Definitions
What is a non-living factor in our environment called?
Abiotic
This type of animal is at the top of the food chain.
Apex predator
This ecosystem has the most biodiversity.
Rainforest
True or False: Humans can positively impact the environment around them.
True. Through conservation efforts, humans can help rebalance ecosystems.
What was the original problem humans were trying to solve in Borneo?
Humans were trying to get rid of the mosquitos because they were carrying diseases (malaria)
The variety of living things in an area is called...
Biodiversity
Which direction does energy move through a food chain?
Up
Give an example of an abiotic factor in an environment.
Ex. rocks, sand, soil, sunlight, wind, temperature
What types of human activities are destroying ecosystems (name 2)
Clearcutting forests, over fishing, over hunting.
What ate the poisoned mosquitoes?
Lizards
This trophic level of a food chain creates its own food from the sun and nutrients in the soil.
Primary Producers
Primary consumers are also known as... (think about what they eat)
Herbivores
Give an example of a biotic factor in an ecosystem and tell me what ecosystem it is from.
ex. A cactus is a biotic factor of a desert ecosystem.
______ can lead to loss of biodiversity, landslides, and soil erosion.
Clearcutting forests.
What ate the poisoned lizards?
Cats
This type of living organism breaks down organic material in our environment releasing nutrients back into the soil. An example of these would be worms.
Secondary, tertiary, and quaternary consumers can either be... (think about what they eat)
Omnivores or carnivores
True or false: an ecosystem is a network of interactions between living things and their environment.
True
How can every day actions such as driving cars impact ecosystems?
Driving cars increases CO2 and the greenhouse affect which is causing the Earth's temperature to rise. Small changes like increased temperature can cause harm to ecosystems
When the cat population died from eating the poisoned lizards, what other population increased spreading more harmful diseases and killing thousands of humans?
This type of living organism breaks down organic materials in our environment. They are often too small to be seen without a microscope.
Decomposers
A food chain is more accurately called a nutrient cycle. Why is this?
After living organisms die, their nutrients are returned to the earth by decomposers and detritivores.
True or false: Different species are connected and depend on each other creating a balance in ecosystems that can be easily disrupted.
True.
True or False: Without proper understanding of the inter-relationships within an ecosystem, humans can cause severe imbalances, even when they are trying to solve a problem
True
What is the most important message that we can learn from the Borneo DDT disaster?
- small changes to an ecosystem can have a large impact.