Conservation and Cycles Flashcards
what are the 4/6 benefits of conserving biodiversity
- Eco Tourism
- Provide employment
- Medicine development through undiscovered plants
- cultural like bald eagle for USA
- Protect human food supply
- ensuring minimal damage to food chains
how can you increase biodiversity in a deforested area
- reforestation provides high biodiversity and shelter food habitats
must plan carefully like different tree species for higher biodiversity
what are the two ways to conserve biodiversity
protect natural habitat
captive breeding programmes
seed banks to store endangered plants
what are the 4 factors of food security
- increasing consumption of meat fish due to wealthier people so wide variety
but this is bad bc less energy and biomass higher in chain so rather grow crops for more food - climate change due to global warming ( burning of fossil fuels release c02)
reduce crop yield // soil pollution - sustainable farming when you balance the need of renewable energy alternatives which take up a lot of land that could be used for crop growth such as bioethanol used for biofuel
- cost for irrigation and machinery
- new pest and pathogens cause damage to crops crop may not be resistant to disease so reduce yield
How are materials recycled between biotic and abiotic components
- living things absorb elements
- turn to complex compounds and fed to animals
- animals die and decomposers return elements to soil and air
explain the carbon cycle
- depends on photosynthesis
- plants absorb CO2 to create complex compounds
- fed onto animals which respire and release CO2
- eventually die and decompose and turned into useful products
- decomposers release co2 through respiration once breaking down
- some turn into products which combusted and release CO2
explain the water cycle
- energy from sun make water from sea to evaporate and turn into water vapour // transpiration from plants
- condenses and cools and turns into clouds
- water falls from clouds as precipitation onto land draining the sea.
why is the water cycle important
provides photosynthesis for plants and fresh water
what is a drought and how can it be solved
- lack of precipitation so desalination removes mineral ions from water through either thermal distillation or reverse osmosis due to high pressure moving salt from high conc to low conc removing impurities
what is nitrogen and why is it important
78% of air, un reactive so cant directly be used, needed for protein in plants must be turned into mineral ions and nitrates then passed onto food chains this process relies on bacteria
what are the 4 types of bacteria nitrogen cycle depends on
- nitrogen fixation - turns n2 into ammonia then into ammonium ions
- nitrifying bacteria - turns ammonia in decaying matter into nitrites then nitrates
- denitrifying bacteria - Nitrates into n2 no benefit normally waterlogged
- decomposer- turn proteins in organic matter into ammonia then ammonium ions
how does nitrogen fixation happen
- lightning has enough energy to make nitrogen react with oxygen
- nitrogen fixation bacteria in roots and soil
how does nitrogen fixation occur in roots
nodules on legume plants contain nitrogen fixation so when decompose nitrogen returned to soil or leak our during growth
how can farmers increase nitrates in soil
crop rotation - change crops grown every year and include nitrogen fixation crop so when decompose return soil for next year
- fertiliser animal manure or compost recycle nutrients through decomposition
or nitrate fertiliser which are expensive