Exam 53: The Physical Environment and Biogeography of Life

Prevailing winds generate ocean surface currents that flow in the same direction until they encounter a continent.They are diverted by the mass of the continent, forming the huge rotating currents found in both hemispheres in all oceans.These rotating currents are called

Marsupial mammals dispersed from South America to Australia by way of an Antarctic land bridge, which no longer exists.Placental mammals arose later and subsequently spread to other continents, typically outcompeting marsupials wherever they coexisted.Today, Australia has about half marsupials and half placental mammals, mostly bats and rodents.This abundance of marsupials in Australia and their rarity elsewhere is likely due to a lack of

At the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., every animal must have an environment appropriate to its native climate and environmental conditions.The Washington climate has four distinct seasons and is defined as humid subtropical, similar to the southeastern United States.Which animal would be least likely to require a specially designed habitat?

One person lives at a latitude of 10°N, and another lives at 40°N.Which statement correctly compares speed and deflection of south-moving air in the atmosphere at these two locations?

An explorer looking for species diversity patterns would most likely not find

Which latitude-based factor would tend to result in lower extinction rates?

Sunlight at Earth's _______ would travel through the greatest amount of atmosphere and be spread over the largest area.

Refer to the figure below. Research shows that, compared to nonurban areas, urban heat islands raise nighttime temperatures more than they raise daytime temperatures.What factor shown in the figure might account for this difference?

The formation of an estuary requires which topographic factors?

Which type of biome has the longest growing season?

Which of the studies below would best help scientists predict the future impacts of climate change on wheat production in the United States?

Prevailing winds move air masses across the Pacific Ocean and part of Chile before the air masses reach the Chilean coastal mountain range.What prediction can be made about the climate on the two sides of these mountains?

Oxygen makes up 21 percent of the gas in the atmosphere.Why is oxygen not considered a greenhouse gas?

The Amazon River basin is the world's largest river basin, discharging 20 percent of the water discharged by all rivers around the world.The Amazon's mouth is 150 miles (240 km) wide, and a broad area of forests surrounding the river are flooded every year.This suggests that the topography of the lower part of the Amazon basin is mostly

Refer to the figure below. Using the figure as a guide, describe how temperature, light, and pressure vary in the coastal and ocean zones.Include variations based on depth in the two zones, and explain how the differences affect ocean life.

Refer to the map below. Suppose Australia collides with Asia many million years in the future, removing the barriers between these two biogeographic regions.The immediate result of this fusion would most likely be

Refer to the graph below. Consider the information in the graph.How does it relate to the type of information obtained by early explorers as they observed plant and animal distribution around the world? Do their observations still hold true today? Why or why not?

Prevailing winds in a given region flow from west to east.This region is most likely in

In general, the direction of circulation of ocean surface currents is

Refer to the map below. Wallace's Line, which separates the Oriental and Australasian biogeographic regions, is characterized by which type of geographic boundary, as described by Alfred Russel Wallace?