Question

human impacts
learning goals

1. identify different ways that humans impact ecosystems
2. analyze the impact of human activities on ecosystems

the flowchart shows how agricultural runoff impacts biodiversity. create your own flowcharts to show how two other human impacts affect biodiversity.
human impact 1: agricultural runoff
flowchart: agricultural runoff → nutrients in fertilizer lead to blooms of phytoplankton → phytoplankton covers the surface of the water, blocking light and killing coral → no algae and coral means less food for consumers like the angelfish → reduced biodiversity
human impact 2:

Explanation:

Two common human impacts on biodiversity are plastic ocean pollution and deforestation. For plastic pollution, the chain starts with the pollution source, moves to harm to marine life, then population declines, and finally reduced biodiversity. For deforestation, the clearing of trees destroys habitats directly, removes food sources for forest species, causes population drops, and leads to reduced biodiversity, following the linear cause-effect structure of the provided agricultural runoff example.

1. Ocean plastic pollution: Human discarded plastic enters marine ecosystems
2. Marine organisms ingest/are entangled in plastic: Animals mistake plastic for food or get trapped
3. High mortality rates for affected species: Injury, starvation, or poisoning kills marine life
4. Reduced biodiversity: Loss of species shrinks ecosystem diversity*

Human impact 3: Deforestation

Deforestation	→	Loss of forest habitat and food sources	→	Displacement and starvation of forest species	→	Reduced biodiversity

1. Deforestation: Humans clear forests for agriculture/development
2. Loss of forest habitat and food sources: Trees and native plants (food/shelter) are removed
3. Displacement and starvation of forest species: Animals lose resources to survive
4. Reduced biodiversity: Forest species die out or leave, lowering ecosystem diversity*

Answer:

Human impact 2: Ocean plastic pollution

Ocean plastic pollution	→	Marine organisms ingest/are entangled in plastic	→	High mortality rates for affected species	→	Reduced biodiversity