12. Biodiversity and change

Question 1

Biodiversity

Answer 1

the diversity of plant and animal life in a particular habitat or in the world as a whole.

Question 2

Ecosystem

Answer 2

a dynamic complex of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment interacting as a functional unit.

Question 3

Biotic

Answer 3

the living components of an ecosystem such as plants.

Question 4

Abiotic

Answer 4

the non-living components of an ecosystem such as water and soil.

Question 5

Endemism

Answer 5

a state in which species are restricted to a single region.

Question 6

Biodiversity hotspot

Answer 6

area with a particularly high level of biodiversity.

Question 7

Tropical rainforest

Answer 7

a rainforest found near the equator, typically characterised by high temperature and rainfall, poor soil, and a high diversity of plant and animal species.

Question 8

Biome

Answer 8

a naturally occurring organic community of plants and animals.

Question 9

River system

Answer 9

all of the streams and channels draining a river basin comprising a main river and its tributaries.

Question 10

Latosol

Answer 10

a major soil type of the humid and high temperature tropics with a shallow A horizon but a thick B horizon comprising clay, sand, and sesquioxides of iron and aluminium which, respectively, endow it with a red or yellow colour. Much of the silica has been leached from latosols, and they tend to be of low fertility.

Question 11

Igapo forest

Answer 11

that part of the rainforest which grows near the rivers onl and that is flooded for at least part of the year.

Question 12

Carbon sink

Answer 12

an environmental reservoir that absorbs and stores more carbon than it releases, thereby offsetting greenhouse gas emissions.

Question 13

Recolonise

Answer 13

The re-establishment of organisms into habitats that they previously occupied.