Unit A Section 4.1 Flashcards

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1
Q

What reduces biological diversity on Earth?

A
  • The extinction of some species,
  • the decrease in population of other species,
  • and the degradation of ecosystems
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2
Q

What is extinction?

A

Extinction is the disappearance of every individual of a species from the entire planet.

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3
Q

How can sudden catastrophic events occur?

A
  • These are events such as earthquakes or volcanic eruptions that cause sudden changes in the environment
  • The The last major environmental change was about 1.8 million years ago during the Pleistocene epoch, which is commonly known as the Ice Age.
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4
Q

What is Extirpation?

A

Extirpation is a local extinction or the disappearance of a species from a particular area.

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5
Q

How can extirpation happen?

A

road building or deforestation

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6
Q

How is natural selection not always the solution for survival?

A

Natural selection is usually a slow process. Even if there is a lot of
variation within a species, sometimes the environment changes too much
and too quickly for the species to survive.

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7
Q

extinctions and extirpations were due to natural causes, such as:

A
  • catastrophic events such as volcanic eruptions, floods, or fires
  • lack of food due to overpopulation
  • disease
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8
Q

What is overspecialization?

A

-Overspecialization is another natural cause of extinction
-Sometimes organisms have adaptations that suit them to only a narrow set of environmental conditions.
-This probably happens because the
environment that the organism inhabits remains unchanged for a very long time.

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9
Q

What are the ways Humans cause rapid changes to habitat?

A
  • Construction of buildings,
  • agricultural development,
  • logging, and the damming of rivers

all change environments

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10
Q

How much prairie in Alberta is still in natural condition

A

only 20% of the area once covered by native

prairie species is still in its natural condition.

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11
Q

What is a type of habitat destruction?

A

-Pollution is a particular kind of habitat destruction

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12
Q

How does pollution affect the environment?

A

-Pollution often affects not only the immediate area where humans are but also areas farther away.

  • Some chemicals can cause an increase in the number of birth defects in species.
  • This often occurs first in aquatic species such as fish, frogs, and toads.
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13
Q

Why are the effects of habitat destruction in tropical areas can be severe?

A

Because tropical rain forests have the highest diversity of species of any area on the planet, the loss of these habitats can cause the extinction or extirpation of a very large number of species.

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14
Q

What is the problem with the Introduction of Non-Native Species?

A
  • When introduced species use the same resources as native species,
  • they compete with the native species and cause the number of native species to decline, simply because there is less of everything.

-EX. Cattle now graze where bison once roamed and attempts to reintroduce the bison are limited due to the competition for grazing resources.

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15
Q

What was the major cause of the decline and eventual extirpation of the plains bison over most of its range, and of the extinction of the passenger pigeon?

A

Over-hunting

  • Mainly for leisure and sport.
  • Sometimes species were hunted to deliberately extirpate them.(prairie dogs)
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16
Q

What are the results of extinction?

A
  • reduces biological diversity.

- Extinctions reduce the number of species on the planet.

17
Q

What are the results of extirpation?

A
  • Reduces biological diversity

- Extirpations reduce biological diversity in areas from which the organism has disappeared