Topic 7: People and the Biosphere by Dylan Poole

Topic 7: People and the Biosphere by Dylan Poole

1. Key Words

   • Abiotic - the non living part of the biosphere
   • Biotic - the living part of the biosphere
   • Altitude - how high something is
   • Atmosphere - a mixture of gases surrounding the Earth
   • Decay - rot or decompose
   • Biomass - biological material derived from living or reently living organisms
   • Biome - a formation of plants and animals that have similar charcateristics
   • Biosphere - the 'living layer' of the Earth
   • Climate - the weather conditions in a certain area
   • Latitude - the distance of a place North or South of the equator
   • Natural Resources - materials or substcnces occuring in nature
   • Urbanisation - the increase in the proportion of people living in towns and cities
   • Flora - plants Fauna - animals

2. Factors Affecting Biome Distribution

   • Rock and Soil Type - affects how fertile different areas are in a biome
   • Altitude - different plants grow at different temperatures
   • Rainfall - different plants will grow with different amounts of rainfall
   • Ocean Currents
   • Atmospheric Pressure Belts
   • Wind
   • Distance from the sea - this affects the temperature and amount of rainfall
   • Drainage - few plants grow in boggy areas
   • Proximity to the Poles
   • Latitude

3. Valuing the biosphere

   • the biosphere is valued at roughly $4-6 trillion per year
   • Goods - physical materials
   • Services - a function or role

4. Goods and Services

   • Goods
     • Fish, Meat, Fruit, Nuts, Berries
     • Drugs to cure diabetes and drugs to fight cancer
     • Plants used to make general medicines
     • Timber, bamboo, rubber, water, oil and gas
   • Services
     • A home for endangered animals
     • Trees absorb Carbon Dioxode
     • Indiginous people live in the Rainforest as they have done for centuries
     • >50% biological diversity on Earth found in tropical rainforest
     • Holidays
     • Nutrients for soil
     • Help control the hydrological cycle

5. Increase of demand for resources

   • Larger/Increasing Population - there's more people using up the resources
   • Increasing Average Wealth - people are buying more resources
   • Urbanisation - natural resources being destroyed with more cities being built

6. Human activities exploiting the biosphere

   • Deforestation
   • Mining
   • Quarrying
   • Farming
   • Overfishing

7. Malthus and Boserup

   • Graph Showing the Contradicting Views
   • Malthus believed the population would grow so large we wouldn't have enough resources
   • Boserup Believed that we would invent new ways of gaining resources and would be fine

8. Role of the Biosphere regulating...

   • the Carbon Cycle
     • it regulates the gases that make up the atmosphere by plants absorbing C02 and giving out Oxygen
   • Hydrological Cycle
     • plants slow the flow of water to rivers and filter water
   • Nutrient Cycle
     • Rotting plant material provides new nutrients for plants to grow

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