Human Impact on the Environment Flashcards:
Flashcards
Module: Human Impact on the Environment
Q: What are the reasons for species being threatened and becoming endangered or extinct:
1. Natural selection
2. Loss of habitat: deforestation, drainage of wetlands and hedgerow loss.
3. Overhunting by humans: trophy hunting, traditional medical practises, over-fishing,
agricultural exploitation and the bush-meat industry.
4. Competition from introduced species.
5. Pollution.
6. Non-contiguous populations; there may be too little genetic diversity to ensure a
healthy population.
Q: What is conservation?
The protection, preservation, management and restoration of natural habitats and
their ecological communities, to enhance biodiversity while allowing for suitable
human activity.
Q: What ways are there to conserve?
1. Protecting habitats: SAC’s (specific areas of conservation) and SSI’s (sites of specific
scientific interest).
2. International cooperation: restricting trade.
3. Gene banks: sperm banks, seed banks, species reintroduction.
4. Education.
5. Legislation
6. Ecotourism.
Q: Why is it important we conserve species:
1. Ethical species: each species represents a particular combination of genes and alleles
adapted to a particular environment.
2. Agriculture and horticulture
3. If the environment changes, different alleles will become advantageous.
4. Potential medical uses.
Q: What is monoculture?
The growth of large numbers of genetically identical crop plants in a defined area.
Q: What factors have increased the rate of agricultural exploitation?
1. Many hedgerows are removed to make larger fields to enable machinery to prepare
soils.
2. The larger fields are used for monoculture, which provides only one habitat.
3. If the same crop is grown on the same plot of land year after year, the yield
progressively declines because:
The roots are always the same length, so they extract the same minerals at the same
depth. This has increased the use of fertilisers.
Flashcards
Module: Human Impact on the Environment
Q: What are the reasons for species being threatened and becoming endangered or extinct:
1. Natural selection
2. Loss of habitat: deforestation, drainage of wetlands and hedgerow loss.
3. Overhunting by humans: trophy hunting, traditional medical practises, over-fishing,
agricultural exploitation and the bush-meat industry.
4. Competition from introduced species.
5. Pollution.
6. Non-contiguous populations; there may be too little genetic diversity to ensure a
healthy population.
Q: What is conservation?
The protection, preservation, management and restoration of natural habitats and
their ecological communities, to enhance biodiversity while allowing for suitable
human activity.
Q: What ways are there to conserve?
1. Protecting habitats: SAC’s (specific areas of conservation) and SSI’s (sites of specific
scientific interest).
2. International cooperation: restricting trade.
3. Gene banks: sperm banks, seed banks, species reintroduction.
4. Education.
5. Legislation
6. Ecotourism.
Q: Why is it important we conserve species:
1. Ethical species: each species represents a particular combination of genes and alleles
adapted to a particular environment.
2. Agriculture and horticulture
3. If the environment changes, different alleles will become advantageous.
4. Potential medical uses.
Q: What is monoculture?
The growth of large numbers of genetically identical crop plants in a defined area.
Q: What factors have increased the rate of agricultural exploitation?
1. Many hedgerows are removed to make larger fields to enable machinery to prepare
soils.
2. The larger fields are used for monoculture, which provides only one habitat.
3. If the same crop is grown on the same plot of land year after year, the yield
progressively declines because:
The roots are always the same length, so they extract the same minerals at the same
depth. This has increased the use of fertilisers.
