The whys to the wheres
A _____ a large, naturally occuring community ocuppying a major habitat.
What is a biome?
Daily Double: what type of organisms is a biome defined by?
This insulates the Earth keeping its conditions hospitable to life.
What is the atmosphere?
Rapid release of ancient ground stores of _____ is one driving factor behind current climate change trends.
What is CO2?
These community organizations led by natural resource experts help govern Oregon's watersheds.
What are watershed councils?
_____ are events that have a short duration and large impact on the physical structure/composition of an ecosystem.
What are disturbances?
The two strongest predictors of where a biome is found are temperature and _____.
What is precipitation? (average annual)
This atmospheric gas is most important for establishing general conditions on Earth.
What is H2O?
The biggest anthropogenic source of methane is _____.
What is agriculture? (or what is cow farts)
Excess nutrients in the water leads to excessive biological growth, called _____.
What is eutrophication?
_____ species like lichens do not need soil and create soil for species that do.
What are pioneer?
This results from moist air forced over a mountainous region creating precipitation on the rising side and dry air on the other.
What is a rainshadow?
The _____ Cyle is a 23,000 year cycle that is responsible for long-term climate variation.
What is Milankovitch?
*Milankovitch was a Serbian mathematician who formulated a comprehensive mathematical model that calculated latitudinal differences in insolation and the corresponding surface temperatures using three orbital variations...
Fertilizer and animal waste from agriculture are major sources of this ozone-depleting greenhouse gas.
What is nitrous oxide?
Bacteria turn ammonium into high quality nitrates through this process.
What is nitrification?
Fire _____ has resulted in more severe fires due to increased fuel load and tree density.
What is supression?
Dry air sinking at around 30 degrees north and south latitude results in arid biomes called _____.
What are deserts?
_____, or "tidal forces," refer to the pull of gravity the sun and moon exert on Earth's equator.
What is precession?
What is sea level?
These decomposers are especially valuable for their ability to break down cellulose and lignin.
What are fungi?
_____ fires create a dangerous wall of flames from canopy to understory.
This is the range of factors that allows a species to survive and reproduce.
What is niche?
Earth moves faster at the equator than the poles, generating the _____ effect.
What is Coriolis?
Melted polar ice results in temperature rise because open ocean has a lower _____ than ice.
What is albedo?
These soils have the ideal mixture of sand, silt, clay, air and water for plants
What are loams?
This type of succession takes place when there is any soil left after a disturbance.
What is secondary?