Assignment
Answer the following study questions in a minimum of one paragraph each.
Chapter 4: Study Questions 1, 3, and 4
1. What is the difference between positive and negative feedback in systems? Provide an example of each.
3. Why is the idea of equilibrium in systems somewhat misleading in regard to environmental questions? Is it ever possible to establish a balance of nature?
4. Why is the average residence time important in the study of the environment?
Chapter 6: Study Questions 1, 3, and 5
1.Farming has been described as managing land to keep it in an early stage of succession. What does this mean, and how is it achieved?
2.What is the difference between an ecosystem and an ecological community?
5.Based on the discussion in this chapter, would you ex- pect a highly polluted ecosystem to have many species or few species? Is our species a keystone species? Explain.
Required Resources
Text
• Botkin, D. B., & Keller, E. A. (2014). Environmental science: Earth as a living planet (9th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc
o Chapter 4: The Big Picture: Systems of Change
o Chapter 6: Ecosystems: Concepts and Fundamentals
Multimedia
• Annenberg Learner. (n.d.). Unit 4: Ecosystems [Interactive resource]. In The Habitable Planet. Retrieved from https://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/unit/text.php?unit=4&secNum=0