HONR 1027 Midterm: September 18, 2018
Document Summary
A community of living organisms interacting with one another and nonliving components of their physical environment. Examples of ecosystems: longleaf pine, coastal marsh, coral reef, arctic tundra, mopani woodlands, rainforest, desert/oasis. The action of helping or doing work for someone. Benefits supplied to humankind by natural ecosystems. Ecosystem services: supporting, fundamental services, allow earth to sustain basic life forms. Creation of soils, water cycles, nutrient cycles, and photosynthesis: soil formations are important, regulating, control of natural processes, waste decomposition, provisioning. Pest and disease control: goods and products from ecosystems. Energy from hydropower, fossil fuels: cultural, non-material benefits. Why they"re important to us: international, oil from middle east, coffee from central/south america, national, former grasslands --- cotton for clothing/grain for food, local, gulf coast ecosystems --- the beach. Saltwater fishing and seafood: tidal marsh and flood control. Wind patterns carry saharan desert dust to caribbean coral reefs. Sea urchin disease and coral reef collapse.
