DP Environmental Systems and Societies Questionbank

Outline why estuaries are highly productive ecosystems.

Using Figure 4(a), identify an ecosystem that has an average net primary productivity above 30 000 kJ m^–2 a^–1.

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

Explain how the first and second laws of thermodynamics are demonstrated as energy from the sun flows through the primary producers in a food chain.

Define net secondary productivity.

Overgrazing may lead to soil degradation. Identify one impact that overgrazing may have on a named flow and a named storage within the nitrogen cycle.

(i) Impact on flow:

(ii) Impact on storage:

Identify in the spaces provided the missing flows and storages labelled 1–4 within the diagram.

Identify one way in which energy may leave this ecosystem.

Describe two ways in which humans may impact the nitrogen cycle.

Distinguish between a transfer and a transformation in the nitrogen cycle.

Label the diagram above to complete the processes and flows in the nitrogen cycle.

Construct a labelled flow diagram to show the processes that link soil with the following three storages:

The atmosphere
The lithosphere
Living organisms

Annotate each labelled flow with an example of the matter involved.

With reference to the cattle in the area, explain how the maximum sustainable yield could be calculated.

Describe its role in the carbon cycle of the system.

Describe the similarities and differences between the terms sustainable yield and sustainable development.

Define net primary productivity.

State the process represented in the box labelled X.

Discuss strategies that can be used to improve the sustainability of food production systems.

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

Compare and contrast the impact of humans on the carbon and nitrogen cycles.

Describe the role of primary producers in ecosystems.

Quantitative models are frequently constructed to show the flow of energy and cycling of matter in natural systems.

To what extent can these models be useful in assessing the sustainability of named food production systems?

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

Identify one other output from the mineral storage in the “A” horizon in Figure 2(b).

Identify one other input to the mineral storage in the “A” horizon in Figure 2(b).

Suggest a series of procedures that could be used to estimate the net productivity of an insect population in kg m^–2 yr^–1.

Identify four ways in which solar energy reaching vegetation may be lost from an ecosystem before it contributes to the biomass of herbivores.