STUDY GUIDE FOR TEST!
CHAPTER 10: WEATHER
What do you need to know for the science test on Thursday ?
On page D32:
Definition for atmosphere, troposphere. What can you find in the troposphere ?
What happen to temperatures when you go up ?
On page D33
Definition for air pressure.
What happens to air pressure when you go up ?
On page D34
Definition of weather.
What do you call the instrument used to measure air pressure?
On page D38: Can you give a definition for: water vapor, humidity, evaporation ?
On page D39: Can you give a definition of relative humidity ?
Can you answer the red question on page D39 ?
On page D44:
Can you name the 3 types of clouds ? Can you give their characteristics ? Can you give a definition for
fog ? Can you answer the 2 red questions on this page ?
Can you explain how a cloud form ?
On page D46:
Can you give a definition of “precipitation” ? Can you answer the 2 red questions ?
Can you give examples of precipitations ? Do you know the word that we add to the name of the cloud
that means “rain” or “snow” ?
On page D47:
Do you know what type of precipitation a cumulonimbus and a stratus bring ?
On page D48:
Do you know the symbols used to represent cloud cover ?
On page D54
How can air pressure change ?
On page D55
Are you able to give a definition of wind ? How are winds produced ? (The air always flows from a
high pressure to a low pressure).
Definition of a convection cell. Examples of convection cell.
On page D58
What are the names of the global winds ?
In North Carolina which global winds do we get ?
On page D59
Definition of “isobar”.
Can you interpret a weather station model ?
On page D62/D63 or notes in your notebook.
What are the functions of some weather instruments: barometer, rain gauge, anemometer,
thermometer, wind vane, hygrometer?
Good study!
STUDY GUIDE
CHAPTER 11: WEATHER PATTERNS AND CLIMATE
Definition of an air mass (D70).
Definition of a front (D71)
Difference between a cold front and warm front (D72).
Where do we find a lot of tornadoes in the US ? What states are part of the Tornado Alley
?
Main characteristics of thunderstorms (lightning, thunder, heavy rains, heavy winds),
tornadoes (funnel), hurricanes (swirling storms, form over tropical waters, eye, storm
surge).
Definition of the eye of an hurricane + storm surge. (D79)
What’s the Doppler radar ? (D80).
Be able to analyze and interpret the temperatures, precipitation bar or/and line graphs on
page D83.
Definition of climate (D84). Review definition of weather (D34).
What are the factors that affect climate ?
Tips: Use index cards on one side write the definition, on the other side the words.
Study with someone. Explain the main concepts to that person. If you can
explain to someone, you have understood it. If nobody can help you, explain to
yourself in front of a mirror !!!
Good study!
Remember after having studied this, you will be a little smarter!
ECOSYSTEMS
STUDY GUIDE/ CHAPTER 5
NAME: ____________
LESSON 1
An ecosystem is all the living and nonliving things in an area.
Abiotic factor: The nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
Biotic factor: The living parts of an ecosystem.
Populations: All the organisms of a species living in the same area.
Community: All the populations living in an area.
Ecology: The study of how all things in an ecosystem interact.
Ecologist: A person who studies ecosystems.
Habitat: The place where an organism lives.
Niche: The role of an organism in its community.
LESSON 2
Food chain: The path energy takes from producers to consumers to decomposers.
Food web: The relationship between all of the species in a community. It shows how
populations must compete for food. It is a map of overlapping food chains.
Parts in a food web:
1. Producers: Organisms that use the sun’s energy to make their own food.
2. Consumers: Organisms that cannot make their own food.
3. Decomposers: Organisms that break down dead matter into substances that can be
used by producers. Ex: Fungi, bacteria, insects (FBI)
Types of consumers:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Herbivore: Organisms that eat producers.
Carnivores: animals that eat other animals.
Omnivores: Animals that eat both plants or other animals.
Scavengers: Animals that feed on remains of dead animals.
Predator: Living thing that hunt other living things for food.
Prey: Animal hunted.
Symbiosis: A relationship between two kinds of organisms that lasts over period of time.
Types of symbiosis:
1. Mutualism: When a relationship between two kinds of organisms benefits both of them.
Ex: Yucca tree and yucca moth.
2. Parasitism: A relationship in which one kind of organism lives on or in another organism
and may harm that organism.
Ex: A flea on a dog; the mistletoe on a tree.
3. Commensalism: Relationship in which one organism benefits from another organism
without harming it or helping it.
Ex: An orchid on a tree; the Remora fish and the Loggerhead sea turtle.
Energy pyramid: energy decreases from the base to the top of the pyramid.
There is less food at the top of the pyramid than at the base. There are also fewer
organisms as you move from the bottom of the pyramid to the top of the pyramid.
Lesson 3
Endangered species: A species in danger of disappearing completely.
Extinct: A species that has disappeared completely.
Threatened: A species that may become endangered.
Good study!
Science – BIOMES Study Guide
Chapter 6 –> Lessons 4-6
I.
Chapter 6 – ECOSYSTEMS
a. Lesson 4 – Cycles of Life
i. Review Water Cycle
1. Evaporation
2. Transpiration
3. Condensation
4. Precipitation
5. Runoff
ii. Carbon Cycle – The transfer of carbon between the
atmosphere and living things
1. How did organisms that lived long ago become the fuel
that we use today?
a. Plants and animals have carbon in them
b. Plants and animals die
c. Some of the carbon in the dead things stays in
the ground
d. The carbon in the ground becomes fossil fuel
after a long, long time
e. We use fossil fuel and burn it, putting carbon
dioxide back into the air
f. Some of the carbon in dead things also goes
back into the air
g. Plants use the carbon from the air, and then
they give off oxygen, which animals breathe in.
h. Animals breathe in the oxygen from the air, and
breathe out carbon dioxide back into the air
i. Cycle repeats
iii. Nitrogen Cycle – The way nitrogen moves between air, soil,
plants and animals
Air is made of 78% of nitrogen.
We need nitrogen. We find nitrogen in proteins.
Animals get nitrogen by eating proteins. Plants get nitrogen by
absorbing it from the soil.
iv. Recycling
1. How do decomposers break down dead substances and
transform them into substances that plants can use?
2. Why is it important to recycle both renewable and
nonrenewable resources?
Natural resources are gifts from the Earth.
Examples of renewable resources are water, air, energy
from the sun, trees,…
Examples of non renewable resources are fossil fuels
(coal, oil and natural gas), metals,…
Even renewable resources take a really long time to
be replaced, and non renewable resources cannot be
replaced.
It is important to practice the 3 R’s of conservation:
reduce, reuse, recycle.
b. Lesson 5 – Biomes
biome
grasslands
taiga
tundra
desert
deciduous forest
tropical rain
forest
Large ecosystem.
A biome where grasses, not trees, are
the main plant life. Prairies are one
kind of grassland region.
A cool forest biome of EVERGREENS
(such as conifers) in the upper
Northern Hemisphere.
Large, treeless plain in the arctic
regions, where the ground is frozen
all year (PERMAFROST).
A sandy or rock biome, with little
precipitation and little plant life.
A forest biome with many kinds of
trees that lose their leaves each
autumn.
A hot biome near the equator, with
much rainfall and a wide variety of
life. The soil is poor.
i. What are the 6 major biomes?
1. DECIDE To Go TU The Desert
2. Deciduous, Tropical rain forest, Grasslands, Tundra,
Taiga, Desert
ii. Be able to recognize which biome it is based on:
1. Location
2.
3.
4.
5.
Climate
Soil
Plants
Animals
c. Lesson 6: How ecosystems change
 Ecological succession: The gradual replacement of one
community by another.
 Pioneer species: the first species to be living in an otherwise
lifeless area.
 Pioneer community: A new community.
 Climax community: A final stage of succession.