Bryant Hernandez
Chapter 7 Review & Critical Thinking
1.) Review the Key Questions and Concepts for this chapter on p. 148. Describe how differences
in climate lead to formation of tropical, temperate, and polar deserts, grasslands, and forests.
A.) Climate is weather averaged over a long time, Climate also varies all over the different
parts of the world. This is because of the different patterns of air circulation and ocean
currents. This affects the temperature, which decides lead to the formation of the 6
described environments.
2.) Distinguish between weather and climate. Describe three major factors that determine how
air circulates in the lower atmosphere. Describe how the properties of air, water, and land
affect global air circulation. Define ocean currents and explain how they, along with global air
circulation, support the formation of forests, grasslands, and deserts.
A.) Weather is a set of physical conditions of the lower atmosphere. Climate is an area's
general pattern of atmospheric conditions over periods ranging from at least three
decades to thousands of years.
B.) Three factors that determine how the air circulates in the lower atmosphere are the
uneven heating, the rotation of the earth’s axis and the properties of air, water, and
land.
C.) Heat from the sun evaporates ocean water and transfers heat from the oceans to the
atmosphere. This evaporation of water creates giant cyclical convection cells that
circulate air, heat, and moisture both vertically and from place to place in the
atmosphere.
D.) The earth's air circulation patterns, prevailing winds, and configuration of continents
and oceans result in giant convection cells in which warm, moist air rises and cools, and
cool, dry air sinks.
3.) Define and give four examples of a greenhouse gas. What is the greenhouse effect and why is
it important to the earth's life and climate?
A.) Greenhouse gases include several gases in the atmosphere, including water vapor,
carbon dioxide and methane which release heat into the atmosphere.
B.) The earth's surface absorbs solar energy and transforms it to heat, which then rises into
the lower atmosphere, this then escapes into space and is then transferred to the lower
atmosphere. Greenhouse gases and the natural greenhouse effect are crucial when
taking the earths average temperature.
4.) What is the rain shadow effect and how can it lead to the formation of deserts? Why do cities
tend to have more haze and smog, higher temperatures, and lower wind speeds than the
surrounding countryside?
A.) The rain shadow effect is a reduction of rainfall and loss of moisture from the landscape
on the side of mountains facing away from prevailing surface winds.
B.) Cities have building materials that absorb and hold heat and block wind flow. Motor
vehicles release large quantities of heat and pollutants, resulting in more haze and
smog, higher temperatures.
5.) What is a biome? Explain why there are three major types of each of the major biomes
(deserts, grasslands, and forests). Describe how climate and vegetation vary with latitude and
elevation.
A.) Biomes are large terrestrial regions with distinct climates and certain species adapted to
them.
B.) Differences in climate lead to the formation of tropical, temperature, and polar deserts,
grasslands, and forests.
C.) Both climate and vegetation vary with latitude and elevation. That’s why the base of a
mountain has vegetation while the top section turns into ice and snow.
6.) Describe how the three major types of deserts differ in their climate and vegetation. Why are
desert ecosystems fragile? How do desert plants and animals survive?
A.) Tropical deserts are hot and dry most of the year with very few plants a hard surface.
B.) Temperate deserts have high daytime temperatures in summer and low in winter, there
is little vegetation, in which cacti are most common,
C.) Cold deserts have cold winters and warm summers, it generally has low precipitation
and most animals there have become accustom with the cold climate.
7.) Describe how the three major types of grasslands differ in their climate and vegetation. What
is a savanna? Why have many of the world' s temperate grasslands disappeared? What is
permafrost? Distinguish between arctic tundra and alpine tundra.
A.) Cold grasslands are mostly cold, stark and treeless. Tropical grasslands are mostly warm
with a little bit of precipitation, it normally has an array of trees throughout. Temperate
grassland is a mix of both, cold in winters and hot in summers and fairly regular
precipitation that falls unevenly throughout the year.
B.) Most of temperate grasslands have disappeared because they have been over grazed
due their fertile soil.
C.) Permafrost is the underground soil in which captured water stays frozen for more than
two consecutive years.
D.)
- The Alpine tundra
o
A large, flat or gently sloping, treeless tract of land above the
timberline.
-
The Arctic tundra
o
A treeless area between the icecap and the tree-line of Arctic
regions, having a permanently frozen subsoil and supporting low-
growing vegetation such as lichens, mosses, and stunted shrubs. This
is a fragile biome
o
Animals of this biome survive the intense winters by burrowing and
going under to stay warm.
8.) What are the three major types of forests? Describe how these three types differ in their
climate and vegetation. Why is biodiversity so high in tropical rain forests? Why do most soils
in tropical rain forests hold few plant nutrients? Describe what happens in temperate
deciduous forests in the winter and fall. What are coastal coniferous or temperate rain
forests? What important ecological roles do mountains play?
A.) Tropical, temperate and cold forests. Tropical rain forests are near the equator, warm
air rises uniformly and creates large amounts of precipitation. Temperate forests are in
average-medium temperatures that change depending on the season. Cold forests are
intensively cold during the winter with low precipitation.
B.) Since it’s constantly warm and has a wet climate, it is ideal for a wide variety of plants
and animals. Tropical rain forests have a very high net primary productivity; they are
teeming with life and boast incredible biological diversity.
C.) Because instead of being stored in the actual soil, about 90% of plants nutrients are
released by decomposition and are quickly sucked up and stored by trees, vines and
other plants.
D.) Their leaves change colors a lot in fall and in winter. They grow in areas with moderate
average temperatures that change significantly with the season. They survive the
winters by dropping her leaves and going dormant for the winter
E.) Temperate rain forests are scattered around the coastal areas and have a sufficient
amount of precipitation.
F.) Some of the world’s most spectacular environment are high on mountains, steep or high
lands which cover about a quarter of the earth’s land surface. They contain majority of
the world’s forests, which are habitats for much of the planet’s terrestrial biodiversity,
which provide many endemic species their habitats and these animals are often found
nowhere else on earth.
9.) Describe how human activities have affected the world's deserts, grasslands, forests, and
mountains.
- Deserts:
1. Large desert cities.
2. Sol destruction by off-road vehicles.
3. Soil salinization from irrigation.
4. Land disturbance and pollution from mineral extraction.
-
Grasslands
1. Conversion to cropland
2. Release of CO2 to atmosphere from burning grasslands
3. Overgrazing by livestock
4. Oil production and off-road vehicles in arctic tundra
-
Forests
1. Clearing for agriculture, livestock grazing, timber, and urban
development.
2. Conversion of diverse forests to tree plantations
3. Damage from off-road vehicles
4. Pollution of forest streams
-
Mountains
1. Agriculture
2. Timber Extraction
3. Mineral Extraction
4. Hydroelectric dams and reservoirs
5. Increasing tourism
6. Urban Air pollution
7. Increased ultraviolet radiation from ozone depletion
10.) What are the chapter’s three big ideas? Describe the connections between the climates,
terrestrial systems, and the three principles of sustainability (see back cover).
A.) What factors influence climate, how climate affects the nature and location of the
biomes and how we’ve affected the world’s terrestrial ecosystems.
B.) Climate is made up of solar energy and affects the biodiversity in a terrestrial system.
Critical Thinking
1.) What would be likely to happen to the earth’s climate (a) if most of the world’s oceans
disappeared and (b) if most of the world’s land disappeared?
A.) The oceans absorb and redistribute solar energy. They essentially control the
temperature of the earth. If most of the world's oceans disappeared the earth’s climate
would turn into a dessert. Everything would eventually die out. If most of the world's
land disappeared the water would be the only thing that would be absorbing the solar
energy. I believe this will make the earth’s climate liken to that of a tropical setting.
2.) Describe the roles of temperature and precipitation in determining what parts of the earth’s
land are covered with: (a) desert, (b) arctic tundra, (c) temperate grassland, (d) tropical rain
forest, and (e) temperate deciduous forest.
A.) In a desert, annual precipitation is low and often scattered unevenly throughout the
year. During the day, the baking sun warms the ground and evaporates water from plant
leaves and from the soil. But at night, most of the heat stored in the ground radiates
quickly into the atmosphere. This explains why in a desert; you may roast during the day
but shiver at night.
B.) Cold grasslands, or arctic tundra, lie south of the arctic polar ice cap. During most of the
year, these treeless plains are bitterly cold, swept by frigid winds, and covered with ice
and snow. Winters are long with few hours of daylight, and the scant precipitation falls
primarily as snow.
C.) In a temperate grassland, winters can be bitterly cold, summers are hot and dry, and
annual precipitation is sparse and falls unevenly throughout the year. Grasslands occur
primarily in the interiors of continents in areas that are too moist for deserts to form
and too dry for forests to grow. Grasslands persist because of a combination of seasonal
drought, grazing by large herbivores, and occasional fires.
D.) Tropical rain forests are found near the equator, where hot, moisture-laden air rises and
dumps its moisture. These lush forests have year-round, uniformly warm temperatures,
high humidity, and almost daily heavy rainfall. This constant warm, wet climate is ideal
for a wide variety of plants and animals.
E.) Temperate deciduous forest typically sees warm summers, cold winters, and abundant
precipitation.
3.) Why do deserts and arctic tundra support a much smaller biomass of animals than do tropical
forests? Why do most animals in a tropical rain forest live in its trees?
A.) Deserts and arctic tundra support smaller biomass animals than tropical forests because
both deserts and arctic tundra are placed on the extreme sides of temperature ranges
that are tolerable for animals. In addition, deserts and arctic tundra have less
precipitation and vegetation for animals to consume than tropical rainforests.
B.) Animals live in up in trees for food and predators as well as shelter, since on the ground
there is not much hiding places.
4.) How might the distribution of the world’s forests, grasslands, and deserts shown in Figure 7-7
differ if the prevailing winds shown in Figure 7-3 did not exist?
A.) It would differ if the prevailing winds did not exist in figure 7-3 due to the fact that the
heated air would stay at the equator and heat and moisture would not be distributed in
the atmosphere to different areas of the world, causing a majority of the earth to be
considered too cold and uninhabitable for both humanity and many types of animals.
5.) Which biomes are best suited for (a) raising crops and (b) grazing livestock? Use the three
principles of sustainability to come up with three guidelines for growing food and grazing
livestock in these biomes on a more sustainable basis.
A.) Grasslands, specifically temperature, have deep and fertile soil which allows the biome
to be widely used for growing crops and grazing cattle. Organic matter accumulates and
produces a deep, fertile soil, because the aboveground parts of most of the grasses die
and decompose each year. Due to the fact that temperate grasslands are great places
for crops and animal grazing, many of the world’s natural temperate grasslands have
disappeared. They are often flat, easy to plow, and have fertile, deep soils.
6.) What do you think would happen if all or most of the world’s mountain glaciers melted? Write
a brief scenario describing the resulting problems and ways in which you think mountainous
nations would deal with the problems.
A.) If glaciers that were on land melted, then the oceans’ water level will rise due to the
additional ice, the glaciers will displace the ocean. This could lead to many islands and
countries that are at sea level to potentially sink. If the glacier are melting on the
mountain, then it could lead to potential flooding, and perhaps the decline of animals
living there.
7.) What type of biome do you live in? (If you live in a developed area, what type of biome was
the area before it was developed?) List three ways in which your lifestyle could be
contributing to the degradation of this biome?
A.) Tropical rainforest
B.) Littering, chopping down forests for more space for homes, wasting paper.
8.) You are a defense attorney arguing in court for sparing a tropical rain forest from being cut.
Give your three best arguments for the defense of this ecosystem.
A.)
- The ecosystem helps stabilize the world’s climate
-
Provide homes for many plants and animals
-
Source for medicine and food.
9.) Congratulations! You are in charge of the world. What are the three most important features
of your plan for helping to sustain the earth’s terrestrial biodiversity and the ecosystems
services it provides?
A.) In order to help sustain the earth’s terrestrial biodiversity, first I would create a variety
of reservations that protect a mixture of biomes. Through such protection, biomes will
be able to flourish without human disturbances. Second, I would form laws and
regulations limiting deforestation and the hunting of animals. In biomes, such as the
rainforest, deforestation and extinction of animalsare becoming a large problem. Lastly,
to promote the protection of such ecosystems, people must be aware of the
devastation of biomes and the impact humans have on them.
10.) List two questions that you would like to have answered as a result of reading this chapter.
A.) With the significance of forests, why are we still clearing them for the construction of
more homes and buildings?
B.) Why do humans believe they are the top species in the world?