• State how modern technology has resulted in increased food production in terms of:
– agricultural machinery to use larger areas of land and improve efficiency
– chemical fertilisers to improve yields
– insecticides to improve quality and yield
– herbicides to reduce competition with weeds
– selective breeding to improve production by crop plants and livestock, e.g. cattle, fish and poultry
• Describe the negative impacts to an ecosystem of large-scale monocultures of crop plants
• Describe the negative impacts to an ecosystem of intensive livestock production
• Discuss the social, environmental and economic implications of providing sufficient food for an increasing human global population
• Discuss the problems which contribute to famine including unequal distribution of food, drought and flooding, increasing population and poverty
• Describe the reasons for habitat destruction, limited to:
– increased area for food crop growth, livestock production and housing
– extraction of natural resources
– marine pollution
• State that through altering food webs and food chains, humans can have a negative impact on habitats
• List the undesirable effects of deforestation as an example of habitat destruction, to include extinction, loss of soil, flooding and increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
• Explain the undesirable effects of deforestation on the environment
• State the sources and effects of pollution of land and water, e.g. rivers, lakes and the sea, by insecticides, herbicides and by nuclear fall-out
• State the sources and effects of pollution of water (rivers, lakes and the sea) by chemical waste, discarded rubbish, untreated sewage and fertilisers
• State the sources and effects of pollution of the air by methane and carbon dioxide, limited to the enhanced greenhouse effect and climate change
• Explain the process of eutrophication of water in terms of
– increased availability of nitrate and other ions
– increased growth of producers
– increased decomposition after death of producers
– increased aerobic respiration by decomposers
– reduction in dissolved oxygen
– death of organisms requiring dissolved oxygen in water
• Discuss the effects of non-biodegradable plastics in the environment, in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems
• Discuss the causes and effects on the environment of acid rain
• State the measures that are taken to reduce sulfur dioxide pollution and reduce the impact of acid rain
• Explain how increases in carbon dioxide and methane concentrations in the atmosphere cause an enhanced greenhouse effect that leads to climate change
• Describe the negative impacts of female contraceptive hormones in water courses, limited to reduced sperm count in men and feminisation of aquatic organisms
• Define a sustainable resource as one which is produced as rapidly as it is removed from the
development providing for the needs of an environment so that it does not run out
• Explain the need to conserve non-renewable the environment resources, limited to fossil fuels
• State that some resources can be maintained, limited to forests and fish stocks
• State that products can be reused or recycled, limited to paper, glass, plastic and metal
• Explain why organisms become endangered or extinct, limited to climate change, habitat destruction, hunting, pollution and introduced species
• Describe how endangered species can be conserved, limited to monitoring and protecting species and habitats, education, captive breeding programmes and seed banks
• Define the term sustainable development as development providing for the needs of an increasing human population without harming the environment
• Explain how forest and fish stocks can be sustained using education, legal quotas and restocking
• Explain that sustainable development requires:
– management of conflicting demands that it contains safe to return to the environment or for human use
– planning and cooperation at local, national and international levels
• Explain the risks to a species if the population size drops, reducing variation (knowledge of genetic drift is not required)
• Explain reasons for conservation programmes, to include:
– reducing extinction
– protecting vulnerable environments
– maintaining ecosystem functions, limited to nutrient cycling and resource provision, e.g. food, drugs, fuel and genes