Name period date assigned date due date returned. Texas Ecoregions

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1 Name period date assigned date due date returned Directions: Go to the following website: Use the log in that is taped to the top of your laptop. If you are absent or completing the assignment for homework, use student30 as the username and science as the password. Go to Student Resources. Click on My Library then click on student resources. Next, click on Unit 8 Earth s Changing Surface and go down to Changes in. Next to that, click on the digital lesson. Follow the instructions given for each slide. After or while you watch the digital lesson, answer the following questions. You can also use the textbook (pages ). These questions are in order based on the digital lesson. 1. The Texas coastline is frequently hit by hurricanes. What are some kinds of damage that hurricanes cause? 2. What are some ways that people change the environment around them? 3. Compare and contrast a marsh and a prairie. How are they alike and how are they different? 4. Why is climate important in defining an ecoregion? 1

2 GULF COAST PRAIRIES AND MARSHES (screen 5 and 6) 5. Eli wants to build a house right on the beach along the Gulf. He says it will be strong enough to stand up to hurricane-force winds. Do you think Eli has a good plan for his house? Explain your answer. 6. Where does the river sediment that forms beaches come from? 7. Does Gulf water cause fast or slow changes to Texas beaches? Explain your answer. 8. Explain the difference between erosion and deposition. Then give an example of each that takes place on a beach. TEXAS WOODLAND ECOREGIONS (screen 7) 9. Do you agree or disagree with this statement: The Piney Woods is still largely forest, so there have been few changes to that ecoregion. Explain your answer. 10. You are an early settler in Texas. You can settle in either the Piney Woods or the Post Oak Savannah. Which would you choose and why? 2

3 PRAIRIE ECOSYSTEMS (screen 8) 11. Where do the minerals in soil come from? 12. Why does marly soil resist erosion? 13. Explain why deeper soils are affected less by erosion than shallow soils. WOODLAND AND PRAIRIE CHANGES (screen 9) 14. Why have people converted much of the prairie to other land uses? 15. Define the words woodland and prairie in your own words. HIGH PLAINS ECOREGION (screen 10) 16. Why is it important for farmers and ranchers to know how their crops and herds affect the land? 3

4 17. Explain how better irrigation systems can conserve two important resources. 18. You visit the Llano Estacado and see a playa, a sand dune, and a playa lake. Which one formed by wind erosion and deposition? Explain your answer. MORE PLAINS ECOREGION (screen 11) 19. How do the natural grasses of the High Plains and Rolling Plains differ? What do you think was responsible for the differences? CHANGES TO PLAINS ECOREGIONS (screen 12) 20. Describe a helpful and harmful effect of ranching in the plains ecoregions. 21. Where are you if you re looking at a playa lake? How did the lake form? EDWARDS PLATEAU ECOREGION (screen 13) 22. How do chemical weathering and mechanical weathering differ? 4

5 23. Explain how Karst landforms are related to erosion. TRANS-PECOS ECOREGION (screen 14) 24. This ecoregion is a desert. What do you think the main characteristic of a desert is? 25. In the Trans-Pecos ecoregion, the actions of people have helped turn some areas from grassland into desert. Why is it important to study what has happened here? MORE CHANGES TO ECOREGIONS (screen 15) 26. Which process produces a more noticeable change to land, weathering or erosion? 27. How are the changes to the Edward s Plateau and the Trans-Pecos alike? 28. In which ecoregion do you live? Define it by the climate and vegetation that is located there. 5

6 DESCRIBE SOIL CONSERVATION (screen 17) 29. Why is soil conservation more important on a farm than on a field of native grasses? ESSENTIAL QUESTION REVIEW (screen 18) 30. Which ecoregion do you think has undergone the most change in the last 100 years? Explain your answer. 31. Why are the changes in the woodlands different than those in other ecoregions? 32. In which ecoregion has chemical weathering played an important role? 33. What changes does the ocean water in the Gulf of Mexico bring to the Gulf Coast prairies and marshes? 34. How have cattle and other grazing animals changed Texas s ecoregions? 6