Science ecology unit test lesson 5-8 Flashcards
What is soil health?
Soil Health: The capacity of soil to sustain plants, animals, and humans.
What does soil do?
regulate water
sustain plant and animal life
filtering and buffering pollutants
cycling nutrients
physical support
What type of air pollution usually affects ecosystems
Ecosystems are impacted by air pollution, particularly sulphur and nitrogen
How does air pollution affect ecosystems
Emissions of both sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides deposit in water, on vegetation and on soils as “acid rain”.
This causes ecosystems to be more acidic which affects nutrient cycling and carbon cycling.
Eutrophicationcan also be a result of air pollution.
How does water quality affect ecosystems
excess nutrients from wastewater and agricultural runoff
pollution stormwater (particularly from roads, highways and parking lots)
warmer water temperatures (loss of wetlands)
water flow changes
What are some examples of climate change
glaciers and ice sheets are shrinking
river and lake ice is breaking up earlier
plant and animal geographic ranges are shifting
plants and trees are blooming sooner
What are the causes of climate change?
Human activity is the main cause, people burn fossil fuels for industiral, agricultural and land use purposes. Burning fossil fuels produce carbon dioxide into the enviroment
What is the green house gas effect?
It is called a greenhouse gas because it produces a “greenhouse effect”. The greenhouse effect makes the earth warmer, just as a greenhouse is warmer than its surroundings.
Examples of other green house gases?
Other greenhouse gases, such as nitrous oxide, stay in the atmosphere for a long time. Others only produce short-term effects. Not all chemicals produce warming, some can produce cooling
What is biodiversity?
The number and variety of organisms in a particular ecosystem
What is the Reason for Measuring Biodiversity?
Higher biodiversity leads to better sustainability. The more diverse an ecosystem is, the better able it is to withstand disturbances (diseases, droughts, arrival of a new species.)
High Biodiversity Benefits:
(i) High ecosystem sustainability, maintain an ecosystem and allows it to withstand problems such as disease, droughts, etc.
(ii) Biological Resources –
Ex. Food / Medicine / New Materials
High biodiversity provide a balanced supply of food for consumers; Many new materials and medicines come from the discovery of exotic plants.
(iii and iv) Social Benefits
The varieties of plants and animals allow for more beautiful scenery, research, education, recreation and tourism. They also inspire culture and the arts
What are aspects of Biodiversity measurements
population distribution, of species in an area
behavioural diversity Variety of genetics
ecosystems diversity variety of ecosystems
What is a biodiversity hotspot?
A place where there is an exceptionally large number of species in a relatively small area
How does water Quality affect biodiversity?
Water pollution releases harmful, FOREIGN substances into water bodies. Because these foreign substances are out of place, they will affect the health of living organisms and the biodiversity by changing the environmental conditions.
