Pgs 14-15, 24-27

Goode's World Atlas

CLIMATE, SOILS, & BIOMES

QUIZ REGION: South America (p. 138 in your atlas)

Required

Read about the major climate types (shown on pages 14-15). For the quiz, you will need to be able to distinguish between the major types (capital letter A, B, C, D, and E) as described in class.

Study the 12 major soil orders (pgs 26-27) that I listed in class (and their corresponding U.S. distribution maps). You will need to be able to understand the major descriptions of these orders.

Read about the major world biomes (vegetative communities) as well (pgs 24-25).

Key Terms

In addition to the categories of (and information about) climate types, soil orders, and biomes, you should also know the following:

Soil is made up of:
(1) organic and (2) inorganic matter, with the pores in between filled with some amount of (3) water or (4) air. Soil texture is defined as its ratio of sand, silt, and clay particles.
Climax community -
a particular grouping of vegetative and animal species that have evolved, and thus are well adapted for survival, in the climatic conditions of that place
Humus -
decomposed organic materials making up part of a soil bed
Temperature range -
the difference between the mean temperature in the warmest month and the mean temperature in the coldest month; a measure of how strongly distinct the seasons of the year are

Additional Information

You should understand the relationships between soils, vegetation, climate, and absolute geographic location (specifically latitude).

You also need to be able to construct and interpret a climagraph. At the Weather.com website, you can find average climate data (monthly temperatures and precipitation levels) for any city in the world. The site will present this data in tabular form or as a climagraph; it's a good chance to practice your skills in reading and building climagraphs.