GEOG 204 Chapter 1 Questions and answers Global Environmental
Issues Concordia University 2024
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Chapter 1: The Physical Environment
1. What is the most commonly used classification system for the physical
environment? Explain each sphere.
The most commonly used classification is that which breaks it down into four
spheres: the lithosphere, the atmosphere, the biosphere and the
hydrosphere.
• The lithosphere is made up of rocks that are typically classified accounting to
their modes of formation (igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary); these rock
types are further subdivided according to the processes that formed them and
other factors such as their chemical composition.
• The atmosphere is manifested at the Earth’s surface by a typical distribution
of climates.
• The biosphere is made up of many types of flora and fauna.
• The hydrosphere can be subdivided according to its chemical constituents
(fresh water and saline, for example), or the condition or phase of the water:
solid ice, liquid water or gaseous vapour.
2. What are ecosystems? How are they classified?
Suites of characteristics are combined in particular areas called ecosystems.
• One approach uses the amount of organic matter or biomass produced per
year – the net production – which is simply the solar energy fixed in the
biomass minus the energy used in producing in producing it by respiration.
• Highly productive ecosystems such as forests, marshes, estuaries and reefs,
and less productive places such as deserts, tundras and the open ocean.
3. What are the main factors determining productivity of ecosystems?
• One of the main factors determining productivity is the availability of nutrients,
key substances for life on earth: a lack of nutrients is often put forward to
explain the low productivity in the open oceans, for example.
• Climate is another important factor. Warm, wet climates promote
higher productivity than cold, dry ones.
4. What is meant by the term “latitudinal gradient”?
There is a general trend of increasing diversity of plant and animal species from the
poles to the equatorial regions.
5. Morphoclimatic regions are combinations of? What are the main ones discussed
in this text? Describe each of these regions.
The morphoclimatic regions are combination of vegetation and climate.
•
6. What are cycles of matter?
In the cycles of matter, molecules are formed and reformed by chemical and
biological reactions and are manifested as physical changes in the material
concerned.
7. Explain the main cycles including the hydrological, carbon and nitrogen cycles?
• Water is continually exchanged between the Earth’s surface and the
atmosphere through evaporation, transpiration from plants and animals, and
precipitation.
• Carbon reaches these stores by the processes of sedimentation and evaporation,
and is released from rocks by weathering, vulcanism and sea-floor spreading.
Carbon also reaches the atmosphere through the respiration of plants and
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Global Casino Chapter Questions
animals.
•
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Global Casino Chapter Questions
8. The flow of solar energy is traced through which chain? What is at the base of
this chain?
The flow of converted solar energy through living organisms can be traced up
a hierarchy of life-forms known as a food chain.
The plants are at the base of this chain, so called producers.
Producers------first-order consumers-----primary carnivores------secondary carnivores
9. Each stage in the chain is known as?
Each stage in the chain is known as trophic level.
10. What happens to available energy as you climb up this
chain? Declines
11. What happens to the # and size of animals as you climb the chain? Why does
this occur?
With each trophic level, less energy is available to successively larger individuals and
thus the number of individuals decreases.
The available energy declines along the food chain away from the plant and animals
also tend to be bigger at each sequential trophic level.
12. Give some examples of how human actions can affect these various chains or cycles.
• The burning of fossil fuels, which liberates carbon by oxidation.
• The cycle of mineral in the rock cycle is affected by the construction industry.
• Human activity affects the hydrological cycle by diverting natural flows: the
damming of rivers or extracting groundwater for human use.
• The nitrogen cycle is affected by concentrating nitrogen in particular places such
as by spreading fertilizers on fields.
• Food chains are widely affected: human populations manipulate plants and
animals to produce food.
13. When and where did modern humans first come on the geological scene?
The modern humans appeared between 100,000 and 200,000 years before present.
14. What type of equilibrium is present in most natural
systems? Dynamic equilibrium
15. What hypothesis holds that life on the planet plays a large role in regulating
the earth’s conditions?
The Gaia hypothesis
16. What are the main types of feedbacks that exist in natural cycles and
dynamic systems?
The operation of feedbacks
17. Explain the idea of threshold. Crossing a threshold is a function
of? A change in a system may not occur until a threshold is
reached.
Crossing a threshold is a function of the frequency or intensity of the force
for change.
18. What dictates a natural systems ability to maintain or return to their original
condition following a disturbance? What is meant by the terms resistance and
resilience?
The sensitivity to forces for change---considering of feedbacks, thresholds and lags
• Resistance is a natural system’s ability to maintain its original condition with
the same functions and processes.
• Resilience is the ability to return to an original condition.
Issues Concordia University 2024
, lOMoARcPSD|10754654
Global Casino Chapter Questions
Chapter 1: The Physical Environment
1. What is the most commonly used classification system for the physical
environment? Explain each sphere.
The most commonly used classification is that which breaks it down into four
spheres: the lithosphere, the atmosphere, the biosphere and the
hydrosphere.
• The lithosphere is made up of rocks that are typically classified accounting to
their modes of formation (igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary); these rock
types are further subdivided according to the processes that formed them and
other factors such as their chemical composition.
• The atmosphere is manifested at the Earth’s surface by a typical distribution
of climates.
• The biosphere is made up of many types of flora and fauna.
• The hydrosphere can be subdivided according to its chemical constituents
(fresh water and saline, for example), or the condition or phase of the water:
solid ice, liquid water or gaseous vapour.
2. What are ecosystems? How are they classified?
Suites of characteristics are combined in particular areas called ecosystems.
• One approach uses the amount of organic matter or biomass produced per
year – the net production – which is simply the solar energy fixed in the
biomass minus the energy used in producing in producing it by respiration.
• Highly productive ecosystems such as forests, marshes, estuaries and reefs,
and less productive places such as deserts, tundras and the open ocean.
3. What are the main factors determining productivity of ecosystems?
• One of the main factors determining productivity is the availability of nutrients,
key substances for life on earth: a lack of nutrients is often put forward to
explain the low productivity in the open oceans, for example.
• Climate is another important factor. Warm, wet climates promote
higher productivity than cold, dry ones.
4. What is meant by the term “latitudinal gradient”?
There is a general trend of increasing diversity of plant and animal species from the
poles to the equatorial regions.
5. Morphoclimatic regions are combinations of? What are the main ones discussed
in this text? Describe each of these regions.
The morphoclimatic regions are combination of vegetation and climate.
•
6. What are cycles of matter?
In the cycles of matter, molecules are formed and reformed by chemical and
biological reactions and are manifested as physical changes in the material
concerned.
7. Explain the main cycles including the hydrological, carbon and nitrogen cycles?
• Water is continually exchanged between the Earth’s surface and the
atmosphere through evaporation, transpiration from plants and animals, and
precipitation.
• Carbon reaches these stores by the processes of sedimentation and evaporation,
and is released from rocks by weathering, vulcanism and sea-floor spreading.
Carbon also reaches the atmosphere through the respiration of plants and
, lOMoARcPSD|10754654
Global Casino Chapter Questions
animals.
•
, lOMoARcPSD|10754654
Global Casino Chapter Questions
8. The flow of solar energy is traced through which chain? What is at the base of
this chain?
The flow of converted solar energy through living organisms can be traced up
a hierarchy of life-forms known as a food chain.
The plants are at the base of this chain, so called producers.
Producers------first-order consumers-----primary carnivores------secondary carnivores
9. Each stage in the chain is known as?
Each stage in the chain is known as trophic level.
10. What happens to available energy as you climb up this
chain? Declines
11. What happens to the # and size of animals as you climb the chain? Why does
this occur?
With each trophic level, less energy is available to successively larger individuals and
thus the number of individuals decreases.
The available energy declines along the food chain away from the plant and animals
also tend to be bigger at each sequential trophic level.
12. Give some examples of how human actions can affect these various chains or cycles.
• The burning of fossil fuels, which liberates carbon by oxidation.
• The cycle of mineral in the rock cycle is affected by the construction industry.
• Human activity affects the hydrological cycle by diverting natural flows: the
damming of rivers or extracting groundwater for human use.
• The nitrogen cycle is affected by concentrating nitrogen in particular places such
as by spreading fertilizers on fields.
• Food chains are widely affected: human populations manipulate plants and
animals to produce food.
13. When and where did modern humans first come on the geological scene?
The modern humans appeared between 100,000 and 200,000 years before present.
14. What type of equilibrium is present in most natural
systems? Dynamic equilibrium
15. What hypothesis holds that life on the planet plays a large role in regulating
the earth’s conditions?
The Gaia hypothesis
16. What are the main types of feedbacks that exist in natural cycles and
dynamic systems?
The operation of feedbacks
17. Explain the idea of threshold. Crossing a threshold is a function
of? A change in a system may not occur until a threshold is
reached.
Crossing a threshold is a function of the frequency or intensity of the force
for change.
18. What dictates a natural systems ability to maintain or return to their original
condition following a disturbance? What is meant by the terms resistance and
resilience?
The sensitivity to forces for change---considering of feedbacks, thresholds and lags
• Resistance is a natural system’s ability to maintain its original condition with
the same functions and processes.
• Resilience is the ability to return to an original condition.
