Extinction and Biodiversity pt. 2

Question 1

What is the cause of the 6th mass extinction?

Answer 1

Humans

Question 2

What are the four major threats to biodiversity?

Answer 2

Habitat destruction
Introduced species
Overexploitation
Climate change

Question 3

Why is habitat destruction significant?

Answer 3

Destruction of habitat for agriculture

Question 4

Why is introduction of species significant?

Answer 4

Throws off niche, new species eat old species or old species’ resources

Question 5

When did the anthropocene begin?

Answer 5

As soon as humans showed up

Question 6

What is the anthropocene period?

Answer 6

An unofficial unit of geologic time, used to describe the most recent period in Earth’s history when human activity started to have a significant impact on the planet’s climate and ecosystems

Question 7

What are ecosystem services?

Answer 7

Services offered to species by the environment

Question 8

What are 4 types of ecosystem services?

Answer 8

CRISP:
Cultural
Regulating
Supporting
Provisioning

Question 9

Climate mitigation?

Answer 9

50% of fossil fuel CO2 emissions are taken up by plants, halving the atmospheric CO2 growth rate globally

Question 10

Water purification?

Answer 10

Microbial communities break down and remove most pollutants as water passes through soils

Question 11

Recreation, culture, and aesthetics?

Answer 11

National parks and forests serve as areas of recreation, economics, and inspiration