Chapter 30

Explain how air currents contribute to the formation of rain forests and large deserts.

What are large, roughly circular ocean currents called? What effect do they have on climate, and where is that effect strongest?

Explain why traveling up a mountain in the Northern Hemisphere takes you through biomes similar to those you would encounter by traveling north for a long distance

Where are the nutrients of the tropical rain-forest biome concentrated? Why is life in the tropical rain forest concentrated high above the ground?

List some adaptations of desert cactus plants and desert animals to heat and drought.

How are rain shadows created?

How are trees of the northern coniferous forest adapted to a lack of water and a short growing season?

How do deciduous and coniferous biomes differ?

How is a savanna different from a chaparral?

Distinguish among the littoral, limnetic, and profundal zones of lakes in terms of their location and the communities they support.

Distinguish between oligotrophic and eutrophic lakes. Describe a natural scenario and a human-created scenario under which an oligotrophic lake might be converted to a eutrophic lake.

Distinguish between the photic and aphotic zones of the ocean. How do organisms in the photic zone obtain nutrients? How are nutrients obtained in the aphotic zone?