Topic 7: Biomes

Question 1

biomes simple definition

Answer 1

a large area with similar climate and similar flora (plants and vegetation)

Question 2

biomes more precise definition

Answer 2

a major ecological community which is classified by the predominant vegetation, climate, and characterized by adaptions of organisms to a particular environment

Question 3

What are Biomes classified by

Answer 3

their abiotic factors: this includes climate, topographic shape, geology, and soil

Question 4

What are the characteristics that determine the predominant vegetation

Answer 4

It is determined based off of the abiotic factors that determine biomes (climate, topographic shape, geology, and soil)

Question 5

What are biomes in terms of human lifes

Answer 5

it is a method to organize and generalize a type of land in an area

Question 6

what are primary producers

Answer 6

these are photosynthetic organisms (they use light energy and convert it into organic carbon)
- these organisms start the food chain
- without these organisms there are no food chains

Question 7

what are the impacts of temperature (an abiotic factor that affects a biome)

Answer 7

• temperature is an important factor since the rate of chemical reactions are temperature sensitive (most have a 10 degree range both decrease and increase)
• colder temperatures will result in the plants metabolism to decrease and potentially stop
• warmer temperatures will result in the plants to increase therefore leading to proteins within the plant to break down

Question 8

What is the impact of winter on vegetation

Answer 8

• it will result in lower photosynthesis rates which will result in no energy input into the system

Question 9

what happens to the vegetation in extreme environments

Answer 9

they have special adaptations which result in larger temperatures that cause proteins denaturation
- they establish a cold tolerance in order to survive in cooler environments

Question 10

How does water availability affect a biome (an abiotic factor that influences a biome)

Answer 10

• this factor does not have a huge effect on plant growth
  -the availability to water limits the amount of biomass that is present (the products of photosynthesis)
• because of this factor, this means that the energy flow in a ecosystem is limited

Question 11

how does sunlight affect a biome (a abiotic factor)

Answer 11

• sunlight impacts the vegetation in the that fact that sunlight it needed for photosynthesis
• this overall impacts the biomes because of plants can’t grow and reproduce then the food chain can not happen (plants are primary producers)
• in most terrestrial environments sunlight is not the most important limiting abiotic factor
• increasing light intensity will not increase plant productivity
• the amount of sunlight needed by a plant is determined by interacting with the water availability and with temperatures

Question 12

how does wind affect biomes (a abiotic factor that affects biomes)

Answer 12

• the presence of wind will cause the vegetation to dry out and will cause external plant damage from particles being blown at the plants
• based on this factor it will affect the appears of plants in that region and the type of plants that can be grown

Question 13

how does rock and soil impact a biomes (a abiotic factor that impacts biomes)

Answer 13

• the type of soil, the quality, and depth of the soil will determine what type of plants are able to grow in that region (this is the case because soil provides nutrients and water to the plants)

Question 14

How does disturbances impact a biomes (a abiotic factor)

Answer 14

• disturbances are considered to be things such as fires, floods, avalanches, drought, or anything that can harm the biological comunities

Question 15

what are the overall impacts of the 6 abiotic factors on the biomes

Answer 15

• they all play into the plant distribution (where they are located) and determine the plant communities at that local spot

Question 16

climate definition

Answer 16

a long-term prevailing weather conditions at a locality

Question 17

climograph definition

Answer 17

• they are a visual way to display various aspects of climate and predominant vegetation
• these graphs show the interactions between temperature and precipitation in determining predominant vegetation (these two aspects are compared against each other = these equal the axis of the climograph)

Question 18

what is determined from the climographs

Answer 18

these interactions of the environment are useful for determining the different biomes (biomes are determined from climate)

Question 19

What are the flaws to the climographs

Answer 19

• they are based on mean temperature and preciption (they do not take into consideration the seasonal change)
• there are multiple ways to classify biomes so this is not the only method

Question 20

What is the summery of the tropical forest biome

Answer 20

• this region tend to have higher average temperatures
• they get more sunlight per unit of surface area
• this overall biome is organized into subgroups which are based on the amounts and patterns of rainfall

Question 21

what are the characteristics of the tropical rainforest biome

Answer 21

• has a larger amount of species both plants and animals
• plant vegetation includes tree that are found to be distrubuted across the three top layers of in height, many plants found in the shrub layer, and many of plants found on the ground layer
• this biomes has very little sun light that reaches the floor
• vegetation in this biome is has complex structures
• this biome receives a larger amount of energy from the sun and larger amount of precipitation
• this biome gets higher and wetter temperatures

Question 22

What are the characteristics of the desert biome

Answer 22

• this region has low precipitation
• due to global air circulation patterns
• these regions can not usually support full year plant growth
• the lack of water supply for the plants in this region have made it so there structure can survive off of the minimual amount of water (their structures are typically smaller in size)

Question 23

What are the charactistics of the temperate grasslands

Answer 23

• some regions are similar to the savannah dessert while others have seasonally cold winters
• this biome is found all over the world in many different climate regions
• this biome experiences common fire and grazing to prevent the invasion of foreign speices
• this region tends to have thick and rich soil that is full of nutrients

Question 24

what are the charactersitics of the temperate forest

Answer 24

• this region tends to have high moisture
• this region is known to have moderatly cold winters
• this biome contains many tree species that tend to shed its leaves in the winter and autumn
• this biome is also known as the temperate mixed forest

Question 25

what is the characteristics of the northern coniferous forest

Answer 25

• this biome is considered to be the largest terrestrial biome
• this biome that covers a large part of north america and eurasia
• this biome tends to have long cold winters
• this biome has a thin acidic soil
• this region has regular fire cycles
• this region includes the boreal forest and the taiga