Question

chapter 3 assessment
understand main ideas

1. which best describes the distribution of communities on a tall mountain?

a. evergreen forests exist up to the tree - line and no vegetation is found above the tree - line.
b. several communities might be stratified according to altitude and might end in an ice field at the top of the highest mountains.
c. as altitude increases, tall trees are replaced by shorter trees, and ultimately are replaced by grasses.
d. tundra - like communities exist at the top of the highest mountains, and deserts are found at the lower elevations.
use the diagram below to answer question 18.

1. which area receives the least amount of solar energy per unit of surface area?

a. north of 60°n and south of 60°s
b. south of 30°n and north of 30°n
c. between the tropic of cancer and the tropic of capricorn
d. north and south temperate zones

1. what is the name for large geographic areas with similar climax communities?

a. assemblages
b. communities
c. successions
d. biomes

1. which biome occurs in the united states and once contained huge herds of grazing herbivores?

a. boreal forest
b. temperate forest
c. grassland
d. savanna

1. which land biome contains the greatest species diversity?

a. tundra
b. grassland
c. desert
d. tropical rain forest
constructed response
use the image below to answer question 22.

1. open ended describe a biome that might be found in the shaded area shown above.
2. open ended in december 2004, a huge iceberg caused a large number of penguin chicks to die of starvation. ice shelves broke apart in areas where the air temperature increased. the parents of the penguins were cut off from their food source. how is this an example of temperature as a limiting factor?

think critically

1. main idea suggest why land biomes are classified according to their plant characteristics rather than according to the animals that inhabit them.
2. classify a biome that is warm to hot in the summer and cool or cold in the winter and that receives approximately 50 - 89 cm of precipitation annually.

section 3
vocabulary review
replace the underlined words with the correct terms from the study guide page.

1. a(n) area where freshwater and salt water meet provides habitat for a diversity of organisms.
2. the well - lit portion of the ocean is the area where all of the photosynthetic organisms live.
3. the shoreline of the ocean contains communities that are layered depending on how long they are submerged by tides.

Explanation:

17.

As altitude increases on a mountain, ecological communities change in a stratified way, often ending in an ice - field at the top. This is a well - known ecological phenomenon related to altitude gradients.

Polar regions (north of 60°N and south of 60°S) receive the least solar energy per unit surface area due to the angle of sunlight incidence.

Biomes are large geographic areas with similar climax communities. This is a standard ecological definition.

Answer:

B. Several communities might be stratified according to altitude and might end in an ice field at the top of the highest mountains.

18.