Fragile Remake Flashcards
What is the relationship between biotic and abiotic components in an environment?
Biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) components are intertwined, forming a delicate balance in any environment.
What factors can easily disrupt the balance in an environment?
Natural events like volcanic eruptions or human activities like deforestation can easily disrupt the balance in an environment.
How does global warming impact fragile environments?
Global warming intensifies the vulnerability of fragile environments, making them more susceptible to damage and hindering their recovery potential.
What is a fragile environment, and how does it respond to changes?
A fragile environment is vulnerable to changes and may struggle to recover from disruptions. It has low resilience to disturbances.
Explain why arid and semi-arid environments are considered fragile.
Arid and semi-arid environments are considered fragile due to their limited precipitation and moisture, which makes it difficult for vegetation to recover if damaged.
What are the main human causes of deforestation?
- commercial timber extraction
- agriculture
- mining
- settlement
What are the main human causes of desertification?
- Overgrazing: animals don’t leave vegetation
- Overcultivation: all nutrients taken by crops
- Deforestation: no roots to bind the soil
- population growth: inc pressure on land for food.
What are the main natural causes of desertification?
- Change in rainfall patterns: less rainfall->drought
- Natural vegetation changes: loss of vegetation cover due to natural events such as wildfires.
- Soil Erosion:Wind and water erosion remove topsoil which contains essential nutrients for plants.
What are natural causes of climate change?
- Milankovitch Cycles: Long-term changes to the Earth’s orbit and position. This changes how much solar radiation the Earth receives
- Cosmic Material/Dust
- Sunspot activity
- Volcanic Eruptions
What is the enhanced greenhouse effect?
The enhanced greenhouse effect refers to the increase in Earth’s average temperature due to higher concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, resulting from human activities.
What are the human causes leading to the enhanced greenhouse effect?
- Transport: Vehicle emissions, airplanes emit CO2.
- Energy:Powerplants burn a lot of coal to produce energy.
- Industry:Cement production or chemical production releases a lot of harmful gases into the air like carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide.
- Agricultural:Cattle release a lot of methane
What are the social impacts of desertification?
- Reduced Agricultural Ouput:Degraded soil and less water lead to lower crop yields=less food
- Malnutrition:Limited access to nutritious food can lead to health issues.
- Reduced water supply: Scarcity of drinking and sanitation water.
- Migration: People may be forcefully displaced as they move to find a place with food.
What are the economic impacts of desertification?
- Decreasing income for farmers
- Increased rural poverty
- Spikes in food prices
What are the environmental impacts of desertification?
- Loss of biodiversity
- River pollution: Sediment from soil runs off into rivers.
- Reduced plant growth as nutrients are depleted
What are the social impacts of deforestation?
- Displacement of indigenous communities
- Loss of food, medicines
What are the environmental impacts of deforestation?
- Less precipitation: Interception and infiltration decrease which reduces evapotranspiration and as result precipitation decreases
- Increase in overland flow: more sedimentation in rivers
- Fewer CO2 absorption: global warming
What are the economic impacts of deforestation?
- Increased income from logging, mining, agriculture
- Creation of jobs in logging, mining, agriculture
What are the social impacts of climate change?
Spread of diseases: Increased temps lead to spread of diseases
* Loss of homes and displacement: due to more extreme weather events.
What are the environmental impacts of climate change?
- Increased frequency of extreme weather events
- Sea Level Rise: Flooding low-lying islands
- Ecosystem damage: Corals, mangroves etc.
What are the economic impacts of climate change?
- More land will be abandoned= costs
- Damage to infrastructure from extreme weather events
What are some responses to desertification?
- Education: Sustainable farming methods including agroforestry and crop rotation.
- Agroforestry: Combining agriculture with forestry-> decreases deforestation, provides organic matter to soil, increases interception and infiltration.
- Afforestation: Roots help to bind soil, trees intercept rainfall to prevent soil erosion.
- Fertilizsers, HYV and GM: Increase yield of crops and reduce amount of land cultivated. Also make crops more drought resistant.
- Contour Stones: Increase infiltration. Reduce amount of soil being washed away. Ensures dead matter stays in one place to return to soil.
What is a biome?
Biomes are areas of the planet with a similar climate and landscape, where similar animals and plants live
