DP Environmental Systems and Societies Questionbank

With reference to Figure 9(a), outline how the round goby both positively and negatively affects the St Lawrence River ecosystem.

Suggest why the St Lawrence River beluga whale population has not recovered despite being given protected status in 1983.

With reference to Figure 8, explain why the beluga whale is more at risk from toxic pollutants, such as heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants (POPs), than most other organisms in its food web.

Using Figure 6(c), identify a food chain in the St Lawrence River ecosystem that has five trophic levels.

Outline why estuaries are highly productive ecosystems.

Explain the transfer of energy through an ecosystem. Support your explanation with a labelled diagram.

Distinguish between a pyramid of numbers and a pyramid of productivity.

Explain how the use of non-biodegradable pesticides on farmland may affect the human food chain.

State the source of energy for this ecosystem.

Elephants eat a variety of vegetation: grasses, shrubs, leaves and small tree seedlings. Describe the impact on a grassland ecosystem of the main large herbivore being removed.

State its trophic level in the ecosystem.

With reference to Figure 7, state the most common ecosystem in Zambia.

Identify four factors that would affect the primary productivity of forest plantations in the Copperbelt Province.

Outline why top carnivores are vulnerable to non-biodegradable toxins.

Distinguish between a pyramid of numbers and a pyramid of productivity.

Describe how the second law of thermodynamics operates in relation to the transfer of energy within the Silver Springs ecosystem.

Outline two ways in which the food web is likely to change as a result of succession.

With reference to Figure 5, describe how loss of a coral reef ecosystem could impact a neighbouring seagrass community.

Explain two ways in which mangroves improve the water quality for primary producers within marine ecosystems.

With reference to Figure 7(a), outline one reason why there are more beaver remains in wolf faeces during summer.

Identify two ways that human activity in Algonquin Provincial Park may affect the food web.

With reference to Figure 6, draw a food chain that includes four trophic levels.

Outline how soil can be viewed as an ecosystem.

Describe the role of primary producers in ecosystems.

To what extent might Iceland be viewed as a role model for sustainability by other countries?

Identify two reasons why the future size of the Atlantic puffin population is difficult to predict.

With reference to Figure 8(c) state the impact that an increase in the mackerel population might have on the Atlantic puffin population.

Suggest the procedures needed to collect data for the construction of a pyramid of numbers for the following food chain:

Explain how a community of trees in a woodland may be considered a system.

With reference to the concepts of bioaccumulation and biomagnification, outline how the concentration of DDT has changed along the food chain.

State the trophic level labelled X in Figure 1.