Biodiversity and Humans Chapter Problems
The Value of Biodiversity
Classwork
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
What is an ecosystem service?
How does biodiversity affect agriculture?
Genes from plants can be used to do what?
How does biodiversity affect pollination?
What is hummus?
What is soil cohesion?
Homework
7. How does biodiversity affect genetic materials?
8. How is pollination beneficial to humans?
9. How does biodiversity affect nutrient cycling?
10. How does biodiversity affect soil health?
11. How does biodiversity affect soil erosion?
Classwork
12. How does biodiversity affect human health?
13. List two things that vegetation removes from the atmosphere and one thing that it
releases into the atmosphere.
14. What is a watershed?
15. How do wetlands affect water health?
Homework
16. How can biodiversity affect medicinal discoveries?
17. What is the link between biodiversity and the spread of disease?
18. Why is watershed health important?
19. How do tree roots affect water health?
Classwork
20. What is human livelihood?
21. How do plants and animals affect climate?
22. How can biodiversity be used in disaster protection?
Homework
23. List two examples of human livelihood.
24. Give an example of how changing climate could affect livelihood.
25. How does air and water pollution affect human livelihood?
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Biodiversity and Humans
Threats to Biodiversity
Classwork
26. Is Earth’s biodiversity currently increasing or decreasing?
27. What is a biodiversity threat?
28. What is the difference between background extinction and mass extinction?
29. What is habitat destruction?
30. What are edge effects?
Homework
31. What is overexploitation?
32. How does habitat destruction affect plants and animals?
33. What is habitat fragmentation?
34. How do edge effects affect plants and animals?
Classwork
35. How can pollution affect plants and animals?
36. What causes acid rain?
37. What is an invasive species?
Homework
38. How does acid rain affect plants and animals?
39. Why are invasive species dangerous?
40. Why is climate change a biodiversity threat?
Biodiversity Conservation & Preservation
Classwork
41. What does conservation mean?
42. What does preservation mean?
43. What two parameters define a biodiversity hot spot?
44. What is a habitat passageway?
45. What are protected areas?
Homework
46. Describe an activity that would be considered conservation.
47. Describe an activity that would be considered preservation.
48. Why is it important to protect biodiversity hot spots?
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49. Habitat passageways help to diminish the effect of what biodiversity threat?
50. How can legal issues protect biodiversity?
Classwork
51. What is ecosystem restoration?
52. What is bioremediation?
53. What is biological augmentation?
Homework
54. When is restoration used?
55. Describe a similarity between bioremediation and biological augmentation.
56. What is a difference between bioremediation and biological augmentation?
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6th Grade PSI
Biodiversity and Humans
Answer Key
Classwork
1. Ecosystem services are a way in which humans benefit from natural and managed
ecosystems.
2. Biodiversity increases the amount of agriculture.
3. Genes can be used to enhance crops.
4. Increased biodiversity increases the amount of pollination.
5. Hummus is nutritious soil that results from the breakdown of organic matter.
6. Soil cohesion is a measure of how tightly soil particles stick together.
Homework
7. Increased biodiversity increases the amount of genetic materials available to enhance
crops.
8. Pollination is necessary for plant reproduction and so is necessary in the production of
food for humans.
9. Increased biodiversity increases nutrient cycling.
10. Increased biodiversity increases soil health by increasing that amount of organic matter
and types of decomposers that can produce hummus.
11. Increased biodiversity increases soil cohesion which decreases soil erosion.
Classwork
12. Increased biodiversity increases human health by providing food and nutrition.
13. Vegetation removes pollutants and carbon dioxide and releases oxygen.
14. A watershed is all of the water in an area that feeds into open water.
15. Wetlands increase water health by absorbing pollutants from the water.
Homework
16. Increased biodiversity increases the likelihood of finding a new medicine.
17. Increased biodiversity helps to decrease the spread of disease.
18. A watershed affects all the local plants and animals so maintaining a healthy watershed
helps to maintain a healthy ecosystem.
19. Tree roots absorb pollutants from water, thereby increasing water quality.
Classwork
20. Human livelihood is any activity that allows a person to obtain the basic necessities for
life.
21. Plants and animals help to regulate the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
22. Plants along a shoreline can protect the land from storms.
Homework
23. Answers will vary. Example: Obtaining food and water.
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Biodiversity and Humans
24. Answers will vary. Example: Decreasing sea ice can decrease food sources in the subArctic.
25. Answers will vary. Example: When air and water quality is poor, humans can get sick
which affects their ability to obtain food and water.
Classwork
26. Decreasing
27. A biodiversity threat is anything that decreases life in an ecosystem.
28. Background extinction occurs slowly while mass extinction occurs all at one time.
29. Habitat destruction occurs when a habitat is destroyed, such as clearing land.
30. Edge effects are areas around an ecosystem that increase the amount of outside
influences experienced by a habitat.
Homework
31. Overexploitation is the excessive use of a species to the point where that species
becomes endangered or extinct.
32. Habitat destruction kills plants and takes away the habitats of animals.
33. Habitat fragmentation is when ecosystems are separated into smaller areas.
34. Edge effects can decrease biodiversity because species are exposed to factors to which
they may not be able to adapt.
Classwork
35. When plants and animals take in pollution, they can become sick or die.
36. The burning of fossil fuels creates acid rain.
37. An invasive species is a foreign species that is introduced into a local ecosystem.
Homework
38. Acid rain kills plants and can harm animals via water pollution and the loss of habitat.
39. Invasive species compete for local resources and can reproduce at alarming rates.
40. Species may not be able to adapt to the changing climate and biodiversity will decrease
as they go extinct.
Classwork
41. Conservation is the use of Earth’s resources sustainably so that humans needs are met
and ecosystem are maintained.
42. Preservation protects ecosystems from any changes or disturbances.
43. A biodiversity hot spot includes species that are only found in a specific location and
that are losing their habitat.
44. A habitat passageway connects to separated pieces of an ecosystem.
45. Protected areas are areas in which biodiversity is protected from outside disturbances.
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6th Grade PSI
Biodiversity and Humans
Homework
46. Answers will vary.
47. Answers will vary.
48. If a biodiversity hot spot is destroyed, then species from that area will go extinct.
49. Habitat fragmentation
50. Laws can be passed that protect species, such as banning hunting.
Classwork
51. Restoration brings unhealthy ecosystems back to a healthy level.
52. Bioremediation uses organisms to detoxify an area.
53. Biological augmentation adds healthy organisms to an unhealthy area.
Homework
54. Restoration is used when an ecosystem is so unhealthy that the original biodiversity can
no longer survive.
55. They both attempt to restore ecosystems to a healthy level.
56. Bioremediation takes away harmful materials while augmentation adds healthy
organisms to ecosystems.
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6th Grade PSI
Biodiversity and Humans