Systems and Models
The minimum amount of change within a system that will destabilize it, causing it to reach a new equilibrium or stable state.
What is a tipping point
The ecosystems can be divided in 3
What are marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems
Making a habitat less habitable.
What is pollution
There is enough water, but it is too expensive to access.
What is economic scarcity of water
A habitat for many micro-organisms, it provides peats, clays, sand, and gravel, and most notably, it is the medium in which most of our food is produced.
What is the soil
Energy in an isolated system can be transformed but cannot be created or destroyed.
What is conservation of energy
The r-strategist lifespan's duration
What is typically short lifespan
Animals higher up the food chain are more sensitive to changes lower down. They also tend to have smaller population numbers.
What are trophic levels
Unsustainable exploitation of aquatic systems
Can be mitigated at an international, national, local, and individual levels through policy, legislation, and changes in consumer behaviour.
Soil horizons
O organic horizon
A mixed mineral–organic horizon
E eluvial or leached horizon
B illuvial or deposited horizon
C bedrock or parent material
R bedrock
Energy in a system will try to dissipate itself to a lower energy level.
What is entrophy
The primary producers in a trophic level
What are green plants
The aesthetic value of biodiversity
People enjoy being in nature and traveling to places of beauty.
There is a current cultural trend towards greater consumption of...
What is meat and dairy
High primary productivity due to medium infiltration rate, water-holding capacity, nutrient status, aeration, and ease of working.
What is loamy soil?
A physical system that does not exchange energy or matter with its surroundings.
What is an isolated system
The result of the evolutionary process
Biodiversity
Conservation of biodiversity
What is the act of preserving something for future generations. It is a two-stage process. First, vulnerable species and/or habitats are identified, then strategies are put in place to protect them.
Management strategies
What are:
Altering human activity
Controlling the release of pollutants
Clean-up and restoration of damaged systems
We can severely degrade soils by...
What are urbanisation (compactions), mining, deforestation, and intensive agriculture (grazing, monoculture, over irrigation)?
The components of a system can be represented by...
What is storages (box), flows (inputs and outputs), and boundaries (dotted line)
The change of an ecosystem over time, and is most clearly seen when an environment is low in species diversity and population
What is Succession
Strats for conserving species
What is:
Promotion of flagship species to gain public support.
Selection of keystone species to protect the integrity of the food web.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Captive breeding and reintroduction programmes, and zoos.
DNA and seed banks.
A variety of complex ecosystems, most of which are supported by photosynthesis and phytoplankton.
What are the worlds oceans
Soils take a long time to naturally build up through the process of succession and are therefore considered a non-renewable resource.
What is fertile loam