Starter quiz
- What term can be used to describe the mass of biological material in an ecosystem?
- ecology
- biomass ✓
- biotic
- food web
- consumer
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- What is the definition of biodiversity?
- The number of individual organisms in a specific area.
- The number of different species in a specific area. ✓
- The number of food webs in a specific area.
- The non-living factors in a specific area.
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- Which of the following is a main reason that humans carry out deforestation?
- To create more land for crops and livestock. ✓
- To reduce the number of harmful animals (e.g. pests).
- To increase the biodiversity of an area.
- To have better access to other areas of forest.
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- In which of the following habitats is there likely to be the greatest biodiversity?
- a puddle
- a rock pool
- a tropical rainforest ✓
- the arctic
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- Which of these is a way of increasing biodiversity?
- Planting hedgerows around crop fields. ✓
- Increasing the size of crop fields.
- Deforestation of land.
- Clearing habitats to process human waste materials.
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- Burning trees that have been chopped down as part of deforestation will release which gas into the atmosphere?
- oxygen
- nitrogen
- carbon dioxide ✓
- methane
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Exit quiz
- The number of different species in an area is known as ______.
- 'biodiversity' ✓
- Which of the following gases found in the atmosphere is not a greenhouse gas?
- carbon dioxide
- water vapour
- nitrogen ✓
- methane
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- What does the term urbanisation mean?
- Humans moving to live in the countryside.
- Increasing numbers of humans living in towns and cities. ✓
- Creating nature reserves to increase biodiversity in built up areas.
- Creating more space for landfill and processing of waste.
- Decreasing numbers of humans living in towns and cities.
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- The destruction of habitats ...
- causes biodiversity to increase.
- causes biodiversity to stay the same.
- causes biodiversity to decrease. ✓
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- Listed below are some human activities. Match the activities with the impact they have on the ecosystem.
- growing rice⇔increases methane in the atmosphere ✓
- digging a new quarry⇔destroys habitats ✓
- deforestation⇔destroys habitats and stops carbon dioxide being taken up by producers ✓
- combustion of fuels⇔increases the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere ✓
- Which of the following is not a consequence of continued global warming?
- Increased rainfall in some areas as more water is evaporated from the seas.
- Melting of land ice, raising sea levels.
- Habitat loss for some animals as a result of climate change.
- Increased speed of fossil fuels being regenerated. ✓
- Changes in the pattern/times of year of migration of birds.
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Worksheet
Presentation
Video
Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Increasing human population size requires increased land use for resources (including food and fuels) and urbanisation.
- Increased land use by humans leads to habitat destruction, e.g. deforestation and biodiversity loss.
- Increasing human population size increases production of waste and pollution, leading to biodiversity loss.
- Release of greenhouse gases contributes to climate change, including global warming, leading to biodiversity loss.
- There is very strong evidence linking human release of greenhouse gases to global climate change.
Common misconception
A common misconception is that a small increase in greenhouse gases and a small rise in Earth's temperature will not have much impact on organisms on Earth beyond polar ice melting.
The lesson outlines how human activities increase the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and how this links to climate change. The lesson also outlines how climate change impacts life on Earth.
Keywords
Urbanisation - Urbanisation is the increase in the number of people living in towns and cities (urban areas).
Deforestation - Deforestation is the removal of trees; often to use for timber or fuel or to repurpose land for houses or farming.
Biodiversity - Biodiversity is the range of different living organisms (species) that live in a place.
Greenhouse gas - Greenhouse gases are gases that are responsible for the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation and trapping ‘heat’ in the atmosphere.
Climate change - Climate change is a long term shift in weather patterns.