Biogeography

1. Field capacity refers to 50 % water & 50 % air. Leaching produces increasingly acidic & mineral deficient soil. Laterization (now called Ferralization) occurs in humid tropics where heavy rain & uninterrupted warmth give rise to a deeply weathered layer. Melanization refers to darkening of soil profile while Leuciniation refers to lightening of the colour both in A horizon. Induration refers to hardening of soil & Audification refers to the accumulation of H ions mainly in surface horizons.

2. The surface horizon is usually referred to as the O layer; it consists of loose organic matter such as fallen leaves and other biomass. O horizon is further divided into 3 sub horizons. The layer of plant material on the soil surface is classified as: the L horizon (fresh litter); the F horizon (decomposing litter); the H horizon (well decomposed litter)

3. Below that is the A horizon, containing a mixture of inorganic mineral materials and organic matter.
Next is the E horizon, a layer from which clay, iron, and aluminum oxides have been lost by a process
known as leaching (when water carries materials in solution down from one soil level to another). Removal of materials in this manner is known as eluviation, the process that gives the E horizon its name. Below E horizon is the B horizon, in which most of the iron, clays, and other leached materials have accumulated. The influx of such materials is called illuviation. Under that layer is the C horizon, consisting of partially weather bedrock, and last, the R horizon of hard bedrock. Hence the horizons are
L, F, H, A, E, B, C & R from top to bottom.

4. Aridisols (23 %), Inceptisols (16 %), Alfisols (13.5 %) & Entisols (11 %) – Coverage.

5. Epiphytes are abundant in tropical rainforest (Selva) which have little undergrowth.

6. Gross primary productivity less that is used in respiration is net primary productivity. Only 1 % of the sun’s energy reaching the earth is used by plants through photosynthesis. The mean productivity
of the world is around 300 gm/sq.m/year.

7. 15 lakh species of animals & 2.5 lakh plant species on earth. Out of which 75 thousand animal & 15
thousand plant species are found in India.

8. The most commonly used Freon is Freon-12, or dichlorodifluoromethane (CCl2F2). Freon-11 is
Trichlorofluoromethane (CCl3F).

9. Solonchak soils are defined by high soluble salt accumulation & formed from saline parent material under conditions of high evaporation. Pedocals are soils of arid regions and are characterized by calcite (CaCO3) cementation due to upward movement of water (evaporation). Pedalfers are soils of humid regions and are characterized by highly leached clays due to downward movement of water. Extreme pedalfers are called laterites.

10. Ferrous group includes iron, chromite, manganese, & nickel. Non-Ferrous group has copper, lead, zinc, tungsten, aluminium, vanadium etc.

11. The largest number of sheeps & goats are both in China.

12. Coal, Petroleum & electricity are respectively known as black, liquid & white gold.

13. Czechoslovakia separated into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Yugoslavia was created by joining
various regions (Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro), and then
split again

14. Intercropping refers to the growing of more than one crop on the same field while mixed cropping refers to the growing of a variety of crops on different fields.

15. Weir canal connects Lake Erie & Ontario. Worldwide jet stream that occurs in winter is the sub-tropical jet stream.

16. Port Said lies towards the red sea side on Suez Canal. Purus, Sao Francisco & Madeira are all large rivers of Brazil.

17. Oder Niesse line is the boundary between Poland & Germany. 38th Parallel between North & South Korea. 49th Parallel between USA & Canada. Maginot line between France & Germany.

18. Micronesia includes the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, Guam, the Republic of Palau, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, and the Federated States of Micronesia. Micronesia lies to the north of Melanesia & to the North-West of Polynesia.


19. Melanesia’s westernmost island is New Guinea. Stretching east and south of New Guinea are the countries of Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, the French territory of New Caledonia and Dependencies, and the nation of Fiji Islands (commonly known as Fiji).

20. Polynesia consists of American Samoa, the Cook Islands, Easter Island, French Polynesia, Hawaii, New Zealand, Niue, the Pitcairn Islands, Samoa (formerly Western Samoa), Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, and the Wallis and Futuna Islands.

21. Apiculture refers to rearing of honey bees. Silviculture refers to growing & tending of trees as a branch of forestry. Connate water (also called fossil water) refers to water trapped in the interstices of rocks during their formation. Phenology is the study of seasonal changes upon animal & plant life.

22. Hall Herault process is used in the extraction of Aluminium from its ore.

23. South China sea is the largest sea.