People and the Biosphere

Question 1

What are the climate characteristics of the desert?

Answer 1

Very hot all year (above 30 degrees) with cool nights.

Very low precipitation (below 250mm per year).

Question 2

What is the distinctive vegetation in the desert?

Answer 2

Plants are scarce and have water-storing features, extensive roots and spines instead of leaves.

Question 3

What are the climate characteristics in the boreal forest?

Answer 3

Mild summers (10 - 20 degrees), very cold winters (well below 0).
Low precipitation (less than 500mm) which falls mostly in summer.

Question 4

What is the distinctive vegetation in the boreal forest?

Answer 4

Coniferous trees such as pine.

Question 5

What are the climate characteristics in the tropical rainforest?

Answer 5

Hot all year (25 - 30 degrees).

Wet all year (200 - 300mm average precipitation).

Question 6

What is the distinctive vegetation in the tropical rainforest?

Answer 6

Dense forest with several layers of trees and plants competing for light.

Question 7

What are the climate characteristics in the tundra?

Answer 7

Below 0 all year and reaching 10 in summer.
Low precipitation (often less than 250mm).
Short daylight hours in winter.

Question 8

What is the distinctive vegetation in the tundra?

Answer 8

Very few plants can live here, mainly lichens and mosses. Trees are rare and stunted.

Question 9

What are the climate characteristics in the tropical grasslands (Savannah)?

Answer 9

Hot all year (25 - 35 degrees).

500mm - 1000mm average precipitation, but there is always a dry season.

Question 10

What is the distinctive vegetation in the tropical grassland (savannah)?

Answer 10

Tall grasses with some drought-adapted trees and shrubs.

Question 11

What are the climate characteristics of the temperate grasslands?

Answer 11

Hot in summer (25 degrees), very cold in winter (as low as -40 degrees).
500mm - 900mm precipitation per year, mostly in summer and spring.

Question 12

What is the distinctive vegetation in the temperate grasslands?

Answer 12

Short grasses with few trees and bushes.

Question 13

What are the climate characteristics of the temperate forest?

Answer 13

Warm summers (approx 18 degrees), cool winters (approx 5 degrees).
1000mm of precipitation falls a year and falls all year.

Question 14

What is the distinctive vegetation in the temperate forest?

Answer 14

Deciduous trees such as oak.

Question 15

What is a biome?

Answer 15

A large scale ecosystem, such as tropical rainforests.

Question 16

How many biomes are there?

Answer 16

8

Question 17

What are pressure belts?

Answer 17

The belts that determine precipitation. Air rises and causes more rain in low pressure belts, and air descends and causes hardly any rain in high pressure belts.

Question 18

What is continentality?

Answer 18

How far something is from the sea.

Question 19

Where are desert biomes found?

Answer 19

Close to the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, where hot air sinks to the Earth’s surface and sun rays are concentrated.

Question 20

Where is the tundra biome found?

Answer 20

Within the Arctic Circle in the north, where the sun gives little heat and there is little rainfall.

Question 21

Where is the temperate biome found?

Answer 21

Above the Tropic of Cancer, where there is high rainfall and seasonal variation in the sun’s rays.

Question 22

Where is the taiga biome found?

Answer 22

In the high north, with higher latitudes where sun rays are weak.

Question 23

Where is the tropical biome found?

Answer 23

Either side of the Equator, where the temperature is hot and there is heavy rainfall.

Question 24

Where is the savannah biome found?

Answer 24

Mostly between the Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn, with hot, dry air.

Question 25

Where is the temperate grassland biome found?

Answer 25

Close to the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.