Exam 4: The Terrestrial Environment

The formation of well-developed soils takes approximately 500 years.

Perhaps the greatest constraint imposed on life in terrestrial environments is

A measure of the degree of acidity or alkalinity of a soil is ________.

Describe three structural adaptations of terrestrial plants that allow them survive on land.

The aboveground parts (e.g., leaves)of most plants are coated with a waxy ________ that reduces water loss.

Clay particles and salts tend to accumulate in the ________ horizon.

Leaf area index (LAI)

What factor largely determines the available water capacity (AWC)of soil? Why is this so? Name two additional factors that contribute to the AWC.

Laterization is a soil-forming process that is typical of cool, moist climates at high latitudes.

It is agreed that soil is teeming with life and is a three-dimensional unit, having length, ________, and depth.

In high-latitude habitats, forest canopies that have leaves displayed at an angle will absorb light more effectively.

The parent material of soils may originate from underlying bedrock or be deposited by glacial, eolian (wind), gravitational, or ________ processes.

Under which conditions are the processes of weathering, leaching, and input of organic material from plants into soil maximized?

When the amount of water in a soil exceeds what the pore space can hold, it is ________.

Which of the following soil textures would have the largest pore spaces?

The greatest limitation faced by terrestrial organisms is low nutrient availability.

The available water capacity is

Beer's law can be used to describe the attenuation of light in both aquatic and terrestrial environments.

Tree roots growing through rock and splitting the rock into smaller pieces is an example of mechanical weathering.

More rainfall enters the soil on steep slopes than on level land.