Foundations of Land Use
(5.1, 5.2, 5.3)
(5.1, 5.2, 5.3)
This concept describes individuals overusing a shared resource for personal benefit, causing depletion.
What is...Tragedy of the Commons (TOC)
This occurs when irrigation water evaporates and leaves salts behind in soil.
What is Soil salinization
This fishing method drags large nets along the ocean floor, damaging habitats.
What is Bottom Trawling
These surfaces prevent water from infiltrating into the ground.
What is an Impervious Surface
This is the maximum amount of a renewable resource that can be harvested without reducing future supply.
What is Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY)
~usually 1/2 of the Carrying Capacity~
This agricultural movement increased food production through mechanization, irrigation, synthetic fertilizers, and GMOs.
What is The Green Revolution
STEAL 200 FROM ANOTHER TEAM
This pest control strategy combines crop rotation, biological controls, and limited pesticide use.
What is Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
A fishery collapse occurs when a fish population declines by approximately what percent?
What is ~90%
DAILY DOUBLE!!
This term describes movement from cities into low-density suburban areas.
What is Urban Sprawl
DOUBLE POINTS!!
This forestry method removes only selected trees to preserve biodiversity and reduce erosion.
What is Selective Cutting
TRIPLE POINTS!!!
Clearcutting increases turbidity in nearby streams primarily because of this process.
What is Soil erosion (sediment runoff into streams)
Explain how synthetic fertilizers can lead to eutrophication.
What is
Excess nitrates and phosphates leach/runoff into water → algal blooms → oxygen depletion → fish kills.
Explain one environmental problem associated with CAFOs.
What is Manure runoff → eutrophication / methane emissions / groundwater contamination / antibiotic pollution.
Explain one way permeable pavement reduces urban runoff.
What is allowing water to infiltrate → reduces runoff → decreases pollutant transport → increases groundwater recharge.
Explain how prescribed burns can prevent severe forest fires.
What is burning small amounts of biomass → reduce fuel buildup → lower intensity of future wildfires.
A developing country rapidly adopts high-yield GMO crops and synthetic fertilizers to increase food production.
Predict ONE environmental consequence related to biodiversity AND explain the mechanism causing it.
Possible Answers:
Consequence: Decreased genetic biodiversity.
Mechanism: GMO crops are genetically uniform (clones). If a disease or pest can infect them, there is little variation for resistance → large-scale crop failure possible.
(Alternate acceptable: fertilizer runoff → eutrophication → aquatic biodiversity decline.)
A farmer plants Roundup Ready crops for 10 consecutive years and relies exclusively on glyphosate.
Predict how weed populations will change over time AND explain the evolutionary mechanism involved.
Possible Answers:
Weeds will evolve resistance and become more abundant.
Mechanism: Genetic variation exists → glyphosate kills susceptible weeds → resistant individuals survive and reproduce → artificial selection increases resistant population.
A coastal nation experiences a 90% decline in a top predator fish species.
Explain how this could lead to a trophic cascade and affect biodiversity.
Possible Answers:
Loss of predator → prey populations increase → overconsume lower trophic species → ecosystem imbalance → decreased biodiversity and altered food web structure.
Must describe cascade effect.
A city implements an urban growth boundary.
Explain ONE environmental benefit AND ONE economic consequence of this policy.
Possible Answers:
Environmental: Reduces sprawl → preserves farmland/habitat → reduces driving emissions.
Economic consequence: Increased housing prices inside boundary due to limited land supply.
Explain how biodiversity can serve as an environmental indicator of sustainability. Include ONE example of what declining biodiversity might signal.
High biodiversity indicates ecosystem resilience and stability.
Declining biodiversity may signal habitat destruction, pollution, climate change, or unsustainable harvesting.
A forested watershed is clearcut to increase short-term economic profit.
Explain how this action could increase flood risk AND contribute to climate change. Include at least TWO linked processes.
Possible Answers:
Flooding:
Clearcutting removes roots → decreased soil stability and water infiltration → increased surface runoff → greater flood risk.
Climate change:
Trees removed → reduced carbon sequestration → decomposition/burning releases stored CO₂ → increased atmospheric greenhouse gases.
Must include both hydrologic and carbon cycle mechanisms.
Evaluate whether Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is more sustainable than conventional pesticide use. Provide ONE environmental justification and ONE economic tradeoff.
Possible Answers:
Environmental: Reduces non-target species death, water contamination, and resistance development.
Economic tradeoff: More labor-intensive and time-consuming; higher short-term costs than spraying pesticides.
Must include both environmental sustainability and economic reasoning.
An abandoned coal mine contains high sulfur tailings.
Explain how this could impact BOTH aquatic ecosystems AND human health.
Possible Answers:
Sulfur reacts with water → sulfuric acid (acid mine drainage) → lowers stream pH → toxic metals (mercury, aluminum) dissolve → kills aquatic organisms.
Human health: Contaminated drinking water → metal toxicity exposure.
Must include chemical process + biological consequence.
Design an investigation to test whether increasing urban tree cover reduces stormwater runoff and urban heat island effects.
Identify:
• Independent variable
• TWO dependent variables
• One controlled variable
Possible Answers:
IV: Tree cover density
DVs: Runoff volume AND surface temperature
Control: Same rainfall event, same area size, same soil type
Must show understanding of experimental control.
Compare aquaculture and wild-capture fishing in terms of sustainability.
Provide ONE benefit and ONE environmental risk of aquaculture AND explain whether it reduces pressure on wild fisheries.
Possible Answer:
Benefit: Reduces overfishing of wild stocks.
Risk: Waste accumulation, disease spread, antibiotic contamination, escape of non-native species.
Evaluation: Can reduce pressure if properly managed; may harm ecosystems if poorly regulated.