DP Environmental Systems and Societies Questionbank

With reference to Figure 1(d), explain how the environmental conditions on Dominica result in high gross primary productivity.

Evaluate one method for measuring primary productivity in a named ecosystem.

Discuss how human activities impact the flows and stores in the nitrogen cycle.

Outline the procedures in a laboratory-based method to find the gross productivity for a population of named aquatic animals in terms of biomass per day.

Outline one factor which limits the primary productivity of an ecosystem in London.

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

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

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?

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

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).

Describe the role of primary producers in ecosystems.

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

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.

Define net primary productivity.

State the process represented in the box labelled X.

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

Outline why estuaries are highly productive ecosystems.