Keystone Species and Food Web Stability

Question

3. Research a few types of keystone species and explain their impact if removed

4. Create a mini food web showing the relationships between keystone species and other organisms.

Human Impact on Biodiversity

1. How do deforestation and habitat destruction affect populations?

2. Why is monoculture (planting a single crop) bad for an ecosystem?

3. What happens to a species when its habitat is destroyed?

4. Discuss how human actions reduce biodiversity, provide examples that we've talked about so far.

5. Create a "cause and effect" chart showing how habitat destruction leads to extinction.

Nutrient Cycling and Decomposers

1. What role do decomposers play in an ecosystem?

2. What happens if decomposers can't break down organic matter?

3. Explain why decomposers are essential for homeostasis.

4. Draw a diagram showing how decomposers recycle nutrients.

Population Growth and Carrying Capacity

1. What is carrying capacity?

2. What happens when an ecosystem has too many or too few organisms?

3. How does adding land affect a population?

4. Predict how a population would change if its habitat expanded.

5. Draw a graph demonstrating what would happen if habitat was expanded for an organism.

Make every answer equal to 1 sentence and make it seem like a 9th grader wrote it.

GPT-4o mini · Answer

### Keystone Species and Food Web Stability 1. Some examples of keystone species include sea otters, which keep sea urchin populations in check, and without them, kelp forests can be destroyed. 2. If a keystone species, like the gray wolf, is removed from an ecosystem, it can lead to an overpopulation of deer, which then overgrazes vegetation and disrupts the entire food web. 3. A mini food web could look like this: Grass → Grasshopper → Frog → Snake → Hawk; where the grass is a primary producer, and the hawk acts as a keystone predator. --- ### Human Impact on Biodiversity 1. Deforestation and habitat destruction lead to population declines because animals lose their homes and food sources, causing them to either die off or migrate. 2. Monoculture is bad for an ecosystem because it reduces genetic diversity, making crops more vulnerable to pests and diseases. 3. When a species' habitat is destroyed, it often faces extinction if it cannot adapt to new environments or find suitable shelter and food. 4. Human actions reduce biodiversity through activities like pollution, overfishing, and urban development, which we’ve discussed before when talking about coral reef damage and deforestation. 5. A "cause and effect" chart could be: Habitat Destruction → Loss of Food and Shelter → Decline in Species Population → Increased Extinction Rates. --- ### Nutrient Cycling and Decomposers 1. Decomposers break down dead organic matter, recycling nutrients back into the soil for plants to use. 2. If decomposers can't break down organic matter, nutrients become locked away, leading to soil depletion and impaired plant growth. 3. Decomposers are essential for homeostasis because they help maintain the balance of nutrients in the ecosystem, ensuring that life cycles continue smoothly. 4. A diagram showing decomposers recycling nutrients would show dead plants and animals decomposing into the soil, which then nourishes new plant growth. --- ### Population Growth and Carrying Capacity 1. Carrying capacity is the maximum number of individuals in a species that an ecosystem can support without degrading. 2. When an ecosystem has too many organisms, it can lead to resource depletion, while too few can cause genetic bottlenecks and extinction. 3. Adding land can increase a population by providing more resources and space for individuals to thrive. 4. If a habitat expands, the population would likely increase because there would be more available food and shelter for the organisms. 5. A graph demonstrating what would happen if habitat was expanded would show a rise in population numbers until it levels off at a new carrying capacity.