Geography The Living World May 2018 Flashcards
What are cold environments?
Cold environments are environments that experience temperatures at or below zero for a long period of time.
What is the climate like in polar regions?
The winter temperatures are around -50 degrees with low precipitation (Snow) totals.
What is the soil like in polar regions?
The soil suffers from permafrost due to it being covered by frozen ice for long periods.
What plants grow in polar regions?
Some mosses and lichens are found on the fringes of the ice as well as low growing plants with hairy stems for warmth.
What animals are found in polar regions?
Animals with thick fur, insulating layers of fat and black areas of skin are found here because these features help them keep warm.
What is the climate like in tundra regions?
The climate is less extreme to polar regions and winter temperatures can reach -20 degrees. The brief summers can be warm and the precipitation levels (mostly snow) can be high in coastal areas.
What is the soil like in tundra regions?
The soil suffers from permafrost but in the summer the upper layers will melt. The soil is generally infertile as the water draining through the soil removes the nutrients and the soil can become waterlogged to the water being stopped by permafrost.
What plants grow in tundra regions?
Low-growing flowering plants such as a bearberry plant can be found as well as low bushes and small trees.
What animals are found in tundra regions?
Due to the increase of food and decrease of extreme temperatures more animals live here such as the arctic fox and arctic hare. Birds and insects are also abundant during the summer.
What is an example of a Polar region?
The Arctic or Antarctic
What is an example of a tundra region?
Alaska or Svalbard
What are the characteristics of a tropical rainforest?
Tropical rainforests are hot and humid and rainfall occurs almost every day.
Where are tropical rainforests found?
They are found in a belt along the equator. The belt stretches 10 degrees north and south of the equator
What is the water cycle like in tropical rainforests?
When it rains the the rainforests the water dropped is intercepted by drip tip leaves in the canopy layer and some of it reaches the ground. The trees then take up this water. Once the water evaporates the whole cycle occurs again.
What is the nutrient cycle like in tropical rainforests?
Trees in a tropical rainforests constantly shed their leaves leading to decaying vegetation on the forest floor. The nutrients from the vegetation is absorbed into the soil and nearby trees with shallow roots take up these nutrients and grow rapidly. Then the cycle happens again
