Chapter 9: Sustaining Biodiversity
This refers to the variety of life forms on Earth, including genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity.
Hint: It is crucial for ecosystem stability, resilience, and the provision of ecosystem services such as pollination, nutrient cycling, and climate regulation.
What is biodiversity, and its importance for ecosystems?
These are characterized by dense tree cover, high biodiversity, and carbon storage; these are dominated by grasses, support grazing species, and have nutrient-rich soils; these have water-saturated areas critical for biodiversity and water filtration.
What are the primary characteristics of forests, grasslands, and wetlands (Respectively)?
This substance is a mixture of mineral particles, organic matter, water, air, and living organisms. It supports plant growth and is critical for ecosystems.
What is soil?
The main methods of this type of manufacturing include industrial agriculture, subsistence farming, and aquaculture.
What is food production?
This involves processes like evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and infiltration, distributing water and supporting life on Earth.
What is the water cycle?
These are the two major threats to biodiversity.
What are habitat destruction (ex. deforestation) and climate change?
These reduce biodiversity by destroying natural habitats, fragmenting ecosystems, and introducing pollution and invasive species, disrupting native populations.
What are ways urban areas?
These are essential for modern life, providing materials for construction, electronics, and industry, such as copper for wiring and lithium for batteries.
What are minerals?
This focuses on maintaining productivity while protecting environmental health, emphasizing practices like crop diversity, soil conservation, and reduced chemical inputs.
What is sustainable agriculture?
Major sources of this include surface water (rivers, lakes) and groundwater stored in aquifers.
What is freshwater?.
These are the benefits ecosystems provide to humans, such as clean air, water filtration, and pollination. (Hint: Examples include wetlands purifying water and forests storing carbon)
What are ecosystem services?
These provide critical habitats for species, safeguard biodiversity, and offer recreational opportunities while preserving natural resources for future generations.
What are public lands?
These include contour plowing (which reduces erosion) and crop rotation (which maintains soil fertility).
What are major soil conservation practices?
These chemicals can harm ecosystems by contaminating soil and water, reducing biodiversity, and negatively affecting non-target species, including pollinators.
What are pesticides?
This phenomenon arises when demand exceeds supply, leading to reduced access to clean water, impacting agriculture, health, and ecosystems.
What is water scarcity?
These are the roles protected areas play in conserving biodiversity.
What are safeguarding habitats, preventing exploitation, and allowing ecosystems to recover?
This process involves the large-scale removal of forests, leading to habitat loss, carbon emissions, reduced biodiversity, and disrupted water cycles.
What is deforestation?
This determines the distribution of natural resources, such as oil, coal, and minerals, which form through geological processes like sedimentation and volcanic activity.
What is geology?
This process depletes soil, pollutes water, emits greenhouse gases, and reduces biodiversity through monoculture practices and deforestation.
What is industrial farming?
The effects of this include: agriculture runoff, untreated sewage (degrades water quality, harming aquatic ecosystems and human health)
What is water pollution?
These are regions with exceptionally high species diversity and significant levels of endemism but are under severe threat. (Hint: They are prioritized in conservation efforts to maximize impact with limited resources).
What are biodiversity hotspots?
Reforestation, controlling invasive species, wetland restoration, and improving land management practices.
What strategies to restore degraded ecosystems?
This causes habitat destruction, water contamination, soil erosion, and greenhouse gas emissions, often leaving long-term environmental damage.
What is mining?
This enhances food production by increasing crop yields, improving resistance to pests, and reducing the need for chemical inputs, but it raises ethical and ecological concerns.
What is genetic engineering?
Strategies of this include improving irrigation efficiency, reducing water waste, protecting watersheds, and treating wastewater for reuse.
What is sustainable water management?