Q 01/05

A savanna is best described as which kind of biome?

A) A dense evergreen forest with a closed canopy

B) A treeless plain with cold winters

C) A grassland with widely spaced trees whose canopy does not close

D) A wetland dominated by reeds and sedges

Answer · why

C) A grassland with widely spaced trees whose canopy does not close

The open canopy lets enough light reach the ground to keep an unbroken layer of grass growing beneath the trees.

Q 02/05

Roughly what share of the Earth's land area is covered by savanna?

A) About 5 percent

B) About 20 percent

C) About 40 percent

D) About 60 percent

Answer · why

B) About 20 percent

Unlike North American prairies and Eurasian steppes, savannas mostly sit in warm to hot climates in Africa, Australia, South America and India.

Q 03/05

'Savanna' reached English via Spanish from which Caribbean language?

A) Nahuatl

B) Quechua

C) Taíno

D) Guaraní

Answer · why

C) Taíno

It first appeared in English in 1555 as "Zauana", describing a plain in present-day Panama.

Q 04/05

Which English explorer's 1697–1705 travel volumes fixed the British spelling 'savannah', with a final H?

A) James Cook

B) Francis Drake

C) Walter Raleigh

D) William Dampier

Answer · why

D) William Dampier

He applied it to sandy woodlands on an island in the Bay of Campeche and later to landscapes in Sumatra and the Philippines.

Q 05/05

All savanna environments share year-to-year variation in rainfall and what other factor?

A) Permafrost

B) Annual flooding

C) Monthly frosts

D) Dry-season wildfires

Answer · why

D) Dry-season wildfires

Controlled burns kill tree seedlings but spare mature trees, which is exactly what stops a closed canopy from forming.