Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Management

Question 1

What are the characteristics of Tundra?

Answer 1

-Temperature range between -34 to 12 degrees.
-Total annual rainfall around 200mm, much of which falls as snow.
-Short growing season of about 60 days.
-Permafrost - permanently frozen ground.
-Very poor surface drainage.
-Plant species have shallow root systems and are low to the ground to cope with the harsh climate, such as mosses, lichens, grasses and dwarf shrubs. They are low to the ground and have a small lead structure so that they can repel the cold temperatures. Animals that live here have adapted to their environment.

Question 2

What are the characteristics of Boreal Forests?

Answer 2

-Temperature range between -10 and 15 degrees.
-Total annual rainfall 500mm.
-Trees have a thick bark to protect them from the cold.
-Needle leaves to slow down transpiration.
-Evergreen trees, which allow growth to start when weather warms up.
-Shallow root systems because of shallow soil and frozen ground.
-Trees such as pine and fir.
-Animals such as red foxes and black bears.

Question 3

What are the characteristics of Deserts?

Answer 3

-Temperature range between 30 and 35 degrees.
-Great temperature difference between day and night -18 and 45 degrees C.
-Very unpredictable rainfall, but generally low.
-Sand or very coarse soils with good drainage.
-The only plants are short shrubs such as cacti, which stores water in its spongy tissue.
-Animals like camels live in the desert, which store fat in their humps, which they can change into water when needed.

Question 4

What are the characteristics of tropical grasslands?

Answer 4

-Temperature range between 25 and 30 degrees.
-Total annual rainfall 1000mm.
-Rain is concentrated in 6-8 months of the year, the rest of the year has drought conditions.
-Animals, e.g. giraffes, reproduce during the wet season when there is plentiful food and water.
-Grasses grow very tall during wet season.
-A few trees are found in these areas which need thick trunks.

Question 5

What are the characteristics of temperate grasslands?

Answer 5

-Temperature range between 10 and 18 degrees C.
-Total annual rainfall of 500 mm, mainly in summer.
-Trees are generally not found in these areas.
-Grasses grow here.
-They are easily converted into farmland.

Question 6

What are the characteristics of tropical forests?

Answer 6

-Temperature range between 27 and 30 degrees C.
-Total annual rainfall 2200 mm.
-Poor quality soil, nutrients washed down through the soil due to rainfall.
-Vegetation is in four layers - emergents, canopy, sub-canopy, forest floor.
-Evergreen forest.
-Animals like sloths or howler monkeys.

Question 7

What are the characteristics of temperate forests ecosystem?

Answer 7

-Temperature range between 4 and 17 degrees C.
-Total annual rainfall 1000 mm.
-Trees lose their leaves in winter to reduce transpiration.
-Vegetation is in four layers.
-Animals like rabbits and deer.

Question 8

What are ecosystems?

Answer 8

A community of plants and animals and their non-living environment.

Question 9

How does altitude affect the type of vegetation growing in a place?

Answer 9

-Temperature drops by 1 degree C per 100m.
-Soils become thinner and contain less organic matter.
-Soil temperature drops.

Question 10

What are abiotic factors?

Answer 10

Factors from the natural world that influence growth.

Question 11

What are biotic factors?

Answer 11

Factors affecting growth from organic matter.

Question 12

Why is soil important?

Answer 12

Soils are important because different plants require different types of soil.

Question 13

What does the biosphere provide for humans?

Answer 13

Oil - used as a fuel to produce electricity and to power engines.
Wood - used as a building material and as a fuel to provide heat.
Wheat - used to make bread and breakfast cereals.
Periwinkle - used in medicines to treat leukaemia.

Question 14

How is the biosphere being exploited for energy, water and mineral resources?

Answer 14

-Oil is extracted from the ground and used to power engines in many forms of transportation. The main use of oil for transportation is to power cars for private use. Other uses of oil are as a fuel to provide electricity.

-Coal has been mined for hundreds of years. It was first used as a fuel to extraction and use of coal has changed between different countries but coal is still a major energy provider in many countries of the world.

Question 15

What is water used for?

Answer 15

People use water in many ways, in a domestic situation for washing, cleaning and drinking and commercially used for transport, agriculture, and the paper industry.

Question 16

What are the ecosystems in the UK?

Answer 16

Moorland - land which is not intensively farmed. It is found in upland areas of the UK and tends to be acidic, peaty soils. The plants are small shrubs such as heather; there are few trees.

Heathland - tends to be open countryside in lowland areas. The plants are small shrubs, such as heather and gorse, with a few silver birch trees.

Deciduous - broad-leaved trees, such as oak and ash, which lose their leaves in the autumn and regrow them each spring.

Coniferous - Trees which stay in leaf all year round (evergreens).

Wetlands - areas of low-lying land that is predominantly wet and boggy. Some wetland areas have been drained, such as the Somerset Levels and the Fens.

Question 17

Where are different ecosystems found in the UK?

Answer 17

Moorland - Found in different areas with heavy rainfall.

Heathland - Heaths are lowland areas.

Woodland - Found in areas with a lot of rainfall and good soil quality.

Wetland - Found in areas with high rainfall.

Question 18

How have human activites caused problems for marine ecosystems?

Answer 18

The extraction of oil and natual gas over the last 50 years has had an inpact on marine ecosystems in the North Sea.

Question 19

What is biomass?

Answer 19

The amount or weight of living or recently living organisms in an area.

Question 20

What is the food web?

Answer 20

Where different consumers consume other organisms to transport minerals between different organsims.

Question 21

How is medicine produced from tropical rainforests?

Answer 21

The chemical structures of plants have been used to make templates to make other medicines.

Question 22

How are foods produced by tropical rainforests?

Answer 22

Bananas, coffee, palm oil and black pepper are grown and harvested in tropical rainforests.

Question 23

Why is agriculture a reason for deforestation and climate change?

Answer 23

-Agriculture requires large areas to be cleared, often burning the forest down, causing greenhouse gases to be released into the atmosphere. Large amounts of fertiliser is needed to produce high yield, causing eutrophication, destroying fresh water reserves and the species living there. This also causes a monoculture, meaning less biodiversity. Food is required for the increasing population of the world.

Question 24

Why is resource extraction a reason for deforestation and thus climate change?

Answer 24

Precious resources in tropical rainforests, that were previously never attainable by society are now being extracted on large, requiring large areas of forest to be cleared to quarry.

Question 25

Why is population pressure a reason for deforestation and thus climate change?

Answer 25

Mass migration and large population means that more land has to be cleared in order to house the population. Also water, food and resource requirements mean that more area needs to be cleared to provide for them.

Question 26

How is direct government action in Costa Rica sustainable?

Answer 26

Since 1995, Costa Rica has been designating areas of tropical rainforest as national parks, preventing illegal deforestation and encouraging tourism to these areas.

Question 27

How is ecotourism sustainable in Costa Rica?

Answer 27

In 1983, an ecotourism project started in Braulio Carrillo National Park. Many areas of hundreds of hectares are preserved, preventing illegal deforestation.

Question 28

How are NGO projects in Costa Rica sustainable?

Answer 28

Using a $10 million USD grant from the USA, they worked with local landowners to help them manage the rainforest sustainably. In 2014, FUNDECOR was working with 400 landowners who owned approximately 46,000 hectares of land in the Central Volcanic Mountain Region.

Question 29

How are private reserves encouraging sustainablity in Costa Rica?

Answer 29

The Monteverde Cloud reserve contains over 10500 hectares of land and one of the most outstanding wildlife sanctuaries. This reserve allows ecotourism but restricte the number, to not encourage overusing of land or littering in large number by only having one area to stay in.

Question 30

How are charities encouraging sustainability in Costa Rica?

Answer 30

The World Land Trust project concentrated on the Ora peninsula. This 2000 hectare area project aims to conserve the high level of biodiversity in the area. They also work hard with farmers promoting growing vanilla to sell commercially.

Question 31

How are carbon credits encouraging sustainability in Costa Rica?

Answer 31

Selling Carbon Credits to wealthy countries means Costa Rica can make money from being sustainable, making it easier to be sustainable as a result, causing a feedback loop.

Question 32

How is timber a useful resource gathered from deciduous woodlands and how much timber is produced?

Answer 32

-Timber production increased by 7% between 1998 and 2007.
-Timber is used for furniture.
-Timber is increasingly used in the construction industry to build houses.
-In 2009 a total of 0.4 million tonnes of timber was produced from deciduous woodland in UK.
-69% of timber was used for fuel in 2009.
-Wood can be used as a fuel for major power stations.
-Woodland attracts many tourists for the different wildlife and views for people living in urban areas. These priced at £484 million in 2010.
-Health benefits are received by visitors, as walking or cycling around is more common.
-There are 250-300 million visits to UK woodlands per year.

Question 33

How is woodland managed sustainably in a forest?

Answer 33

-On steep slopes deciduous woodland will be left unmanaged to develop undisturbed.
-Areas previously planted with conifers will be gradually restored with oak.
-Other trees like birch, aspen and rowan are grown.
-The deer and non-native invasive plant species populations will be controlled.