Changing Ecosystems
What are the two main categories of causes that change ecosystems?
Natural causes and changes caused by human activity.
Why do some changes, like the tides, not affect the living organisms?
Because they happen regularly, and the living organisms have adapted to them over time.
In the food chain, in what group are both humans and animals?
Consumers
Name one example of a natural change.
Drought, forest fires, flooding, or volcanic eruptions.
What is one negative effect a change can have on the soil?
It can cause soil erosion.
What term is used in the text to describe humans' excessive use of natural resources?
Super Consumers
Name one example of a change caused by human activity.
Pollution from factories, deforestation, rubbish and plastic waste, or construction and demolition.
What natural disaster, besides a drought or a flood, can cause changes that alter ecosystems?
Volcanic Eruptions
Name two things that humans pollute by releasing harmful waste.
Air, water, and soil. (Any two are correct.)
Give one example of a change that does not affect the ecosystem, specifically focusing on a daily cycle.
Changes to high and low tides or Changes to day and night.
What human activity is responsible for causing negative changes to the ecosystem by cutting down trees?
Deforestations
How many people are there on Earth, according to the text?
Over 8 billion.
Give one example of an animal behavior that is a regular change and does not affect the ecosystem.
Animal migration.
What is intensive farming, and how does it relate to changes in the environment?
It's farming that uses high resource inputs (like chemicals) and is mentioned as a change that alters the ecosystem.
Deforestation is done to create space for what three activities mentioned in the text?
Agriculture, livestock, and obtaining wood.