Biomes
A biome is best described as:
A large geographical area with a similar climate and characteristic plant and animal life.
List and briefly describe two of Bouma-Prediger’s Ten Reasons Why We Should Care for Creation
1. If You Can Breathe, Thank a Tree:
We take care of the planet because it is necessary for our survival for us to do so.
2. On Loan from Our Children
Each generation is a temporary caretaker who passes on care for the Earth to the next generation. We should use this planet sustainably so that future generations may also flourish.
3. Tis a Gift to Be Simple
Simple living—the opposite of conspicuous consumption—means we consume fewer resources and create less pollution. This is an ethical position because in living simply we are making space for others to live as well.
4. Poor and Oppressed Unite
Environmental justice, or simply ecojustice, combines concern for justice for the powerless, a major biblical theme, with concern for equitable sharing of environmental costs. This argument recognizes that every person, regardless of wealth, skin color, or religion, has the right to an equal opportunity to enjoy a healthy environment.
5. Spotted Owls Have Rights Too
Under the Endangered Species Act, animals and plants that are threatened or endangered are given protection to help them rebound and survive. The recognition of the rights of other humans has been growing for decades, and now is being applied to animals and plants as well.
6. Value Generates Duty
This refers to the intrinsic value of everything in creation. The landscape, plant, animal, or river has value within itself, just because it exists.
7. We Are All in This Together
We are completely dependent on the other species and non-living parts of creation. Everything about our bodies relies on the bacteria in us and on us. Plants, on whom we are utterly dependent for food and many medicines, also depend on the millions of microorganisms in the soil. Since we are dependent on the health of all the planet’s ecosystems; there are none we can damage or destroy without hurting ourselves and the rest of God’s creation.
8. God Says So
Adam’s job was to serve and protect the garden. Today, just as Adam was placed in the garden, we are placed into the ecosystems where we live. Like Adam, we must work and gather resources from our environment to live, and we must serve and protect the environment while we are at it.
9. God’s Concerns Are Our Concerns
We are made in God’s image, and God’s concerns should be our concerns. We must cherish and sustain it because God does.
This is what the concept of stewardship is all about. As those made in God’s image, we are God’s stewards, and stewardship of creation should be one of our highest concerns.
10. “For the Beauty of the Earth”
We should care for the creation because it is beautiful, it sustains us, it amazes us, it awes us—and all this beauty is freely given for our use and care.
Summarize the biblical argument for creation care.
First, God commanded Adam to serve and protect the garden, a commission that applies to us generally. Second, many scriptures highlight God’s care for and love for creation, and as people made in God’s image, God’s concerns should be our concerns. This means we are stewards of his creation.
Additionally, all of creation praises the Lord (Psalms 148, 150), and we should protect that chorus of praise and help it to flourish.
The process where water vapor is released from the leaves of plants into the atmosphere is called:
A. Condensation
B. Transpiration
C. Percolation
D. Precipitation
B. Transpiration
A food web is considered a more accurate representation of an ecosystem than a food chain because:
Food webs account for the fact that most organisms eat more than one type of food.
A. Tundra
B. Temperate Grassland
C. Desert
D. Taiga (Boreal Forest)
A. Tundra
What is the difference between terrestrial and marine environments?
Terrestrial environments relate to land (biosphere); marine environments relate to aqueous environments (hydrosphere)
During the carbon cycle, which of the following is considered a major reservoir where carbon is stored?
A. the atmosphere
B. the ocean
C. in rocks
B. the ocean
Excessive runoff of nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural fertilizers into a lake can lead to a process called eutrophication. What is a direct consequence of this process?
An overgrowth of algae (algal bloom).
What is the primary role of decomposers, like bacteria and fungi, in a food web?
To recycle nutrients by breaking down dead organic matter.
A climatogram for a tropical rainforest biome would most likely show:
A. Low, stable temperatures and very low precipitation year-round.
B. Large temperature fluctuations and very low precipitation.
C. High, stable temperatures and high precipitation year-round.
D. Cold winters, warm summers, and moderate precipitation.
C. High, stable temperatures and high precipitation year-round.
Which of the following components within a terrestrial biome is classified as an abiotic factor?
A. Decomposers, which break down dead and decaying matter.
B. Land plants, which absorb chemical elements through their roots.
C. Scavengers, which consume animals that have already died.
D. Groundwater, which stores nonliving chemical nutrients.
D. Groundwater, which stores nonliving chemical nutrients.
Which of the following is NOT a major reservoir in the carbon cycle?
A. The Earth's core
B. The atmosphere
C. The oceans
D. Rocks and fossil fuels
A. The Earth's core
What is a key difference between the phosphorus cycle and the carbon and nitrogen cycles?
A. Human activities have no impact on the phosphorus cycle.
B. The phosphorus cycle's main reservoir is in rocks and sediment.
C. The phosphorus cycle is much faster than the nitrogen cycle.
D. The phosphorus cycle does not involve living organisms.
B. The phosphorus cycle's main reservoir is in rocks and sediment.
In a simple food chain where a wolf eats a rabbit that eats a plant, the rabbit is classified as a:
Primary Consumer (Heterotroph)
Why are tropical rainforest soils often nutrient-poor, despite the biome's high biodiversity?
Nutrients are rapidly taken up by the dense vegetation and leached by heavy rainfall
The global atmospheric circulation patterns, such as the Hadley Cell, are primarily driven by:
The uneven heating of the Earth's surface by the sun.
Phosphorus is essential for living organisms because it is a key component of:
A. Most atmospheric gases.
B. Water molecules.
C. Simple sugars and starches.
D. DNA, ATP, and cell membranes.
D. DNA, ATP, and cell membranes.
What is the primary process by which carbon is removed from the atmosphere and converted into organic molecules?
Photosynthesis
What is biomass?
Organic matter from plants or animals that can be used as a source of energy.
Which oceanic zone extends from the surface down to about 200 meters, is defined as the entire area that the Sun's light penetrates, and is home to most of the ocean’s life?
A. The Cryosphere
B. The Abyssal Plain
C. The Littoral Zone
D. The Photic Zone
D. The Photic Zone
A. Atmospheric circulation
B. Evapotranspiration
C. The Coriolis effect
D. Orographic lifting
D. Orographic lifting
How does the burning of fossil fuels directly affect the atmosphere, and what is the primary consequence of this change?
The burning of fossil fuels produces a lot of carbon dioxide, leading to excessive CO2 in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is a "greenhouse gas" which means that it can trap heat in the atmosphere. Too much CO2 is considered problematic.
In the nitrogen cycle, the process of converting atmospheric nitrogen gas (N2) into ammonia (NH3) or ammonium (NH4+) is called:
A. Denitrification
B. Nitrification
C. Nitrogen Fixation
D. Ammonification
C. Nitrogen Fixation
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