Name- Surname: Class:

IBDP ESS

THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY

Section A: General Questions

1- The graph below, shows the number of animal species that have become extinct in
each 50 year period since 1600.

150

120

Number of 90
recorded
extinctions

60

30

0 16 16 17 17 18 18 19 19
00 51 01 51 01 51 01 51
- 16 - 17 - 17 -1 -1 -1 -1 -2
50 00 50 800 850 900 950 00
0

Years

[Source: Based on material in a scientific paper by F D M Smith and others

1993, Biodiversity Assessment: A Guide to Good Practice, London, HMSO, 1996]

(a) Describe and explain the changes in the extinction rate represented by the data in the
graph.

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(b) State four factors that might increase the likelihood of a species becoming extinct.

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(c) Distinguish between the terms endangered and extinct.

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(d) Name a species that has become extinct since 1600, and state two reasons for its
becoming extinct.

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2-“Human activities often simplify ecosystems, making them unstable.” Explain this
statement.

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3- “We have driven the rate of biological extinction, the permanent loss of species, up several hundred
times beyond its historical levels, and are threatened with the loss of a majority of all species by the
end of the twenty first century.”

Explain how the mechanisms of evolution have led to an increase in biodiversity in the past, and how
human activities now seem to be reversing this trend.
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4- Outline two reasons why tropical rainforests are vulnerable to habitat destruction.

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5- Match the word to the meaning.

1- Ecosystem a- Using too many natural resources

2- Forestry b- Not having enough food

3- Fragmentation c- The development of industry

4- Starvation d- Farming of trees

5- Industrialization e- Putting dangerous materials into the environment

6- Over-exploitation f- Dividing into small parts

7- Pollution g- The interaction of all organisms in an area with

each other and the environment

Section B: Case Study of Iguanas

Follow given link and watch the video. ( 4- 9 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8hXJqkOAy8

Questions Related to the Case Study

1- What is the scientific name of iguanas treating native species?

2- What do you think about why researchers do this study?

3- How the alien species can be introduced to the island?

4- How the exotic species threat indigenous biota?

5- What can be reason behind differentiation of alien species from endemic ones
although they look like very similar in their appearance?