Human impact and biodiversity

Ecosystems can provide resources in a sustainable way.

Which option describes the meaning of sustainable in the above sentence?

A Cost-effective use of a resource by humans.

B Managing a resource so biodiversity is maintained.

C Preventing human access to a resource so that it remains at its current level.

D Use of a resource in such a way that it will not run out.

The Farne Islands are a group of small islands off the coast of Northern England.

The Farne Islands are a National Nature Reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest. They are home to many species of bird, including arctic terns, guillemots, cormorants, shags, eider ducks, razorbills, and a variety of gulls. Particularly popular with the public are puffins. Considered by some to be a keystone species, puffins are small birds with large colourful beaks that fly very close to the surface of the sea. They come to the islands only to breed, nesting in underground burrows.

Local tour operators transport large numbers of visitors to the islands each year but no visitors are allowed on the islands during the winter to allow conservation work to be carried out. Such work includes repairing boardwalks and fences, tagging individual birds, and counting how many puffin burrows have been in use.

In 2023, an outbreak of bird flu caused a drop in the numbers of many species, including puffins, and visitors were banned from the islands. Local tour operators reported a drop in income.

Identify evidence from the information above that supports each of the following claims:

Puffins are important for aesthetic reasons........

Puffins are important for ecological reasons........

Puffins are important for economic reasons........

The Farne Islands can be seen as an environmental resource that is affected by human activities.

Identify one example of conservation that is necessary as a direct result of human activities.

There are no mammalian predators, such as rats and stoats, on the Farne Islands. Mammalian predators eat birds and their eggs.

Part of the conservation work involves ensuring that the islands remain free of these mammalian predators.

Suggest how human activity could be responsible for the arrival of these predators.

There are two types of conservation: in situ and ex situ.

State the type of conservation taking place on the Farne Islands and give a reason for your choice.

Puffins, like many species on the Farne Islands, eat small fish. Their main predators are large gulls. Puffins are on the IUCN Red List for threatened species.

The puffin population can be estimated from the number of burrows that are occupied.

After the bird flu outbreak in 2023 the number of occupied burrows declined.

It is important not to disturb the burrows and there is not enough money available to allow puffin burrows to be constantly monitored, either by humans or cameras.

Suggest one other type of evidence that could be used to infer that a burrow was being occupied by puffins.

Discuss the effect a decline in puffin population could have on other species in the area.

Explain why the existence of a predator can improve the long-term survival of a species such as the puffin.

* The sea around the Farne Islands contains a large population of grey seals, Halichoerus grypus and a small population of common seals, Phoca vitulina.

The table contains some information about these two species of seal.

Use the information in the table to describe the different types of variation between organisms and the underlying causes of this variation.

Extra answer space if required.

Species biodiversity is affected by many factors.

A student plans to sample the plant species in the area shown below to assess the area’s species biodiversity.

The student plans to:

• use a random number generator to generate 10 coordinates

• sample at each of the 10 coordinates

• use a point quadrat and an identification key to estimate the percentage cover of each species at each coordinate.

Describe two improvements to the student’s plan and explain why they would be improvements.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) compiles a list of species and their conservation status, known as the Red List of Threatened Species.

A study in 2016 assessed which factors were threats to populations of animal species.

The scientists carrying out the study selected 3789 species on the IUCN List.

They classified each population into one of five categories, based on the greatest threat to the

Outline the differences between the bird and mammal results shown in the graph.

A student looking at the graph concluded that ‘climate change is not a major threat to species biodiversity’.

Evaluate this conclusion.

Timber can be produced sustainably to maintain biodiversity in woodland.

Describe one way in which timber can be produced sustainably.

The Maasai Mara is a grassland ecosystem in east Africa with a large range of wildlife.

The human population in the area is increasing.

An increasing human population can affect the biodiversity of an area.

The wildlife present in the Maasai Mara includes several large mammals, such as gazelle, zebra and wildebeest.

Domestic animals, such as cattle, sheep and goats, are farmed by humans to provide food.

The graph below shows the population of some large mammals in the Maasai Mara between 1975 and 2007.

Wildebeest Gazelle Zebra Goat/Sheep Cattle

Calculate the rate of change in wildebeest population between 1975 and 2007.

Rate =........ animals per year

Maintaining biodiversity in the Maasai Mara is important.

The following are some statements about biodiversity in the Maasai Mara:

A People visit the Maasai Mara to see animals such as lions, giraffes and rhinoceros.

B Wild animals are sometimes killed for food by local people.

C Large herbivores such as wildebeest are the main source of food for large predators such as lions.

D Part of the area is used by farmers for grazing livestock.

E Soil erosion has occurred where trees have been removed by humans for fuel or to clear land for grazing.

F In and around the Maasai Mara there is accommodation for over 7000 tourists.

The reasons for maintaining biodiversity can be grouped into three categories: ecological, economic and aesthetic.

Fill in the table to show which of the statements, A to F, could be used as an example of the importance of each of the three categories.

You may use each letter once, more than once, or not at all.

The Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua, is a large fish that is often eaten by humans.

In the space provided, plot the results from the table as a suitable graph.

Variation can be caused by genetic and environmental factors.

Explain why your graph shows that at least some of the variation in body length in Atlantic cod is caused by environmental factors.

It is important that commercial fishing is done in a sustainable way.

Fish farms are one potential solution to declining fish stocks.

List three other strategies that governments could use to increase the sustainability of commercial fishing.

International agreements are an important approach to sustainability.

Suggest why international agreements are particularly important in the case of sustainable fishing.

Which of the following is most likely to increase biodiversity?

A captive breeding programmes

B climate change

C human population growth

D monoculture

Your answer

Explain one way in which tourists can lead to an increase in the biodiversity of an area.

The Lake District contains large areas where timber is produced. One of the aims of the management of National Parks is to produce timber sustainably.

Using Fig. 18, estimate the percentage of land that is covered by woodland and forest.

Timber can be produced economically by a technique called clear felling. Clear felling can damage biodiversity.

Explain how it is possible to produce timber sustainably using clear felling.

Many schools visit the Lake District to undertake Biology fieldwork.

A group of students investigated the biodiversity of five herb plants they found in adjacent coppiced and mature areas of woodland in the spring of 2016.

Their results are shown in Table 18.

The students calculated the Simpson’s Index of Diversity (D) for the mature area to be 0.489.

Use the information in Table 18 to work out the Simpson’s Index of Diversity (D) for the area of coppiced woodland.

Use the example of the students’ fieldwork to explain how biodiversity can be considered at different levels.