7.2 Flashcards
Goods
Physical materials e.g. timber from trees
Services
Functions e.g. how forests prevent flooding
Indigenous
People native to an area
Transnational companies
Companies that produce and sell products across the biosphere using individual biomes
Different ecosystem services
Provision of goods - products obtained from the ecosystem e.g. food,timber for building
Supporting services - keep the ecosystem healthy to perform functions e.g. nutrient cycling
Regulating services - ensure physical systems function to keep the whole planet healthy e.g. storing carbon and emitting oxygen
Cultural services - bring spiritual well-being and happiness to people in an ecosystem
e.g. education and science
Name three ways ecosystemic services are used by indigenous people
To produce temporary homes(small circular houses built from wood and leaves)
To make medicines(from plants and wild honey)
To hunt(monkey and antelope for bushmeat)
How humans are exploiting and destroying ecosystem services?
Energy
Water
Minerals
How humans exploit and destroy ecosystem services for energy?
Demand for energy increases due to growing population and involves exploiting areas like the forest to build hydroelectric dams and power stations
How humans exploit and destroy ecosystem services to obtain water?
Demand for water increases for washing and for farmland areas, leaving plants and animals with not enough water to survive
How humans exploit and destroy ecosystem services for minerals?
Minerals like gold and iron are extracted by mining, which can cause deforestation and washes toxic chemicals into streams and rivers to kill wildlife.
How does biosphere control the proportion of gases in our atmosphere?
Plants take in CO2 and give out oxygen in photosynthesis.
Why is maintaining the balance of gases in the atmosphere important(2 ways)?
Most living organisms need oxygen to survive
Increased levels of CO2 lead to global warming
Carbon sinks
Natural stores for carbon-containing chemical compounds
What is the hydrological cycle?
The hydrological cycle is the movement of water between the land, bodies of water and atmosphere
How does the hydrological cycle ensure a health ecosystem
Water is taken up by plants, so won’t cause flooding and soil erosion and they release water into the atmosphere slowly, reducing the risk of drought.
Nutrient cycle
1)Plants drop leaves which go into the soil.
2)Plants absorb nutrients from the soil and use them to grow.
3)Animals eat plants to take in the nutrients they contain.
4)Animals and plants die and decompose, returning nutrients to the soil.
What factors lead to an increasing demand for resources(name 2)
Increasing population as the more people, the more resources needed.
Urbanisation as people move to urban areas where resources are used more often and there’s increased energy use .
Malthus’s theory
An increased population means there would eventually be too many people for the resources availably, so people would be killed by catastrophes like famine, illness and war for the population to be enough to be evenly supported by the resources
Boserup’s theory
If resource supplies were limited, people would come up with new ways to increase production, so people would always have sufficient resources for their population
Malthus was right because…
No global crisis since 1798
The Earth can’t provide resources necessarily for 12 billion people in the future
Boserup was right because..
Renewable resources support many people
More technically advanced food production
