Biodiversity Webquest

Name: ______Date: ______

Biodiversity Webquest

Part 1: Biodiversity

Go to and click on the “Find Your Inner Animal” game. You don’t need to enter a real email address.

Be honest in your answers so that you get a good comparison. If you are like me, you had a hard time choosing some of your answers, so play the game again. (I came up with an iguana the first time and a warthog the second time!) Record your animals below and write a brief description of your personality according to the game.

1. First animal: ______

______

2. Second animal: ______

______

Now, go back to and click on the link that says “Tigers Quiz”. Take the quiz and write down the correct answer for each of the questions below. Indicate how many questions you answered correctly. (I didn’t get very many—only three.)

1.______

2.______

3.______

4.______

5.______

6.______

7.______

8.______

9.______

10.______

Number of correct answers: ______

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Biodiversity Hotspots Webquest

Go to the Conservation International website

I. Double click on the map on the home page of the website to open the map pictured below in a new window.You can scroll over the flashing dots to find the locations of the 12 hotspots listed in the table on the next page, or you can use the drop-down menu to find them. Mark, by number,ONLYthose listed in the table on the world map below.

II. Go to and answer these questions:

1. Who first coined the term “hotspots” with reference to biodiversity? When?

2. What are the two criteria that an area must meet in order to qualify as a hotspot?

Use this website ( to answer these questions.

1. List five reasons that hotspots are in peril.

a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

2. What is the IUCN and what is the name of the list it compiles of the conservation status of species worldwide? (If you have trouble finding what IUCN stands for, click on the name of their list and scroll down to the bottom of that web page. The name of the organization is listed there.)

3. Is there a relationship between hotspots and population density of humans? Explain using information from the website.

4. Is there a relationship between hotspots and violence/war? Explain as best you can using information from the website.

You will find answers to the following questions at

1. We define conservation outcomes at three scales of ecological organization. List them.

a.

b.

c.

2. Name four species-specific threats.

a.

b.

c.

d.

3. What are three conservation responses to species-specific threats?

a.

b.

c.

4. What is the biggest threat to species? (It is not species-specific.)

5. What should be the “primary response to the biodiversity crisis”?

6. How much might conservation efforts cost “per hotspot peryear”?

Lastly, go to read the overview for each of the following hotspots. Use the information in the overviews to complete this chart.

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Part 2: Resources

Take the ecological footprint quiz. If you are not driving yet, estimate the transportation basedon the person who drives you around the most. Be patient when you first enter the site- afteryou select “United States” and other relevant information, it will go very fast. (When you get to the email address part, just uncheck the box and click enter.) Roll your mouse over the graph data to answer the following questions.

1. If everyone on Earth lived your lifestyle, we would need ______Earths.

2. How many acres of bioproductivity do you consume per year for your carbon footprint? ______

3. How many acres for food? ______

4. How many acres for housing? ______

5. How many acres for goods and services? ______

6. What is the country average usage for the carbon footprint of the people of the United States? ______

Part 3: Biomes

Go to

Define Biome: ______

Define Ecosystem: ______

Select 4 Biomes and summarize their key features. (You might want to check out the biomes for the two animals from this first activity of this packet.)

1.

2.

3.

4.

Part 4: Resource Cycles

Water Cycle

Go to you enter the website, click through the tutorial to find definitions to the following:

1. Condensation:

2. Precipitation:

3. Infiltration:

4. Evapotranspiration:

Sketch the animated water cycle from

.

Carbon Cycle

Go to

Explain how carbon moves from the atmosphere to plants.

______

Explain how carbon moves from plants to animals.

______

Explain how carbon moves from living things to the atmosphere.

______

Explain how carbon moves from plants to animals

______

Explain how carbon moves from fossil fuels to the atmosphere when fuel is burned.

______

Explain how carbon moves from the atmosphere to the ocean.

______

Nitrogen Cycle

1. Name three important things living organisms make from nitrogen.

a. ______

b. ______

c. ______

2. Where do plants get the nitrogen they need?

3. Where do animals get the nitrogen they need?

4. How would too much nitrogen in the soil result in the starvation of animals?

Sketch the nitrogen cycle.

Part 5: Populations and Communities

Producers, Consumers, and Decomposers

Go to

1. Read the page and name the four essential parts of an ecosystem.

2. What is a producer?

3. What is a consumer?

4. What is a decomposer?

5. Click on herbivores. What word is used to describe the relationship between bees and flowers?

6. Click on carnivores. How do carnivores keep balance in a community?

7. Click on Decomposers. What are three decomposers?

Populations

Go to Read the paragraph on populations, then click on limiting factors.

1. List three non-living (abiotic) things that limit population size.

2. List three living (biotic) things that limit population size.

3. How can humans impact affect population size?

4. How can predator-prey relationships affect population size?

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