Connect SB: 5 Biomes

The ______ biome is defined by unpredictable and low (under 30 cm per year) precipitation rates.

desert

Tropical _____ forests all have abundant moisture and uniform temperatures.

moist

Because of the lack of nutrients, biological productivity is often low in ______.

the open ocean

Under what conditions do grasslands occur? They occur where ______.

there is enough rain to support abundant grass but not enough for forests

Boreal forest trees are slow-growing because _____.

they have only a short summer season for growing of the cold temperatures

Tropical moist forests have soil that is ______.

thin acidic nutrient-poor

What is the main reason grasslands are one of the most disturbed biomes?

Grasslands tend to make good farmland.

Which of these ocean system zones is the deepest?

Hadal

How is marine productivity best described in the open ocean?

It can be described as a biological desert because of the low productivity.

Why do deserts recover slowly from damage?

It takes a long time for desert soils to develop. Desert vegetation is slow growing.

Select the characteristics that contribute to vertical stratification in aquatic ecosystems.

Light decreases with depth. Temperature decreases with depth.

Which of the following statements best describes soil nutrient conditions in tropical moist forests?

Nutrients are low because they are rapidly recycled into the living plant community.

Which of the following is not a characteristic of the deep-sea thermal vent ecosystem?

Overabundance of oxygen

Identify the reasons below that correctly indicate why wetlands are important.

Roughly one-third of all endangered species spend at least part of their lives in wetlands. They filter and purify water. They retain stormwater and reduce flooding.

A grassland receives too little rain to support a forest. If the grassland starts to get enough rain to support a sparse tree cover, the grassland may transition into a ______ over time.

Savanna

What is the difference between grasslands and savannas?

Savannas have a sparse tree cover in addition to the grass-covered areas.

Temperate deciduous and coniferous forests in ______ are threatened due to the high rates of logging of old-growth trees.

Siberia

Why are temperate broadleaf forests the most completely human-dominated major biome?

Temperate broadleaf forests develop under conditions that are also ideal for human occupation, thus they are cleared for that purpose.

Not including the availability of sunlight, what is the major limiting factor influencing marine productivity?

The availability of nutrients

What is the broad, relatively shallow underwater region along a continent's coastline called?

The continental shelf

Using the climagraph representing annual temperature and precipitation patterns, pick the best suggestion for why grasslands have been converted to farmland.

The summer months peak in warmth and precipitation, helping crops grow.

What is the difference between the arctic and alpine tundra?

They are similar but the alpine tundra occurs on or near mountaintops.

How are the arctic and alpine tundra similar?

They both have low productivity that peaks during short summers. They lack trees.

Which statement below accurately describes the California landscape known as chaparral?

A land covered by evergreen shrubs, scrub oaks, and drought-resistant pines that periodically burns in intense fires

Select the best definition for the term tundra.

A treeless landscape occurring at high latitudes

Why are estuaries and saline wetlands important to marine fish and shellfish?

About two-thirds of marine fish and shellfish rely on estuaries and saline wetlands for spawning and juvenile development.

What is a continental shelf?

An often broad, undersea, shallow region along a continent's coast

Vertical stratification occurs in aquatic ecosystems due to decreasing _____and _____ with depth.

Blank 1: light or sunlight Blank 2: temperature

What energy source fuels deep-sea thermal vent communities?

Chemical energy Reason: Microbes metabolize the sulfur compounds coming out of the vent to gain energy.

Which organisms below have a symbiotic relationship and together create living reefs?

Colonial animals (coral polyps) and photosynthetic algae

Select the human activities that destroy barrier islands.

Creating roads that cut through dunes Walking on dune grass

Why can deciduous forest regrow quickly?

Deciduous forests occupy moist, moderate climates that allow for good growth rates.

Which two ecosystems serve as spawning grounds and nurseries for the majority of marine fish and shellfish?

Estuaries Saline wetlands

Identify the major threats to the tundra.

Global climate change Oil and gas drilling and the associated truck traffic Air pollution accumulating at high latitudes

What is the greatest threat to coral reefs?

Global warming, which causes coral bleaching

Which of the following are threats to the rich, diverse communities found in coral reef biomes?

Introduced pathogens and predators Trash and sewage Destructive fishing methods Excess nutrient runoff from land

How quickly would a taiga recover from environmental degradation?

Slowly, because the trees in the taiga have a slow growth rate due to the short summer

Taiga recovers ______ from environmental degradation because of the short summers and very cold temperatures.

Taiga

What two characteristics are the most important in determining the distribution of a biome?

Temperature and precipitation

What do you observe in the image that could lead to the destruction or degradation of the barrier island?

The road, cutting through the dunes in the foreground of the image, is making the dunes less resistant to erosion.

Why have tropical seasonal forests suffered greater degradation than tropical moist forests?

The soils of tropical seasonal forests are typically better for farming. Tropical seasonal forests are more easily cleared with fire.

Which of the following characteristics of boreal forests is incorrect?

The trees are fast-growing and reach enormous size.

When corals are stressed by increasing ocean water temperatures they often expel their algal symbionts. This process is called coral ______.

bleaching

The California _____ landscape has periodic fires and drought tolerant species.

chaparral

Deserts occur where ______.

precipitation is rare and unpredictable with usually less than 30 cm of rain per year

Common attributes of tropical moist forests include ample _____ and uniform _____.

rainfall; temperatures

Since people tend to prefer living in tropical _____ forests and their soils are better for farming, these forests have suffered a greater degree of degradation than tropical _____ forests.

Blank 1: dry, drought-deciduous, or seasonal Blank 2: wet, rain, or moist

Which of the following correctly identifies the vertically stratified layers of a lake in order, with the shallowest layer at the top and the deepest layer at the bottom?

Epilimnion, mesolimnion (thermocline), hypolimnion

Why is it difficult to restore tropical moist forests once they have been removed?

Since 90 percent of the nutrients in a tropical moist forest are above its soil, the thin soil alone cannot support a rainforest's regrowth.

Identify reasons that correctly explain why tropical coastal mangroves have been cleared.

They have been cleared to make room for shrimp and fish ponds. They have been cut down for firewood.

Why have large portions of grasslands been converted to farmlands?

They have nutrient-rich soils desirable for agriculture.

Which of the following statements correctly describe the "value" of wetlands to the United States?

They perform ecological services, such as floodwater storage, that have been valued in the billions of dollars annually.

Biomes are differentiated by temperature and precipitation. Which of the following answers correctly ranks the biomes from high to low precipitation and high to low temperature?

Tropical rainforest, boreal forest, tundra

Coastal tundra in eastern Canada is being badly overgrazed by overabundant populations of snow geese.

True

Deserts are slow to recover from environmental damage because the ability of damaged desert soils to hold moisture decreases when plant cover is lost.

True

The controlling factor in determining where grasslands will occur as a terrestrial biome is the ______.

amount of rain the region receives

The thin, nutrient-poor soils found in tropical moist forests ______.

are easily eroded when the forests are removed cannot support long-term agricultural production

Deforestation rates in Siberia are very high, with old-growth coniferous and deciduous forests ______ extensively.

being logged

"_____ zones" in the ocean occur where excess nutrients support rapid bacterial growth and a resulting removal of dissolved oxygen from the waters.

dead

Ocean currents and runoff from land are important to marine biological productivity because they ______.

deliver the nutrients that are often limiting factors in the ocean

Coral bleaching occurs when ______.

elevated water temperatures cause corals to expel their symbiotic algal partners

In a tundra, vegetation includes ______, and ______ can occur any month of the year.

grasses and lichens; frost

Deciduous forests regrow quickly because of their location in moderate, moist climates but this doesn't always happen because ______.

many of these areas are settled and farmed

Deciduous temperate forests tend to occupy _____ and _____ climates, while coniferous forests tend to occupy _____ and _____ climates.

moist; moderate; dry; cold

What are the causes of "dead zones" in the ocean? They occur where ______.

nutrients are overly abundant and bacterial growth and decay consume almost all of the dissolved oxygen from the water

Migratory birds have suffered due to the loss of ______ across the world because they have been drained and filled in for other land uses. The area covered by these ecosystems is half what it was 100 years ago in the U.S.

wetlands

The loss of _____ worldwide has been extensive, as they have been filled, drained, converted to farmland, or lost due to coastal erosion.

wetlands

The thermocline of a lake is the ______.

zone of rapid temperature change between the warmer epilimnion layer above and the colder hypolimnion layer below