Biodiversity and Sustainability

Students in a science class visited four local ecosystems. The students observed the species present in each ecosystem and recorded their observations in the table.

Based on these observations, which ecosystem is likely to be the least sustainable?

• Ecosystem 1, because it has the fewest species

• Ecosystem 2, because it includes both aquatic and terretrial species

• Ecosystem 3, because it has few predators

• Ecosystem 4, because it supports many animals

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Tropical rain forests have the greatest biodiversity of any type of land ecosystem. How does biodiversity contribute to the sustainability if an ecosystem?

• The presence of more species with different adaptations makes it more likely that some organisms will survive an ecological disaster.

• Greater genetic variation within species makes it more likely that some individuals will survive a disease outbreak.

• The presence of a variety of herbivore species that can feed on a large number of different producer species helps ensure abundant prey for predators in the ecosystem.

• All of the above

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The food webs model relationships among the organisms in two ecosystems.

Which ecosystem would be more likely to survive if a disease killed the grasses?

• The forest ecosystem, because most of the animals can eat other organisms

• The grassland ecosystem, because several predators compete for food

• The forest ecosystem, because it has three top predators

• The grassland ecosystem, because it has many herbivores

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Sustainability refers to

• how many species are present in an ecosystem
• when a species goes extinct
• how long a species lives
• the ability to maintain ecological process over long periods of time.

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Biodiversity refers to

• extinct species
• the variety of species on Earth
• nonrenewable resources
• the rate of species decline

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The higher the biodiversity, the more sustainable an ecosystem is.

• True
• False

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Which best explains why producers are at the beginning of all food chains?

• They turn dead animals into nutrients
• They provide shelter for smaller animals
• The transfer energy from the sun into food

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A drought has hit this grassland biome. How will this effect the rabbit population?

• The rabbits will increase in number.
• The rabbit population will stay the same.
• The rabbit population will decrease.
• The rabbit population will become extinct immediately.

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