Climate Change Biodiversity & Ecosystem Protection 5

Question 1

What is 'refugia' in the context of climate change and species survival?

Accepted Answer

Areas where local conditions buffer against regional climate change, allowing species to persist

Answer

Climate refugia are locations where topography, hydrology, or microclimate create stable conditions allowing species to survive even as surrounding areas become inhospitable.

Question 2

Which U.S. agency coordinates the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives network to address climate impacts on biodiversity?

Accepted Answer

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Answer

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service leads Landscape Conservation Cooperatives, partnerships that develop science-based strategies for fish, wildlife, and plants facing climate change.

Question 3

How does tree die-off from climate change-driven bark beetle outbreaks affect biodiversity beyond killing trees?

Accepted Answer

Dead trees become fire fuel, and megafires destroy understory species and soil organisms

Answer

Vast stands of beetle-killed trees create fire-prone landscapes where catastrophic megafires destroy entire ecological communities including understory, wildlife, and soil biota.

Question 4

What does 'functional extinction' mean, and how does climate change contribute to it?

Accepted Answer

A species' population falls too low to fulfill its ecological role, even if individuals survive

Answer

Functional extinction occurs when a species' numbers drop below the threshold needed to maintain its ecosystem role, with climate stress often pushing populations past this critical point.

Question 5

Which effect of climate change on high-altitude 'sky island' ecosystems makes them particularly vulnerable to biodiversity loss?

Accepted Answer

Species are trapped at mountaintops with no higher elevation to shift to as temperatures rise

Answer

Sky island species can only track rising temperatures by moving upslope, but they eventually run out of mountain — the summit is a biological dead end.

Climate Change Practice Test

Climate Change Practice Test

Climate Change Biodiversity & Ecosystem Protection 5