Download Vocabulary for Standard 2, Objective 3, Biodiversity

Vocabulary for Standard 2, Objective 3, Biodiversity
Biodiversity—different types of living things.
A rainforest has high
biodiversity. A field of corn has low biodiversity.
Biomass—the amount of living or once-living material.
One acre of
rainforest has higher biomass than one acre of desert. A pile of dead wood
is also biomass.
Biomes—areas with similar climates. Grasslands, deserts and rainforests
are examples of biomes.
Species—one type of plant or animal
Extinction—when a species die off.
Dinosaurs are now extinct.
Habitat—the place where an organism lives.
Factors that contribute to extinction of a species:
Habitat Destruction-- destroying the places where organisms live.
Cutting
down trees to build roads and houses destroys habitat.
Pollution—harmful substances such as chemicals, oil spills, pesticides
Overharvesting—overhunting or overfishing
Alien Species or Introduced species or Exotic species—a
species is introduced into an ecosystem where it has no natural predators so it multiplies
out of control and wipes out the native species. For example, the Kudzu vine was
introduced to Florida and is now overgrowing and wiping out native plants.
Reasons to Preserve Diversity or Reasons to Save a
Species
Ethical or Moral—deals with what is right or wrong. We should save species
from going extinct because it is the right thing to do. It would be wrong to let them go
extinct.
Biological—deals with living things. We should save a species because it is part of
an ecosystem. Other living things may depend on it.
Social—deals with people. We should save a species because it is important to people
or provides a benefit to people. Maybe it is important symbolically or religiously to a
group of people. Also, a species may have medical or educational value for people.
Economic—deals with money. We should save a species because of $$.
It usually
costs less money to preserve a habitat than it does to repair a damaged ecosystem later.
Also, some species may have economic value for tourism or some other service or
product they provide. Food, clothing, medicines and other things we use every day often
come from plants and animals.
Aesthetic—deals with beauty or how something looks.
We should save a species
because it is beautiful, or because it makes the world more interesting.