Saving Earth's vanishing species and conserving biodiversity Flashcards
(38 cards)
The last identified individual of the species has been extinguished or no longer existing permanently.
Extinct
A term used that means a catastrophic event has decimated life on Earth.
Mass extinction
The first mass extinction that occurred 440 million years ago where the temperature if fluctuating because of the 2 main phases during this time.
Ordovician extinction
2 main phases in the Ordovician extinction
Glaciation and heating events
It happened in 365 MYA, during this period, land plants developed deep roots that released nutrients in the ocean.
Devonian extinction
Considered the deadliest extinction because 96% of life back then was lost.
Permian extinction
The fourth extinction was on 201 MYA and one theory suggests that tons of CO2 were in the atmosphere due to volcanic eruptions that resulted in global warming and ocean acidification.
Triassic extinction
The fifth extinction, according to theories, an asteroid hit Earth in the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico, and wiped out all dinosaurs along with roughly 60% of all life on Earth.
Cretaceous extinction
Biodiversity comes from 2 words bio, which means _____ and diversity, which means ______.
Life, variety
The variation of living forms within an ecosystem.
Biodiversity
A place where an organisms lives
Habitat
Why does the forest have a rich biodiversity?
Because a single tree is a habitat for many kinds of organisms
Occurs when a habitat is fragmented or divided into smaller areas.
Habitat fragmentation
4 factors that threaten our biodiversity
Habitat loss and fragmentation, introduced species, pollution, and overexploitation
It is important to achieve balance in the environment.
Interaction
Destruction of natural habitats
Habitat loss
2 important things to consider to ensure the organism survive in the environment
Organism should be well-adapted to the environment and should be adapted to live along with other organisms
Species that naturally live in a certain area without human intervention
native species
New species added to the environment either deliberately or accidentally by human activities.
Introduced species
Introduced species that are ___________ and _________ can alter the predator-prey dynamics.
Omnivores and carnivores
If excessive nutrients are present, the algae will grow or bloom in large numbers, hence the term ___________.
algal bloom
The term used for water with low levels of oxygen
hypoxic
Acid rain is ________ times more acidic, because it has a pH as low as 3.
1 000
How are acid rains acid?
This is due to sulfuric acid and nitric acid formed by the burning of fossil fuels and from the exhaust from vehicles.
