DP Environmental Systems and Societies Questionbank

Environmental value systems differ in how they view the importance of biodiversity and this could influence a community’s approach to conservation.

Discuss how these different perspectives, including your own, may influence approaches to conservation.

To what extent does Algonquin Provincial Park provide a model of sustainable management of a protected area?

To what extent can different environmental value systems contribute to both causing and resolving the problem of water scarcity?

Outline two reasons why the value of resources like Uranium can change over time.

Using evidence from the resource booklet, justify from an ecocentric viewpoint why the Husab Uranium Project should not be approved.

Outline two historical influences on the development of the modern environmental movement.

Environmental value systems may lead to different approaches to addressing the issue of global warming. Discuss which environmental value system(s) you consider to be most appropriate in the management of global warming.

To what extent do anthropocentric value systems dominate the international efforts to address climate change?

Explain the role of two historical influences in shaping the development of the environmental movement.

Discuss the implications of environmental value systems in the protection of tropical biomes.

Outline the factors that lead to different environmental value systems in contrasting cultures.

Explain why the harvesting of a named aquatic species may be controversial.

Discuss the consequences of changing global per capita meat consumption on the conservation of ecosystems and biodiversity.

Technocentrists may support the belief that technological development has always been able to overcome limits to human population growth.

To what extent do the patterns of growth and development in human populations, as demonstrated in the Demographic Transition Model, support this claim?

Even though there is growing global support for ecocentric values, the global consumption of fossil fuels continues to rise each year.

With reference to energy choices in named countries, discuss possible reasons for this situation occurring.

To what extent do the approaches and strategies of different environmental value systems improve access to fresh water?

To what extent does the development of different societies impact their choice of mitigation and adaptation strategies for climate change?

To what extent would different environmental value systems be successful in reducing a society’s ecological footprint?

In addressing environmental issues, mitigation strategies may be seen as primarily ecocentric and adaptation strategies as primarily technocentric.

To what extent is this view valid in the context of named strategies for addressing the issue of global warming?

To what extent can the different environmental value systems improve the sustainability of food production?

To what extent is the need for conservation more significant in tropical biomes?

To what extent are water scarcity issues better addressed through changing human behaviour than through technological development?

Calculate the projected percentage increase from 2007 to 2030 in CO₂ emissions for Russia.

The soil system includes storages of inorganic nutrients.

Identify two inputs to these storages.

The soil system includes storages of inorganic nutrients.

Identify two outputs from these storages.

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

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?

Outline one advantage of modelling future human population sizes.

Outline one disadvantage of modelling future human population sizes.

With reference to Figure 2, state the country that has the highest level of recycling/composting.

With reference to Figure 3, calculate the difference between the highest concentration and lowest concentration of tropospheric ozone.

Suggest possible reasons for the overall trends of tropospheric ozone levels in Figure 3.

With reference to processes occurring within the atmospheric system identify two transformations of matter.

With reference to processes occurring within the atmospheric system identify two transfers of energy.

State one strength and one weakness of using the ecological footprint as a model for measuring sustainability.

Explain how models of ecosystems might be used in species conservation.

Identify four characteristics of ecosystems that contribute to their resilience.

Explain how positive feedback mechanisms may influence the equilibrium of an aquatic ecosystem during the process of eutrophication.

Outline how the model shown in Figure 9(c) demonstrates positive feedback.

Outline how four different factors influence the resilience of an ecosystem.

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

Discuss the role of humans in the destabilization of ecological systems.

Outline how feedback loops are involved in alternate stable states and the tipping points between them.

Outline two reasons why the climax community in Figure 1 is more stable than the intermediate community.

Explain how both positive and negative feedback mechanisms may play a role in producing a typical S population growth curve for a species.

Outline how a positive feedback loop can impact an ecosystem.

Explain how the level of primary productivity of different biomes influences their resilience.

Discuss the role of feedback mechanisms in maintaining the stability and promoting the restoration of plant communities threatened by human impacts.

Discuss whether biodiversity loss or climate change is a greater threat to human societies.

Outline how species diversity and population size influence the resilience of an ecosystem.

Explain how negative and positive feedback mechanisms may influence the growth of decomposer populations in the soil.

With reference to Figure 11(a), suggest what conclusions can be drawn regarding the sustainability of the Brazilian population over the period shown.

To what extent are the concepts of net productivity and natural income useful in managing the sustainable harvesting of named resources from natural ecosystems?

With reference to Figures 4(a), 4(b) and 4(c), outline two reasons why a change from tavy agriculture to agroforestry may be more sustainable.

Describe the trend in the ecological footprint over the period shown in Figure 7.

To what extent could development away from traditional lifestyles lead to greater sustainability in Madagascar?

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

To what extent does Algonquin Provincial Park provide a model of sustainable management of a protected area?

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?

Increasing concern for energy security is likely to lead to more sustainable energy choices.

Discuss the validity of this statement, with reference to named countries.

Evaluate the impact of economic development on the ecological footprint of a human population.

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

Discuss the implications of environmental value systems in the protection of tropical biomes.

Outline two ecosystem services in a named biome.

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

Discuss the consequences of changing global per capita meat consumption on the conservation of ecosystems and biodiversity.

With reference to data throughout the resource booklet, to what extent would the establishment of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) benefit marine ecosystems and human societies within the Coral Triangle?

Discuss the potential for designing a protected forest area that allows for the harvesting of natural resources while at the same time conserving its biodiversity.

Explain why the ecological footprint of two populations consuming the same quantity of food and energy may be different.

With reference to information in the resource booklet, evaluate the sustainability of Canada’s management of the Large Ocean Management Area of the St Lawrence River estuary and Gulf of St Lawrence.

To meet the minimum criteria for sustainability, a country needs to raise its human welfare above the threshold of high human development and have an ecological footprint below the Earth’s biocapacity.

Evaluate two strategies a country can implement to achieve the minimum criteria for sustainability.

Outline how the concept of sustainability can be applied to managing natural capital.

Explain how environmental indicators are used to assess sustainability.

To what extent does sustainability play a role in making decisions about energy and climate change policies at national and international levels? 

With reference to Figure 3(c), explain three ways in which Hurricane Maria has affected ecosystem services provided by Dominica’s forests.

To what extent would different environmental value systems be successful in reducing a society’s ecological footprint?

Describe how foods high on the environmental impact pyramid, shown in Figure 1(b), are likely to affect the ecological footprint of global food production.

When harvesting is limited to the sustainable yield, associated processes involved in a food production system may still make the production unsustainable.

In this context, to what extent can aquatic food production systems be truly sustainable?

With reference to Figures 5(b) and 5(c), outline one reason why the yaranga is more sustainable than the modern city house.

Outline one ecological service provided by the Siberian taiga.

With reference to Figure 7(b), calculate the percentage of timber exports to China between the years 2012–2014.

To what extent might it be better to consider environmental issues at a global, rather than a local level, when planning for sustainable development in Siberia?

Outline three ways that London’s green spaces are considered natural capital.

To what extent is London a sustainable city? 

To what extent is the use of solid domestic waste (SDW) as an energy source beneficial to a society?

Discuss whether biodiversity loss or climate change is a greater threat to human societies.

Evaluate the sustainability of two water management strategies to improve access to freshwater resources in a society.

With reference to named examples, discuss the significance of diversity in the sustainability of food production systems.

With reference to Figure 10(b), explain how sustainability in Costa Rica changed between 1961 and 2016.

With reference to the information in the resource booklet, to what extent has Costa Rica’s aim to become carbon neutral led to a more environmentally-sustainable nation?

Pollution management strategies may be aimed at either preventing the production of pollutants or limiting their release into ecosystems.

With reference to either acid deposition or eutrophication, evaluate the relative efficiency of these two approaches to management.

The provision of food resources and assimilation of wastes are two key factors of the environment that determine its carrying capacity for a given species.

To what extent does the human production of food and waste each influence the carrying capacity for human populations?

With reference to Figures 6(c), 7(a) and 7(b) explain the problems associated with land restoration in Iceland.

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

With reference to named examples, distinguish between a primary and secondary pollutant.

Outline why point source pollution is often easier to manage than non-point source pollution.

Justify whether or not Mesquite should be cleared from the Swakop River Valley.

Explain two factors which lead to a loss of marine (ocean) biodiversity.

Evaluate one possible pollution management strategy for solid domestic waste.

The management of a resource can impact the production of solid domestic waste.

To what extent have the three levels of the pollution management model been successfully applied to the management of solid domestic waste?

Urban air pollution can become a problem as human populations develop. Evaluate urban air pollution management strategies at the three levels of intervention.

With reference to data throughout the resource booklet, to what extent would the establishment of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) benefit marine ecosystems and human societies within the Coral Triangle?

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

With reference to information in the resource booklet, evaluate the sustainability of Canada’s management of the Large Ocean Management Area of the St Lawrence River estuary and Gulf of St Lawrence.

Outline, using examples, the differences between primary and secondary pollution.

Runoff from agricultural land can result in excess nutrients entering water bodies. State one management strategy that could control the release of agricultural runoff.

Evaluate strategies to manage regional acid deposition using the pollution management model.

With reference to Figure 6(b), identify one strategy that might have been used to achieve the trend in sulphur dioxide emissions since the early 1980s.

Identify four factors that make the use of the insecticide DDT controversial.

Discuss how the introduction and re-introduction of a species can affect an ecosystem.