B18: Biodiversity Flashcards
What is biodiversity?
The variety of different species on earth, or within an ecosystem
What are the functions of biodiversity?
Makes ecosystems stable, helps make medicine and species help provide specific services like pollination
What are results of the increase in human population?
Use up raw materials, deforestation and produce lots of waste
What causes water pollution?
Sewage from homes, chemicals from farming and the industry can pollute lakes and rivers
What causes land pollution?
Landfill and nuclear waste releasing toxic chemicals into the surrounding ecosystems
What causes air pollution?
Releasing of fossil fuels and smoke from combustion
How can biodiversity be improved?
Breeding programmes, for endangered species to reduce chance of extinction. Creating protective areas like coral reefs
What is a problem with breeding programmes?
Unless original habitat is safe, endangered species population will decline
How can humans reduce the impact of what they do that leads to a decrease in biodiversity?
Reduce harmful but necessary practices, like farming. This can be done by introducing hedgerows and field margins
What are issues about protecting biodiversity?
It is expensive, in order to maintain current standard of living, the environment needs to be damaged, for example the use of fertilisers.
How do hedgerows and field mines help increase biodiversity?
They provide extra habitats and food sources so that a range of species can survive
How can the government help to reduce damage to biodiversity?
Set quotas/limits on harmful practices (e.g deforestation), prohibiting certain things and pay businesses for carrying out practices like planting hedgerows
What 3 human activities have a positive impact on biodiversity?
Recycling waste, setting limits on CO2 emissions and creating marine protected areas
Why do humans carry out deforestation?
It provides land for cattle and rice fields, as well as growing crops for biofuels
How do humans reduce the availability of land?
Building, quarrying, dumping waste and farming
What are 3 problems about deforestation?
Trees cannot photosynthesise, therefore more carbon dioxide will be in the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. Similarly burning releases all the carbon inside, and when cutting trees, the habitats that had high biodiversity are destroyed, reducing it
What are problems about the use of peat bogs?
They are often drained, to be used as farmland. Water is removed, allowing oxygen to enter and microorganisms simultaneously, which releases the carbon and contributes to global warming.
What are peat bogs useful for?
Compost, which required burning and therefore releases carbon dioxide
What are 2 properties of peat bogs?
Acidic and waterlogged
What are some consequences of global warming?
Droughts, hurricanes and floods would become more common and severe. Sea level rise is another
How does sea level rise occur?
High temperatures will cause more ice to melt and as water warms up, it expands so volume increases.
What is the general impact of climate change?
Species that were well adapted to their environment may no longer be able to survive
What is the difference between climate and weather?
Weather is the short term atmospheric condition, but climate is the typical weather condition in an entire region for a long time
Why are producers given their name?
Because they are able to photosynthesise to make their own food
