What is your biodiversity IQ? Name: __________________________________Date: _____________________________Period: ______ Read each question carefully. Circle all the answers that apply. 1. Which of the following could the fastest human outrun in a 100‐yard race? a. Cheetah b. Wart hog c. Three‐toed sloth d. Grizzly bear e. Domestic cat f. Wild turkey 2. Which of the following actually exist a. Ants that “milk” aphids for food b. Frogs that eat their own fertilized eggs, then throw up the babies that hatch in their stomachs c. Slime molds that creep across the ground d. Flowers that trick insects into mating with them. 3. Which one of the following best descries the work “biodiversity”? a. Another word for endangered species b. Another word for wildlife c. The variety of all life on earth d. A bunch of biographies 4. Which of the following are true statements about blackpoll warblers tiny birds that migrate between N. America & S. America each year? a. They use the stars for navigation. b. They make frequent pit stops at fast food restaurants c. They don’t really need to migrate. d. If they burned gasoline for fuel instead of body fat, they’d get 720,000 miles to the gallon! 5. What is the best thing you can do to control mosquitoes on a hot summer evening? a. Buy an electric bug zapper b. Install a backyard bat house c. Spray them with cans of insect repellent 6. The natural products on the left have been (or are) being developed into incredible medicines. Can you match them with medicines they’ve inspired? a. Cortisone ______bread mold b. Penicillin ______white willow tree c. Aspirin ______vampire bat saliva 1 d. Medicine to unclog arteries ______wild yam 7. Which of the following would not be possible without fungi? a. Eating pepperoni & mushroom pizza b. Making bread c. Living in a world where dead things aren’t lying all over the place d. Eating bleu cheese 8. What fraction of Los Angeles is paved? a. 1/10 b. 1 /4 c. 2/3 9. How many species of plants & animals have scientists indentified? a. 370 b. 650,000 c. More than 1.4 million 10. What’s the most serious threat to biodiversity? a. Habitat loss b. Pollution c. Hunting 11. About how many new species are classified each year? a. 15 b. 50 c. 700 d. 5,000 12. Which of the following contribute to the amount of oxygen found in the earth’s atmosphere? a. Trees b. Algae c. Grasslands d. Field mice 2 Introduction to Ecology & Biodiversity notes Environmental Science is an integrated science. An integrated science draws from many different fields such as biology, physics (energy and matter), chemistry (biosphere and matter, politicians, economists and sociologists. Four Major Areas of Study in Ecology 1. ____________________ 2. Air 3. _______________________ 4. Organisms Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary study of how humans and other organisms affect the physical environment. Ecology – the study of interaction of the _________________ and _______________ things in the ecosystem. Environment – everything that surrounds an __________________________ Abiotic - __________________________________ Examples: ___________________________ Biotic - ___________________________________ Examples: ___________________________ Biodiversity is the contraction of two words – “biological diversity.” It means the variety of _________________ __________________ in the world. Biological diverse ecosystem is …. • _____________________ • _____________________ • _____________________ 3 Value of maintaining biodiversity is …. • ____________________________ • ____________________________ • ____________________________ Twenty-five percent (25%) of all prescription medicine in the U.S. have ingredients that were derived from plants. Cures for disease could be found in remote areas of the world. Opposite of Biodiversity A _____________________________ is the growing of one species or organism Examples: lawn, cornfield Problems associated with a monoculture…. • • • • ___________________________ Disease can spread quickly Extensive use of pesticides and herbicides Very labor intensive and energy intensive to maintain Indicator species Indicator organisms, sometimes called _______________________, are plant or animal _______________known to be either particularly tolerant or particularly sensitive to ___________________. The _____________________ of an organism can often be associated with a specific type or intensity of ____________________________, and its presence can then be used to indicate polluted conditions relative to unimpacted conditions. Examples of indicator species 1. Trout – need clear & cold water to survive. The disappearance for trout is an indicator that the water temperature may be affected or waters are polluted. 2. Mayfly larvae – very sensitive to water pollution 3. Tubificid worms – common to see a drastic increase in pollution if the water if polluted from sewage treatment wastes 4. Giant weed grass – an indicator that there has been a disturbance in the wetland area 4 Biological Diversity – How It Stops Disease from Spreading Name __________________________Date: __________________Period: ________ When a habitat is very diverse with a variety of different species, it is much healthier and more stable. One of the reasons for this is that disease doesn’t spread as easily in a diverse community. If one species gets a disease, others of its kind are far enough away that disease is often stopped at the one or two individuals. Answer the following questions after the second simulation. 1. What does biological diversity mean? 2. Why didn’t all the different trees get the disease? (Hint: genetics) 3. Why didn’t the disease spread as fast among the Douglas firs as it did in the first simulation? 4. In which forest would you need to use more chemicals to control disease: the Douglas fir forest or the more diversified, old growth forest? Why? 5. Summarize what this simulation symbolized. 6. Which forest would have more diversity of wildlife? Why? 7a. If you cut down the variety in a area of forest you owned and replanted with one type of tree, what will happen to the wildlife that was adapted to the forest? 5 b. Will the fate happen to all wildlife? Explain. 8. Many species can only live/reproduce in one type of forest. The spotted owl is an example – it can only live and successfully reproduce in old growth forests. If these old growth forests are cut down, it’s unlikely this owl will survive. Environmentalists call it an “indicator species.” What does this mean? Why be concerned about ONE species? 9. Growing one plant, as is the case of growing only Douglas fir, is called monoculture. Give an example of growing one plant in your home and on a farm. Home –______________________________ Farm- ___________________________ 10. Why would you need to use more insecticides in monoculture? Is this good or bad? 11. If you wanted to encourage diverse wildlife in your town, what type of plants would you use around your house? 6 Solving Environmental Problems Environmental Sustainability is the ability of the ___________________ to function indefinitely without going into a ____________________ from the stresses imposed by human society on natural systems that _________________ life. Five Components in Solving an Environmental Problem 1. Scientific Assessment a. Gathering of ___________ or ___________ thru experiments and simulations. b. Scientific ____________________________ 2. Risk Analysis a. Using results of scientific __________________ to analyze the potential effects of intervention b. What could happen if a course of action were followed – including any ____________ effects that might be generated? 3. Public Education a. When a clear _______________ can be made, the public ________________________ be informed. Explain the ____________________________ Present available ______________________ for action Probable ______________ Results of each choice 4. Political Action a. Through the elected officials, the _______________, selects a course of action and implements. b. Wealth of legislation governing the environment. 5. Follow-through a. Results should be __________________ to see if it is solving the problem b. Evaluate and judge if the solution is working or the initial evaluation and modeling of the problem needs to be improved. Scientific Decision-Making Risk Assessment Estimating the _____________________ involved in a certain action Compare and contrast the risks involved with other ______________________ Once ____________ __________________ is done, results are evaluated with their relevance to the political, social and economic consideration. 7 The evaluation which includes the development of laws to regulate an problem is called ____________ ______________________. Helps us estimate the _____________________ that an event will happen. Let’s us set ________________________. Risk is inherent in all of our actions and in the environment. Example: 180 times more likely to get cancer from smoking than from drinking well water. Four Steps of Risk Assessment for Adverse Health Effects 1. Hazard identification Does the exposure to a __________________ cause an increased likelihood of an adverse health effect such as cancer or birth defect? 2. Dose-response assessment What is the relationship between amount of the _____________ and the ______________ of the adverse health effect? 3. Exposure Assessment How much, how often, how long? 4. Risk Characterization What is the ________________________ of an individual or population having an adverse health effect? Cost-Benefit Analysis Some highly publicized ______________________ problem have been found to cost an astronomically amount of _______________________ to solve but do not pose a great threat as some less publicized problems. As a result the ____________________is beginning to use this cost-benefit analysis to address environmental problems that involve human health and safety. Helps ___________________________ form the laws to regulate the problem. Only as good as the _________________ used How do you put a _______________________ on clean air? Process is useful but has _________________________. 8 Biodiversity Review Worksheet Matching: Choose the best word for each definition. _____1. A way to test a hypothesis A. Monoculture _____2. How something looks B. Biodiversity _____3. An educated guess C. Indicator species _____4. Growing one species in an area D. Aesthetic _____5. All the variety of species in an ecosystem E. Environmental sustainability _____6. Information collected during an experiment F. Risk assessment _____7. The ability of an ecosystem to sustain life under stress G. Cost benefit analysis _____8. A set of steps used to solve a problem H. Scientific method _____9. One species that is monitored to determine the health of the ecosystem I. Hypothesis ____10. Restating hypothesis and explaining results of an experiment J. Data ____11. Determining how much money is worth spending on the problem K. Experiment ____12. Evaluating possible solutions with their risks L. Conclusion Completion: Answer the following questions. 1. What are the necessary parts of a graph? _________________________________________________ 2. What is the difference between the independent variable and the dependent variable? __________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Why does disease spread so easily in a monoculture? ___________________________________________ 4. List the 5 steps to solving an environmental problem. ___________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ 5. Why is educating the public an important step in solving environmental problems? ____________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ 6. Why is biodiversity important? _____________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ 9 Unit Learning Map Biodiversity Unit Mrs. Sim-Ecology PA Standard 4.3.10C: Explain the biodiversity as an indicatory of a healthy environment. 4.8.10 C: Analyze how human activities may cause changes in an ecosystem. Unit Essential Question(s): Optional Instructional Tools: Why is biological diversity essential? Concept Biological diversity Lesson Essential Questions: What makes an ecosystem biologically diverse? Vocabulary: Environmental science Ecology Monoculture Indicator species Aesthetic Abiotic Biotic Concept Human Impact Disease simulation Biodiversity video Bubble lab Current Event Concept Solving environmental problems Lesson Essential Questions: Lesson Essential Questions: How do humans impact the diversity of an ecosystem? How are the steps of solving environmental problems used to investigate the environment? Vocabulary: Concept Vocabulary: Lesson Essential Questions: Vocabulary: Environmental sustainability Risk assessment Cost benefit analysis Scientific method Dependent variable Independent variable Constants Data Hypothesis Experiment 10