Water Resources

Question 1

For flashcards up to the Aral Sea, please see the ’human systems and resource use’ deck, as they are in there. I put them in the wrong deck and cannot be asked to rewrite 37 flashcards.

Answer 1

:)

Question 2

What does the UN convention on sea law state? (1982)

Answer 2

That all sea within 200 miles of the shore of a country belongs to that country

Question 3

Why are oil spills in international waters a problem?

Answer 3

If water pollution and oil spills occur in international waters, there is a huge issue for who is meant to clean it up

Question 4

What does thermohaline circulation do for phytoplankton?

Answer 4

It brings nutrients from deep water for phytoplankton to photosynthesise.

Question 5

Why are phytoplankton and Whales located in Cold water?

Answer 5

Because cold water is dense and more saline, which is better for phytoplankton and Whales

Question 6

How do oceans aid the climate change issue?

Answer 6

Oceans are carbon sinks and capture CO2 from the atmosphere and store it this reduces the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere and is vital to to reduce the effects of global warming and climate change.

Question 7

What is meant by the tragedy of the commons? (example definition )

Answer 7

If one place is found to be an ideal fishing area, one fisherman may start with one fishing rod and expand to 10. more fishermen start to know about this area and bring many fishing rods too. This means more fish are caught faster than they can be replenished. causing a loss of bod diversity less fish to take care of the marine environment, less food and habitats

Question 8

What is maximum sustainable yield?

Answer 8

The maximum population of fish that can be fished so, numbers can replenish themselves without timing future populations

Question 9

Why does aquaculture get a larger output of fish?

Answer 9

Aquaculture takes up less space and is more reliable as you know how much fish you will catch

Question 10

Why does wild catching fish not produce as high of an output as aquaculture?

Answer 10

Wild catching is unreliable as one does not always know how much they will catch and due to new fishing laws and quotes wild catching outputs may be heavily reduced.

Question 11

What is biological oxygen demand?

Answer 11

It is a measure of the amount of dissolved oxygen required to breakdown the organic material in a given volume of water through aerobic biological activity by microorganisms

Question 12

What are indicator species?

Answer 12

Plants and animals that show something about the environment by their presence, absence, abundance or scarcity

Question 13

What is the water pollution case study in the UK?

Answer 13

The river Medway

Question 14

What are the four types of pollution along the river Medway and where did they come from?

Answer 14

– Fertiliser run-off – farmland – sewage – sewers
– industry waste – factories
– plastic pollution – humans, fishing, animals moving plastic

Question 15

What are the effects of pollution from industry waste?

Answer 15

Chemical waste can change the temperature and pH of the water causing marine species to migrate and loss of biodiversity

Question 16

What are the effects of pollution from plastic waste?

Answer 16

Plastic in the water can cause micro plastics in our food

Question 17

What are the effects of fertiliser run-off from farmland?

Answer 17

When fertiliser enters bodies of water, it can cause eutrophication and therefore the loss of bod diversity

Question 18

What are the effects of sewage pollution from sewers?

Answer 18

The bacteria from sewage can cause eutrophication

Question 19

What is aquaculture?

Answer 19

Aquaculture is breeding, raising, and harvesting fish, shellfish, and aquatic plants.

Question 20

What is GPS navigation in aquaculture? + environmental problems.

Answer 20

It allows people to place waypoint on ideal fishing grounds. causes a decrease in fish populations as it becomes overfished

Question 21

What is at sea refrigeration in aquaculture? + environmental problems.

Answer 21

Way of preserving fish by putting them in a cold air chamber on a ship. Allows them to stay out at sea for longer, meaning they can catch more fish and overdue fishing quotes.

Question 22

What are factory vessels? + environmental problems.

Answer 22

Large ships equipped with facilities to process and package fish. It depletes fish dos rapidly by fishing large quantities and short amount of time. This puts pressure on the fish and disrupts marine life. Waste products from the factory vessel also negatively impact water quality.

Question 23

What is indiscriminate fishing gear? + environmental problems.

Answer 23

Fishing gear that is deployed to catch all marine organisms. May result in by-catch (turtles) therefore killing other species and resulting in a loss of biodiversity.

Question 24

What are trawlers? + environmental problems.

Answer 24

Fishing vessel that has a large net that is dragged along the seafloor to catch fish. This damages the seed and destroys marine life habitats. It may also result by and therefore reducing biodiversity levels.

Question 25

What are the two case studies for aquaculture systems?

Answer 25

• commercial salmon in norway and scotland
  – rice fish farming in Thailand

Question 26

What are the inputs and outputs of commercial salmon farming?

Answer 26

Input:
– antibiotics
– steroids
– money
– intensive workload
– monoculture

Outputs:
– faeces
– mature salmon
– increased efficiency

Question 27

What are the environmental impacts of commercial salmon farming?

Answer 27

Salmon or so other species need to be caught to feed them causing a depletion of other species.
– pollution into the local area
– escape seven May breed with wild seven causing a reduced diversity.
Increased due to life
– monoculture can cause disease with stocks of fish

Question 28

What are the inputs and outputs of rice fish farming in Thailand?

Answer 28

Inputs:
– farmers
– labour
– fish
– water
Extensive farming

Outputs:
Increased yields
– increased income.
Counters decrease fish
– increase efficiency

Question 29

What are the environmental impacts of rice fish farming in Thailand?

Answer 29

• May change the nutrient balance
  – introduction of alien species that may impact local biodiversity

Question 30

Briefly describe commercial farming

Answer 30

Involves the feeding of bread or wild fish and open nets. One species is raised (monoculture). This was undertaken to increase populations of wild Atlantic salmon in the north Atlantic and Baltic seas.

Question 31

Briefly describe rice, fish farming in Thailand

Answer 31

This is a poly culture system in which trenches are dug and flooded with water. Rice grows in this water and fisher is introduced instead of pesticides. In the end, the farmer has two crops to sell (rice and fish) which gives them an increased economic yield.

Question 32

What is eutrophication and what are the causes?

Answer 32

Notification is when there is an excess of nitrate and phosphate run-off in a body of water that causes an increase in alga bloom. The lake is more toxic as sunlight is blocked by algae and kills fish and plants. The lack of oxygen means there is more anaerobic decomposition making the lake more ox sick and therefore killing animals and plants making the water dead zone

Question 33

Describe the process of eutrophication

Answer 33

-Increased nitrates and phosphate in water
– rapid growth of algae
– light is blocked from submerged aquatic plants.
– accumulation of dead matter
– increase activity of decomposes
– removal of oxygen by decomposes
– reduce oxygen kills fish and other organisms
– decrease biodiversity

Question 34

How might eutrophication become a negative feedback loop?

Answer 34

the algae dies, due to a lack of nutrient run-off, change in season (Winter gives cold water), change of tide

Question 35

Name three impacts of eutrophication

Answer 35

Loss of biodiversity
– water pollution
-lack of food resources causing a lack of income

Question 36

What is the case study for eutrophication

Answer 36

Of Mexico

Question 37

What are the causes and effects of the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico?

Answer 37

Causes:
– nutrient run-off

Effect:
Large Algal blooms
– lack of oxygen
– some species can become endangered because they cannot escape

Question 38

Solutions to the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico

Answer 38

– Technology that removes nutrients
– hedges to stop nutrient run-off into the water
- reduce the volume of fertilisers

Question 39

What are ocean circulation systems?

Answer 39

Ocean circulation systems are driven by differences and temperature and salinity. The resulting differences in water density drive the ocean conveyor belt, which transports heat and energy around the world, and thus affects climate.

Question 40

Why will our access to freshwater decrease over the years?

Answer 40

Increase demand for water
– contamination and over-extraction of water
– water resources and conflict
- climate change and global warming

Question 41

How to measure biological oxygen demand

Answer 41

-Indirect pollution monitoring (indicator species)
– taking two samples at each site:
First sample – measures for dissolved oxygen using a dissolved oxygen probe.
Second sample – is incubated in the dark at 20°C for five days and then it tested for dissolved oxygen remaining (so algae cannot photosynthesise)

The difference in oxygen levels between the first and second test is equal to the biological oxygen demand