Anthropogenic Species and Ecosystems Extinction (SL)

Question 1

North Island Giant Moas

Habitat and Period

Answer 1

New Zealand, 1300 CE

Question 2

North Island Giant Moas

Type of organism

Answer 2

Large herbivorous birds with no wings

Question 3

North Island Giant Moas

Size

Answer 3

Up to 3 meters tall

Females were bigger than males

Question 4

North Island Giant Moas

When did humans arrive?

Answer 4

Polyponesian people arrived around 1200 to 1300 CE

Question 5

North Island Giant Moas

How fast did the organisms go extinct?

What does this show?

Answer 5

Within 100 years

Anthropogenic extinction has been happening for centuries on a smaller scale

Question 6

Caribbean Monk Seal

Habitat

Answer 6

Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Islands

Question 7

Caribbean Monk Seal

Population size

Answer 7

13 major colonies with 250,000 individuals

Question 8

Caribbean Monk Seal

When did the organism go extinct?

Answer 8

Declared extinct in 2008; last confirmed sighting in 1952

Question 9

Caribbean Monk Seal

Why was the organism killed?

Answer 9

European colonists killed it for oil and food

Question 10

Caribbean Monk Seal

Peculiar behavior

Answer 10

Showed little fear of humans and often sat on beaches and rocks

Became an easy target for guns or clubs

Last few seals killed to be used as scientific specimens

Question 11

Dodo

Habitat

Answer 11

Mauritius in the Indian Ocean

Question 12

Dodo

Type of organism

Answer 12

Flightless bird

Question 13

Dodo

When did it go extinct?

Answer 13

Late 1600s

Question 14

Dodo

Why did the organism go extinct?

Answer 14

Humans introduced non-native/invasive species that ate the dodo’s eggs

Invasive species included rats, pigs, and monkeys

Humans hunted the bird for food

Question 15

Mixed Dipterocarp Forest

Habitat

Answer 15

Southeast Asia

Question 16

Mixed Dipterocarp Forest

Types of organisms

Number of species

Answer 16

Family of hardwood tropical trees

Over 500 species

Question 17

Mixed Dipterocarp Forest

Why and how was the ecosystem destroyed?

Answer 17

Clear cutting (stripping all trees) for timber and agricultural land (especially for palm oil)

Clear cutting is the cheapest way of removing timber

Question 18

Mixed Dipterocarp Forest

How much rainforest is being lost in SEA yearly?

Answer 18

About 1%

Percent is higher on some islands

Question 19

Aral Sea

Location

Size

Answer 19

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

Fourth-largest lake in the world

Question 20

Aral Sea

Why was it destroyed?

Time period

Answer 20

Rivers that fed the lake were diverted by Soviet irrigation

1960s and beyond

Question 21

Aral Sea

How much has been lost?

Answer 21

Lost over 90% of original size

Question 22

Aral Sea

Effects of the dwindling lake

Answer 22

Collapse of freshwater fish populations, wetlands, and the communities that depended on them

Question 23

Aral Sea

Effects on the land surrounding the lake

Answer 23

Became desert-like, toxic dust storms arose from the exposed lakebed, pesticides and chemicals had accumulated