Biodiversity and Deforestation

Biodiversity and Deforestation

By Tim Gault

WHAT IS BIODIVERSITY?

Biodiversity refers to the variety of living species on Earth which includes the smallest bacteria to the largest land animal which is the elephant.

WHAT IS BIODIVERSITY?

Biodiversity refers to the variety of living species on Earth which includes the smallest bacteria to the largest land animal which is the elephant.

Multiple Choice

What describes how varied living things are in a specific area?

• stability

• biodiversity

• equilibrium

Multiple Choice

Which of the following ecosystem is the most biodiverse?

• a desert

• a stream

• a rice field

• tropical rain forest

Multiple Choice

Which of the following best describes the relationship between biodiversity

and stability of ecosystem?

• Increased biodiversity increases the stability of an ecosystem.

• As biodiversity increases, stability of the ecosystem decreases.

• A less diverse ecosystem keeps more resources in the ecosytem.

• An ecosystem with low biodiversity is better able to recover from natural disasters.

Multiple Choice

The cutting down of trees on a large scale in Brazil is an example of ______.

• Carbon-oxygen cycle

• Erosion

• Deforrestation

• Grazing

Overexploitation

• Overexploitation: harvesting species from the wild at rates faster than natural populations can recover

• Examples: overfishing & hunting

Multiple Choice

The practice of harvesting or hunting to such a degree that remaining individuals may not be able to replenish the population is called _____.

• biomagnification
• overexploitation
• edge effects
• natural resource

Invasive Species

• Invasive Species: Non-native species that disrupt an ecosystem & can cause loss of biodiversity

• Native Species: a species that normally lives and thrives in a particular ecosystem

Multiple Choice

What makes a species invasive?

• Moving to a new ecosystem and taking resources from natives

• A native species population size increasing too quickly

• Species that can't adapt

• Plants that take up too much space

Multiple Choice

Today, forests cover approx what % of land's surface?

• 20.6%

• 30.6%

• 40.6%

• 50.6%

Multiple Choice

The removal of an entire forest is called ____________.

• Weathering

• Deforestation

• Erosion

• Desertification

Multiple Choice

Which of these is one cause of deforestation?

• Urbanization
• Buying a chirstmas tree during the holidays
• Overbreeding birds in the wild
• Cutting down the tree in your backyard

Multiple Choice

Deforestation has an affect on the water cycle

• true
• false

Multiple Choice

What does deforestation effect?

• Plants and animals
• Our biosphere
• Humans
• All of the above

Multiple Choice

Does deforestation contribute to global warming?

• No, trees aren't that important
• Sometimes because only the cutting down of Maple trees contributes to global warming
• No, deforestation adds methane to the atmosphere, which makes the Earth cooler
• Yes; less trees means less CO2 is turned into oxygen.