Download Ch. 3 Reading questions 1. What is an ecosystem and

Ch. 3 Reading questions
1. What is an ecosystem and what are its components?
2. How are ecosystem boundaries imposed by humans sometimes different from natural boundaries?
3. What determines the productivity of an ecosystem?
4. How efficiently is energy transferred between trophic levels in and ecosystem?
5. What role does water play in nutrient cycling?
6. What are the main similarities and differences among the carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles?
7. What is the difference between resistance and resilience in an ecosystem?
8. What is the intermediate disturbance hypothesis?
9. List and define the 5 categories of ecosystem services.
10. How do instrumental and intrinsic values of ecosystems differ?
Ch. 4 Reading questions
1. What is the difference between weather and climate?
2. What effect does Earth’s rotation have on atmospheric circulation and ocean currents?
3. In what ways are atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns similar? How are they different?
4. What characteristic are used to distinguish between terrestrial biomes?
5. What characteristics of a terrestrial biome determine its productivity?
6. Why are aquatic biomes categorized differently than terrestrial biomes?
7. What are the different zones of lakes and the open ocean? What defines these zones?
8. How does water depth or flow influence the organisms that live in an aquatic biome?
Chapter 18 Reading questions
1. What are the reasons for declining genetic diversity of domestic plants and animals?
2. What are some challenges associated with understanding which species are threatened with
extinction?
3. How does habitat loss influence species extinction?
4. Compare and contrast the primary causes of biodiversity loss; which one do you think is most
important?
5. Why are alien species a threat to biodiversity?
6. What is the single-species approach to conserving biodiversity?
7. What makes the Endangered Species Act controversial? Why is it important to legislate species
protection?
8. In what ways is biodiversity protection an international issue?
9. How does island biogeography help us decide how to protect species?
10. What are the different ways that reserves can be designed?
11. What is a biosphere reserve and how does it help preserve biodiversity?
Chapter 5 Reading questions
1. Why is it challenging to determine the # of species on Earth?
2. Why are estimates of species diversity valuable to environmental scientists?
3. What is the difference between species richness and evenness? Why are they both important
measures?
4. Describe the 3 main ways that evolution happens.
5. How does evolution lead to biodiversity?
6. Explain how geographic isolation leads to reproductive isolation.
7. What factors influence a species’ chances of adapting successfully to a change in its environment?
8. Why is the pace of human driven evolution faster than that of natural evolutionary processes?
9. How do fundamental and realized niches differ?
10. How are human activities affecting extinction rates, and why is their impact a particular concern?