Urbanisation is the increase in the number of people living in towns and cities (urban areas).

Deforestation is the removal of trees; often to use for timber or fuel or to repurpose land for houses or farming.

Biodiversity is the range of different living organisms (species) that live in a place.

Greenhouse gases are gases that are responsible for the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation and trapping ‘heat’ in the atmosphere.

Climate change is a long term shift in weather patterns.

Negative human interactions with ecosystems and impacts on biodiversity

Combined science

Examples of human interactions with ecosystems, including use of peat

Benefits and challenges of maintaining biodiversity

Climate change and biodiversity: forests and oceans

Pupils learned about biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem, measuring population size, interdependence and competition in ecosystems, how changes in biotic and abiotic factors affect communities, the cycling of carbon and water, and the role of microorganisms in cycling materials through ecosystems.

This unit explores trophic levels, biomass pyramids, and the efficiency of biomass transfers in ecosystems. It examines human impacts on biodiversity, factors affecting food security, and biotechnological solutions. Emphasis is on evaluating environmental changes and ethical considerations.

Maintaining biodiversity and human impacts

Biodiversity is the range of different living organisms that live in a place.

Fertiliser are minerals that are added to the soil to help plants to grow.

Eutrophication is the process in which a body of water is overly enriched with plant nutrients. This leads to excessive growth of simple plants such as algae.

Indigenous species are the species that occurs naturally in an ecosystem. They are sometimes referred to as native species.

the range of different living organisms that live in a place

the benefits that nature provides to human wellbeing and quality of life

having enough food to feed the human population

when a resource is produced as quickly as it is removed from the environment so that it does not run out

the process of protecting biodiversity and the environment

Climate change is a long-term shift in weather patterns.

A process or system that takes more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases.

Deforestation is the removal of trees, often for timber or fuel, or to repurpose land for housing or farming.

Ocean acidification is the reduction of the ocean pH over an extended period of time, mainly caused by the uptake of CO2 from the atmosphere.

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Maintaining biodiversity and human impacts

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