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ECOL 111 Section C Questions and Correct
Answers
What stressors are facing marine environments Ans: Fossil fuels
producing CO2 which is absorbed by oceans
NZ threatened categories depend on Ans: pop size, trend, adopt
worst case -> very small populations, high ongoing or predicted
decline
What taxonomic group has highest proportion of threatened
species Ans: Reptiles, freshwater fish
Key Threats to Plants in NZ Ans: Exotic weeds
Pests (browsers, grazers)
Habitat destruction
Climate change
Plant collection
What are wetlands Ans: Areas where water covers the soil or is
present either at or near surface for varying periods of time during
year
Key Threats to Biodiversity + Examples Ans: Land-use change -
deforestation
Exploitation - over fishing
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Climate change - erosion, warming ocean (1/6 species effected)
Pollution - atmospheric deposition of N
Invasive species
What is the IUCN Red List Ans: A research method helping track
trends in biodiversity - categorise species on level of threat, shows
distribution, pop size, indicate health of biodiversity
why does biodiversity matter Ans: ecosystem stability,
biogeochemical cycles, food, key resources for humans, inspiration
and quality of life
How does saturated community effect niche Ans: Denser
environment resulting in more niche overlap and increased
competition
Metapopulation definition Ans: Overall population divided into
subpopulations by the patchiness of environment
How does productivity influence species richness Ans: Primary
productivity measure rate of plant biomass, more biomass = more
plant biodiversity
Types of parasites Ans: Microparasites - infection resulting in
multiplication within host (virus)Macroparasites - infection may be
repeated and reproduction happen in host (worms)
How does size and remoteness impact island biodiversity Ans:
Smaller islands have higher extinction levels, bigger islands have
higher nutrients, islands closer to mainland have higher
immigration levels and higher species richness
© 2025 All rights reserved
ECOL 111 Section C Questions and Correct
Answers
What stressors are facing marine environments Ans: Fossil fuels
producing CO2 which is absorbed by oceans
NZ threatened categories depend on Ans: pop size, trend, adopt
worst case -> very small populations, high ongoing or predicted
decline
What taxonomic group has highest proportion of threatened
species Ans: Reptiles, freshwater fish
Key Threats to Plants in NZ Ans: Exotic weeds
Pests (browsers, grazers)
Habitat destruction
Climate change
Plant collection
What are wetlands Ans: Areas where water covers the soil or is
present either at or near surface for varying periods of time during
year
Key Threats to Biodiversity + Examples Ans: Land-use change -
deforestation
Exploitation - over fishing
© 2025 All rights reserved
, 2 | Page
Climate change - erosion, warming ocean (1/6 species effected)
Pollution - atmospheric deposition of N
Invasive species
What is the IUCN Red List Ans: A research method helping track
trends in biodiversity - categorise species on level of threat, shows
distribution, pop size, indicate health of biodiversity
why does biodiversity matter Ans: ecosystem stability,
biogeochemical cycles, food, key resources for humans, inspiration
and quality of life
How does saturated community effect niche Ans: Denser
environment resulting in more niche overlap and increased
competition
Metapopulation definition Ans: Overall population divided into
subpopulations by the patchiness of environment
How does productivity influence species richness Ans: Primary
productivity measure rate of plant biomass, more biomass = more
plant biodiversity
Types of parasites Ans: Microparasites - infection resulting in
multiplication within host (virus)Macroparasites - infection may be
repeated and reproduction happen in host (worms)
How does size and remoteness impact island biodiversity Ans:
Smaller islands have higher extinction levels, bigger islands have
higher nutrients, islands closer to mainland have higher
immigration levels and higher species richness
© 2025 All rights reserved
