Biology - Unit 2 - Human Impact

Which of the following best defines natural resources?

• Any part of the natural environment used by humans for their benefit.

• Any substances created through artificial processes for human consumption.

• Any resources derived from supernatural sources for human prosperity.

• Any materials extracted from outer space for human use.

Answer explanation

►2 Types of Natural Resources:

1.Renewable – water, forest, wildlife

1.Nonrenewable – fossil fuels, top soil

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS3-4

NGSS.MS-LS2-1

Humans modify ecosystems through:

• Genetic engineering, Consumption of Resources, Global Warming

• Genetic engineering, Consumption of Resources, Production of Resources

• Population Growth, Technology, Consumption of Resources, Production of Resources

• Population Growth, Technology, Consumption of Resources, Geological shifts

Answer explanation

►1.  Population Growth - housing developments, roads

►2.  Technology - industrial farming, transportation

►3.  Consumption of Resources - increasing demand as population grows

►4.  Production of Waste - garbage in landfills and in our oceans impact wildlife

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS3-4

Which of the following best defines renewable resources?

• Resources that can be replenished indefinitely without depletion

• Resources that undergo a chemical transformation to become sustainable

• Resources extracted from the Earth with minimal environmental impact

• Any natural resource that is replaced or recycled by natural processes.

Answer explanation

1) Forest

Deforestation - use of wood for housing, construction

Reforestation - replanting so that future generations have this resource

2) Wildlife

Threatened – Population of species begins to decline rapidly or faces a threat/problem in the future. (less serious) 

Ex. Loggerhead turtles

Endangered – Threat of extinction is immediate/severe. (more serious) 

Wildlife reserves provide a safe haven for organisms to live and breed successfully.

3) Soil – erosion due to runoff;  use farming techniques such as terrace farming to reduce loss of soil

4) Water – “Grey-water recycling” - reusing waste-water that can be purified and used for non drinking purposes conserves water

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-4

Which of the following best describes non-renewable resources?

• Resources that are easily replenished by natural processes.

• Resources that can be reused indefinitely without depletion.

• Any natural resource that cannot be replaced or recycled by natural processes.

• Resources that are primarily derived from organic materials.

Answer explanation

1) Fossil Fuels – carbon based substances made up of remains of organisms that have been buried for millions of years.

  Ex. Coal, Oil, Natural gas

2) Topsoil – Highly organic soil that is replaced at a rate of 2.5 cm every 500 – 1000 years

Amount of hazardous waste or toxins increase in successive levels of a food chain

• True

• False

Answer explanation

►Amount of hazardous waste or toxins increase in successive levels of a food chain

Ex. Amount of DDT increases

in a food chain

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-3

Which of the following statements accurately describes a characteristic of invasive species?

• They typically have strong natural predators, which helps maintain balance in their population.

• They rarely reproduce, leading to a steady decline in their population over time.

• They often coexist peacefully with native species, contributing positively to ecosystem diversity.

• They have no normal predators, allowing their population to grow excessively.

Answer explanation

►Introduced to a geographic area in which it is not normally found

►No normal predators, so they breed and the population grows excessively

►Ex.  Fire ants, kudzu, zebra mussels, Dutch Elm disease, snakehead fish, Burmese python

Which of the following ecological phenomena in North Carolina has been significantly influenced by human presence?

• acid rain in the mountains

• beach erosion

• waste lagoons on hog farms

• all of the above

Answer explanation

►Humans have contributed to:

►1.  acid rain in the mountains

►2.  beach erosion

►3.  urban development in the Piedmont;  habitat destruction

►4.  waste lagoons on hog farms

►5.  Kudzu as an invasive species

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS3-3

NGSS.MS-ESS3-4