Unit 1 - Key Area 3

Question 1

A chemical such as a fertiliser, hormone, pesticide or soil treatment that improves the production of crops.

Answer 1

Agrochemical

Question 2

A rapid growth of microscopic algae in water, often resulting in a coloured scum on the surface

Answer 2

Algal bloom

Question 3

Anthropogenic

Answer 3

Caused or influenced by human activity

Question 4

Emission of natural greenhouse gas enhanced by human activity. Includes water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, and fluorocarbons (CFCs, HCFCs and HFCs).

Answer 4

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas

Question 5

The gradual build-up over time of a chemical or heavy metal in a living organism, through absorption via skin, gills or lungs.

Build-up occurs either because the chemical is taken up at a rate faster than it can be used or excreted, or because the chemical or heavy metal cannot be metabolised.

Answer 5

Bioaccumulation

Question 6

Biological oxygen demand (BOD)

Answer 6

How much dissolved oxygen is used by aerobic micro-organisms when there decomposing organic matter in water.

Question 7

Biomagnification

Answer 7

Arises through consumption of organisms containing bioaccumulated chemicals or heavy metals. The pollutants transfer to the consumer and thus move up through the food chain.

Question 8

Crop rotation

Answer 8

The practice of growing different crops in succession on the same land, chiefly to avoid depletion of the soil but also to control weeds, diseases and pests.

Question 9

Pollution that arises from land activities spread across large areas that have no specific point of discharge.

Answer 9

Diffuse pollution

Question 10

Environmental assessment

Answer 10

The process of estimating and evaluating significant short-term and long-term effects of a programme or project on the quality of the location’s environment.

Question 11

Aims to protect the environment by ensuring that a local planning authority has full knowledge of possible significant environmental effects of a proposed development, and mitigation for these, and takes these into account in the decision-making process.

Answer 11

Environmental Impact Assessment

Question 12

Describes the processes and activities that need to take place in order to characterise and monitor the quality of an environment over time

Answer 12

Environmental monitoring

Question 13

Eutrophication

Answer 13

Excessive nutrient enrichment in a waterbody which causes a dense growth of algae or plant life. The algae and surface vegetation prevent light and oxygen penetrating the water, which affects survival of aquatic plants and invertebrates.

Question 14

The process by which natural habitat is damaged to the extent that it is no longer able to support species and communities. This may be through a natural event such as flooding or a volcanic eruption, but is more usually caused by anthropogenic activities such as land drainage or deforestation

Answer 14

Habitat destruction

Question 15

Habitat fragmentation

Answer 15

The reduction of a large habitat area into smaller, scattered remnants

Question 16

Farming that uses a lot of machinery, labour, chemicals, etc in order to maximise crop yield or keep as many animals as possible on a set plot of land.

Answer 16

Intensive agriculture

Question 17

Keystone species

Answer 17

A species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend, such that loss of the keystone species would drastically change the ecosystem.

Question 18

The movement of dissolved substances with percolating water in soil.

Answer 18

Leaching

Question 19

A formal conservation designation to protect nationally important marine wildlife, habitats, geology, and undersea landforms

Answer 19

Marine protected area (MPA)

Question 20

Native species

Answer 20

One that occurs naturally within a given ecosystem, rather than as the result of accidental or deliberate introduction by humans

Question 21

Non-native species

Answer 21

A species introduced through human action (accidental or deliberate) outside its native distribution

Question 22

Pollution that is discharged from a single location.

Answer 22

Point pollution

Question 23

The process of replanting an area with trees. Differs from afforestation, which is the planting of new areas where there was no previous tree cover.

Answer 23

Reforestation

Question 24

Intentional activities which initiate or accelerate the recovery of a habitat or an ecosystem with respect to its health, integrity and sustainability.

Answer 24

Rewilding

Question 25

Strategic environmental assessment (SEA)

Answer 25

Aims to provide for a high level of protection of the environment from development. It is mandatory for plans and/or programmes which relate to large-scale changes in land use.