DP Environmental Systems and Societies Questionbank

Identify three natural sources of water available in the Swakop area.

Explain how the following land-based activities could have a damaging effect on marine ecosystems within the Coral Triangle: deforestation.

Explain how regional differences in the hydrological cycle influence the formation of different biomes.

Outline how energy drives the hydrological cycle.

Explain, with the use of a system diagram, how human activities affect flows in the global water cycle.

Outline how urbanization might impact two of the storages in Figure 2.

Identify two possible human influences, not related to climate change, that may cause the changes in water scarcity predicted for 2025.

Explain how the atmosphere plays a role in maintaining life-supporting temperatures over the Earth’s surface.

Explain how deforestation in the taiga may impact the world’s oceans.

Outline four ways in which urbanization may influence processes in the hydrological cycle.

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

With reference to Figure 6(a) describe two ways in which Uranium mines have had an impact on water resources.

With reference to Figures 6(a) and 7, calculate the amount of water available for other uses, after the Erongo desalination plant has met the needs of the three operational mines.

Explain how the inequitable distribution of natural resources can lead to conflict.

Using Figures 1(a) and 1(b):

State one country with no expected change in water stress between 2013 and the 2040 prediction.

State one difference in water scarcity between 2013 and the 2040 prediction.

Outline how climate change may affect the availability of freshwater resources.

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

Explain how the growth in human population can affect local and regional water resources.

State the general pattern of change in global water scarcity predicted from 1995 to 2025 as shown in Figure 2.

Identify two possible human influences, not related to climate change, that may cause the changes in water scarcity predicted for 2025.

Outline two reasons why some countries are unlikely to experience water scarcity.

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

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

With reference to Figure 8(d) identify two factors which may account for the changes in total capture of Atlantic herring.

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

Outline one reason why aquaculture production has increased globally.

Describe two negative environmental impacts that may arise from integrated aquaculture.

Explain why this system may cause fewer environmental impacts than systems that farm only fish.

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

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

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

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.

Outline one advantage for local populations within the Coral Triangle in harvesting their food from the marine system.

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?

Outline why estuaries are highly productive ecosystems.

Suggest why the St Lawrence River beluga whale population has not recovered despite being given protected status in 1983.

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.

Using Figure 2, identify one reason for the trend shown in the curve for aquaculture.

Using Figure 2, identify one reason for the trend shown in the curve for capture fisheries.

Describe two strategies for the management of sustainable capture fisheries.

To what extent is pollution impacting human food production systems?

With reference to Figures 3(c) and 3(d), outline how Hurricane Maria has reduced Dominica’s food availability.

Compare and contrast the impact of two named food production systems on climate change.

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?

Identify four strategies that can be used in the sustainable management of wild fisheries.

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

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

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

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

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?

Explain how the protection of forests in Makira National Park may contribute to the conservation of the aquatic environment of MaMaBay.

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

With reference to Figures 8(a) and 8(b), describe the changes in nutrient and oxygen content that occur after beaver dams are constructed. Include quantities in your response.

Explain how organic waste may be an effective fertilizer in terrestrial systems but a source of pollution in aquatic systems.

Define biochemical oxygen demand (BOD).

Outline how turbidity changes after the raw sewage discharge point in Graph B.

Suggest how the population growth curve for algae in Graph C would appear if the pollutant had been nitrates and phosphates from fertilizer run-off.

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

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

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 Figure 5, describe how loss of a coral reef ecosystem could impact a neighbouring seagrass community.

Explain how the following land-based activities could have a damaging effect on marine ecosystems within the Coral Triangle: deforestation.

Explain how the following land-based activities could have a damaging effect on marine ecosystems within the Coral Triangle: agricultural activity.

Suggest a range of practical procedures that could be carried out to measure the abiotic and biotic impacts of an oil spill in an aquatic ecosystem.

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

Using Figure 11(b), estimate the highest concentrations of coliform bacteria (in units/100 mL) found in the St Lawrence River one day after the untreated sewage was released.

Outline an environmental problem that may result from the release of untreated sewage into a river.

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.

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 what extent is pollution impacting human food production systems?

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

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

Explain how environmental indicators are used to assess sustainability.

Runoff from agricultural land can result in excess nutrients entering water bodies. Outline one indirect measure of organic 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.

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

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?

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

Describe a practical strategy using a biotic index to provide evidence that the Daldykan River (Figures 6(d) and 6(e)) is damaged by effluent from the metal processing plant.

When measuring levels of pollution, state one disadvantage of using a biotic index compared to measuring the pollutants directly.

Disadvantage:

Outline one method for measuring the impact of a build-up of dead organic matter in an aquatic ecosystem.

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

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

Describe the similarities and differences in using a biotic index and a diversity index to assess ecosystems.

Explain how the production of cash crops (such as pineapples) may have an environmental impact on lakes or rivers.