DP Environmental Systems and Societies Questionbank

Explain how ecological techniques can be used to study the effects of human activities on the biodiversity of a named ecosystem.

With reference to Figures 10, 11(a) and 11(b), describe a method to monitor the impact of the release of untreated sewage into the St Lawrence River ecosystem.

Identify the data required to calculate the value of net secondary productivity for a named population.

Identify one method that may have been used to estimate the size of this gorilla population.

Describe how biomass data from a named biome could be collected.

Describe a method measuring changes in the abiotic factor you have identified in 2(b)(i).

Identify two possible reasons why species B and C were not present in the litter layer when it was resampled six months later.

Calculate the Simpson’s diversity index for the insect species found in Figure 1.

$D=\frac{N\left(N-1\right)}{\sum n\left(n-1\right)}$

Describe how the biomass of a field of crops might be measured.

Avocets, seen in Figure 2, often gather in large populations of up to a few thousand birds before migrating.

Figure 2

A non-governmental organization has been contracted to investigate the impacts of a landfill site on the surrounding terrestrial ecosystem.

Suggest how the investigation should be designed to ensure reliability and validity.

Describe two possible methods that could be used to collect data for a baseline study for an environmental impact assessment.

With reference to the data in Figure 4(b), suggest two conclusions which can be drawn from the camera trap data.

Describe a method for measuring the abundance of plant species in volcanic areas.

The number of wolves in Algonquin Provincial Park is estimated to be between 250 and 1000. Outline two reasons why it is so difficult to estimate the number of wolves accurately.

Figure 3: Table to show the species richness of Yasuni National Park

[Source: Margot S. Bass, Matt Finer, Clinton N. Jenkins, Holger Kreft, Diego F. Cisneros-Heredia, Shawn F. McCracken,
Nigel C. A. Pitman, Peter H. English, Kelly Swing, Gorky Villa, Anthony Di Fiore, Christian C. Voigt and Thomas H. Kunz,
‘Global Conservation Significance of Ecuador’s Yasuní National Park.’ PLoS One, January 19, 2010.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0008767]

Describe a method that may have been used for collecting the tree data in Figure 3.

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

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

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