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Climate Change and Sustainability > Lecture Quizzes > Flashcards

Lecture Quizzes Flashcards

1
Q

What does the term “sustainability” mean?

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2
Q

Which populations on Earth are largely responsible for unsustainable resource consumption?

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3
Q

Why is land use a critical issue for sustainability?

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4
Q

What are the main anthropogenic sources responsible for the increases the greenhouse gasses CO2, CH4 and N2O?

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5
Q

Why are the greenhouse gasses CH4 and N2O often expressed as “CO2-equivalents”?

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6
Q

What are “ecosystem services”? Can you give examples of provisioning, regulating and cultural services?

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7
Q

What proportions of land are used by people for crops, pasture and timber globally?

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8
Q

Why is global cereal production rising faster than food calorie production?

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9
Q

Describe how trend climate warming can increase extreme heat events even without any increase in climate variability. Base your explanation around the bell-shaped curve of temperature distribution.

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10
Q

How does warming lead to more extreme heavy rainfall events?

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11
Q

Approximately what percentage of the GHG emissions of the UK does DEFRA estimate to come from agriculture and why does this underplay the role of this sector in overall emissions?

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12
Q

According to Goucher et al (2017) what proportion of the carbon footprint of a loaf of bread comes from wheat growth?

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13
Q

What is meant by co-benefits and trade-offs between SDGs?

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14
Q

Can you provide some examples of each?

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15
Q

Define what scientists mean by the terms “ecosystem” and “biome”.

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16
Q

Are ecosystems open or closed systems with respect to energy and materials?

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17
Q

Describe in broad terms the pattern of biome distribution with temperature and precipitation.

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18
Q

According to the Al-Mufti hump back curve (also called “Grime’s hump back curve”) why are there low levels of plant diversity in ecosystems with very low and very high levels of productivity?

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19
Q

What are positive and negative feedbacks?

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20
Q

Can you give an example of positive and negative feedback within the Earth System and explain how they influence climate?

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21
Q

Can you explain what we refer as the geological carbon and how it works?

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22
Q

Can you explain why forests are not the ‘lungs of the Earth’?

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23
Q

Can you explain how the geological carbon cycle can be used to sequester carbon via enhanced rock weathering?

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24
Q

What are the three main pools of phosphorus in the environment and which processes result in their production and consumption?

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25
Q

What is the definition of rhizodeposition? How will this be altered by future climate change and how will this influence the ‘CO2 fertilisation effect’?

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26
Q

What are the issues surrounding the use of rock phosphate fertiliers?

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27
Q

What is the interaction between ‘phototrophs’ and ‘heterotrophs’?

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28
Q

How quickly is applied ammonium fertiliser nitrified?

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29
Q

What is the main function of denitrification?

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30
Q

What are the main environmental factors affecting denitrification that cause variation in the release of N2O and N2?

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31
Q

How good are mammals at breaking down cellulose?

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32
Q

A cow can produce several hundred litres of saliva a day; why do they produce so much?

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33
Q

Why can we not simply kill methanogens in the rumen to solve the issue of methane release from cows?

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34
Q

What are external influences on climate, and give an example?

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35
Q

Water vapour is a greenhouse gas but it does not “cause” global warming. Explain what we mean by this.

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36
Q

Describe one pro and one con for an organisms adapting to climate change using “plasticity” or “evolution”

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37
Q

Why is climate velocity fast in flat landscapes and slow in mountainous landscapes?

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38
Q

What are the three main mechanisms that allow plants to grow more with elevated CO2.

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39
Q

Which terrestrial biomes of the world will show the greatest increase in productivity in response to elevated CO2.

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40
Q

When using a repeat survey approach to monitor biodiversity change, what is an advantage and a disadvantage of collecting occupancy data?

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41
Q

When describing ecosystem responses to climate change, what is “resistance” and “resilience”?

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42
Q

What are the top three threats to global biodiversity and which of these is considered the most important in tropical regions?

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43
Q

Biodiversity loss is often greater in habitats that are more disturbed by humans. Name three factors that help or facilitate disturbance by humans.

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44
Q

Describe how permafrost thaws by deepening of the active layer?

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45
Q

Arctic greening is caused by longer and warmer summers. What change to vegetation results in the greening?

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46
Q

Describe the seeder-feeder effect that can increase N deposition in upland and mountainous areas.

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47
Q

Which methodologies currently available to reduce emissions from livestock production can be applied with no overall cost?

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48
Q

Why can both reduced fertilisation and increased fertilisation reduce emissions from arable agriculture?

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49
Q

Why are novel methods desparately needed to mitigate agricultural emissions of greenhouse gases?

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50
Q

What do we mean by Net Zero?

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51
Q

What is climate intervention and what are the two main actions that can be achieved?

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52
Q

What CO2 removal (CDR) consists of? Give some examples

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53
Q

What are land-based CDR strategies and can you give examples that could be deployed to reach net zero?

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54
Q

What is solar radiation management? Give some examples

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55
Q

Within the carbon cycle, can you define what are fluxes and in which units are commonly reported?

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56
Q

Can you define carbon pool, identify the main carbon pools within the Earth System and what units are typically reported?

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Climate Change and Sustainability (2 decks)

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