After reading this chapter and analyzing the content, it is assumed that you can:

1. Describe the special conditions on earth that make it especially favorable for life.
   
   
2. Define biosphere and distinguish between the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere.
   
   
3. Provide evidence that increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are responsible for an increase in the "greenhouse effect."
   
   
4. Briefly describe the following biomes: temperate deciduous forest, coniferous forest, tropical forest, grassland, tundra, desert
   
   
5. Describe lotic and lentic habitats.
   
   
6. Discuss the different oceanic environments: rocky intertidal zone, rocky subtidal zone, nearshore soft sediments, deep–sea sediments, hydrothermal vents, pelagic realm
   
   
7. List some reasons a species may be absent from a habitat or region to which it should adapt well.
   
   
8. Define and distinguish the alternative explanations for disjunct distributions among animals: dispersal and vicariance.
   
   
9. Discuss the continental drift theory.
   
   
10. Discuss the Great American Interchange.