IB Environmental Systems & Societies 2
Midterm Review 11-12
Unit 1: ATMOSPHERE (chapter 19-20)
Chapter 19- Air Pollution
air pollution
primary air pollutants
secondary air pollutants
particulate matter
solid particulate matter
nitrogen oxides
greenhouse gas
sulfur oxides
carbon oxides
hydrocarbons
ozone
air toxics
smog
industrial smog
photochemical smog
temperature (aka thermal) inversion
urban heat island
dust domes
Clean Air Act
global distillation effect
sick building syndrome
radon
Reading Prong
mesothelioma
sound
noise pollution
intensity
cochlea
hair cells
Chapter Objectives:
1. List the seven major classes of air pollutants and describe their characteristics and effects.
2. IBESS: Describe methods of monitoring air pollution.
3. Relate the adverse health effects of specific air pollutants and explain why children are particularly susceptible to air pollution.
4. Describe industrial smog, photochemical smog, temperature inversions, urban heat islands, and dust domes.
5. Summarize the effects of the Clean Air Act on U.S. air pollution.
6. Contrast air pollution in highly developed and developing countries.
7. Describe the global distillation effect and tell where it commonly occurs.
8. Summarize the sick building syndrome.
9. Describe the physiological effects of noise pollution on the human body.
Questions to think about:
SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS.
1. Identify the four gases that comprise over 99.9% of the atmosphere. Provide a one sentence explanation for the importance or role of each of these for living organisms and/or the environment.
2. Identify four of the seven most important types of air pollutants and indicate whether they are primary or secondary in origin.
3. Explain what a secondary air pollutant is and give an example of one.
4. Compare and contrast the following terms: industrial smog and photochemical smog.
5. What are hybrid cars, and how does this design reduce the release of air pollutants?
6. Identify and briefly discuss the provisions of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.
7. Identify and briefly discuss two reasons why air quality in developing countries is rapidly deteriorating.
8. Briefly describe the global distillation effect.
9. What is asbestos, and what are the physical properties that have made it a valuable construction material?
10. Identify and briefly discuss two ways to control or minimize noise pollution.
DISCUSSION OR THOUGHT QUESTIONS.
11. Identify five of the seven most important types of air pollutants and discuss the origin or source, environmental impact, and human health impact of each.
12. Discuss five adverse health effects associated with specific air pollutants and explain why children are more susceptible to these effects than adults.
13. Explain how a thermal inversion occurs and then discuss its relationship to air pollution. Include two specific geographic locations where thermal inversions occur and describe their effect on local air quality.
14. What are urban heat islands and how are they produced? What is their relationship to dust domes? How do these factors influence the air quality in an affected area and what can be done to minimize the impact?
15. Identify and discuss five ways that air pollution can be reduced or controlled. At least two of these should relate to reducing pollutants from mobile sources of air pollution.
16. What is the U.S. Clean Air Act? What has it accomplished and how has this been done? What problems still remain to be resolved?
17. Compare and contrast the air quality issues of Los Angeles, CA and Mexico City, Mexico. Include the role of population growth, transportation, and topography, and then discuss the steps taken to date to resolve the issues and problems that remain.
18. Identify and discuss 1) sources of indoor air pollution, 2) human health effects, and 3) possible solutions to this type of air pollution.
19. What are the current trends with respect to cigarette smoking in highly developed and developing countries? Discuss the reasons for any differences in these trends. What suggestions do you have for reducing this very individual and elective type of air pollution?
20. How can sound be a pollutant? What types and levels of sound are characterized as pollutants and what effects can they have on human health?
Chapter 20- Atmospheric Changes
positive feedback
greenhouse gases
greenhouse effect
enhanced greenhouse effect
aerosols & aerosol effect
models
negative feedback
permafrost
Kyoto Protocol
carbon management (CCS, etc)
ultraviolet (UV) radiation
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
Montreal Protocol
acid deposition
wet deposition
dry deposition
pH scale
forest decline
Chapter Objectives:
1. Describe the greenhouse effect and list the five main greenhouse gases.
2. Discuss the ramifications of some of the potential effects of global warming, including rising sea level, changes in precipitation patterns, effects on organisms, effects on human health, and effects on agriculture.
3. Give examples of several ways to mitigate and adapt to global warming.
4. IBESS: Outline climate change arguments and global dimming.
5. Describe the importance of the stratospheric ozone layer and distinguish between tropospheric and stratospheric ozone.
6. Explain how ozone depletion takes place and relate some of the harmful effects of ozone depletion.
7. Relate how the international community is working to protect the ozone layer.
8. Evaluate national and international organizations’ roles in reducing CFCs.
9. Explain how acid deposition develops and relate some of the effects of acid deposition.
10. Describe how North American lakes are affected by interactions among global warming, ozone depletion, and acid deposition.
11. IBESS: Evaluate pollution management strategies for climate change.
Questions to Think about:
SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS.
21. Identify two greenhouse gases and provide a 1 to 2 sentence explanation of how greenhouse gases impact global warming.
22. Identify two specific organisms that may be affected by global warming and provide a brief explanation of the possible impact on each.
23. Compare and contrast the greenhouse effect and the aerosol effect. Include the identification of the gas(es) involved in each as part of your comparison.
24. List two methods that may be used to mitigate global warming and provide a 1 to 2 sentence explanation for each.
25. What are climate models? Provide a 2 to 3 sentence explanation of why these models are important in our attempts to understand climate change.
26. Compare and contrast chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).
27. List three activities of your everyday life that contribute to ozone depletion.
28. List three consequences of ozone depletion and provide a one sentence explanation for each.
29. Compare and contrast acid rain and acid deposition.
30. Briefly explain the relationship between acid deposition and increased metal toxicity that then affects aquatic organisms and terrestrial plants, most notably forests.
DISCUSSION OR THOUGHT QUESTIONS.
31. Explain what the greenhouse effect is. Then identify the four major greenhouse gases and their sources. Finally, describe how these gases create the greenhouse effect.
32. Identify four potential effects of global warming, at least one of which must be an effect on the abiotic environment. Briefly discuss the ramifications of each of the effects that you have identified.
33. Identify three strategies that can be used to mitigate the effects of global warming. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy. Suggest the best course of action to follow in attempting to mitigate or adapt to the global changes associated with global warming.
34. Describe the international situation surrounding global warming. In particular, compare and contrast the contributions of developing countries and highly developed countries to both the problem of global warming and to the potential solutions.
35. Sketch a labeled diagram to describe the role of the stratospheric ozone layer. Use this diagram as the basis for a discussion of what is happening in the atmosphere due to the depletion of this ozone layer.
36. Identify the chemicals involved in the depletion of the ozone layer and describe how ozone depletion occurs. What actions need to be taken to reverse this trend and how successful are they likely to be over the short term (years) and over the long term (decades or longer)? What are the costs involved with the actions needed to preserve the ozone layer?
37. Describe and then discuss the international situation surrounding the need to protect the ozone layer. What is happening in the United States? What is happening in other highly developed countries? What is happening in developing countries?
38. Discuss the process of acid deposition and the circumstances that facilitate this process. What is being done to minimize acid deposition and how successful have we been at reducing acid deposition?
39. Describe the impact that acid deposition has had on the abiotic and biotic components of the environment over the past thirty years. What impact has the reduction in acid deposition had on the environment? Explain your answer.
40. Provide a brief description of global warming, ozone depletion, and acid deposition. Although these are different processes, they may also interact in their effects on the environment. Explain what has been found in studies of North American lakes that have examined potential synergistic interactions between these processes.
Unit 2: Population & Food (chapters 8,9,18)
Chapter 8- Understanding Population Change
population ecology
population density
birth rate (b)
death rate (d)
growth rate (r)
natural increase
dispersal
immigration
emigration
biotic potential
intrinsic rate of increase
exponential population growth
environmental resistance
carrying capacity (K)
survivorship
density-dependent factor
density-independent factor
zero population growth
demographics
developed countries
developing countries
moderately developed countries
MEDC vs LEDC
infant mortality rates
doubling time
replacement-level fertility
total fertility rate
demographic transition
preindustrial stage
transitional stage
industrial stage
postindustrial stage
age structure diagram
population growth momentum
Baby Boom
Immigration and Nationality Act
Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA)
demographers
Chapter Objectives:
1. Describe the extent of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa.
2. Explain the four factors that produce changes in population size and solve simple problems involving these changes.
3. Define biotic potential (intrinsic rate of increase) and carrying capacity and explain the differences between J-shaped and S-shaped growth curves.
4. Distinguish between density-dependent and density-independent factors that affect population size and give examples of each.
5. Describe some of the density-dependent factors that may affect boom-or-bust population cycles.
6. Describe Type I, Type II, and Type III survivorship curves.
7. Summarize the history of human population growth.
8. Identify Thomas Malthus, relate his ideas on human population growth, and explain why he may or may not be wrong.
9. Explain why it is impossible to answer precisely the question of how many people the Earth can support—that is, Earth’s carrying capacity for humans.
10. Explain how highly developed and developing countries differ in population characteristics such as infant mortality rate, total fertility rate, replacement-level fertility, and age structure.
11. Briefly relate the history and controversies of U.S. immigration.
Questions to think about:
SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS.
41. Write out the equation for the growth rate of a local population and briefly explain each term that is part of the equation.
42. Sketch an exponential growth curve and be sure that the axes are correctly labeled. Cite two examples of organisms that demonstrate this type of growth pattern.
43. Identify the characteristics of Type II survivorship and include an example of an organism that demonstrates this life history pattern.
44. List and briefly describe three types of environmental resistance that a herd of deer might experience.
45. Compare and contrast density-dependent and density-independent factors that affect population size. Include two examples of each type of factor.
46. Identify and briefly describe two density-dependent factors that may affect boom-or-bust population cycles.
47. Define doubling time and explain how it relates to population growth.
48. Give three reasons why a preindustrial stage society has such a high birth rate.
49. Compare and contrast the following terms: population growth momentum and replacement-level fertility.
50. Define demographics and briefly discuss the demographics of highly developed countries.
51. Briefly describe the current U.S. policy on immigration and what groups of people, if any, are given priority for immigration.
DISCUSSION OR THOUGHT QUESTIONS.
52. Write out a general equation describing population growth including the four basic components discussed in the text. Insert sample values in the equation to show a decrease in the growth rate of a population and briefly explain what you have done. Now insert sample values into the equation that will result in stabilization of the population size. Again, briefly explain what you have done
53. Explain why mice populations will not expand indefinitely and take over the entire world. Include appropriate population growth terminology in your explanation.
54. Sketch and label a logistic population growth curve. Briefly explain what happens to the population at different points within the graph and what factor(s) may be affecting it.
55. Briefly describe and then discuss the case study of the two major populations inhabiting Isle Royale. Your discussion should include the following: identification of the population principle(s) being studied, what has been learned so far, and questions that remain to be resolved.
56. Discuss the variables that make it difficult to predict future human population numbers. Also discuss which variables could be influenced by government policy changes or innovations, and which, if any, are beyond our control.
57. Who was Thomas Malthus and what were his ideas about human population growth? Was he correct or not? Justify your answer.
58. Explain why it is impossible to precisely determine the Earth's carrying capacity for humans. Include specific examples as part of your answer.
59. How does the age structure of a country affect its population growth? Cite three specific countries as examples to support your discussion.
60. Compare and contrast the age structure of Nigeria and Russia using age structure diagrams. Identify and discuss some of the factors that contribute to these very different population age structures.
61. How does the population growth of the United States compare to that of other countries, both highly developed and developing? What factor(s) may account for the unique aspects of population growth seen in the U.S.?