1. What is biodiversity and what are three types of biodiversity?
Biodiversity is the diversity among living things.
The three types of biodiversity are:
1. Diversity among ecosystems.
2. Diversity among different species (IE: dog, cat, horse)
3. Diversity in genes among a species (IE: Golden Retriever, Poodle, Dalmatian)
2. Why is biodiversity important? Give two examples and explain in detail.
Biodiversity is important because you need different species to help the natural cycle. For
instance if because of the diverse amount of species there is more competition for food
which helps keep all species numbers maintained. Another example is how with different
species there is more selection for a predator to prey on. That way if one species goes
extinct there is other species that can be eaten, otherwise the predator might go extinct.
3. How do humans impact biodiversity?
Humans negatively impact biodiversity. They kill other species and drive them extinct.
Extinction, the total death of a species, by definition negatively biodiversity, which is the
diversity among living things.
4. What is an ecosystem? List four examples.
An ecosystem is where living things live an coexist. Examples of an ecosystem are: a
park, a pond, a lake, and a small forest.
5. How does climate change play a role in biodiversity?
Climate change impacts biodiversity in several ways. Change in environment always
effects species, it also changes ecosystems, and diversity in ecosystems is part of
biodiversity. Climate change basically affects everything for better or for worse.
6.We get a lot of help from species and ecosystems. List four things that species and
ecosystems provide the planet through working together.
Animals eat plants
Dead animals feed the soil which feeds the plants
Animals like beavers chop down trees which keeps them from growing to much
Animals kill each other which means less animals are feeding off the ecosystem.
7.What is a biome? List four examples.
A biome is a large ecosystem. IE: Tundra, a large forest, an ocean, a desert.
8. How can biodiversity be protected? List some ways that our species as a whole can
protect it.
Biodiversity can be protected in many ways. Humans can stop chopping down trees and
hurting ecosystems, we can stop polluting the water, and we can stop over hunting
species and killing them or there prey.
9. What can you do as an individual to protect and preserve biodiversity and our
environment? List four things that you can do to conserve.
As an individual to help reduce and preserve biodiversity I can do several things:
1) Don’t hunt for sport
2) Reuse materials, eat leftovers so that more animals don’t have to be killed
3) Make materials such as wood last as long a possible so that less trees are chopped
down
4) Recycle so materials are reused more
10. What is a “ carbon footprint”? Explain and give an example.
A carbon footprint is how much of an impact one has on the environment in their
lifetime. An example of how you get your carbon footprint is driving, if drive to work all
the time you have a larger carbon footprint than someone who uses rides a bicycle to
work. This is because by driving you are releasing harmful toxins into the atmosphere,
while a bike doesn’t release toxins.
11. Describe the difference between and endangered species and an extinct species?
Explain and give an example for each.
An endangered species still exists but is almost extinct; an extinct species no longer
exists. The dodo bird is extinct, there are none left, the giant panda is endangered there
are very few left and it may go extinct.
12. What are five reasons for extinction? Give examples and details.
The five reasons for extinction are:
1) Over Hunting- humans hunting them too much and killing them off- IE: some
tigers are over hunted by humans
2) Loss of habitat- humans destroying their habitat- IE: The giant panda is loosing its
environment to humans who are cutting down the bamboo trees.
3) Competition for food- over species or humans killing their prey or what they feed
upon
4) Climate change- change in climate IE: global warming and global cooling
5) Disease- a disease coming that is powerful even that it kills off the species
13. There are many organizations out there that protect or support endangered species and
biodiversity. Give an example of one and explain what they do.
There are many organizations that try to protect animals one of them is the Save the
Whales movement which promotes banning whaling and less encroachment on the
whales habitat.
14. Why should we protect endangered species?
We should protect endangered because we need biodiversity. Without it the whole
environment gets messed up. Also on a more selfish note we have use for many species,
we use them for food and medicine and once they are gone we cant use them anymore.
15. What is the cause of the sixth mass extinction? Explain in detail.
The cause of the sixth mass extinction is us. Humans have polluted the environment so
badly, that it is causing a sixth mass extinction. Here is how hard it is to cause a MASS
EXTICTION the last might have been caused by a GIANT COMET hitting the Earth. In
less than a hundred years time we have gone from mildly messing with the natural order
to causing a MASS EXTINCTION there have only been five mass extinctions not
counting this one. This is something no other living thing could hope to accomplish, the
only good part is we aren’t actually wiping out all life, life is almost impossible to wipe
out. We are just wiping out ourselves, which for the environment is good news.
16. How does overpopulation affect biodiversity? Explain and give an example.
Over population hurts biodiversity. Too many people in to small an area requires to many
resources to be used which because the area is to small cant be replenished fast enough. It
also means killing more species for food and destroying more ecosystems to make room
for humans.
17. Explain overexploitation and give an example.
Over exploitation is basically raping the environment. We overuse resources, without
giving them time to replenish, we cut down trees and don’t plant new ones to take their
place. It is grab and go tactics. The logging industry cuts down millions of trees there is
no chance they have planted even an tenth as many as they have cut down.
18. How does consumerism play a role in the sixth mass extinction?
Different fonts are being used throughout this
answer to demonstrate consumerism. You need to use
what is in to make you happy. You buy what’s hot and to
make what’s hot, it takes supplies and uses natural
resources. Because what is in rapidly changes, we
need to use a lot of resources to make what is hot.
Times New Roman is totally hot!
19. What does it mean to recycle and how is it beneficial to our environment?
To recycle is to reuse materials. This helps the environment because we need to use up
less of our natural resources to make things, since we are reusing them. Some newspapers
reuse paper which saves many trees from being cut down.
20. How does an ecosystem work? Describe the cycle that takes place in an ecosystem.
An ecosystem works by living things working together and with nature and a beneficial
relationship. An example of the cycle is:
The sun feeds a plant, a rabbit eats the plant, a snake eats the rabbit, a bird eats the snake,
a cat eats the bird, the cat dies, the cat decomposes and feeds the soil which feeds the
plant. Also the water cycle is part of the ecosystem cycle.