EXAM REVISION AND RESOURCES

Year 12 ATAR Earth and Environment

Upcoming Assessment: Human impacts to Ecosystems

How do I prepare for the test?

The test consists of 10 multiple choice, 7 short answer and 2 media evaluation questions. For the media evaluation questions, you will be given an article on a topic you have studied and be asked to assess the article (we will practice this in class as well).

The test covers topics from weeks 8-12, the idea is to give you a sort of mini-exam by testing you on more than one topic and to validate your learning from the power-point presentation assessment. This booklet gives revision questions on each of the topics.

Syllabus Points covered in the test:

Term 1, Week 8: Water quality and infrastructure

•   human activities affect the quality and availability of fresh water, including aquifer recharge, desalination, over-extraction, land clearing and eutrophication

·        recognition of the relatively small amounts of fresh water available for biological processes informs community decision making about investment in infrastructure and technologies to increase access to high quality water, including dams, desalination plants

Term 1, Week 9-10: Renewable energy resources:

•   decisions to invest in energy technologies that harness Earth’s internal geothermal heat are informed by environmental, economic and political considerations

•   renewable resources are those that are typically replenished at timescales of years to decades and include harvestable resources (including water, biota and some energy resources) and ecosystem services

•   the abundance of a renewable resource and how readily it can be replenished influence the rate at which it can be sustainably used at local, regional and global scales

•   the cost-effective use of renewable energy resources is constrained by the efficiency of available technologies to collect, store and transfer the energy resource

•   decisions to invest in energy technologies that harness Earth’s internal geothermal heat are informed by environmental, economic and political considerations

communicate to specific audiences and for specific purposes using appropriate language and formats, including compilations of field data and research reports

Term 2, Week 11-12: Ecological footprint and Human impacts to ecosystems:

-          ecosystems provide a range of renewable resources, including:

•        provisioning services (including food, water, timber)

•        regulating services (including carbon sequestration, climate control

•        supporting services (including nutrient, air and water cycling)

-          producing, harvesting, transporting and processing of resources for consumption, and assimilating the associated wastes, involves the use of resources; the concept of an ‘ecological footprint’ is used to measure the magnitude of this demand

Use your textbook or the Mining Environmental booklet given in class to answer the questions.

Revision questions              __Term 1, Week 8: Water quality and infrastructure

1.      Find definitions for the following terms; aquifer recharge, desalination, over-extraction, land clearing and eutrophication

2.      Describe an activity that could lead to eutrophication. Describe the process of eutrophication and the impacts this can have to the ecosystem

3.      Provide definitions for the following terms; porosity, permeability and subsidence

Revision Questions              _Term 1, Week 9-10: Renewable energy resources:

1.      Compare and contrast non-renewable resources, ecosystem services and renewable energy resources

2.      Describe the geological settings and formation of the following non-resources; iron ore, nickel, gold and coal

3.      What are placer deposits? Give an example of a commodity found in a placer deposit

4.      Name and describe five issues that may be covered in an environmental impact statement

5.      Describe the Precautionary principle

6.      Once a mine has received approval, what environmental preparations need to be taken into account (what issues need to be addressed)

7.      Describe the causes, measurement and management for the environmental issue of problems with water quality

Revision Questions  ________Term 2, Week 11-12: Human impacts to ecosystems:

1.      List the three main services that the ecosystem provides

2.      What are the ecological impacts of ore mining in Australia?

3.      Name and describe five issues that need to be addressed during mining rehabilitation

4.      Describe three ways that human activities can affect water quality of ecosystems in Western Australia