Ecological Consequences - AP Environmental Science

When corals eject their intracellular symbiotic organisms, their color is lost along with the zooxanthellae's photosynthetic ability. This leads to the death of the coral. Algal blooms simply involve the rapid growth of algae over a short period of time. Upwelling involves the process by which deep, nutrient-rich water rises up and gets mixed with the water higher in the ground.

The correct response is tundra. The tundra biome is characterized by permafrost and its lack of trees. The soil is frozen year-around, which prevents large vegetation growth. The tundra is located at high latitudes above the 60o line.

Critical habitat is defined as vital for sustaining endangered or threatened populations. The whooping crane is endangered and requires wetland ecosystems to sustain a population, while the other examples are situations where alternative (albeit less successful) habitat was available or the population was neither threatened nor endangered.

Amphibians are one of the most susceptible groups of species to mass extinction, with one in three currently at risk of extinction.

Previous extinction events can be attributed to pathology, climate change and other natural factors. The current 6th mass extinction event is largely attributed to human activities and the resulting climate change.

Gamma diversity refers to the total number of species within a region. This can also be referred to as regional diversity. Gamma diversity is useful in order to investigate biodiversity from a broad scale or at the landscape level.

Island Biogeography Theory is related to the balancing of immigration and extinction. In short, the number of species that occurs on an island should be directly related to the rate of extinction and the rate of immigration. If the rate of immigration is higher than the rate of extinction, then the number of species will be high. If the rate of extinction is higher than the rate of immigration, then the number of species will be low.

The Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis describes how habitats experiencing moderate levels of disturbance can support the most species. This occurs because disturbance initiates the turnover of dominant species, which allows new species to emerge. For example, a tree falling in the forest could be an example of a disturbance. Trees falls open up the canopy and allow sunlight to reach the floor of the forest and creates an open space for species to colonize.

Many desert species have adapted to an ecosystem with limited water and food availability with concentrated or "dry" bodily excretions, and the ability to effectively store fat. Burrowing is a common trait for desert mammals as a way to contend with the heat. Diluted urine excretions would not be advantageous in a desert ecosystem because the body would be expelling water inefficiently.

Beta diversity is calculated by taking the total number of habitats divided by the number of species in each habitat of a given environment.

Total number of habitats:

Number of species in each habitat:

Solve:

Biological diversity is concerned with not only the number, variety and variability of species within ecosystems but the number of ecosystems on the Earth and genetic diversity within species.

Riparian zones prevent erosion and are incredibly high in biodiversity. Riparian areas are thin and ribbon-like, accompanying streams and rivers, but often long and dense.

Every species is important because of its niche in its ecosystem. Additionally, all species are potentially of scientific and medical/economic value.

The correct response is 1%. The majority of species that have ever lived on Earth are extinct. Mass extinctions have occurred throughout geological history due to large disturbances such as meteor crashes and ice ages. Life is fragile and disturbances can cause millions of species to go extinct rather quickly - such as most recent mass extinction when the dinosaurs disappeared. Thus, the species still alive today represent a tiny portion of the variety of life that has existed throughout the geological history of Earth.

A biome is a large geographical area that consists of flora and fauna that have adapted to local conditions. The tundra is a geographical region that consists of arctic-adapted plants and animals. The other answers are more examples of ecosystems, specific communities of plants and animals adapted to certain conditions within a biome. Other examples of biomes include (but are not limited to) desert, deciduous forest, savanna and taiga (subarctic forest).

The correct answer is "temperate deciduous forest." Temperate deciduous forests typically get more precipitation than taiga, shrubland, desert, or grassland, and their flora is dominated by broadleaf trees.

The correct response is tropical rainforest. The tropical rainforest biome has by far the highest annual precipitation (300-450 centimeters per year) and highest average temperature (25-35 C). The subtropical desert and savanna are incorrect answer choice because they have low precipitation. Boreal forest and temperate rainforests have lower temperature than tropical rainforests.

The correct response is estuaries. An estuary supports a diverse community of species. The unique distribution of aquatic conditions caused by the mixing of a salty ocean and a freshwater river make estuaries a novel aquatic biome. The pelagic zone and coral reefs are specific to the ocean environment, so those are incorrect responses.

The correct response is edge effects. The edge effects specifically describe shifts in biodiversity along the edge of a habitat, or in a transition zone that contains features from two habitat types. For example, imagine you are walking on a trail that starts in a forest and leads into a grassy meadow. The transition between forest and meadow would experience edge effects. This area would have species from the forest and species from the meadow living in the same zone.

Though prejudice against indigenous peoples is not a primary cause of deforestation, many indigenous cultures go extinct, much like endemic species, when their lands are taken from them.