Unit 3: Natural Disruptors

Question 1

What are the three ways an ecosystem can be disrupted naturally?

Answer 1

Physical, chemical, and biological agents.

Question 2

What is the difference between resistance and resilience in an ecosystem?

Answer 2

Resistance is a measure of how much disturbance can affect energy flow and matter, resilience is how quickly the ecosystem can come back after a disturbance.

Question 3

How does intermediate levels of disturbance favor species diversity?

Answer 3

Ecosystems with high disturbances have few species that can survive, ecosystems with low disturbances have low resiliance.

Question 4

Why is the scale important when considering natural disturbances?

Answer 4

Large scale disruptions make a more difficult time for ecosystems to return to normal.

Question 5

Periodic

Answer 5

Some change that occurs on a regular interval.

Question 6

Episcodic

Answer 6

These events repeat, but on an irregular interval.

Question 7

Random

Answer 7

No pattern, totally random. This is an event that may or may not happen again.

Question 8

How has earth’s climate changed over time?

Answer 8

It has gotten warmer and more unpredictable.

Question 9

How have sea levels changed over time?

Answer 9

It has risen.

Question 10

What is restoration ecology?

Answer 10

The study and doing of restoring damaged ecosystems.

Question 11

Intermediate disturbance hypothesis

Answer 11

An ecosystem with intermediate disturbance levels will be more diverse than those with high or low.