Unit 1: Biomes

Question 1

Tundra

Answer 1

• Northern most land biome
• Nearly treeless, covered with mosses and lichen, and has permafrost
• Most animals summer here
• Caribou, polar bears, muskox, mosquitos, lynx, tussocks

Question 2

Taiga

Answer 2

• Just south of the tundra
• Coniferous trees
• Cold winters, mild summers
• Most of Canada
• Pines, firs, spruces, bears, wolves, elk, moose, grouse

Question 3

Temperate forest

Answer 3

• Deciduous plants with colorful foliage when dropping leaves
• Eastern USA, central Europe, parts of Japan
• Oaks, maples, birches, raccoons, birds, deer, squirrels

Question 4

Grassland

Answer 4

• On the interior of most continents (less precipitation means less vegetation)
• Plains/prairies of USA and Savanna/Veldt of Africa
• Pronghorn, prairie dogs, zebras, wildebeests, giraffes

Question 5

Desert

Answer 5

• Very dry and typically hot
• Very little precipitation though some have monsoon seasons
• Sahara in Africa, deserts in SW USA
• Xerophytes, cactus, sagebrush, lizards, insects, scorpions, snakes

Question 6

Monsoon rainforest

Answer 6

• Two seasons: long dry seasons and very wet season
• Deciduous plants with a drought cue
• Southeast Asia
• Woody vines, epiphytes (orchids), monkeys (Proboscis monkey), birds (Oriental kingfisher), reptiles (Asian vine snake), tigers

Question 7

Tropical rainforest

Answer 7

• Lots of rain
• Constant temperature (25 C)
• Large, dense forests with giant canopies
• Stratified in four layers: emergent, canopy, understory, forest floor
• High biodiversity, insects and birds
• Being destroyed very rapidly

Question 8

Freshwater biomes

Answer 8

• Lifeblood of our continents
• Salt concentration is <1%
• Fish, amphibians, insects, reptiles, birds often reproduce or have life stages within these ecosystems
• Pollution is a major problem

Question 9

Standing water

Answer 9

• Also called “lentic” bodies of water
• Lakes, ponds, inland wetlands

Question 10

Lakes

Answer 10

• Large, natural bodies of standing water
• Formed with precipitation, runoff, and seepage collected in earth’s depressions
• Depressions formed by glaciation, crustal displacement, volcanic activity
• Large lakes may have similar properties to oceans (Lake Michigan)

Question 11

Lake zones

Answer 11

• Littoral zone: shallow, well-lit, close to shore, lots of plants
• Limnetic: open water, well-lit, surface of lake but farther from shore, plankton and higher animals, produces food and oxygen for most of the lake
• Profundal: deep, dark, cooler areas
• Benthic: bottom of the lake, dark, cold, fairly anaerobic

Question 12

Wetlands

Answer 12

• An area that is covered in water for part or all of the year and supports aquatic plants
• Among the richest biomes, easily damaged, but are often protected
• Marshes, swamps, bogs, seasonal wetlands
• Bullfrogs, dragonflies, alligators

Question 13

Marshes

Answer 13

• A type of wetland covered in water year round with emergent plants
• The Everglades

Question 14

Swamps

Answer 14

A type of wetland covered in water year round with woody plants
* Forested portions of the Everglades

Question 15

Bogs

Answer 15

• A type of wetland covered in water year round with sphagnum mosses
• Little nutrients, carnivorous plants
  *

Question 16

Seasonal wetlands

Answer 16

• A type of wetlands covered in water for part of the year
• Basins, riverine, and fringe

Question 17

Moving water

Answer 17

• Also called “lotic” bodies of water
• Rivers and streams
• Three zones
• Often terminate in a delta
• Newt, grizzly bear, trout

Question 18

Lotic zones

Answer 18

• Source: headwaters, cold, clear, narrow, swift, few nutrients
• Transition: less clear, warmer, more sediment and nutrients, slower current, silt
• Floodplain: join tributaries to empty at estuaries, warmer still, murky, slow, wide, lots of sediments

Question 19

Estuaries

Answer 19

• Where fresh and salt water meet
• River mouths, salt marshes
• A nursery for many marine animals
• Very important to marine habitats
• Mangroves found here
• Matanzas river

Question 20

Intertidal zone

Answer 20

• From low tide to high tide
• Very hard place to live but lots of algae and other photosynthetic life here
• A zone of conflict
• Barnacles, sea stars, fan worms

Question 21

Neritic zone

Answer 21

• From low tide to open sea zone
• The expanse of ocean over the continental shelf
• This zone is entirely photic (sunlight penetrates)
• Coral reefs, seaweed (algae), kelp forests, crabs, lobsters, small fish
• Often a nursery for larger, open water organisms

Question 22

Open sea zone

Answer 22

• Also called the pelagic zone
• Over ocean crust and very deep
• Top few meters of the water column are photic
• Some areas of the open sea zone have more nutrients than others—caused by upwellings and other currents
• Has a complicated system of currents with temperature and salt gradients
• Plankton, whale sharks, dolphins

Question 23

Deep sea zone

Answer 23

• Entirely aphotic
• High pressure
• Strange animals—bioluminescence, clear or see through organisms, strange feeding habits
• Gulper eel, snaggletooth, deep sea loosejaw, stoplight loosejaw, hachtetfish, sloane’s viperfish, common fangtooth, anglerfish