Battle for the biosphere

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  • Created by: Holly45
  • Created on: 10-03-15 17:06

Goods from the biosphere

  • food (it's origin in the natural world)
  • medicines (treatment for malaria and rosy periwinkle which gives us cancer fighting medicines)
  • raw materials (water and timber)
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Biomes

  • a biome is a globalscale ecosystem

Main biomes include:

  • tropical rainforests found on either side of the equator
  • desert that is found in the tropics
  • temperate deciduous forest found in higher latitudes
  • taiga (coniferous forest)
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Influences of climate, altitude and soils

The type of biome depends on differences in:

  • temperature and seasonality
  • rainfall amount and seasonality
  • altitude
  • geology and soils
  • the hotter and wetter the climate, the more productive the ecosystem, with more species of both fauna and flora
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Services from the biosphere

  • regular climate (temperature and rainfall patterns)
  • water regulation and purification
  • recreation, tourism and education opportunities
  • plants absorb CO2 and product oxygen
  • vegetation regulates temperature
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The Amazon Rainforest

  • most forest is cleared for farming
  • logging for tropical hard woods
  • the rainforest 'opened up' from the 1960s by roads
  • large scale hydroelectric power dams such as the Belo Monte have flooded large areas of rainforest
  • deforestation has converted about 6 million hectares of rainforest to Palm oil plantation
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Indirect impacts on rainforests

Climate change:

  • increased greenhouse emissions
  • increases in particles and pollutants

Impacts:

  • changes in weather patterns
  • changes in temperature
  • changes in sea levels
  • more extreme weather events

Effects:

  • tropical rainforests die back as climate becomes arid
  • migration of animals
  • species extinction
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CITES

  • protects 34000 endangered species of plant and animal
  • banning trade
  • reduce illegal hunting and plant collection
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National parks

  • preserve landscapes
  • the Lake District
  • there are 15 in the UK AND 59 in the USA
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Being sustainable at a local scale

  • conserving the environment for the future
  • avoiding exploitation
  • provision for local people
  • education of local people
  • some rainforest areas have been given to local people to manage
  • education and training are helping farmers learn to farm sustainably
  • ecotourism is being developed
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