Relationships
This occurs when two organisms fight for the same limited resource.
Competition
What is biodiversity?
Variety of life
How can the extinction of one species affect biodiversity in an ecosystem?
Losing one species reduces biodiversity and can disrupt the balance of other species that depend on it.
This process, caused by rising ocean temperatures, turns coral white and leads to loss of habitat for countless marine species.
coral bleaching
Name one way humans cause environmental change.
Pollution, cutting down forests, and building cities.
How does commensalism differ from mutualism?
Commensalism: helps one organism and doesn’t affect the other.
Mutualism: both organisms help each other.
Conserving wetlands and coral reefs is important because they are examples of ecosystems with ___ biodiversity.
high
What happens to ecosystem stability when biodiversity increases and more species can fill similar ecological roles.
Greater ecosystem stability due to higher biodiversity.
When pollution or overfishing cause several species to disappear from a food web, the ecosystem becomes ___.
less stable
How does pollution affects aquatic ecosystems?
It harms aquatic life by lowering water quality and reducing biodiversity.
Define parasitism and give one example.
Parasitism helps one organism and harms the other.
This happens to biodiversity when coral reefs are destroyed by pollution, rising ocean temperatures, or destructive fishing practices.
A decrease in biodiversity and stability.
How does interspecies competition affect ecosystem balance?
It can disrupt ecosystem balance when one species outcompetes another, reducing biodiversity.
Name a natural event that can cause ecosystem change.
Hurricanes, fires, floods, etc..
What is the impact of coral bleaching on plants and animals? How does this impact biodiversity?
It removes homes for plants and animals, thus decreasing biodiversity.
A crown-of-thorns starfish eats coral. If too many live in the reef, coral population declines. What kind of relationship is this and what is the impact?
Predation — the starfish eats coral, which can hurt the reef and reduce stability.
This happens to an ecosystem’s biodiversity and stability when native species go extinct due to an invasive species
What is a decrease in biodiversity and a decrease in stability
How does high biodiversity contribute to ecosystem stability?
Species diversity boosts an ecosystem’s ability to withstand change.
During an extended dry season in an area, the majority of the ground cover dried up. How would this impact ecosystems in that area?
The ecosystem would become less stable because losing producers means less energy is entering the system overall.
Name one of the long-term effects of climate change on global ecosystems?
Raises temperatures, melts ice, and hurts ecosystems.
How does interspecies competition affect ecosystem balance?
Competition can make it harder for species to survive.
Biodiversity helps maintain ______, even during disturbances.
Stability
If ______ is low, an ecosystem becomes vulnerable. Why?
biodiversity
With few species, disease or change can destroy the ecosystem.
Growing new corals in labs and replanting them on reefs is an example of this method to help restore damaged ecosystems.
Restoration
These human activities—like ____ and _____ —reduce ocean biodiversity and disrupt marine food webs.
overfishing and pollution