Review questions, Exam 3, Thursday, April 17, also study Exams 1 and 2
1. Know the name and at least 3 basic characteristics (temperature, precipitation, vegetation) of these
climate types: EF, ET, Af, Am, Aw, BW, BS, Cfa, Cfb, Cs, Df, H
2. What is a climograph?
3. What is a microclimate?
4. What is an ecotone?
5. What are the 6 major divisions of the Koppen climate classification system, how are they differentiated,
and approximately where are they located in relation to latitude and to the global pressure belts and
wind patterns?
6. What major characteristic (what could you call the line that separates them?) distinguishes C from A
climates?
7. What major characteristic (what could you call the line that separates them?) distinguishes D from E
climates?
8. What is a biome?
9. What 5 resources do plants need to survive? Which 3 are closely related to climate?
10. Understand these terms and the advantages and disadvantages to a tree of each:
a) leaf shape
i) Broadleaf
ii) Needleleaf
b) shedding habit
i) Deciduous
ii) Evergreen
c) four possible combinations
i) Broadleaf evergreen
ii) Broadleaf deciduous
iii) Needleleaf evergreen
iv) Needleleaf deciduous
11. What are the four major causes of arid climates?
12. Explain the two major methods plants use to cope with water deficiency? Explain how each method
works.
13. What is a xerophyte? What are some characteristics of xerophytes?
14. Why do tropical rainforests have so many broadleaf evergreen trees? (i.e., why are they superior
competitors in the Af climate?)
15. What is desertification? In what climate type is it most common?
16. If you went to an intact tropical rainforest, what are some things you might see there (i.e. what would it
look like)?
17. Why are tropical rainforest soils poor?
18. What is the global impact of clearing tropical rainforests for agriculture/ranching?
19. What is mangrove and where is it found?
20. Why do the “C” and “D” climates experience so much variability?
21. Explain the difference in Cfa and Cfb in terms of dominant airmasses.
22. What type of trees dominate the Cfa climate? The Cfb climate? Why are they superior competitors there?
23. Understand how the seasonal shift in the global pressure belt system affects Aw and Csa climates. Know
which belt affects each in summer and winter.
24. What type vegetation would you expect to find in the ecotone between the broadleaf deciduous forests of
the Cfa climates and the xerophytic vegetation of the arid climates? (No mountains involved)
25. What type of trees dominate the Df climate? Why are they superior competitors there?
26. Name the wetland types we covered in class associated with A, Cfa, and Df climates.
27. Know the vegetation changes associated with the transition from wet to dry in “A”, “C”, “D”, and “E” as
well as the changes in vegetation associated with changes in temperature given a certain precipitation.
(triangle diagram)
28. Explain the four controls on Highland climates?
29. What is succession?