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Week 3 Assignment
Ariana Williams
Wayne County Community College
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Chapter 7 questions
No. 1: What factors influence climate; What are the major types of terrestrial ecosystems
and how are human activities affecting them.
A few factors that influence climate in a specific area are incoming solar energy, the earth’s
rotation, global patterns of air and water movement, gases in the atmosphere, and the earth’s
surface features. The four major types of terrestrial ecosystems are deserts, grasslands, forests,
and mountains. The problem is that humans ecological footprint continuously increases which
then contributes to how these terrestrial ecosystems are being used. Statistics show that 60% of
the world’s major terrestrial ecosystems are being degraded. This causes unsustainable living.
No. 2: Explain why there are three major types of each major biomes (deserts, grasslands,
and forests); What is an ecotone; Define What is the edge effect.
Biomes are large terrestrial regions that are characterised by their climates and combinations of
dominant plant life. Scienetics created these major divisions to differentiate between them.
Without these categories/divisions, all terrestrial biomes would be grouped into one. Each of
these regions are split based on their differences according to what they have to offer in an
ecosystem. The ecotone is the transition area between ecosystems or biomes. It contains habitats
that are common among both ecosystems. The edge effect is the tendency or occurrence of a
transition zone having higher species diversity and density of organisms compared to those
found in either individual ecosystem.
Chapter 8 questions
No. 1: What role do humans play in the loss of species and ecosystem services; What is
colony collapse disorder?
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It is believed that as the human population grows, extinction rates grow. This is due to the fact
that if the human population grows exponentially over time, we won’t be able to live sustainably
because the more people on earth, the more people there will be to feed, which could cause
species extinction. Humans also create large ecological footprints. We have more factories than
farms and the rate of extinction will only increase if we keep up the same bad habits. Colony
collapse disorder is the occurrence of the loss of European honeybees colonies in the U.S. and
parts of Europe.
No. 2: Why should we try to sustain wild species and the ecosystem services they provide;
What is the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
It is crucial that we make efforts to sustain wild species because if they go extinct, it will alter
our lives. We can do this by slowing down factory production to lower the ecological footprint.
The U.S. Endangered Species Act is a U.S law that was passed in 1973. This law is designed to
identify and protect endangered species in and outside the U.S. by creating recovery programs
for them.
Chapter 9 questions
No. 1: Summarize the story of Costa Rica’s efforts to preserve its rich biodiversity given on
page 220 of textbook.
Costa Rica created a system of nature reserves and national parks about 40 years ago that by now
has occupied 27% of its land. This is an significant act of preserving biodiversity, as species need
to be protected in their habitats which this land provides. These methods reduce deforestation,
which maintains the land that the trees occupy.
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No. 2: How can we manage and sustain forests; List four ways to manage forests more
sustainably.
A few ways we can sustain forests are as follows: eliminating clear cutting completely, leaving
dead and fallen trees in the forest to provide habitats to species and nutrient cycling, protecting
highly diverse forest areas, to support biodiversity, and putting tree plantations only in deforested
and degraded areas of land.
No. 3: Summarize how can we manage and sustain grasslands; Briefly distinguish between
rangelands and pastures.
Grasslands are a very important factor when it comes to providing ecosystem services.
Unfortunately, human activities altered these ecosystems. Overgrazing has been a common
practice that occurs when many animals graze for too long on a certain area of pasture or
rangeland. This causes them to exceed the carrying capacity resulting in reducing grass cover
and exposing the topsoil to erosion. It is crucial that we begin to practice sustainability by
controlling the distribution of grazing livestock and by restoring degraded grasslands in order to
protect life. While rangelands are unfenced grasslands that supply forage in tropical climates,
pastures are managed grasslands or fenced meadows that are usually planted with domesticated
grasses or other forage crops.
No. 4: How can we sustain terrestrial biodiversity; What is deforestation and what is
biodiversity hotspot.
One way we can sustainably manage terrestrial biodiversity is by protecting important ecosystem
services. Deforestation is the removal of large areas of forest for uses such as agriculture,
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settlements, etc. Biodiversity hotspots are specific areas that contain large amounts of rare
endangered species.
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References
G. Tyler Miller. Scott E. Spoolman. Environmental Science. Cengage.
https://www.cengage.com/cgi-wadsworth/course_products_wp.pl?fid=M20b&product_isbn_issn
=9781337569613&token=6625D90E9052BBACD4E0F0673149110C1FB1A4B8DDB037F1F5
4D01D1A69C8455AB5068AEB6579A10EE4FCF1001197DD9129B5A3B4EE9DA5FA3195A
D98BD851C23195E5334AD8351F. July 18, 2021.