bio 2 exam

1. Begin in the west and move across the map to the east, briefly explaining why the actual 16 degrees Celsius isotherm deviates from the hypothetical.

Global climate change and variability, particularly at regional levels, are not completely understood. Therefore, there are many significant

Weather and climate are the two major abiotic (nonliving) factors responsible for determining the major geographic ecosystems called biomes.

Comparing these two field sites, are there any other environmental factors (except air quality) that you think might also affect the composition of lichen communities? List as many as you can think of and explain how they would affect lichen communities.

The populations of each habitat vary, as they would be dependent on abiotic factors such as: light, temperature, water and soil.

The moist air of the Great Plains dryline originates from the Gulf of Mexico, while the dry air originates from the southeastern United States and high plateau of Mexico. It is typically oriented meridionally, but can deviate as much as 30 degrees. Utilization of land, vegetation, and differences in soil moisture can significantly affect the generation and upkeep of drylines. Since soil moisture and vegetation decrease from east to west latent heat flux also decreases from east to west. This contributes to a zonal dewpoint gradient. Temperature gradients can exceed 10 K (1 km)-1 or be more diffuse at 10 K (100 km)-1 . Dryline formation can sometimes be associated with a surface pressure trough. The dryline does not a pressure trough nor in

What are two mechanisms by which these organisms have acquired this region (2pts)? Which seems most likely (3pts)?

Around North Pole, Eastern Half of United States, called prairies in North America, located near the equator in Latin America, on every continent except antarctica. These are statements to describe characteristics of selected biomes. So What are Biomes? Biomes are the collections of the major ecosystems that are unique and has distinct forms of life. Which means that each biomes has a collections of plants and animals that has adapted to living within an area that has certain environmental conditions which plays a significant role in it continual existence. For example in one type of Biome called grassland, precipitation is important because it aid in the growth of grassland, which area usually located at the bottom of the mountain floor.

The savanna biome is an area that has a very dry season and then a very wet season.Because of the extended periods of wet and dry climate in the savanna biome, the availability of food changes throughout the year.Climate is very important in the savanna biome. If the rainfall decreases and/or the temperature increases, the animals and plants will not be able to continue to survive.

Desert -The desert biome is a huge biome. It covers ⅕ of the Earth’s surface. There is two main types of desert biome- the hot and the cold. The rainfall is very low- 8-13 centimetres per annum. The plants are minimal because it is always hard to find and store water and it is a very tough environment to grow in. Antarctica is the largest cold biome covered in ice and snow. The largest hot biome in the whole world is the Sahara desert, which is in Africa.

The biome I have chosen is the Tropical Rainforest. The tropical rainforest has two different seasons: a dry season and wet season. The rainforest does not have the four seasons we go through here in the deciduous forest. The dry and wet seasons usually last for about six months. The dry season is where there is a low amount of rainfall and the wet season is where there is a large amount. Here in the rainforest you can find many different animals. There is the African Forest Elephant its weighs around 6,000 lbs as an adult. This elephant adapts to the rainforest by living in dense forests. Then there is the bengal tiger its weighs around 575 lbs and has beautiful orange and white fur with black stripes. It adapts by being sneaky and nocturnal this helps him catch prey. Also there is the Wagler’s Pit Viper which can grow up to 4 feet. It adapts by being able to sense heat and catch warm-blooded animals.

7) What events could have created the increase in acid precipitation between 1955 and 1990?

These include the Hot Desert, Semi-arid, Coastal and Cold Desert. For the purpose of this essay I will discuss the Hot Desert biome. Throughout this essay I will include examples from the Hot Deserts of the USA - the Sonora, the Chihuahua and the Mojave desert. Deserts cover approximately one-fifth of the earth's surface (Park, 2001).

5). A combination of these four factors are often combined, created, and recorded to form deserts that have never had precipitation in these

Figure #1: “Climate-driven projected changes in vegetation often are represented as maps of spatial change (A, B). Implicit and potentially overlooked in such presentations is the underlying