People and Biosphere

Question 1

what is an ecosystem?

Answer 1

A grouping of plants and animals that interact with each other and their local environment

Question 2

what is a biome?

Answer 2

a large scale ecosystem

Question 3

what is biotic?

Answer 3

the living components of an ecosystem: the plants and animals.

Question 4

what is abiotic?

Answer 4

the non-living components of an ecosystem. eg. soil, rocks, water and atmosphere

Question 5

what are the characteristics of the tropical rainforest?

Answer 5

• hot and wet all year
• dense forests with several layers of trees and plants competing for light

Question 6

what are the characteristics of the tropical savanna?

Answer 6

• hot all year
• wet but always with a dry season
• tall grasses and some drought-adapted shrubs and trees

Question 7

what are the characteristics of the deserts?

Answer 7

• very hot all year but with cool nights
  -low rainfall
  -plants are scarce and have water-storing features, spines instead of leaves and extensive root system

Question 8

what are the characteristics of the temperate grasslands?

Answer 8

• hot in summer and very cold in winter
• short grasses with very few trees and bushes

Question 9

what are the characteristics of the temperate forest?

Answer 9

• warm summers and precipitation all year
  -deciduous trees such as oak

Question 10

what are the characteristics of the boreal forests?

Answer 10

• mild summers and very cold winters
  -low precipitation mainly in summer
  -coniferous trees such as pine

Question 11

what are the characteristics of the tundra?

Answer 11

• below 0’ for most of the year
  -low precipitation and short daylight hours in winter
  -very few plants mostly miss and lichens, trees are rare and stunted

Question 12

why is the tropical rainforest hot and wet?

Answer 12

• it is near the equator so bevause the sun is directly ahead all year and the suns rays have a shorter atmospheric distance to travel it is hotter.
• it is situated in the inter-tropical convergence zone so it causes high precipitation

Question 13

why are deserts warm in the day and cold at night?

Answer 13

• sinking air warms and so can hold more moisture preventing cloud formation and creating high pressure so when it turns to night it is more cool and heat escapes as their is no clouds to ‘blanket’ it

Question 14

how does latitude affect ecosystem?

Answer 14

• temperatures drop the further you are from the equator due to the curvature of the earth
  -closer to the equator the sun shines directly overhead so heat is more intense. Also, the sun is shining at a rigjt angle so it has less distance to travel through.
• Closer to the poles the sun is at a lower angle in the sky so heat is dispersed across a larger area.

Question 15

How do pressure belts affect biomes?

Answer 15

• In low pressure areas their is rain as air rises, cools and condenses forming rain
• In high pressure areas it is dry as air sinks

Question 16

How does altitude affect the location of Biomes?

Answer 16

Temperatures fall as height increases. Hills and mountains are also exposed to wind.

Question 17

How does rock type affect the location of biomes?

Answer 17

Some rocks are permeable and soak up water and others are impermeable and don’t let water soak through.

Question 18

How does soil type affect location of biomes?

Answer 18

Different plants grow better in different types of soil

Question 19

How does the biosphere help the composition of the atmosphere?

Answer 19

-Plants take in and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow, but release it back when they die and decay.

-Forests are important carbon stores so destroying forests releases carbon dioxide and prevents it from being taken in and stores.

Question 20

How does the biosphere help soil health?

Answer 20

• Healthy soils contain nutrients, plants remove nutrients from the soil as they grow and pass through the ecosystem food web.
• Dead plant and animal matter (litter) then decays and returns to the soil.

Breaking this pattern by deforestation leads to declined soil health.

Question 21

How does the biosphere help the hydrological cycle regulation?

Answer 21

• Plants especially forests, intercept precipitation, slowing it down.
• Plants also absorb water through roots and prevent surface runoff by slowing the water down

Question 22

Why is there an increase in demand for resources?

Answer 22

• The world population has grown exponentially more people = more demand.
• Over time the amount of food enegery and water has risen as cities have streetlights, people use water for toilets and showers and people are getting wealthy and can afford cars and computers using energy.

Question 23

What is the Malthusian theory?

Answer 23

Thomas Malthus believed that human population would grow faster than the resource supply. When this occurred, carrying capacity has been reached and there would be a point of catastrophe, war, famine and epidemics. This then decreases the population returning to balance.

Question 24

What was the Boserupian theory ?

Answer 24

Esther Boserup suggested as population increased human ingenuity and innovation woukd find ways do increase production to meet demand.