What features of ecosystems allow stability over unlimited time periods?
What changes caused by humans threaten the stability of ecosystems?
What is the distinction between artificial and natural processes?
Over what timescales do things change in different biological systems?
D4.2.1 Stability as a property of natural ecosystems
D4.2.2 Requirements for stability in ecosystems
D4.2.3 Deforestation of Amazon rainforest as an example of a possible tipping point in ecosystem stability
D4.2.4 Use of a model to investigate the effect of variables on ecosystem stability
D4.2.5 Role of keystone species in the stability of ecosystems
D4.2.6 Assessing sustainability of resource harvesting from natural ecosystems
D4.2.7 Factors affecting the sustainability of agriculture
D4.2.8 Eutrophication of aquatic and marine ecosystems due to leaching
D4.2.9 Biomagnification of pollutants in natural ecosystems
D4.2.10 Effects of microplastic and macroplastic pollution of the oceans
D4.2.11 Restoration of natural processes in ecosystems by rewilding
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D4.2.12 AHL Ecological succession and its causes
D4.2.13 AHL Changes occurring during primary succession
D4.2.14 AHL Cyclical succession in ecosystems
D4.2.15 AHL Climax communities and arrested succession
The power point presentation and the accompanying student notes are used as resources in class - together with activites, discussion, simulations and experiments.