Living world Flashcards
interdependence
relies on each other
biodiversity
the variety of species in an area
tropical rainforests f.t.
largest number of species of any biome
over 50% of species
huge diversity
Hot desert climate
- low rainfall ( 250mm per year)
- rains once every few years
- very warm in the day (45) but can drop to 0 at night
Hot desert soil
- low fertility
- low rainfall so its dry
Hot deserts plants
- cacti dont need much water
- short life cycles
desertification meaning
where fertile land becomes desert
camels adaptations
- closes nostrils to prevent sand getting in
- can go for several months without food
- stores fat in the hump which can then be used for energy
- thick lips so they can eat prickly desert pkants without feelig pain
- long eyelashes keep sand out of camels eyes
cacti adaptations
- stems that store water
- widespread roots that collect water from a wide area
arid
dry
fennec fox adaptaions
- large ears help dissipate excess body heat
- thick fur insulates them in cold nights
- sandy fur camouflage
- kidneys are adapted to restrict water loss
drought tolereat trees adaptations
- roots can penetrate 50m into the ground to find as much water as possible
- stinging ants live in them so when animals try to eat the leaves the ants will defend their home by stinging the predator
lichen adaptations
- can grow on rocks in high temperatures
- when moistures avalible its taken up by the fungus leading to a mechanical change that lets more light though
- when lichen is dormant it does not grow
issues cause biodiversity in deserts
- low biodiversity
- global warming is pushing species out of deserts or extinction
- areas with water have a high population of humans who increase desertification since they drink too much contaminated water
sahel mineral extraction
- 60% of export revenuies in NIger are from trading uranium which annually contributes $500 million to the country
- concern in the transpartany of teh governance of extractive industries
- e.g. in 2016 there were arguments to improve the transparancy of chad’s oil sector
Sahel farming
- agricultrual productivity is low
- potential of sustainable livestock restoration
- millions of hectares of land has been restroed
- tree cover has increased
- great green wall ( 128 million trees planted ) - development
sahel tourism
- timbuktu has large potential ; it has lost libraries, houses and mosques
- in 2011 there were 200,000 tourists visiting teh city although this has decreased duce to conflict and attacks there
- uk advises not to travel to the majority of chad due to active terrorism and unexploded mines
shahel climate change
- due to over extraction of water souurces for agriculture this is a problem
- temperatures are rising 1.5 times more than teh global avarage
- droughts are becomeing more frequent
- water has shrunk by 90% due to cilimate change and population growth
- lack of water increases conflict
sahel renewable energy
- energy is a sustaniable source of development
- predicted by the international energy agency that 670 million people in 2030 will have no energy especially in teh sahel region
- better lifestyle: to cook children dont have to look for firewood all day, peopoe can work longer hours with lighting, safe water pumps reduces time spent finding water
- sudan has announced that they will incraese accecibiloty to enrgy by 13% each year until 2025
shahel extreme temperatures cause
- rapid evaportaion of precipitation leads to infertile soil
- famine
sahel inacessibility
- lack of transport
- cahhangeing to build in hot arid place
- 20-30 million peole in teh sahel are nomadic pastorilists so its hard to maintail health care for them since tehy tarvel alot and inhibit inacessibel areas
desertification- climate change
- less rainfall so crops don’t grow but when it does rain its heavy and washed away soil
solution
demi lunes/ dams
demilunes trap water during wet seasons and collects water without letting it wash away
small dams buuilt so acess to water all year round
small so appropriate
sahel - population growth
- huge increase in population so high demand for water and food which isnt avalible
solution
reducing population/ family planning
to stop the population dobling in 30 years as predicted contraseptives are introduced
sahel- removal of fuel wood
can get very cold at night and in orger to see at night they need wood
also less trees means more erosion of soil
solution: renewable energy/ solar panels
better lighting, low tech, cheap, appropriate
overgrazing (too many animals) and over cultivation ( too many crops)
- soil runs out of nutrients
- eventually things ill stop growing there
- new areas to farm needed
solution: trading/ educating
more poepl are encouraged to do jobs outside farming liek working in small groups to make butter minlk or educating to lar other trades
sahel - soil erosion
if soil is washed away it cant be used for crops
solution: planting trees
will help keep teh soil in place and preent erosion
food chain
simple
one arrow
both
tells us what eats what in the ecosystem
- arrows from producer to consumer
food web
complex
branches in mny direction
tropical rainforests
mostly arouund equator
dont appesr at high latitudes
deserts
everywhere but europe
further from equator
temperate deciduous forests
most of europe
tropic of cancer
far from equator
managing rainforest sustainability: selective logging + replanting
- only selected trees are cut e.g. old ones or in threat of falling)
- not large amounts from the same place
- helps keep rainforest structure
- more sustainable than clear cutting because other trees survive allowing forest to recover
- use horses/ helicopters preventing heavy load for cars
- others trees can be damaged in the process
- have to clear some forest area to make space for machinery and providing accommodation education an environmentally friendly activities the tourists want to do for example animal watching
- it’s only works in a small scale and when it is done carefully with an environment in mind
- for example tataquara lodge- biodegradable soaps from local people canoeing fishing rainforest walks all involve very little damage
- waste from the site is kept in tanks so it doesn’t pollute local rivers and solar panels are used to generate electricity
replanting
- By replanting the same type of tree that is cut down governments can ensure that the rainforest is preserved for the future
- replanting deforested land with quick growing exotic tree species can help solve immediate problems such as soil aversion and elevated carbon levels
- therefore the government can ensure that logging companies have to make these replanted trees in a space that they have cut them down
- however rainforests like the Amazon have been around full thousands or even millions of years so replanting the trees will not replicate the extremely high biodiversity
managing rainforest sustainability:conservation
- many countries have set up national parks and nature reserves within rainforests in these areas looking is restricted however lack of funds can make it difficult for the police to restrict this
- as a result some countries have set funds which oversee governments and businesses can invest in
- the money can be used to enforce restrictions on damaging activities and promote sustainable use of rainforest
education + conservation
And providing accommodation education an environmentally friendly activities the tourists want to do for example animal watching
it’s only works in a small scale and when it is done carefully with an environment in mind
for example by a credible steps from local people canoeing fishing rainforest walks all involve very little damage
waste from the site is kept in tanks so it doesn’t pollute local rivers and solar panels are used to generate electricity
managing rainforest sustainability: education
- Educating the international community but impacts on deforestation can encourage people to buy products from sustainable resources
- Local people might damage the rainforest by logging illegally to overcome that poverty without realising the long term effects of their actions
- educating people about the impacts can reduce damage to the rainforest
- teaching people about alternate way to make money that were damaged environment means people won’t be as dependent on unsustainable options for a living
debt reduction
- Many tropical rainforests are found in the lower income countries which borrow money from wealthier countries
- this money must be paid back with interest so poorer countries local farm and mine in the rainforest to pay money back
- reducing debt means countries don’t have to do this so the rainforest can be conserved
- debt can also we can sort by countries but there’s no guarantee that repayment money will be spent on conservation
- a better solution is a conservation swap where part of the countries that is paid off in exchange for a guarantee but the money will be spent on conservation
commertial farming
- forest is cleared to make space for cattle grazing or huge plantations
- cattle ranching is the main cause of deforestation in Amazon in Brazil there around 200 million cattle
- soy is another commercially farmed crop up to 250,000 kilometres squared or former forest has been used up with this production
- rice corn and sugar cane have also grown
subsistence farming
- Forces cleared by small-scale farmers who need land to grow food for themselves or their family
- many indigenous people are subsistence farmers
how does ecosystem work
- plants use sunlight and wtare and nutrients from soil to produce their own food (producers)
- animals feed on plants (consumers)
- fungi and bacteria feed of dead and waste material making it break down or rot (decomposers)
- recycle nutrients for plant to reuce
- without plants all living things would die
biome
very large ecological area on earth surface with plants and anaimals adapated o the envirmonet
ecosytem
intereaction of biotic and abiotic
rainforest
6% coverage of eath
near equator
large biodivercity
hot and wet
why does TRF have low nutrient avalibility
large number of producers = rapid uptake from soil absorbed by roots
leaching rainwater away nutrients= npt stored
interdependance
relies on each oter
structure pof rainforest
- emergent layer
- canopy
- under canopy
- shrub layer
- forest floor
emergent
can withstand buring sun, wind, rain
canopy
solid layer of trees
small leaves a stheres lots of sunlight
mallas that live here are noctornal
undercanopy
drip tips
allows exesss water to drip off quickly
dark and humid
shrub layer
1-2% sunlight filtered to this level
competition of living i nTRF
- limited sunlight reaches foret floor(plants must be adapted to be tall)
- food
- disease
- heavy rainfall - leaching of nutrients
- ## space
drip tip
waxy surface - protects from heat
top prevents leaf snapping in heavy rainfall
different angles so dont block sun
butress roots
- thin soils so shallow roots needed to soak up nutrinets
- can grown 50m in emergent layer as theres great cometeition for sunlight
- large surface area so more o2 co2 exchnage
tree bark
thin bark as moousture inst low
thin smooth bark to allow free flow of water
high temp so no need for protection over cold
epiphytes
- plants that live on trunks and brances of other planst to obtain the most sunlight
- usinally in canopy
sustainable
meeting the needs of today without compromising the needs of furure generations
reducing demand for hardwood
- high demand in HICs as its expensive/ quality so peopl ein poorer countires want to cut ans sell it
- demand reduced by educating/ taxing it
selective loggign
- only cutting down a few tees in one area
- omes that are going to fall/ old
- dont afafcet structure of rainforest
- forest is cleared to fit machinery neeed
replantig
- can jelp solve immediate probelms liek soil erosion
- wont be affective as TRF have been around for thousands of years so its not replicate eaaisly
education/ conseravtion
- ## ppl dont know how else to get money
ecotourism
- small scale
- e.g. fishing, canoing
- enviromentally firnedly activitoes
debt reduction
- lic can spend money to reduce damage to rainforest instead of giving it to HICs
interdependany in desert
- animals spread seeds
- cacti store water
- vegetation binds soil together preventing erosion
problems with desert survival
- wind
- infirlie soil
- not alot of water for long periods
- high competeition
- hot
colouur gradint on maps
cloropleth graph
sahel location
equator
mali, nger, chad, sudan
sahel location
equator
mali, nger, chad, sudan
