chapter 3 and 4 science test

Cultural Services:

Recreational, aesthetic and spiritual experiences when we interact with our natural environment Lo ex. backpacking, walking along a beach

Ecotourism:

"Environmentally responsible travel to relatively undisturbed natural areas

Ecosystems Services:

•Regulate and maintain important abiotic and biotic features of the environment

Example: mangroves protect land from storms along coasts, wave damage erodes the shoreline.

•Cycle water, oxygen and nutrients through the biosphere

•Help protect us from physical threats such as wind and water erosion

•Wetlands as sponges and absorb water, protecting us from floods

Cultural Services Continued:

•Benefits relating to our enjoyment of the environment

Ecotourism: is a cultural service provided by ecosystems that benefits an economy

Ecotourists: engage in environmentally responsible travel, leaves nothing behind, taking nothing

Ecosystem Products.

We hunt animals and harvest plants for personal and commercial use.

Terrestrial ecosystems are the source of many products: medicines, fibers, voder and dyes.

• Forestry relies heavily on natural ecosystems for wood and wood fiber products.

Equilibrium:

Biotic and abiotic factors are relatively constant over time within an ecosystem, populations are healthy and stable

•Biomes over relatively stable

Smaller ecosystems are in constant state of change

Succession:

the gradual and usually predictable changes in the composition of a community and the abiotic conditions Following a disturbance

Example: a volcano, tornado, flood

• How fast can your abiotic and biotic factors bounce back

Contributing to the sustainability of ecosystems, allowing them to recover from disturbances Society heavily relies on the notion that ecosystems will bounce back regardless of the disturbance and the intensity.

Example: volcanic eruption

•Secondary succession: succession of a partially destroyed ecosystem

Example: regrowth after a forest fire, pollution

Factors Limiting or Affecting Succession:

•proximity of communities of colognizing plants. proximity of communities of seed dispersing animals

•severity of the disturbance

• Additional disturbances

Benefits of succession: Habitat recovery and greater number of plant and animal species.

Biodiversity:

•The variety of life in a particular ecosystem

• The number of species in an oreo is species richness, diverse ecosystems have high species richness

Species at Risk Terminology:

When species become at risk, they're no longer able to fill its ecological niche Extinction i linatural process, over thousands and millions of years species become extinct , while r species arise, usually caused by catastrophic events.

Extirpated: A species that no longer exists in a specific area

Endangered: A species Facing imminent extirpation or extinction

Threatened: A species that is likely to be endangered if factors reducing its survival aren't changed

Invasive Species:

•A non-native species whose intentional or accidental introduction negatively impacts the environment

Impacts of Invasive species:

Ecological:

•compete with or feed on native species, leading to population decline or extinction

•Change ecosystem dynamics by altering energy cycles or energy Flow

Economic:

•Damage to forests and agriculture crops causes Financial losses

•Competition with invasive plants lower crop yields

•Diseases and pests may destroy livestock and crops, kill trees and harm important species such as honey bees

Tourism:

• Species loss and reduced water negatively impact wildlife viewing, fishing and other water-based recreation

• Waterways can become choked with invasive aquatic plants, rendering them impossible to boats.

Health:

•Disease causing organisms, such as the west nile virus ore introduced

• Pesticides used to control invasive species cause pollution and hearth risks.

The Introduction of Nonnative Species:

• Every organism has a tolerance range for each set of abiotic characteristics, species that are introduced to an entirely new ecosystem usually fail, however, some species are successful and may negatively impact native species

Controlling Introduced Species:

•There is no way to predict which species will become invasive

Chemical Control:

• Pesticides are used on Forest and agriculture pests

•Very effective in reducing crop damage, but comes with environmental risks like pollution.

Mechanical Control:

• Invasive plants: can be cut down, burned or removed by hand

• Invasive animals can be hunted or trapped

Biological Control:

• Challenging but effected method

•Intentionally Introduced organisms to control the invasive species

•Rarely eliminates invasive species but can reduce population sizes to ecologically tolerable levels.

Acid Precipitation:

•Combination of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides with water vapor

•Some limestone lakes are impacted less since they can neutralize/counteract the chemical properties of acid.

Oil Spills/

• Oil is toxic, slow to break down and difficult to clean up.

• Seabirds and seals are the most offered

• Seabirds ingest the oil, damaging their digestive track, liver and kidney. When it gets on their wings they lose the ability to insulate themselves

Skimming Vacuuming: Skim the surface water and takes up the oil

Bioremediation introduces: micro-organisms that feed on oil and break it down

Dispersal Agents:use detergents to break up the oil into small droplets.

Plastic in Oceans:

• Does not chemically degrade and stays in the environment for 1005-1000'5 of years.

•Great PaciFic Garbage patch is 2x the size of Texas and 100 ft deep

• Animals die due to plastic ingestion

Impact of Human Studies on wetland and Aquatic Ecosystems:

•Wetlands act like sponges and absorb water reducing floods, by paving over them we’re more prone to foods

Engineered Ecosystems!

•More uniform abiotic features

•Significantly less biodiversity

•Natural vegetation often removed and replaced by artificial surfaces (plants) or otter plants

Covers a large portion of earths surface

Example: Provides Food, buildings, roads, urban centers

Natural Ecosystems:

•Natural vegetation

• High biodiversity

• Ex: lakes, vivers, pords, Forests, marshes, wetlands. Also recreational Activities: Swimming + Hiking

Natural ecosystems vs. Agroecosystems:

Natural Ecosystems: Variable abiotic Features, native species, high biodiversity

Agroecosystems: Uniform abiotic features, non-native species, law biodiversity

Native Species - Agriculture:

Livestock: Turkeys.

Plant Crops: Strawberries, maple, sap, blueberries

Monoculture:

•The curtiration of a single crop in an area

• Results in an unstable ecosystem

Pest:

• Pests are species that might compote with or damage crops

• There's no pests in nature

Examples:

• Spruce budworm, the gypsy moth and the asian long-horned beetle are tree infesting species that affect the forestry industry

•Colorado potato beetles feed on potatoes

Natural vs. Synthetic Fertilizers:

•Synthetic: longer lasting more effective but can be damaging to the environment

Natural: Better for the environment, not as effective.

Benefits of Pesticides:

• Help Formers reduce crop damage, increase Food production

• Helped control populations of biting insects

Issues with Pesticides:

• Some pesticides never reach their target especies, and may become potential sources of soil, air and water pollution

•can harm other non-target species

Non-Target Species:

•A species the pesticide is not intended to affect

Pesticide Resistance:

• Pesticide no longer affects the pest

• Species that survive an

application of pesticide will reproduce and pass on their resistance to the next generation.

Bioaccumulation vs. Bioaccumulation:

•If a specie eats food contaminated with pesticide, it will accumulate in the body

•If the pesticide is long lived, its concentration will reach levels higher than the environment

Bioamplification:

•Pesticide that is consumed from one trophic level ore passes on to the next, the higher up the food chain the higher the concentration of the pesticide become

•Organisms with high DDT levels are likely to suffer toxic effects.

Techniques Used by Organic Farmers:

Biological Control: Predatory insects,mites and disease-causing microorganisms prey on and infect prey species

Altered Timing: Better timing of planting and harvesting

Crop Rotation and Mixed Planting: Don't grow monocultures in the same location year after year

Baiting Pest: Penonome baits can

be used to confuse some mating insects.