NS 6: ECOSYSTEMS

 

Unit 7: “ ECOSYSTEMS”

1.- Environmental problems.

2.- The five kingdoms.

3.-  Sustainability.

4.- National Parks

 

1. Environmental problems

The main enviromental problems on Earth are: air pollution, water pollution, overpopulation, deforestation and overfishing. They are also factors that produce  the climate change.

1.1.- Air pollution

Air pollution is defined as the contamination of the atmosphere. Air pollution occurs when gases, dust, smoke, or odor get into the air and make it unclean. Air pollution is unsafe for humans, plants and animals to breathe.

1.2.- Water pollution

Water pollution is defined as the contamination of seas and rivers.Water pollution is what happens when various harmful substances get into a stream, river, or ocean, and contaminate it. These harmful substances cause the overall quality of the water to decrease and make it toxic to living creatures and the surrounding environment.

1.3.- Overpopulation

Over popullation means that there are too many people in the planet.Overpopulation is the state whereby the human population rises to an extent exceeding the carrying capacity of the ecological setting. In an overpopulated environment, the numbers of people might be more than the available essential materials for survival such as transport, water, shelter, food or social amenities. At this point it is important the concept of carbón footprint.

1.4.- Deforestation

Deforestation is to cut down too many trees in a place.Deforestation is the clearing, or cutting down, of forests. The word is normally used to describe the actions of humans in removing forests from the planet, rather than destruction caused by such natural events as hurricanes. People have been cutting down trees for thousands of years.

1.5 .- Overfishing

Over fishing is to catch too much fish. Overfishing is the overharvesting of fish and marine animals. The practice involves catching so many of one species at such a rate that the species is unable to recover to normal quantities. Overfishing reduces some species to such low numbers that their survival is endangered. It drives others to extinction.

Activities

1.- List the most important environmental problems.

2.- When do air pollution occur?

3.- When do water pollution happen?

4.- What is overpopulation?

5.- What is deforestation?

6.- What is overfishing?

 

2.-  The five kigdoms

Living things are classified in groups called kingdoms. There are five kingdoms in our planet: plant kingdom, protist kingdom, monera kingdom, animal kingdom and fungus kingdom.

1.1.- Plant kingdom. Characteristics: 

-         They are multicellular.

-         They make their food through the photosynthesis. Plants absorb carbon dioxide and expel oxygen through the photosynthesis. Example: trees. 

1.2.- Protist kingdom. Characteristics: 

-         Most of them are unicellular but there are multicellular as well.

-         They live in water.

-         Examples: amoeba ( unicellular) and algae ( both of them).

 

1.3.-Monera kingdom. Characteristics: 

-         All the organisms are unicellular.

-         They live in the air, in water and on the land.

 

1.4.-Animal kingdom. Characteristics: 

-         Animals are multicellular.

-         They feed on the other living things.

 

1.5.-Fungus kingdom. Characteristics: 

-         They can be unicellular and multicellular.

-         They feed on the remains of dead plants and animals. They are called decomposers.

 

Activities

1.- List the 5 kigdoms.

2.- What is the photosynthesis?

3.- List the examples of the protist kingdom.

4.- Where do the monera kingdom live?

5.- How do the fungus kingdom live?

 

3.- Sustainability

Sustainability means using natural resources in a way that we could keep doing for a long time. We can be more sustainable by reducing our use of natural resources. For example, you could ride a bike instead of driving, which uses less oil.

The 3 principles of sustainability are : environmental sustainability, social sustainability, and economic sustainability. These principles guide us in creating a balanced and sustainable future for our planet and its inhabitants.

We just need collection, coordination, and collaboration together with  REUSING, RECYCLING, REDUCING.

Activities

1.- Definition of sustainability.

2.- Which are the three principles of sustainability ?

3.- What do we have to do for sustainability

 

 

 

 

 

4.- National Parks

A National Park is  an area of land that is protected by the government for people to visit because of its natural beauty and historical or scientific interest.

There are sixteen national parks in Spain: eleven in the Iberian Peninsula, four in the Canary Islands and one in the Balearic Islands. The most important National Parks are:

1.- Cabañeros National Park,  between the provinces of Ciudad Real and Toledo

2.- Doñana National Park. between the Andalusian provinces of Huelva and Seville.

3.- Sierra Nevada National Park in Granada and Almería.

4.- Sierra del Guadarrama National Park located in the provinces of Madrid and Segovia

5.- Las Tablas de Daimiel National Park  in the province of Ciudad Real.

6.- Picos de Europa National Park  located in the provinces of Asturias, Cantabria and León

7.- Monfragüe National Park in Cáceres 

8.- Ordesa and Monte Perdido  National Park in the north of Huesca

 

Activities

1.- Definition of National Park

2.- How many National Parls are there in Spain?

3.- List 5 Natural Parks