| Date | May 2022 | Marks available | 3 | Reference code | 22M.1.SL.TZ0.3 |
| Level | Standard Level | Paper | Paper 1 | Time zone | Time zone 0 |
| Command term | Explain | Question number | 3 | Adapted from | N/A |
Question
Figure 5(c): Development of protected areas in Costa Rica
[Source: González-Maya, J.F., Víquez-R, L.R., Belant, J.L. and Ceballos, G, 2015. Effectiveness of Protected Areas for
Representing Species and Populations of Terrestrial Mammals in Costa Rica. PLoS ONE 10(5): e0124480.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0124480 [online]. Available at: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/
journal.pone.0124480 This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ [Accessed 06 November 2019].]
Outline one reason why it is difficult to determine the exact number of species in Costa Rica.
Explain three ways in which the development of protected areas shown in Figure 5(c) has improved the conservation of species.
Markscheme
shortage of expertise/taxonomy skills to identify species;
shortage of finances to employ experts to classify species;
not all areas have been fully explored / access to remote forest/mountainous areas difficult;
some species are hard to find;
can be difficult to distinguish between some species/sub-species;
Note: Do not accept ‘due to migration/high biodiversity/present in protected areas’
protected areas may prohibit human activities which damage the habitat/threaten species (e.g. urban development/hunting) / protected areas provide a safe place/habitat for species to live;
increase in size/number/coverage of protected areas may lead to:
more habitats protected/covered / more species are conserved;
better support for higher trophic levels/top carnivores;
increased distance from human activities/impacts / reduced edge effects;
more genetic mixing/formation of corridors / increased chance of connecting corridors between the protected areas;
(more people living close to protected areas leading to) greater engagement in conservation efforts / more local communities being involved in conservation / greater community involvement through education/raising awareness/greater familiarity;
more opportunity for ecotourism which encourages continued/further conservation/financial investment into conservation;
more financial support for conservation;
Note: Do not credit ‘increasing habitat size for species could reduce limiting factors’.
Examiners report
A number of responses were too vague for credit. Some responses confused determining the number of species present with population size or incorrectly referred to the amount of diversity or number of protected areas in Costa Rica.
Most candidates obtained some marks for this question, although few achieved the maximum of 3 marks. Most candidates were able to correctly identify that designation of protected areas could limit human activities which damaged habitats or threated the species living there. However this marking point was frequently repeated within the same response. A few candidates appear to incorrectly view protected areas as a type of zoo.
