animals in each biome special?
The plants/animals in each biome are adapted to that biome’s environment.
What are the eight biomes of the earth?
tropical rainforest, savanna, grassland, chaparral, desert, temperate deciduous forest, boreal forest/taiga, and tundra
Does everyone agree with the 8 biomes?
No, there are disagreements about biome types
What four biomes does Canada have?
Canada has temperate deciduous forest, grassland, boreal forest/taiga and tundra
How does boreal forest in Canada compare to boreal forest in Russia?
They are the same and they look the similar.
What are differences in biomes dependent upon?
Biomes are created by differences in climate, temperature and precipitation (rainfall)
Where are tropical rainforests located?
Tropical rainforest is located in the equatorial zone in Central America, South America, Asia and Australia.
Where are the largest tropical rainforests located?
The largest tropical rainforests are located in South America, Southeast Asia, and Africa
What is the air like in a tropical rainforest?
The air in a tropical rainforest has a high water content, so it is very humid and it frequently rains.
How much rain does a tropical rainforest get?
1.5 m to 4 m of rain falls in a tropical rainforest each year.
What does biodiverse mean?
Biodiverse means there are many many types of animals and plants
How many species are found in tropical rainforests?
More than ½ the world’s species are found in tropical rainforest biomes.
What is the temperature like in tropical rainforests?
Because they are near the equator, tropical rainforests are warm.
Tropical rainforests are very dense. What does this mean?
Very dense means that the trees are very close together and they are very lush with their branches overlapping.
What is the top of the trees called where they all meet?
The tree canopy is the top of the forest where all the tree branches meet.
What does the tree canopy prevent?
Because the trees are so thick, the tree canopy stops sunlight from getting to the forest floor.
What percent of sunlight gets through to the forest floor?
2% of sunlight gets to the forest floor because of the tree canopy.
How has this lack of sunlight affected plants?
The lack of sunlight means that many plants grow very tall trying to get sunlight, and other plans grow over top and smoother other plants.
How do you tell if a species is poisonous?
The species that are poisonous have adapted by making themselves very colourful as a warning to predators.
How have amphibians and insects become poisonous?
They eat plants that have toxins (harmful chemicals) and then the creatures become poisonous as a result.
What does bird colour tel you?
Birds that are more colourful are males and the brighter their colour the more healthy they are.
What is the purpose of colour and brightness in tropical birds?
The colour and brightness is to attract a mate.
What do mammals and big cats in the jungle usually have instead of bright colours?
Mammals and cats are usually camouflaged
What is camouflage?
Camouflage is being able to blend into their surroundings.
Where do monkeys, sloths and lemurs spend much of their time?
Monkeys, sloths and lemurs spend much of their time in the tree canopy to stay away from predators.
How do humans affect tropical rainforest?
Humans harvest wood, fruit, medicinal plants.
What are differences in biomes dependent upon?
Deforestation, chopping the trees down, is the biggest threat. Often they burn the trees to clear the land.
Why have thousands of acres been chopped down in Malaysia?
They are making room for oil palm plantations.
What do we use palm oil for?
We use palm oil for many products from soap to chocolate bars.
Which creature is suffering the most from this deforestation?
The orangoutang
What does orangoutang mean?
man of the forest of Malay
How can deforestation be reduced?
Governments need to encourage sustainable farming in places where forest has already been lost, teach farmers to use less land and less water
What sort of reforestation is happening?
Governments are encouraging farmers to replant trees and to maintain the forests themselves rather than chop it all down.
How could tropical rainforests help global warming?
Tropical rainforests are called ‘carbon sinks’ because they absorb so much carbon dioxide and give us so much oxygen.
How can forests mitigate climate change?
Mitigate means to make less severe… the more trees absorbing carbon dioxide, the less there is in the air to ruin the atomosphere.
What is the process by which trees ‘clean’ the air of carbon dioxide?
The process of removing carbon dioxide and making oxygen is called photosynthesis.
