Part G: SHORT ANWERS (55 in total) Can use examples and illustrations when applicable. 1. In four sentences or less, describe why maps of the Earth’s major biomes closely resemble maps of the Earth’s major climate regions? (2 points)

2. Identify two of the three variations in the Earth’s orbit associated with Milankovitch Cycling. Briefly describe how each of the variations would contribute to planetary-scale glaciations. (4 points)

3. Describe the two main factors that control the morphology of stream channels (2 points)

4. Coastal temperate rainforests occur along the west coast of NA from southern Alaska to northern California. Use your knowledge of the variables that influence gloval scale climate and regional weather patterns, your knowledge of the physiography of western NA, as well as your knowledge of the variables which influence the distribution of species, to explain the existence of this biome subtype.

5. Describe how the concept of continental drift and the theory of plate tectonics have aided in the growh of historical biogeography

6. Describe the rock cycle, including the processes of transformation and the various energy sources that power the

cycle.

7. Temperature and precipitation are the two most important variables controlling the distribution of plants worldwide. Why then is there a relationship between the distribution of the world’s major biomes and seasonal and annual insolation regimes? (2)

8. Describe the difference between shield volcanoes and stratovolcanoes including their eruptive properties (4).

9. Identify and describe the primaray atmospheric “effect” that is generally accepted as giving rise to a global temperature rise. Explain how this phenomenon operates to increase the temperature of the atmosphere. Be sure to explain the role of carbon cycling in this process (3 marks)

10. Differentiate between sensible and latent heat. Explain how latent heat release aids in the distribution of energy throughout the earth system (3 marks)

11. Compare and contrast environmental lapse rate, dry adiabatic lapse rate and wet adiabatic lapse rate (3 marks)

12. Define the term “radiation balance”. Explain how this balance is chieved using the diagram below depicting the global Energy Budget. (3 marks)

13. Examine the climograph below for a city in NA. Describe the type of climate for which this climograph is representative. Suggest where in NA this city might occur and explain why. (3)

14. Describe the soil class that typically forms in the boreal forest. Include the relationship of this soil to climate and vegetation (i.e. what processes give rise to this soil type?) (3)

15. Explain the concept of “bioclimatic frontiers” and how climatic factors can act to limit the distribution of plant and animal species. Use an example to illustrate your answer. (3)

16:. Explain the term succession within an ecological and plant community context. Use an example of primary OR secondary succession to support your answer (3)

17. Equilibrium with respect to a river is defined as (3)

18. With respect to continental glaciation, isostatic adjustment refers to (3)

19. A hydrograph is… One example of how it may be used to guide the relation of human activities to the environment is (3)

20. An aquifer is One example of an earth material that forms a good aquifer is (3)

21. Thermokarst refers to It is likely to develop more extensively in a globally warming environment because (3)

22. The relation between the arrival of the first humans in NA and the occurrence of continental glaciation is probably the following (3):

23. A metamorphic rock is formed in the following manner a physical region of Canada where hetamorphic rocks are common is (3):

24. Describe the difference between soil porosity and permeability. How does soil texture influence both of these properties?

25. Define a biome and a Biogeographical realm. How are these two concepts different from each other?

Biogeographic realms are large spatial regions within which ecosystems share a broadly similar biological evolutionary history. Eight terrestrial biogeographic realms are typically recognized, corresponding roughly to continents. Although similar ecosystems (such as tropical moist forests) share similar processes and major vegetation types wherever they are found, their species composition varies markedly depending on the biogeographic realm in which they are found. Assessing biodiversity at the level of biogeographic realms is important because the realms display substantial variation in the extent of change, they face different drivers of change, and there may be differences in the options for mitigating or managing the drivers. Terrestrial biogeographic realms reflect freshwater biodiversity patterns reasonably well, but marine biogeographic realms are poorly known and largely undefined (C4.2.1).

26. Define “Albedo”. Explain how a decrease in snow and ice cover in the arctic would affect albedo. Is this a positive or negative feedback with respect to climate change?

27. Identify and describe the three forces that affect wind direction and speed. Which of these forces is missing at high altitude giving rise to Geostrophic winds?

28. discuss the atmospheric conditions that give rise to a thunderstorm. Explain the flow of energy within a thunderstorm event. (3)

29. Identify and describe the nature of the soil class that typically forms in a tundra climate. Explain the relationship of this soil to climate and vegetation (i.e. what processes give rise to this soil type?) (3)

30. Explain the relationship between temperature and plant net photosynthesis. Use the diagram to assist in your explanations. How could increased temperatures impact the net productivity of a boreal forest ecosystem? (3)

31. Explain ecological succession using primary succession of sand dunes as an example. How does primary succession differ from secondary succession? (3)

32. How does the geological composition of the ocean bottoms differ from the composition of the continental crust? How does this relate to subduction tectonics? (3)

33. Explain the diagram below and suggest why erosion velocity changes across a range of particle sizes? (3)

34. Describe the formation of 3 types of landforms in arid regions (3 marks)

35. Describe the events that produce a caldera.

36. Explain the terms strike and dip (3).

37. Explain briefly how the crown fire system changed with climate in Southern BC during the Holoscene (Bonus)

38. Describe the albedo for a forest canopy. In an atmosphere with increasing CO2, how might forest/vegetation respond? Would this be an example of a positive or negative feedback with respect to climate change? (3)

39. Compare and contrast the heating/cooling of land versus water. What impact does this have on coastal cities? (3)

40. Explain the processes by which Chinook winds can occur during winter in southern Alberta. (3)

41. Identify the nature of the soil class that typically forms in a dry mid-latitude climate. Explain the relationship of this soil to climate and vegetation (i.e. what processes give rise to this soil type?) (3)

42. Define net primary production. How are net primary production and climate related? How could increased temperature impact the net productivity of arctic vegetation communities? (3)

43. With respect to processes that shape landforms, exfoliation refers to (3)

44. Lake Iroquois was located in this region at approximately this time period. It existed because…? (3)

45. An igneous rock is formed in the following manner. A physical region of Canada where igneous rocks are common is (3)

46. Define Ecological Biogeography. What are the most significant environmental factors influencing plant distributions? use an example to illustrate “bioclimatic limits” (3)

47. Explain how thunderstorms occur in the presence of unstable air (i.e. what atmospheric conditions give rise to thunderstorms). Use the diagram below to help with your explanation (3)

48. Define succession. How does primary succession differ from secondary succession?

49. Explain how this process occurs in mid-latitude lakes (3)

50. Describe this scene of landscape evolution and river formation (3)

51. Explain why it is hard to predict what will actually happen with global warming (3)

52. Describe the various landforms created by alpine glaciers (3 marks)

53. Define net radiation. Describe how net radiation varies with latitude. Identify two circulation systems which compensate for differences in net radiation across the earth system.

54. One of the three regions in Canada having significant risk of large earthquakes is… Large earthquakes may occur here because…

55. Beringia was important to the first humans in North America because…

In glacial ages more of the earth's water was locked in polar and mountain ice caps, lowering sea levels. The lower sea levels exposed additional land area along the coasts of the present continents. This coastal land, now below the surface of the ocean, was home to populations of plants and animals which, in the normal course of their lives, came to be distributed over wide areas, some of them separated by water today. The Bering Strait is today a relatively shallow body of water between Russia and Alaska. It partially dried up in some of these periods, producing a vast stretch of land that united northeast Asia with the Americas. The region was home to a wide range of cold-adapted animals and, at some periods, human beings. This body of land is referred to as Beringia. (External Link) At times of lowest seas, it was about a thousand miles from north to south (roughly the distance between Ottawa and Winnipeg or between San Diego and Seattle).

Because this land lay across the modern divide between Eurasia and the Americas, it is also called the "Bering Straits Land Bridge." Some of the plants and animals living there (including people) are said to have "migrated to the Americas from Siberia" by this "route”. The same cold weather that lowered the sea levels as much as 120 meters below their present level also produced glaciers over much of northern North America. During some periods when Beringia itself was available, however, a wide unglaciated "corridor" extended southwestward on the east side of the Canadian Rockies, even though the area along the coast of Alaska and British Columbia was covered with ice. The ice-free inland corridor followed the Mackenzie River basin in Northwest Territories and is therefore called the "Mackenzie Corridor." It could in theory have provided a possible inland route for southward human migration, although there is no evidence that it was in fact used that way. (The important Charlie Lake Cave site in northeasterm British Columbia [external link] dates to about 8,800 BC, so humans were in the area then, but archaeological evidence seems to suggest that they more likely came from the south rather than from the north.)