Exam 2: Unit 14 - 26
Radioactive carbon-____ isotope has been used in dating organic objects that can be used in climate change studies
14
The Little Ice Age was brief cold period in which Europe suffered from famine around the years
1400 to 1850
The climatic normal is based on the most recent averages
30 years
The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was one of the largest warming events known. The spike in temperatures took place approx. ___ years ago
55 million
Before the present, the most recent time of mass extinction of species occurred ______ years ago
65 million
A soil with pH of ____ is neither acidic nor alkaline.
7
Solum consists of the following soil layers?
A, B
In tropical monsoon Asia, where there is a strong seasonal change in rainfall amounts, the Koppen classification is
Am
What is the connection between deforestation of rainforest and McDonalds?
As forests are cleared, cattle ranchers move in creating pasturelands
The soil resides at the intersection of which spheres?
Atmosphere, lithosphere / lithosphere, hydrosphere / biosphere, lithosphere
A savanna climate is denoted in Koppen classification as
Aw
The process of illuviation adds particles in the ____ layer.
B
The steppe or semi-arid grassland climate is denoted as ____ in the Koppen climate classification
BS
Which Koppen climate type is associated with aridisols?
BW
Which layer best represents the weathered bedrock layer?
C
East coasts of mid latitude continents generally have _____ climate
Cf
Most of Western Europe is classified as ____ in Koppen classification
Cfb
In the ____ climate, rainfall occurs mostly during the cool season due to mid latitude winter cyclones
Cs
Mediterranean climates are associated with the following Koppen climate type
Cs
Northern India's monsoon climate may have ______ climate in the higher elevations.
Cw
Spodosol soils are most associated with which Koppen. climate classification?
D
What was the cause of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s?
Drought, over-cultivation, and wind erosion
The Greenland icecap and the Antarctica plateau would be classified as _____ climates
EF
The Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic never warm above 10C, but remain above freezing. The Koppen classification for these islands is
ET
When the annual temperature range remains between 0° and 10°, the climate is
ET
The largest pool of carbon in the carbon cycle is
Earth's crust
The Milankovitch Cycle explains long-term natural climate variation based on
Earth's orbital cycles
Mediterranean climates occur in all of these EXCEPT
Florida
Which soil order is associated with peat or muck and common wetlands?
Histosols
About what percent of species have been identified and classified?
Less than 10
Tundra vegetation includes
Mosses, lichen, and stunted trees
Which of the following soil horizons when reading from left to right indicate the correct order from top to bottom?
O,A,E,B,C,R
Which of these states were the most heavily damaged by the Dust Bowl?
Oklahoma
Where would soil formation be relatively rapid?
On a tropical volcanic island
Why do oxisols have such low fertilty?
Percolating water leaches the soil and organic matter is quickly lost.
Charleston, South Carolina and _____ are both examples of Cfa climate
Shanghai, China
Acid rain involves precipitation through an atmosphere with high amounts of
Sodium oxide and nitrogen oxide
The Sahel of Africa is located
South of the Sahara
The Koppen climate classification is based on
Temperatures and precipitation
Subgroups of C climates are mainly based on:
Their seasonal precipitation patterns
How are the soil order entisols, histosols, vertisols, inceptisols, gelisols and andisols similar?
They are not associated with certain climates
The Younger Dryas was an abrupt cooling period around 13,000 years ago that was believed to be caused by
a change in the thermohaline circulation of the Atlantic
Which of the following trait is NOT different with Cw and Aw climates?
a distinct dry season
For A climates the coolest month must be
above 18 degrees celsius
Which soil orders are most strongly influenced by parent material than any other single factor?
andisols
Global Climate Models (GCMs) show. that natural forcing by solar variations and volcanic eruptions:
are not as good at explaining the observed temperature record as anthropogenic influences
Which of the following has been influenced by human activities?
atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, changes to the surface albedo, and atmospheric greenhouse gases concentration
Phytoplankton are _____.
autotrophs
Net primary productivity is the:
biomass produced by all plants minus the mass lost through plant respiration
The taiga vegetation includes
boreal forests
Burning tropical forests
changes surface albedo, changes water balance, adds carbon dioxide and particulates to the atmosphere
Which of the following soils would generally have the highest field capacity?
clay loam
Which of the following statements list soil particles from smallest (left) to largest (right)?
clay, silt, sand
A study involving 50 years of tornado data would probably be considered
climatology
An invasion of exotic species to a region sometimes results in increased ___.
competition
If human activities had not begun to impact climate some 2000 years ago, our climate would be ___ than what we are experiencing now.
cooler
Recent. trends show that. as human population increases, biodiversity
decreases
The study of tree rings in climate research is called
dendrochronology
The process of transporting particles from a higher layer to a lower layer is called
eluviation
A natural ecosystem operates on:
energy flow and matter cycling
The_______ soil order is defined by its lack of a B layer and a weakly developed soil.
entisols
The peds associated with platy soil structure most closely resemble:
flakes
What type of topography produces a thicker soil depth?
flat
A species that has a wide range of tolerance to most environmental factors are:
found in a wide geographic range
Alkaline soils have a pH value of:
from 8 to 11
The ______ soil order is. most common in permafrost regions of the subarctic.
gelisols
Biogeography is defined as
geography of plants and animals
Twenty thousand years ago, the Earth was experiencing
glaciation
Measurements of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel burning that about ________ of the atmospheric increase remains in the air, while the other half is taken up by ______.
half, ocean and continents
D climates generally have:
harsh winters and mild summers
B climates are found in all of these EXCEPT:
high latitudes
In most computer climate models, the greatest warming is predicted to occur _______.
higher latitudes
In 2007 IPPC report, climate change that is predicted to be very likely includes
higher minimum temperatures
What are H climates?
highland climates
A soil profile shows a sequence of layers called
horizons
Anthropogenic climate change describes
human caused climate change
Decomposed organic matter form a dark, top layer of soil is called:
humus
Plants that live in wet environments are classified as
hygrophytes
In which climate does the warmest average monthly. temperature stay below freezing?
ice cap
In the last 15 million years, the Earth's climate could be described as:
ice house climate
The D. Koppen climate classification is found:
in high latitude continental interior regions
The highest net primary productivity occurs:
in tropical rainforests
Which soil order has only the early development of a B horizon?
inceptisols
Global temperatures in the 20th century have
increased except for the 1940 to 1970 period
Today, we are living in a(n) ___________ period of climate.
interglacial
The deep red in tropical soils is due to the accumulation of _____ in the B layer
iron oxide
D climates are characterized by a(n) ____ annual temperature range
large
In B climates, actual evapotranspiration is generally ______________ potential. evapotranspiration
less than
The tall grasslands of North America produce rich, deep fertile soils of the ________ soil order
mollisols
Although most specie may not have been discovered yet, at present there are
more animal species than plant species
In mountain climates
more climate zones occur in the vertical than the horizontal
A loam soil consists of:
nearly equal amounts of clay, silt and sand
The carbon dioxide-weathering feedback is an example of ______________ feedback
negative
Soil colloid particles have a ___ charge and attract _____ such as Calcium and Potassium.
negative, cations
If rainforest trees are removed by logging,
none of these
The record heat and drought of 2012 are good evidence of
none of these
All these are a necessary part of a natural ecosystem EXCEPT:
omnivores
Endemic species are often foun
on isolated islands
Mediterranean or Cs Koppen climate is generally found
on the west coast of continents near the subtropics
The typical soil order for tropical rainforests is
oxisols
The ratio of oxygen-18 to _____ isotopes has been used to show temperature changes taking place in the ocean and atmosphere in the past millions of years.
oxygen-16
Permafrost is
permanently frozen soil
A major sink of carbon dioxide in the carbon cycle is plants through the process of
photosynthesis
Oxygen levels in our atmosphere increased approximately 2 billion years ago from early oceanic organisms through the process of ______.
photsynthesis
The Koppen climate classification system is based on the grouping of
plants
Evidence of climatic variation prior to instrumented data is called
proxy data
The lower case f, as in Af, Cf and Df in the Koppen climate classification represents
rainfall throughout the year
Soil is a ________ resource.
renewable
Which of the following is NOT a component of soil?
rocks
Which soil would have the highest permeability?
sandy loam
The type of plant succession initiated by a disturbance like fire is called:
secondary
In B climates most of the net radiation is used in
sensible heat
The highest classification level in soil taxonomy is
soil order
The replacement of one type of vegetation by another type of vegetation is known as plant ____.
succession
For Am climates, most precipitation occurs in the
summer
In the high mountains where forests are restricted by the cold, the treeling generally persists at an altitude where
summer temperatures are 10C or below
Deforestation of tropical rainforests is occurring in
the Amazon and tropical areas of Africa
Viking exploration and colonization of Greenland and Vineland (North America) took place during a warm period called
the Medieval Optimum
In 1998, a large El Nino year, global temperatures were the warmest recorded up until that time. In comparison to the 1961-1990 mean, in 1998
the eastern equatorial Pacific was especially warm
One of the uncertainties with global climate models is:
the effect of aerosols in clouds on climate change
Phytogeography is
the geography of plants
Why do polar ice caps not melt in the long summer daylight?
the high reflection of solar insolation
Biodiversity refers to
the number of species found within an area
When the upper layers of soil is dark brown or black, this would indicate:
the presence of organic matter
Desertification is
the process of desert expansion into the steppes
An indicator of warming is
the shift of vegetative zones to higher elevations and latitudes
What. is pedology?
the study of soil
The driving force behind practically all life on Earth is:
the sun
A pedon extends down to _______.
the top of the R horizon
B climates can be found in
the tropics, midlatitudes, subtropics.
Steep-sided mountainous soils tend to be ______ in depth
thin
Porosity is the ability of soil to ___ water.
to hold
Cfa can be impacted by
tornadoes, hurricanes, and drought
Which of the following is NOT a major factor in soil formation?
tractors
The soil formation process involving the introduction of dissolved and suspended particles from upper layers into lower ones is called
translocation
How many trophic levels higher are tigers from grass on the food chain?
two
The 2013 IPPC report stated that most global warming is ____________ due to human activities raising greenhouse gases
virtually certain
What type of ash is associated with andisols?
volcanic
Which of these cannot be considered a C climate?
warmest month average is 9 degrees celsius
Parent material of soil is generally
weathered bedrock
What type of plants are common in arid climates?
xerophytes
