As Unit 1 Case Studies

Question 1

Tropical rainforests. Eg Rio Bravo Belize

Eco features; threats & conservation

Answer 1

ECO FEATURES: 100,000 hectares, buttress roots; 400 bird species & other animals (howler monkey, jaguar, tapir). Stable temperatures give biodiversity; high light levels for photosynthesis; carbon sequestration from high biomass; rainfall.
THREATS: exploitation forest for fuel, construction, agriculture (slash and burn), minerals, reservoirs, loss habitat for rare species
CONSERVATION: programme for Belize, ecotourism, sustainable logging, donations, employment

Question 2

Coral reefs. Eg Great Barrier Reef in Australia
Eco features
Threats
Conservation

Answer 2

ECO FEATURES: coral nutrition ( cilia trap or sting planktonic organisms, or 90% food from symbiotic algae that produce sugars); need warm stable temp around 25-29 degrees; sunlight; low turbidity; constant salinity; hard substrate to attach to.
Important for fishing, absorbing wave energy, climate control, tourism, medicine.
THREATS: physical damage (divers, boats); souvenirs; turbid & sediment water from farming; bleaching from temp rise; pollution fertiliser run off; over fishing; disease
CONSERVATION: mangrove forests to slow water turbidity & sedimentation; mooring bouts not anchors; education; controlling coastal farming; pollution measures; no take zones

Question 3

Succession in a lithosphere

Answer 3

Eg development on rock following a volcano

Harsh abiotic conditions, no soil, extreme temps
First colonised by autotrophs eg algae & litchens
Thin layer soil builds up get grasses
Nutrients & shade from plants get flowers & insect pollinisation.
Edaphic (soil) factors suitable for trees

Question 4

Succession in hydrosphere

Answer 4

Eg new area of freshwater

Single celled algae from soil
Herons, insects bring spores, seeds & plants
Rooted plants colonise edges giving more food & shelter
Sediments fill open water & aquatic species disappear as it dries up.
Trees colonise and transpiration removes more water. Larger species dominate.

Question 5

Chalk grassland. Eg South Downs
Eco features
Threats
Conservation

Answer 5

ECO FEATURES: harsh soil conditions, summer heat, winter frost & drought, poor nutrients. So no single species out competes another. Get diversity eg 40 species per metre. Cowslips, orchids, butterflies, grasshoppers.
THREATS: intensive agriculture; urban development of houses roads; lack of grazing; 20% loss of chalk grasslands in UK 1966-1980; tourism erosion
CONSERVATION: sheep grazing; cutting back scrub; management areas

Question 6

Heathland eg Reigate Heath in Surrey
Eco features
Threats
Conservation

Answer 6

ECO FEATURES: poor soil, bare patchy sandy soil suits burying animals eg wasps, sand lizards. Many butterfly species feed on Heather and gorse.
THREATS: UK lost 80% heathland over last 100 years (building, farming, fuel) can be neglected and colonised by bracken and scrub.
CONSERVATION: Reigate Heath is SSSI and a LNR due to importance of lowland Heath habitat. Eg bell heathers, spider hunting wasps. Have Management plan to clear bracken, protect new heathers, walkways.

Question 7

Antarctica
Eco features
Human impact / Threats
Conservation

Answer 7

Eco FEATURES: 60 times size of UK; 98% ice or snow; long winter so few plants & animals survive; upwelling crates nutrient rich waters to support sea creatures; high albedo of ice; krill faeces contain carbon which falls to seabed to create carbon sink
THREATS: risk of ice melt from global warming increasing sea levels; tourism wastes/disease; overfishing; ozone depletion destroying light sensitive plankton; pressure for mineral extraction; scientific research
CONSERVATION: Antarctic treaty 1959 - banned mining & nuclear; monitors tourism; conserves organisms. British Antarctic survey based there monitoring climate change, biodiversity & geology. Have measures to deal with waste, oil leaks.