Unit 04

Question 1

Distinguish between matter and energy and identify the roles they play in the environment

Answer 1

Energy is made from matter
Flows of matter can explain the range of environments or ecosystems across a landscape ex. Water
Flow of energy can determine the pattern of ecosystems across the landscape

Question 2

Recognize the links between our increasing knowledge of the carbon cycle and human history

Answer 2

Hunter gatherers burned simple hydrocarbons – control of fire
Agriculturalists began controlling carbon life forms – burn, compost or bury what we didn’t want
Fire allows us to quickly and effectively change the land cover from forests to field BUT forests are carbon sinks  = increasing in human derived carbon
Industrialists began burning hydrocarbons – use of fossil fuels as prime source of energy  = release carbon into the atmosphere
Post-industrialist controlling of carbon – biotechnologies

Question 3

Describe flows of energy through an ecosystem (food chain, food web, trophic levels)

Answer 3

Radiant energy is converted to chemical energy by primary producers, they are then fed on by primary consumers
Much of the energy is converted from chemical to kinetic (heat)
Most of the energy is released in the atmosphere as heat energy then released to space as radiant energy

Question 4

Define limiting factors and identify how they may lead to local and regional patterns in the environment

Answer 4

Limiting factors: limit photosynthesis (light, heat, water, co2, nutrients)
All environments are affected by them
Rainforest: have lots of eater and solar power, but soil nutrients are low

Question 5

Define carrying capacity and explain factors that control it

Answer 5

The number of people, organisms, or crops a region can support without environmental degradation

Question 6

List and explain the primary means by which humans impact ecosystems (reduction, fragmentation, and so on)

Answer 6

Reduction in area or size
Forest ecosystem has been reduced in southern Ontario
The niagara escarpment – stretch of forest has been fragmented by major highways – difficult for wildlife and vegetation to mix or disperse
Substitution of trees – introduction of invasive Norway maples because they can tolerate urban stresses
Extinction – hunting and logging
Contamination – synergism