Objectives/Guide Questions 02
Environmental Science
Environment & Ecosystems
To demonstrate your knowledge of the Objectives/Guide Questions provide a detailed answer to each of the Objectives/Guide Questions. Each answer must be in your own words and supported by a reference. The reference for written materials must have a title and page number. Internet references should have title and URL or Address.
To Begin:
A. Copy the Following Questions and Paste into Your Seminar Report:
1. Select and copy the questions. Place the cursor to the left of "Part A" and drag to the end of the last question. When the questions have been highlighted, copy and paste into seminar report.
2. Open your seminar report, in MS Word.
3. Paste the questions into your seminar report.
B. When answering the question place your answer after the question or part of question.
C. Where do I get the information to answer the Objectives/Guide Questions?
1. Lecture
2. Textbook
3. Discussion board
4. Internet
a. Google key words in Objectives/Guide Questions.
b. Ask a question in Google.
Part A - Objectives/ Guide Questions
1. Define an ecosystem incorporating the terms producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, and decomposer organisms.
a) Explain how matter and energy interact in an ecosystem.
b) Indicate the movement of energy through a typical ecosystem.
2. Define food chain, food web and the pyramid of energy flow give examples of each.
a) How do food chains function together in food webs to make a sustainable system?
b) How does energy flow and how efficient are the transfers of energy?
c) What factors account for decreasing biomass at higher trophic levels?
3. Describe metabolism and respiration and how they keep organisms alive.
4. Discuss the cyclical nature of material flow through an ecosystem using carbon, nitrogen, or phosphorus cycle.
5. Identify and describe four of the world’s major biomes.
a) Discuss the adaptations of plants to a biome.
b) Discuss the adaptations of animals to a biome.
6. Define primary and secondary ecological succession.
a) Describe two management techniques that can be employed to change the rate of succession.
b) Give two specific examples of human actions that affect the process of ecological succession.
7. Explain why wild species of plants and animals are important to us, and the ecosphere.
8. Define an ecosystem.
a) What is the difference between the biotic community, and the abiotic environmental factors of an ecosystem?
b) What does the limiting factor principle tell us?
9. Explain biodiversity using the four components of biodiversity (Functional, Ecological, Genetic, and Species Diversity).
a) Why is biodiversity important to Earth's life-support systems (include examples)?
b) Why is biodiversity important to the economy (include examples)?
10. Explain is the Theory of Evolution?
a) Who first proposed the theory?
b) What does this scientific theory explain?
Include these Guide Questions and answers in the seminar report unless
"Taking Test".