B3.4 Humans and their Environment

Question 1

Why is more waste being produced?

Answer 1

• Rapid growth of population

- Increased standards of living

Question 2

How is waste polluting water?

Answer 2

• Sewage
• Eutrophication
• Oil spills
• Chemicals

Question 3

How is waste polluting air?

Answer 3

• Smoke
• Gases
• Sulfur dioxide contributes to acid rain
• Carbon dioxide, contributing to Greenhouse effect

Question 4

How is waste polluting land?

Answer 4

• Toxic chemicals

- Pesticides/herbicides wash into waterways

Question 5

How does the rising population of humans affect land?

Answer 5

• Reduce land for other animals and plants
• Building, more inductry for people
• Quarrying, more resources
• Farming, more food
• Waste, standards of living

Question 6

How can the formation of air pollution be reduced?

Answer 6

• Neutralising products
• Catalytic converters
• Reducing number of stations

Question 7

What effect does pesticides have on the food chain?

Answer 7

• It accumulates in the food chain, building up to a dangerous level the further along in the food chain

Question 8

What effect has large-scale deforestation had?

Answer 8

• Increased the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
• Reduced the rate of carbon dioxide removed and kept in trees
• Reduction of biodiversity

Question 9

Why has deforestation occurred?

Answer 9

• Increased land for crops
• Resources
• Increased land for farming cattle

Question 10

What are peat bogs?

Answer 10

• Acidic and water logged areas of land made up from partly decomposed plants

Question 11

Why are peat bogs being drained and destroyed?

Answer 11

• Create land for farming
• Peat used as fuel
• Peat used as compost

Question 12

What happens to peat when it decomposes?

Answer 12

• Releases carbon dioxide previously trapped in the dead plants

Question 13

What is a solution to peat compost?

Answer 13

• Peat free compost

Question 14

What are the causes of rising levels of greenhouse gases?

Answer 14

• Burning fossil fuels
• Deforestation
• Rising population
• Increased farming (cattle)
• Draining of peat bogs

Question 15

What are the effects of rising levels of greenhouse gases?

Answer 15

• Climate change
• Global warming
• Reduction of biodiversity
• Changing migration patterns
• Rising sea levels
• Change in species distribution

Question 16

How is carbon dioxide sequestered?

Answer 16

• In oceans(bodies of water)

- In trees ‘sink’

Question 17

What are biofuels made from?

Answer 17

• Natural products by the process of fermentation (anaerobic respiration)

Question 18

How is methane (biogas) made?

Answer 18

• Microbes fermenting waste materials in a generator

Question 19

How is ethanol made?

Answer 19

• Yeast breaks down ethanol via anaerobic respiration

Question 20

What are the features of batch generators?

Answer 20

• Small batches
• Less convenient (manually)
• Less expensive

Question 21

What are the features of continuous generators?

Answer 21

• More expensive
• Large scale
• Efficient

Question 22

What are the advantages of methane biogas?

Answer 22

• ‘carbon neutral’
• Cheap
• Readily available
• Methane burnt, not released into atmosphere
• Waste disposal unit

Question 23

What are the disadvantage of methane biogas?

Answer 23

• Smell
• Need a waste source
• Expensive to keep efficient
• Used immediately
• Temperature dependant

Question 24

What are the advantages of ethanol fuel?

Answer 24

• ‘carbon neutral’
• Readily available
• Alternate to fossil fuels#
• Efficient

Question 25

What are the disadvantages of ethanol fuel?

Answer 25

- Deforestation/unethical | - Expensive process

Question 26

What happens to biomass in food chains?

Answer 26

- Energy lost at each stage

Question 27

How to improve the efficiency of food production?

Answer 27

- Shorten food chain - Limit movement of animals - Control temperature

Question 28

What are the advantages of making food production more efficient?

Answer 28

- Cheaper - Feeds rising population - Better standards of living for farmers

Question 29

What are the disadvantages of making food production more efficient?

Answer 29

- Cruel/unethical - Overcrowding, more disease - Fossil fuels for heating - Increased use of antibiotics, resistant bacteria

Question 30

What is sustainability?

Answer 30

- Having enough resources without using resources faster than they renew

Question 31

What do fish quotas and fish net sizes ensure?

Answer 31

- Only a certain number of fish are caught | - Limits mesh size to allow younger/unwanted fish go

Question 32

Why are fish stocks decreasing?

Answer 32

- Overfishing

Question 33

Why is it important to keep fish stocks at a level where breeding can occur?

Answer 33

- Prevents species of fish from disappearing | - Prevents food chain from being affected

Question 34

What is a mycroprotein?

Answer 34

- A protein from fungi used to make meat substitute

Question 35

What is the main source of mycroproteins?

Answer 35

- A fungus called Fusarium

Question 36

How are mycroproteins made?

Answer 36

- Fungus grown in fermenters - Glucose syrup used as food and fungus respire aerobically - Biomass harvested and purified

Question 37

What are the advantages of mycroproteins?

Answer 37

- Developing countries, difficult to find protein sources (animals need space and food) - Efficient, grow quickly - Don't need much space - Feed on waste material

Question 38

What are 'food miles'?

Answer 38

- How far food travels to where it is eaten | - Further it travels, more energy used