Sustainability and Ecology(L1)

Question 1

What is Ecology?

Answer 1

The study of organisms in their communities and how they interact with their groups and environment

Question 2

List the Hierarchy of Life and define each level

Answer 2

1 - organisms (living things)
2 - populations (organisms that can breed/same species)
3 - communities (populations in defined species)
4 - functional groups (communities with and can adapt to similar environmental pressure)
5 - ecosystem (1 or more functional group + abiotic components)
6 - Biomes (ecosystems that share broad environmental characteristics)
7 - Biosphere (global assemblage of Biome)

Question 3

What are the properties of an ecosystem?

Answer 3

• self sustaining
• has organisms, populations of organisms, communities of populations and abiotic components

Question 4

Why do rainforests have so much life?

Answer 4

• lots of sunlight + water = favourable environment
• high % of moss that can retain moisture and nutrients for organisms

Question 5

What are the pros and cons of clear cutting vs. selective cutting?

Answer 5

clear cutting:
con: regrowing forest is difficult and slow due to nutrient loss
pro: cheap

selective cutting:
pro: faster regrowth of forest
con: expensive

Question 6

What are engineers roles in environmental sustainability?

Answer 6

• shouldn’t exceed the capacity of impact that the planet can take
• consider environmental impact at earliest planning stages of a project
• impossible to sustain (maintain for period of time) forever, but want to do as long as possible
• must meet needs of present without compromising future generations from meeting their needs