Copy of Unit 8 Study Guide

Unit 8: Sustaining Biodiversity Study Guide

Vocabulary

• Ecological restoration: The process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed.

• Bycatch: Unintended fish and other marine creatures caught while fishing for a specific species.

• Rangelands: Extensive grasslands used for grazing livestock.

• Old-growth forest: A forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance and exhibits unique ecological features.

• Overfishing: Catching fish faster than they can reproduce, leading to declines in fish populations.

• Reconciliation ecology: The science of fostering biodiversity in places where people live, work, and play.

• Overgrazing: Depleting the vegetation of a pasture or rangeland due to excessive grazing.

• Fishprint: The ecological footprint of fish consumption.

• Selective cutting: The practice of selectively cutting trees to improve growth and maintain ecological balance.

• Pastures: Lands covered with grass and other low plants suitable for grazing animals.

• Fishery: A place where fish are reared or caught commercially.

• Mitigation banking: A practice that allows for the destruction of certain habitats in exchange for the restoration of others.

• Clear-cut: A forestry/logging practice where most or all trees in an area are cut down.

• Tree plantation: A managed forest consisting of trees planted specifically for commercial purposes.

Questions

1. Compare/contrast surface and crown fires.

   • Surface Fires: Low-intensity fires that burn along the forest floor, clearing underbrush and small trees, promoting new growth. Often beneficial for ecosystem renewal.

   • Crown Fires: High-intensity fires that burn through the canopy; can be destructive and are harder to control. They can lead to significant ecological damage.

2. Identify several causes of tropical forest deforestation.

   • Logging (legal and illegal)

   • Agricultural expansion (crops and cattle ranching)

   • Infrastructure development (roads, urbanization)

   • Climate change impacting forest health.

3. Determine why deforestation in tropical rainforests is more devastating to the global environment than deforestation in temperate forests.

   • Tropical rainforests host more biodiversity.

   • They play a critical role in global carbon storage and oxygen production.

   • Disruption leads to increased greenhouse gas emissions and loss of ecosystem services.

4. Identify several ecosystem services provided by forests.

   • Carbon sequestration and climate regulation

   • Water filtration and flood regulation

   • Soil conservation and nutrient cycling

   • Habitat for diverse species.

5. Describe environmental effects of clear-cutting & deforestation in general.

   • Loss of habitat and biodiversity.

   • Soil erosion and nutrient depletion.

   • Increased greenhouse gas emissions.

   • Water impacts: Disruption of hydrological cycles, reduced water quality in streams and rivers, increased flooding, and altered water temperature.

6. How can deforestation be mitigated? What type of tree harvesting technique is most sustainable?

   • Mitigation strategies: Reforestation, controlled logging, and law enforcement against illegal activities.

   • Most sustainable technique: Selective cutting.

   • Least sustainable: Clear-cutting, as it leads to extensive ecological damage.

7. How will climate change affect species distributions, particularly trees?

   • Species may migrate to higher altitudes or latitudes in response to temperature changes.

   • Changing precipitation patterns may stress certain species.

8. How does the US establish annual catch limits in comparison to the maximum sustainable yield?

   • Annual catch limits are often set lower than the maximum sustainable yield to ensure stock health and recovery.

9. Describe the fishing restrictions in marine reserves.

   • Fishing is typically prohibited or highly restricted; limited areas may allow recreational fishing but usually with strict quotas.

10. Economically how can fishing quotas be enforced?

• Through licensing systems that require fishermen to report catches and penalties for exceeding limits. Example: Catch shares program that allocates fishing rights per fishermen.

11. Identify causes of loss of biodiversity in aquatic systems.

• Habitat destruction (dams, pollution)

• Overfishing and bycatch

• Invasive species introducing competition.

• Greatest threat: Habitat loss, significantly impacting ecosystem health.

12. Identify the cause of sea levels rising.

• Melting glaciers and polar ice caps, thermal expansion of seawater due to global warming.

13. How can CITES address overfishing?

• By regulating international trade of threatened fish species to ensure sustainable fishing practices.

14. Increase in nutrients (phosphates & nitrates) into waterways results in:

• Eutrophication, leading to algal blooms and dead zones where oxygen levels are depleted.

15. Potential effects from the destruction of a wetland near a river include:

• Increased flooding due to reduced natural water storage, loss of habitat for species, and degraded water quality.

16. Environmental effects of dams on downstream watersheds include:

• Altered water flow, sediment transport, disrupted ecosystems, and impacted fish migration patterns.

17. Road construction, logging, and mining are banned on what type of federal lands?

• Wilderness Areas and National Parks, reserved for conservation.

18. Destruction of mangrove forests occurs due to:

• Coastal development, pollution, and over-extraction of resources.

• Potential solutions: Restoration projects, enforcing conservation laws, and promoting sustainable practices.

19. How do invasive nonnative species affect native species?

• They can outcompete, prey on, or introduce diseases to native species, leading to declines in biodiversity.

20. Disadvantage of creating a series of protected habitats:

• Fragmentation may prevent movement of species, limiting genetic diversity and resilience of populations.