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Desert Museum Docent > Study Guide #2 (Deserts) > Flashcards

Study Guide #2 (Deserts) Flashcards

1
Q

Biome or Biological community?

A large-scale natural environment characterized by its distinctive vegetation and maintained by local climatic conditions. Biomes typically include many different biotic communities and ecosystems.

A

Biome

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2
Q

Lower Colorado Valley or Arizona Upland?

Resembles thornscrub more than desert.

A

Arizona Upland

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3
Q

The Sonoran Desert can be considered a very arid tropical forest, about half of the biota is of tropical origin.

True or False

A

True

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4
Q

Desert plants and animals are struggling to survive.

True or False

A

False

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5
Q

Check the desert(s) found in Arizona.

A

X Chihuahuan

X Sonoran

X Great Basin

X Mojave

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6
Q

Tucson receives and average of ____ inches of rain a year, while the pan evaporation is about ____ inches.

A

12, 100

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7
Q

Where on the grounds can you find information on deserts?

A

Orientation ramada.

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8
Q

Lower Colorado Valley or Arizona Upland?

Annuals comprise well over half of the species in the flora.

A

Lower Colorado Valley

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9
Q

Lower Colorado Valley or Arizona Upland?

Community also called the ‘saguaro-palo verde forest’.

A

Arizona Upland

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10
Q

Lower Colorado Valley or Arizona Upland?

Broad valleys and widely separated small mountain ranges.

A

Lower Colorado Valley

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11
Q

Biome or Biological community?

The plants and animals living and interacting with each other and with their physical environment in a given locality, such as in a salt marsh or in a bursage-creosote community.

A

Biological community.

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12
Q

Check the biome(s) found in the Sonoran Desert region.

A

X Grassland

X Desert

X Temperate Broadleaf Forest

X Mediterranean Woodland Shrub-Land (Chaparral)

X Thornscrub

X Tropical Dry Forest

X Coniferous Forest

X Tundra

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13
Q

Lower Colorado Valley or Arizona Upland?

Average annual rainfall less than 5 inches.

A

Lower Colorado Valley

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14
Q

Lower Colorado Valley or Arizona Upland?

Trees occur only in drainages.

A

Lower Colorado Valley

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15
Q

Lower Colorado Valley or Arizona Upland?

Highest and coldest subdivision of the Sonoran desert, located in south central Arizona and northern Sonora.

A

Arizona Upland

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16
Q

Lower Colorado Valley or Arizona Upland?

Trees and columnar cacti grow on hills.

A

Arizona Upland

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17
Q

List the six Sonoran Desert subdivisions.

A

Lower Colorado Valley

Arizona Upland

Plains of Sonora

Central Gulf Coast

Viscaino

Magdalena

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18
Q

Lush in comparison to most other deserts. The visually dominant elements of the landscape are legume trees and large columnar cacti. Much of the area has a bi-seasonal rainfall pattern.

Great Basin, Mojave, Chihuahuan or Sonoran?

A

Sonoran

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19
Q

Lower Colorado Valley or Arizona Upland?

Winter rainfall season is dominant.

A

Lower Colorado Valley

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20
Q

Lower Colorado Valley or Arizona Upland?

Terrain contains numerous mountain ranges and narrow valleys.

A

Arizona Upland

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21
Q

List the five seasons of the Sonoran Desert.

A

Spring

Fore Summer (dry)

Summer (wet)

Autumn

Winter

22
Q

Lower Colorado Valley or Arizona Upland?

Lowest, hottest and driest region.

A

Lower Colorado Valley

23
Q

In the Sonoran Desert aridity is more limiting to plant life than is cold.

True or False

24
Q

Which are the two life forms that distinguish the Sonoran Desert from other North American Deserts?

A

Legume trees and columnar cacti.

25
Q

Lower Colorado Valley or Arizona Upland?

Terrain consists mostly of broad, flat valleys with widely scattered mountain ranges of almost barren rock.

A

Lower Colorado Valley

26
Q

Check the life form(s) of plants more common in deserts, in percent of flora, than in other biomes.

A

X Annuals

X Succulents

27
Q

Lower Colorado Valley or Arizona Upland?

Summer and winter rainy season equal.

A

Arizona Upland

28
Q

Check the physical (geographical, not biological) characteristic(s) of the Sonoran Desert.

A

X Horse latitude

X Rain shadow desert

X Two distinct rainy seasons

X Hot summers

X Mild, nearly frost-free winters

X Five seasons because summer is divided into dry and wet periods

29
Q

This is the southernmost North American desert. It lies at a fairly high elevation and it is not protected from Arctic air masses by any barrier, so are winter freezes are common. Its vegetation consists of many species of low shrubs, leaf succulents, and small cacti. Trees are rare. Rainfall is predominately in the summer, but in its northern reaches there is occasionally enough winter rain to support massive blooms of spring annuals.

Great Basin, Mojave, Chihuahuan or Sonoran?

A

Chihuahuan

30
Q

Both the highest elevation and northernmost of the four North American deserts. Has very cold winters. The seasonal distribution varies with latitude, but temperatures limit the growing season to summer. Vegetation is dominated by a few species of low, small-leafed shrubs; there are almost no trees or succulents and few annuals.

Great Basin, Mojave, Chihuahuan or Sonoran?

A

Great Basin

31
Q

Lower Colorado Valley or Arizona Upland?

Dominated by low shrubs (creosote and white bursage) the two most drought tolerant plants in North America.

A

Lower Colorado Valley

32
Q

Lower Colorado Valley or Arizona Upland?

Columnar cacti are rare.

A

Lower Colorado Valley

33
Q

A major proportion of the Sonoran Desert’s biota evolved from ancestors in tropical biomes.

True or False

34
Q

Lower Colorado Valley or Arizona Upland?

Summer highs may exceed 120 degrees F. and 180 degree surface temperature.

A

Lower Colorado Valley

35
Q

Check all the describe the Sonoran desert.

A

X Horse latitude

X Rain shadow

X Lush in comparison to most other deserts.

X Biota partly tropical in origin. May of the perennial plants and animals are derived from ancestors in the tropical thornscrub to the south, their life cycles attuned to the brief summer rainy season.

36
Q

Check the correct statement(s) about an indicator plant.

A

X Is diagnostic of a region.

X Should be common and widespread in the specified region.

X May be one or more species.

X May be an entire life form.

37
Q

Creosote occurs in all four deserts in North America.

True or False

38
Q

Lower Colorado Valley or Arizona Upland?

Saguaro is only columnar cactus in Arizona portion, grows only on valley floors and is rare.

A

Lower Colorado Valley

39
Q

Lower Colorado Valley or Arizona Upland?

Only part of the Sonoran Desert that extends into California.

A

Lower Colorado Valley

40
Q

Horse latitude deserts are found on the …

A

… western side of every large landmass near 30 degrees north and south latitudes.

41
Q

Many of the word’s deserts are classified as horse latitude or rain shadow deserts.

True or False

42
Q

Lower Colorado Valley or Arizona Upland?

Indicator plants are saguaro, triangle leaf bursage, and foothill palo verde.

A

Arizona Upland

43
Q

The common denominator of all deserts is extreme aridity – water is freely available only for short periods following rains.

True or False

44
Q

Characterized largely by its winter rainy season. Hard freezes are common and the perennial vegetation is composed mostly of low shrubs; annuals carpet the ground in wet years. Few succulents and trees grow there. A tree-like yucca forms extensive woodlands above 3,000 feet in elevation.

Great Basin, Mojave, Chihuahuan or Sonoran?

45
Q

Lower Colorado Valley or Arizona Upland?

Highest and coldest subdivision.

A

Arizona Upland

46
Q

Lower Colorado Valley or Arizona Upland?

Trees are common on rocky slopes above the cold valley floors.

A

Arizona Upland

47
Q

In the Sonoran Desert region tundra, coniferous forests and temperate deciduous forests are restricted to mountains that rise well above the intervening basins.

True or False

48
Q

Lower Colorado Valley or Arizona Upland?

Indicator plants are smoke tree, white bursage, blue palo verde and ironwood.

A

Lower Colorado Valley

49
Q

Check the accurate statement(s) about deserts.

A

X Potential evapotranspiration is much greater than precipitation.

X Water is severely limiting to life most of the time.

X The native community requires seasonal drought to thrive.

50
Q

Lower Colorado Valley or Arizona Upland?

Only subdivision that experiences frequent hard winter frosts.

A

Arizona Upland

Desert Museum Docent (16 decks)

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