Chapter 20

Question 1

describe a desert biome and an example

Answer 1

• fewer than 10 inches of rain a year
• small plants and animals
• ex: sahara desert

Question 2

describe a grassland biome and an example

Answer 2

• low rainfall (10-30 inches a year)
• provides no shelter for herbivorous mammals from carnivorous predators
• land animals that do inhabit grasslands have long legs and are hoofed
• ex: argentina

Question 3

describe a rainforest biome and an example

Answer 3

• torrential rains,
• high temperatures in tropical rainforest
• moderate temperatures in normal rainforest
• plants such as vines and epiphytes
• animals such as monkeys, snakes, birds
• trees grow close and sunlight does not reach the floor
• floor inhabited by saphrophytes
• ex: central america

Question 4

what are epiphytes

Answer 4

plants growing on other plants

Question 5

what are saphrophytes

Answer 5

live off of dead organic matter

Question 6

describe temperate deciduous forest biomes and an example

Answer 6

• cold winter, warm summers, moderate rainfall
• beech, maple, oaks, and willow trees
• animals include deer, foxes, woodchucks, squirrels
• ex: Northeastern U.S

Question 7

describe temperate coniferous forest biome and an example

Answer 7

• cold,dry, inhabited mainly by trees that dont lose leaves such as fir, pine, spruce.
• largest biomass of terrestrial biomes due to massvie trees
• animals include beavers, bears, sheep
• found in extreme northern U.S

Question 8

describe taiga biome and an example

Answer 8

• less rainfall than temperate forests.
• long, cold winters, trees that don’t lose leaves, forest floors have thin soil covered in moss and lichens
• animals- moose, deer, bears, wolves
• ex: extreme northern Canada

Question 9

describe tundra biome and an example

Answer 9

• treeless, frozen plain
• ground covered in ice or snow most of the year
• lichens, mosses, polar bear, musk oxen, arctic hares found here

Question 10

describe the polar region

Answer 10

surrounds polar ice caps, frozen, no vegetation, and few land animals,
-has penguins and polar bears with little precipitation

Question 11

what is the intertidal zone and what lives in it

Answer 11

• region exposed at low tides that undergoes change in temperature and periods of dryness
• algae, sponges, clams, snail, crabs, starfisk

Question 12

what is the neritic zone and what lives in it

Answer 12

• region of continental shelf that contains ocean with depths up to 600 feet and extends several hundred miles from the shores.
• algae, crabs, crustaceans, different species of fish

Question 13

what is the pelagic zone

Answer 13

open seas, can be divided into photic and aphotic zones

Question 14

what is the photic zone and what lives in it

Answer 14

sunlit layer of open sea extending 250-600 feet deep, contains plankton, nekton, and diatom (an alga)

Question 15

what is the aphotic zone and what lives in it

Answer 15

• region beneath the photic zone that gets no light

- only heterotrophs exist here, contains nekton and benthos

Question 16

what are benthos

Answer 16

crawling, sessile organisms

Question 17

what are examples of primary producers

Answer 17

autotrophic green plants and chemosynthetic bacteria

Question 18

what are examples of primary consumers

Answer 18

herbivores

Question 19

what are examples of secondary consumers

Answer 19

carnivores that eat primary consumers

Question 20

what are examples of tertiary consumers

Answer 20

animals that feed on secondary consumers

Question 21

where does the group with the largest biomass exist on the food pyramid

Answer 21

at the bottom

Question 22

explain the 4 steps of the nitrogen cycle

Answer 22

1. elemental N2 is converted to nitrates by lightning and Nitrogen fixing bacteria
2. nitrates are absorbed by plants and used to synthesize nucleic acids and plant proteins
3. nitrogen locked in waste is released by action of bacteria of decay which convert proteins to ammonia
4. some ammonia is converted to nitrates by chemosynthetic bacteria and then to nitrates by bacteria. the rest is dentrified