SCIENCE QUIZ

• Biogeochemical cycles


  The process by which essential elements move through a series of living and non-living forms and locations
• Farmers spray their crops with insecticides to kill insect pests, and with herbicides to kill weeds
• The chemicals also destroy other organisms, including beneficial insects and soil organisms which help in decay
• More fertilizers are needed for the same amount of yield after years of monoculture
• Fertilizers may run off to rivers, ponds, and lakes
• Accumulation of fertilizers may cause the death of these bodies of water
• Fertilizers in the water will cause increased growth of algae
• Excess nitrogen and phosphorus cause an overgrowth of algae in a short period of time, also called algae blooms
• The overgrowth of algae consumes oxygen and blocks sunlight from underwater plants
• 5% of deforestation is due to cattle ranching, 19% due to over-heavy logging, 22% due to the growing sector of palm oil plantations, and 54% due to slash-and-burn farming
• Agricultural livestock are responsible for a large proportion of global greenhouse gas emissions, most notably methane
• Overgrazing is a major problem regarding environmental sustainability
• Propose a plan on how to help in conserving and protecting the environment


  1. In school

  2. At home

  3. In parks/recreational facilities

  4. In the community
• Knowing humanity's impact is important
• I, _______________________, pledge to help the environment and to save something wild!: 'I promise to:

  • Turn off the lights in empty rooms at home, and ask my teachers to do the same at school.
  • Turn off the radio, television and other electronics when I'm not using them.
  • Reduce, reuse, and recycle.
  • Turn the water off when not in use.
  • Keep my eyes and ears open for more ways to conserve energy to help the environment.'
• Energy flow through an ecosystem


  Energy is passed from organisms at one trophic level to organisms in the next trophic level
• Most of the energy at a trophic level – about 90% – is used at that trophic level
• Animals at the second trophic level have only about 10% as much energy available to them as do organisms at the first trophic level
• Animals at the third level have only 10% as much available to them as those at the second level
• Respiration


  Animals and plants exhale out or release CO2 and perspire water (H2O) as waste products after chemically converting food into a usable form of energy essential for sustaining life
• Decomposition


  Decomposers take part in the decomposition process of dead or decaying organic matter, breaking it down into its simplest forms and returning it to the environment
• Biogeochemical cycles


  The process by which essential elements move through series of living and non-living forms and locations
• Major material cycles in a well-balanced ecosystem


  • Oxygen-carbon dioxide cycle
  • Water cycle
  • Nitrogen cycle
  • Phosphorus cycle
• Phosphorus cycle


  1. Weathering

  2. Absorption by plants and animals

  3. Return to the environment via decomposition