Conservation and Cycles

Question 1

what are the 4/6 benefits of conserving biodiversity

Answer 1

• Eco Tourism
• Provide employment
• Medicine development through undiscovered plants
• cultural like bald eagle for USA
• Protect human food supply
• ensuring minimal damage to food chains

Question 2

how can you increase biodiversity in a deforested area

Answer 2

• reforestation provides high biodiversity and shelter food habitats

must plan carefully like different tree species for higher biodiversity

Question 3

what are the two ways to conserve biodiversity

Answer 3

protect natural habitat

captive breeding programmes

seed banks to store endangered plants

Question 4

what are the 4 factors of food security

Answer 4

• increasing consumption of meat fish due to wealthier people so wide variety
  but this is bad bc less energy and biomass higher in chain so rather grow crops for more food
• climate change due to global warming ( burning of fossil fuels release c02)
  reduce crop yield // soil pollution
• sustainable farming when you balance the need of renewable energy alternatives which take up a lot of land that could be used for crop growth such as bioethanol used for biofuel
• cost for irrigation and machinery
• new pest and pathogens cause damage to crops crop may not be resistant to disease so reduce yield

Question 5

How are materials recycled between biotic and abiotic components

Answer 5

• living things absorb elements
• turn to complex compounds and fed to animals
• animals die and decomposers return elements to soil and air

Question 6

explain the carbon cycle

Answer 6

• depends on photosynthesis
• plants absorb CO2 to create complex compounds
• fed onto animals which respire and release CO2
• eventually die and decompose and turned into useful products
• decomposers release co2 through respiration once breaking down
• some turn into products which combusted and release CO2

Question 7

explain the water cycle

Answer 7

• energy from sun make water from sea to evaporate and turn into water vapour // transpiration from plants
• condenses and cools and turns into clouds
• water falls from clouds as precipitation onto land draining the sea.

Question 8

why is the water cycle important

Answer 8

provides photosynthesis for plants and fresh water

Question 9

what is a drought and how can it be solved

Answer 9

• lack of precipitation so desalination removes mineral ions from water through either thermal distillation or reverse osmosis due to high pressure moving salt from high conc to low conc removing impurities

Question 10

what is nitrogen and why is it important

Answer 10

78% of air, un reactive so cant directly be used, needed for protein in plants must be turned into mineral ions and nitrates then passed onto food chains this process relies on bacteria

Question 11

what are the 4 types of bacteria nitrogen cycle depends on

Answer 11

• nitrogen fixation - turns n2 into ammonia then into ammonium ions
• nitrifying bacteria - turns ammonia in decaying matter into nitrites then nitrates
• denitrifying bacteria - Nitrates into n2 no benefit normally waterlogged
• decomposer- turn proteins in organic matter into ammonia then ammonium ions

Question 12

how does nitrogen fixation happen

Answer 12

• lightning has enough energy to make nitrogen react with oxygen
• nitrogen fixation bacteria in roots and soil

Question 13

how does nitrogen fixation occur in roots

Answer 13

nodules on legume plants contain nitrogen fixation so when decompose nitrogen returned to soil or leak our during growth

Question 14

how can farmers increase nitrates in soil

Answer 14

crop rotation - change crops grown every year and include nitrogen fixation crop so when decompose return soil for next year

• fertiliser animal manure or compost recycle nutrients through decomposition
  or nitrate fertiliser which are expensive