Geography Paper 1 Flashcards
Ecosystem
What is the difference between a producer and a consumer?
Producers convert sun energy into sugars by photosynthesis and are eaten by consumers.
Consumers get energy by eating producers. A snail is a good example as it eats plants
What are decomposers?
They break down animal and plant matter for their energy. Bacteria are a good example.
What is the ecosystem we study at NGA?
Using this ecosystem, name the producers, consumers and decomposers
Nottingham Girls’ Academy Woodland
Producer: Oak tree
Consumer: Fox
Decomposer: Fungi
How has change impacted this ecosystem?
Deforestation has removed lots of primary producers like oak trees.
Because of this there has been a drop in primary consumers too, like caterpillars.
This has led to a drop in secondary consumers like bird
What is nutrient cycling
When plants and animals die, decomposers help to recycle the nutrients, returning it back to the soil for the regrowth of plants and animals
Give 3 examples of how plants have adapted to tropical environments
Buttress Roots
Give big trees stability and soak up lots of nutrients
Drip tip leaves
Allow water to run off the leaf so they don’t grow algae on their leaves. Algae can stop the plant photosynthesising, and will kill the plant
Lianas
Climbing plants that use trees to reach sunlight
Give 3 examples of how animals are adapted to the rainforest
Spider Monkey
Has long limbs, allowing it to move easily in the upper canopy, away from predators on the ground floor.
Flying frogs
Has webbed skin across it’s body, this means it can glide from plant to plant, escaping predators that may be in the canopy layers
Sloths
Move slowly and have camouflage to avoid detection from predators
What are the different layers of a rainforest
Explain how they are adapted
Emergent
Upper canopy
Lower canopy
Shrub layer
Emergent layer, trees are tall and grow fast to teach the sunlight. They have large leaves to capture the sunlight
Plants in the shrub layer are adapted to low light conditions. Their leaves are often much wider to catch the remaining sunlight
What are the soils like in tropical rainforests
Very low amounts of nutrients
Rainwater and plants remove the nutrients quickly, this is called leeching
Any nutrients there are are in the very upper layer of the soil
What is the tropical rainforest you have studied
Then…
Name a cause of deforestation in that environment
Amazon, Brazil
Deforested for:
- Roads to access trees for logging
- 70% used for cattle pasture in commercial farming
- Mineral extraction- iron, copper and gold
- Hydro electric dams (there are 150 planned in the Amazon)
- Population growth - between 2000-2010 Brazil’s population grew by 23%
What are the economic impacts of deforestation in the Amazon?
- Job creation - mining in Peru employs 3100 alone
- Trees from logging sold on the global market
- New hydroelectric dams act as a source of electricity (150 planned)
- Cattle ranching in Brazil is worth $6.9 billion
What are the environmental costs of deforestation in the Amazon
- Increased climate change with trees no longer absorbing CO2
-The Amazon stores 100 billion tonnes of carbon, this is lost to the atmosphere when burned
- Soil erosion - Loss of 55 million tonnes of soil per year
-No interception - leads to flooding
How has the Belo Monte Dam negatively impacted the environment but positively impacted the economy of Brazil?
Advantages
- Grows Brazil’s economy by 5% each year
- Created 25,000 jobs
- Provides cheap, renewable energy for people in Brazil
Disadvantages
- 12,000 indigenous people were relocated
- Flooding the rainforest destroyed natural habitats
- Cost $5.8 billion dollars
Give some reasons why rainforests should be protected
- Biodiversity with lots of rare species
- Many plants have medicinal properties
- Native people live in the rainforests
- 25% of the world’s oxygen comes from the rainforests
- Rainforests contain resources such as wood, rubber and fruit
How can Rainforests be sustainably managed?
International hardwood agreement- mean it is illegal to sell certain types of wood globally
Ecotourism - environmentally friendly tourism
Selective logging - Companies can only chop down certain trees
Education - Teach people about conserving the rainforest
How has the International Tropical Timber Agreement reduced deforestation?
- It has helped educate countries with rainforests on how to manage them sustainability
- It has stopped countries buying and selling certain types of hardwood
- It pays countries like Brazil to use their rainforests in a more sustainable manner
Hot Deserts
What is the climate like in a hot desert?
- Less than 250mm per year
- Very hot in the day = 45 oC
- Very cold at night = 5 oC
What is the soil like in a hot desert?
- Shallow and course - like gravel
- Low fertility as there is no leaf fall.
- Very dry
How are plants adapted to hot environments?
- Very long or wide roots to gather as much water as possible
- Carry water in their stems - called succulents
- Small leaves or spines - reduces water loss through transpiration
- Seeds only germinate and flower very quickly
How is a cactus adapted to a desert environment?
- Stems that can store water
- Widespread or very deep root systems that collect water
- Spines ( modified leaves) that minimize surface area and reduce water loss
- Spiney leaves that deter consumers from eating their trunk, which is full of water
How are animals adapted to hot environments?
- Nocturnal - they only come out when it is cool
- Lizards and snakes can tolerate high body temperatures
- They can get the water they need from what they eat
- They are adapted to cope with sand - for instance wife feet (camels)
How is a camel adapted to a hot desert?
- They have long eyelashes so sand doesn’t go in their eyes
- They have wide feet so they don’t sink into the sand
- They have a store of fat in their hump that can be used for energy when food is scarce
Why are deserts fragile ecosystems?
- Limited vegetation means only small populations of animals can survive
- Humans draw water for their crops - this limits the amount of water available for the animals and plants in the environment
- Hot desert environments are getting hotter and dryer, this means the deserts are getting larger - desertification
What opportunities are there for development in the Western desert.
- Farming - this completed using aquifers and canals 13% of USA agriculture (food) is grown in California
- Energy - Sonoran Solar Project potentially power 100,000 homes and created 360 jobs
- Tourism - Interesting desert features - over 37 million visitors per year
- There are mineral deposits - particularly coal and copper
What challenges are there in the Western desert
- The are us running out of water, especially as irrigation and urbanisation is causing overuse
- There is limited accessibility - especially state highways, this means people can be really isolated
- Extreme temperatures - it can easily reach 40 degrees c, often much hotter, and climate change is making that worse
How are these challenges being managed?
- Water is being recycled- particularly by big hotels in Las Vegas, water for fountains is recycled
- Airports and rail networks are being invested in to provide transport infrastructure; this means places are better connected
- Buildings have big rooms, and are painted white that can stay cool have been designed to deal with the high temperatures
What factors are causing desertification?
-
Climate change
Rainfall is reducing in places that are already dry- this makes the soil dry, and so plants die
Higher temperatures are leading to more evaporation, making soils dryer leading to soil erosion
-
Human activities
Population growth puts pressure on the land leading to overgrazing and over farming
Deforestation is increasing desertification as people cook using trees, leaving soil exposed to erosion
How can we reduce the risk of desertification in the Sahel with water and soil management
Water management
Building small dams to trap rainwater
Collecting rainwater on roofs
Managing soils
Build low stone walls to slow the flow of rainwater
This traps soils and organic matter which can go back over the land for nutrients
Pros - both cheap and easy but climate change may reduce local rainfall
How can we reduce the risk of desertification in the Sahel with planting trees
- Roots bind soil together strengthening the soil and reducing erosion
- Leaves from the trees add nutrients back into the soil when they decompose
- The Great Green Wall planted by the African Union is an excellent example where trees have slowed down desertification
How is the Great Green Wall reducing the risk of desertification?
It is a wall of acacia trees that are being planted across 11 countries, to be complete by 2030
The roots provide more structures to the soil, and aren’t being eroded
The shade makes the soil cooler, and stops evaporation, meaning the soils are less dry
The leaves that fall provide nutrients to the soil, making it fertile
How can we reduce the risk of desertification in the Sahel with appropriate technology
- Using efficient stoves - they burn hotter for longer and use much less wood for burning
- Move towards small scale solar power - can be used as an alternative to wood burning
- Using stone walls to stop water evaporating from the soil
How are stone walls used in Burkina Faso to reduce desertification?
Why is this appropriate technology?
What are the benefits?
Stone walls stop rainwater from leaving the environment, and the water soaks into the soils, this stops soil erosion
There is more moisture in the soil, which encourages plant growth
This is appropriate technology because…
- It’s free - the stones are collected from local farms
- You don’t need to be highly educated to do It, it’s a pile of rocks
COASTS
What are the two different types of waves, how are they different?
Constructive - they build beaches and have a strong swash
Destructive - they erode beaches and have a strong backwash
Name three types of weathering?
Chemical weathering (acid rain)
Biological weathering ( plants and animals)
Freeze-thaw weathering ( water freezes and expands and breaks rock apart)
How does freeze thaw weathering happen?
It occurs where rocks have cracks in them. Water gets in during warm weather, then freezes during cold weather. This breaks the rock apart because the water expands when it turns into ice.
What is long shore drift and how does it move sand along a coast?
- Waves approach the beach at an angle due to the prevailing wind direction
- The wave pushes sediment across the beach
- The wave then retreats down the beach
- The process continues and sediment is pushed along the beach
What are the processes of mass movement?
Rockfall- where rocks break off the cliff
Landslide - where big bits of land slide down a cliff
Mudflow - where soil and rock flow down
Rotational slip - slump of soil and rock down a curved surface
Explain how headlands and bays are formed?
- Along the coast there are bands of hard and soft rock. Hard rock like limestone doesn’t erode easily, but soft rock like clay does. They must be on a discordant coastline
- Over thousands of years, the softer rock erodes more quickly than the harder rock, and the hard rock sticks out of the coastline. These are headlands. Bays are where the soft rock has eroded.
- The waves then focus more because of refraction eroding the soft rock further
- These headlands then develop into caves, arches and stacks
How are caves, arches and stacks formed?
- A small crack in the cliff occurs. This is a weakness in the cliff.
- Hydraulic action, abrasion and solution opens this crack up until it makes a cave.
- This cave opens until it makes an arch, passing through the headland
- The arch is eroded and weakened until it collapses and eventually makes a stack.
- The stack erodes and that makes a stump
