Name: ________________________________________# _______ Class: _________ Date: _________ Environmental Issues Webquest Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect
Go to http://www.globalissues.org/article/233/climate-change-and-global-warming-introduction
and answer the following questions.
1. What is the greenhouse effect?
2. How does it relate to climate change?
3. Draw and label the greenhouse effect.
4. Scroll down to the section “The Greenhouse Effect is Natural. What do we have to do with it?”
What are some ways that humans are thought to be contributing to climate change?
5. Scroll down to the section “Small Average Global Temperature Change can have a Big Impact.” (Do not use the large map. Scroll down past it) Describe how global warming might affect the following….
a. extreme weather
b. ecosystem impacts
c. rising sea levels
d. ocean acidification
e. pests and disease
f. agricultural impacts
Biodiversity and Deforestation
Go to http://www.globalissues.org/issue/169/biodiversity and answer the following questions.
1. What is biodiversity?
2. Click on “Why is biodiversity important? Who cares?”
What are some of the…..
a. ecosystem services provided?
b. biological resources provided?
c. social benefits?
3. Go back to the biodiversity homepage (http://www.globalissues.org/issue/169/biodiversity)
and click on “Loss of Forests Equates to a loss of Many Species.” (Type this in the “Search the Site” box)
a. Because of deforestation and introduced species, _______ % of the world’s plant species are critically rare.
b. Brazil has ______ % of the world’s total plant biodiversity.
c. In the section “Sustainable Forest or Sustainable Profits,” what is bad about the idea of monoculture?
d. Scroll down to the section “Long term Costs.” List the 4 worst-case scenarios of forest and tree loss.
1. _____________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________
4. _____________________________________________________
4. Go back to the biodiversity homepage (http://www.globalissues.org/issue/169/biodiversity) and click on “Loss of Biodiversity and Extinctions.”
Choose 2 subsections and provide the main idea.
a. Section title: _____________________________________________________
Main Idea: ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
b. Section title: _____________________________________________________
Main Idea: ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Ozone Depletion
Go to http://www.epa.gov/oar/oaqps/gooduphigh/good.html and click on “Good Up High.”
1. What is ozone?
2. What does the “good” ozone do for us?
3. How is the “good” ozone gradually being destroyed?
4. In what are CFC’s and HCFC’s found?
5. What diseases and disorders can be a result of ozone depletion?
6. What did the Montreal Protocol prohibit?
Acid Rain Go to http://www.epa.gov/acidrain/ and answer the following questions.
1. How is acid rain formed?
2. Provide the pH of most acid rain compared to the pH of normal rain water.
3. Give four major reasons why acid rain is harmful.
a. _____________________________________________________
b. _____________________________________________________
c. _____________________________________________________
d. _____________________________________________________
4. What can you do to prevent acid rain?
Exotic (Invasive) Species
Go to www.invasive.org and click on “Invasives 101”.
1. What is an invasive, or exotic, species?
2. What percent of Threatened or Endangered species are at risk because of invasive species? __________
Go to www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/unitedstates/nc.shtml.
Under “Browse by Subject,” choose a plant, an animal, and a microbe that are non-native to North Carolina. Fill in the following information:
Name: _______________________________________________ Class: __________ Date: ______________
Ecology Webquest
Part A. Ecosystems
I._NUTRIENT CYCLING
A. Carbon Cycle
Read through the page and answer the following:
(2) Name 2 places on the earth we find carbon:
1. __________________________ 2. ___________________________
(3) Go to http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/Water/co2_cycle.html, read about the carbon cycle and fill in the blanks below:
Plants pull carbon (in the form of carbon dioxide) from the atmosphere to make food, through a process called ____________________.
Through food chains animals get ____________ from the plants and other animals they eat.
When plants and animals die their bodies ____________, and carbon goes back into the ground.
Some carbon is buried deep in the ground and forms ________________________. When humans burn fossil fuels, ________________ is released back into the atmosphere.
When humans and animals exhale, they release carbon back into the air by a process called ______________________________.
B. Nitrogen Cycle
Go to the website http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/Life/nitrogen_cycle.html&edu=mid and read about the nitrogen cycle and answer the questions below:
1. What are 2 ways nitrogen becomes useable to plants, humans and animals:
________________________________
________________________________
2. How do herbivores obtain the nitrogen they need?
_________________________________________________________
3. How is nitrogen returned to the atmosphere?
_________________________________________________________
4. What are two ways humans impact the nitrogen cycle:
1.________________________________________________________
2.________________________________________________________
II. POPULATION
Go to http://www.geography4kids.com/files/land_population.html read about population and answer the following questions:
1. What is population __________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
2. Two things that increase a population
a. ______________________________________________
b. ______________________________________________
3. Two things that decrease a population:
a. _____________________________________________
b. _____________________________________________
Part B: Impact of Human Activity on Ecosystems
Choose and read about one of many impacts that humans have on ecosystems from the list below:
Impact of Human Activity on Ecosystems
Deforestation
Human Soil Erosion
Extinction of Species
Fires
Pollution
Greenhouse Effect
List two facts you learned about the impact you chose:
1. _______________________________________________________
2. _______________________________________________________
Part C: Biomes Around the World
(1) Go to http://mbgnet.mobot.org/ and answer the following questions.
(2) What are the 6 Biomes of the World? _____________________, ________________________,
______________________, ________________________, __________________, ____________________
(3) What are the 3 Freshwater Ecosystems and the 3 Marine Ecosystems?
a. Freshwater =
b. Marine =
(4) Click on one of the six biomes. Choose one topic from the left column.
Write 3 sentences describing the information in this topic. Do not copy word for word!
1. ______________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
2. ________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
3. ________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Ecology Webquest
Part A. Ecosystems
I._NUTRIENT CYCLING
A. Carbon Cycle
Read through the page and answer the following:
(2) Name 2 places on the earth we find carbon:
1. __________________________ 2. ___________________________
(3) Go to http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/Water/co2_cycle.html, read about the carbon cycle and fill in the blanks below:
Plants pull carbon (in the form of carbon dioxide) from the atmosphere to make food, through a process called ____________________.
Through food chains animals get ____________ from the plants and other animals they eat.
When plants and animals die their bodies ____________, and carbon goes back into the ground.
Some carbon is buried deep in the ground and forms ________________________. When humans burn fossil fuels, ________________ is released back into the atmosphere.
When humans and animals exhale, they release carbon back into the air by a process called ______________________________.
B. Nitrogen Cycle
Go to the website http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/Life/nitrogen_cycle.html&edu=mid and read about the nitrogen cycle and answer the questions below:
1. What are 2 ways nitrogen becomes useable to plants, humans and animals:
________________________________
________________________________
2. How do herbivores obtain the nitrogen they need?
_________________________________________________________
3. How is nitrogen returned to the atmosphere?
_________________________________________________________
4. What are two ways humans impact the nitrogen cycle:
1.________________________________________________________
2.________________________________________________________
II. POPULATION
Go to http://www.geography4kids.com/files/land_population.html read about population and answer the following questions:
1. What is population __________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
2. Two things that increase a population
a. ______________________________________________
b. ______________________________________________
3. Two things that decrease a population:
a. _____________________________________________
b. _____________________________________________
Part B: Impact of Human Activity on Ecosystems
Choose and read about one of many impacts that humans have on ecosystems from the list below:
Impact of Human Activity on Ecosystems
Deforestation
Human Soil Erosion
Extinction of Species
Fires
Pollution
Greenhouse Effect
List two facts you learned about the impact you chose:
1. _______________________________________________________
2. _______________________________________________________
Part C: Biomes Around the World
(1) Go to http://mbgnet.mobot.org/ and answer the following questions.
(2) What are the 6 Biomes of the World? _____________________, ________________________,
______________________, ________________________, __________________, ____________________
(3) What are the 3 Freshwater Ecosystems and the 3 Marine Ecosystems?
a. Freshwater =
b. Marine =
(4) Click on one of the six biomes. Choose one topic from the left column.
Write 3 sentences describing the information in this topic. Do not copy word for word!
1. ______________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
2. ________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
3. ________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________