Review Questions – “The Biosphere” (KEY)

(Ignore page numbers)

1. __ Biogeography ________ is the study of the distribution of organisms,

past and present, and of diverse processes that underlie the distribution patterns.
2. The __ Biosphere ________ is the sum total of all places in which organisms
live.
3. ___ Weather _______ starts with incoming rays from the sun.
4. State the reason that most forms of life depend on the ozone layer.

The ozone layer protects us from the harmful effects of uv radiation.

5. __Solar________ energy drives Earth’s great weather systems.

6. Be able to describe the causes of global air circulation patterns.

The sun differentially heats equatorial and polar

regions creating the world's major
temperature zones.
1. Warm equatorial air rises, cools, releases its
moisture, and spreads northward and
southward where it descends at 30o
latitudes as very dry air (results in deserts).
2. The air is warmed again and ascends at 60o
latitudes; as it moves toward the poles,
regional areas receive varying amounts of
rainfall that in turn influence ecosystems.
Seasonal variations in climate result from the
earth's revolution around the sun.
1. The amount of solar radiation reaching the
earth’s surface changes in the Northern and
Southern hemispheres; this results in
seasonal changes in climate.
2. In temperate regions, organisms respond
most to changes in day length and
temperature; in deserts and tropical regions,
they respond more to seasonal changes in
rainfall.
7. Describe how the tilt of the Earth’s axis affects annual variation in the amount of
incoming solar radiation.

During the winter in the northern hemisphere, the earth’s axis is

tilted away from the sun. Accordingly, this hemisphere receives less
solar energy than it does during the summer, when the earth’s axis is
titled toward the sun. Fall and spring are transitional seasons where
the intensity is changing (lesser or greater) due to the changing angle
of tilting relative to the sun.

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 8. Mountains, valleys, and other land formations influence __regional ________
climates.
9. Describe the cause of the rain shadow effect.

The mountains of the western United

States cause the winds from the ocean to
rise, cool, and lose their moisture.

As the winds descend on the leeward

(eastern) slopes, they gain moisture from
the earth and its vegetation causing a rain
shadow effect.

10. Air __circulation________ patterns, ocean __currents________, and landforms

interact in ways that influence regional temperatures and moisture levels; they
also influence distribution and dominant features of ecosystems.
11. Broadly, there are six distinct land realms, the _____bio_____ realms that were
named by W. Sclater and Alfred Wallace.

12. Realms are divided into __biomes________.

13. __Soils________ are mixtures of mineral particles and variable amounts of
decomposing organic material.
14. Be able to list the major biomes and briefly characterize them in terms of climate,
topography, and organisms.

5 Deserts
A. Deserts are areas where evaporation exceeds rainfall.
1. Most deserts lie between 30o north and south latitudes.
2. Vegetation is scarce but there is some diversity; day/night
temperatures fluctuate widely.
B. More than a third of the world’s total land area is arid or semiarid due to
drought and overgrazing, which can lead to desertification.

6 Dry Shrublands, Dry Woodlands, and Grasslands

A. Dry shrublands and dry woodlands prevail in western and southern
coastal regions between the latitudes of 30° and 40°.
1. The climates is semiarid; rains occur during mild winter months;
summers are long, hot, and dry; dominant plants have tough,
evergreen leaves.
2. Dry shrublands prevail when rainfall is less than 25–60 cm (example:
the highly flammable California chaparral).
3. Dry woodlands occur when rainfall is about 40–100 cm; there are trees
but not in dense forests.
B. Grasslands sweep across much of the interior of continents, in the zones
between deserts and temperate forests.

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 1. Characteristics include: flat or rolling land, high rates of evaporation,
limited rainfall, grazing and burrowing animals, and few forests.
2. There are three basic types in North America:
a. Shortgrass prairie of the American Midwest is typified by short,
drought-resistant grasses that have been replaced by grains that
require irrigation.
b. Tallgrass prairie was originally found in the American West where
water was more plentiful.
C Savannas such as the African savanna are hot, dry and bear small
bushes among the grass.
D. The monsoon grasslands of southern Asia experience seasons of
torrential rain alternating with near drought.

Tropical Rain Forests and Other Broadleaf Forests

A. Evergreen broadleaf forests lie across the tropical zones of the world.
1. These occur between 20° N and S latitude.
2. Most typical is the tropical rain forest where high temperatures,
rainfall, and humidity promote luxuriant plant growth, competing vines,
and incredible animal diversity.
B. Deciduous broadleaf forests lie farther from the equator; the regions
are more mild in temperature with moderate rainfall
1. In the tropical deciduous forest, many trees drop some or all of
their leaves during the pronounced dry season.
2. The monsoon forests of Southeast Asia also have such trees.
3. In the temperate deciduous forests of North America, conditions of
temperature and rainfall do not favor rapid decomposition; thus,
nutrients are conserved to provide fertile soil.

Coniferous Forests
A. The typical “tree” in these forests is some variety of evergreen cone-
bearer with needlelike leaves.
B. These forests are found in widely divergent geographic areas:
1. Boreal forests (or taiga, these border the boreal forests) are
found in the cool to cold northern regions of North America, Europe,
and Asia; spruce and balsam fir are dominant.
2. Montane coniferous forests extend southward through the great
mountain ranges; fir and pine dominate.
3. Temperate rain forest parallels the west coast of North America and
features sequoias and redwoods.
4. Southern pine forests grow in the sandy soil of several Atlantic and
Gulf coast states.

Arctic and Alpine Tundra

A. Arctic tundra lies to the north of the boreal forests; it is a vast treeless
plain, very cold, with low moisture; it is characterized by permafrost,
which prevents growth of large trees.
B. Alpine tundra occurs at high elevations in mountains throughout the
world.

15. The wholesale conversion of grasslands and other productive biomes to desert
like wastelands is known as ___desertification_______.

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16. A __lake________ is a standing body of freshwater with littoral, limnetic, and
profundal zones.

17. Define phytoplankton, and zooplankton.

Phytoplankton: Plants that float with the tides and currents; mainly the
algae.

Zooplankton: animals that float with the tides and currents; they have
very weak powers of locomotion.

18. Describe the spring and fall overturn in a lake in terms of causal conditions and
physical outcomes.

These turn overs are directly related to water density. In the

summer, a relatively warm, lower density layer of water forms at the
upper surface of the lake. It is “floating” on a colder, denser layer of
bottom water. As the fall progresses and the surface water’s
temperature drops down to about 4.0 C, this water reaches its
maximum density. The water column becomes very unstable. So
much so that the wind’s fetch blows water up against a shore and the
water sinks effecting a “fall turn over” (bottom water rises to replace
it).

Until spring arrives the lake’s density profile remains stable until the
surface water warms to 4.0 C and a “spring turn over” commences
bringing up nutrients from the depth just in time to stimulate the
algae into full production!

19. __Eutrofication________ refers to nutrient enrichment of a lake or some other

body of water.
20. __Oligotrophic________ lakes are often deep, poor in nutrients, and low in
primary productivity; ___eutrophic_______ lakes are often shallow, rich in
nutrients, and high in primary productivity.
21. Describe a stream ecosystem.

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 A stream has solar input from the sun and usually many primary
producers in the form of diatoms and other algae. Much of its
nutrition is imported from adjacent ecosystems in the form of run off
or detritus. Some comes from contact with the stream’s underlying
bed rock or soil.

Herbivores in the form of microorganisms, such as copepods and

rotifers, graze on the producers. They are also macrosopic
herbivores such as snails and fish which do the same. A stream
usually has a variety of carnivores in the form of arthropods, fish
and fowl which fed at different levels. Energy is lost as heat and a
good deal of it is exported via detritus to ecosystems down stream.

A stream is not a closed system so nutrient cycling may not be well

developed.

22. Be able to fully describe the benthic and pelagic provinces of the ocean.

The benthic provinces span the bottom of the ocean from shore to
shore. The area over continental self is most affected by the adjacent
land masses. Much sand and clay is exported to the near shore
benthos and here you find both animals and plants adapted to these
conditions which can include lower salinities due to freshwater
runoff.

Near shore, the benthos is clearly fuelled by autotrophs as well as

detritus importation.

Further away from the continental self, the benthos is in much

deeper water and not directly affected by solar energy as photons
don’t penetrate to these depths. However, they as indirectly affected
by solar energy via the “marine snow” that rains down from the
upper photic zone of the open ocean.

Many benthonic animals are adapted to burrowing in the substrate;

others swim or crawl along the bottom to find food and mates.

The pelagic province of the ocean is also known as the “open ocean”.
It out away from the affects of the continental land masses.

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Vertically, the pelagic is composed of an upper photic layer and a
bottom aphotic zone. Plankton and small oceanic creatures make
daily migratory

23. Within the pelagic province, all the water above the continental shelves is the
___neritic_______ zone; the ___oceanic_______ zone is the water of the
ocean basin.
24. As much as 70 percent of the ocean’s primary productivity may be the
contribution of __diatoms________.

25. Describe the unusual hydrothermal vent ecosystems.

The hydrothermal vent ecosystems are energetically driven by

chemoautotrophic bacteria that oxidizing sulfides and fix carbon into
sugars. They are deep sea systems that are adapted to extreme pressures
and temperatures. They are found circum-globally in geologically active
areas.

26. Be able to descriptively distinguish between estuaries and the intertidal zones.

Estuaries are semi – protected near shore areas (bays etc) that have
reduced saline waters (from freshwater runoff). Intertidal zones are
the areas between high and low tides. They may also be estuarine.

27. State the significance of ocean upwelling and down-welling.

These bring up nutrient laden bottom waters to the surface

and are often associated with regions of high productivity.
Down-wellings take upper oxygenated waters to the oxygen
poor benthos.

28. Describe conditions of ENSO occurrence and how this phenomenon interrelates
ocean surface temperatures, the atmosphere, and the land. See text.

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