APES - CH 5 - Flashcards

8456707382	Weather	An area's temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind speed, cloud cover, and other physical conditions of the lower atmosphere over hours or days	0
8456707383	Climate	A region's general pattern of atmospheric or weather conditions over a long time - years, decades, and centuries	1
8456707384	Latitude	Distance from the equator	2
8456707385	Elevation	Height above sea level	3
8456707386	Greenhouse Gases	Water Vapor (H2O), Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), and Nitrous Oxide (N2O). Play a role in determining the earth's average temperature and thus its climates	4
8456707387	Greenhouse Effect	The natural warming effect of the troposphere	5
8456707388	Mosoons	Heavy rains that fall on continents north or south of warm oceans	6
8456707389	Biomes	Large terrestrial regions, characterized by similar climate, soil, plants, and animals, regardless of where they are found in the world	7
8456707390	Desert	An area where evaporation exceeds precipitation. Annual precipitation is low in these driest of the earth's biomes and is often scattered unevenly throughout the year; cover about 30% of the earth's surface	8
8456707391	Grasslands/Prairies	Occur mostly in the interiors of continents in areas too moist for deserts and too dry for forests. Persist because of a combination of seasonal drought, grazing by large herbivores, and occasional fires - all of which keep large numbers of shrubs and trees from growing	9
8456707392	Tropical Grasslands: Savannas	Grasslands with scattered trees and enormous herds of hoofed animals	10
8456707393	Temperate Grasslands: Fertile Soils	Grasslands with cold winters and hot and dry summers have deep and fertile soils that make them widely used for growing crops and grazing cattle	11
8456707394	Permafrost	Underground soil in which captured water stays frozen for more than two consecutive years	12
8456707395	Forest	Occur in undisturbed areas with moderate to high average annual precipitation; contain various species of trees and smaller forms of vegetation	13
8456707396	Tropical Rainforest	Heavy rainfall on most days and a rich variety of species occupying a variety of specialized niches in distinct layers	14
8456707397	Temperate Deciduous Forests	Forest changes with the seasons, most of the trees in this biome survive the winter by dropping their leaves, which decay and produce a nutrient-rich soil	15
8456707398	Evergreen Coniferous Forests	Forests categorized by cold winters, wet summers, and conifers. These forests consist of mostly cone-bearing evergreen trees that keep their needles year-round to help the trees survive the long and cold winters	16
8456707399	Temperate Rain Forest	Coastal areas support huge cone-bearing evergreen trees such as redwoods and Douglass fir in a cool and moist environment	17
8456707400	Mountains	High-elevation forested islands of biodiversity and often have snow-covered peaks that reflect solar radiation and gradually release water to lower-elevation streams and ecosystems	18