This is a grade 12 Science course which will follow the general format for IB Environmental Systems and Societies. We will investigate four major topics from this IBDP course as our units for the school year:
- The Ecosystem
- Human Population, Carrying Capacity and Resource Use
- Conservation and Biodiversity
- Pollution Management
Some of the concepts to be explored include:
- Unit 1: The Ecosystem
- Biotic vs. Abiotic ecosystem components
- Trophic Levels
- Food Chains and Food Webs
- Species vs. Population vs. Community
- Habitats
- Niches
- Identification of Organisms
- Measurement of organism abundance, biomass and diversity
- Examine the distribution, structure and productivity of various biomes
- Producers vs. Consumers vs. Decomposers
- Photosynthesis vs. Respiration
- Limiting Factors to Population Growth
- Population Regulation, Survivorship and Succession
- Unit 2: Human Population, Carrying Capacity and Resource Use
- Birth Rate, Death Rate, Fertility, Doubling Time and Exponential Growth
- Resources as Natural Income
- Renewable, Replenishable and non-Renewable Natural Capital
- Intrinsic Value and Sustainability of the Environment
- Advantages and Disadvantages of Available Energy Resources
- Structure, Properties and Productivity of various Soil Systems
- Soil Degradation, Conservation and Management
- Commercial Farming vs. Subsistence Farming
- Global Food Supply
- Efficiency of Terrestrial vs. Aquatic Food Production
- Earth's Water Budget and Sustainability of Freshwater
- Relationship between Carrying Capacity and Material Use, Reuse and Recycling
- Ecological Footprint
- Unit 3: Conservation and Biodiversity
- Speciation through Natural Selection
- Biodiversity, Genetic Diversity, Species Diversity and Habitat Diversity
- Evolution through Plate Tectonics
- Loss of Diversity, Vulnerability and Extinction
- Preserving Species and Habitats
- Criteria for and Success of Protected Areas
- Species-based Approach to Conservation
- Unit 4: Pollution Management
- Point Source vs. non-Point Source Pollution
- Major Sources and Monitoring of Pollutants
- Biochemical Oxygen Demand
- Pest Control through DDT
- Eutrophication
- Solid Domestic Waste
- Structure and Degradation of the Atmosphere
- Ozone vs. UV Radiation vs. Halogated Organic Gases
- Tropospheric Ozone
- Photochemical Smog
- Acidified Precipitations
- Effects of Acid Deposition on Soil, Water and Living Organisms
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