5.3 - Is the climate changing?

Question 1

What are the 4 factors that provide evidence for climate change?

Answer 1

1. temperature records
2. peat bogs
3. denchronology
4. carbon dioxide levels

Question 2

How do temperature records provide evidence for climate change? What does this correlate with?

Answer 2

shows the increase in global temperature over time
- this time period correlates with the time since humans have been burning fossil fuels

Question 3

How does studying peat bogs provide evidence for climate change?

Answer 3

• pollen is preserved in peat bogs
• pollen can be used to identify specific plant species
• climate change affects the type of plants that grow, so we can determine the climate of a specific time period, using pollen produced
• depth of peat correlates with the period of time since the pollen was produced

Question 4

What is peat?

Answer 4

accumulation of partially decayed organic matter

Question 5

What is a tree ring made up of?

Answer 5

a layer of xylem vessels

Question 6

During which season are wide xylem vessels produced?

Answer 6

spring

Question 7

During which season are narrow xylem vessels produced?

Answer 7

summer

Question 8

How many tree rings are produced each year?

Answer 8

1

Question 9

What can you do to examine tree rings, without cutting the tree down?

Answer 9

take a core sample to examine

Question 10

How does denchronology provide evidence for climate change?

Answer 10

if wide ring is produced, this suggests that the conditions that year were better for tree growth eg. warmer or wetter
- this can tell us the average climate of the year
- then you can compare this to other years, by examining the diameter of the rings