Unit Study Guide: Humans and Their Environment
GHS Science
Honors Biology
UNIT 1: Chapters 34, 37, and 38
UNDERSTANDINGS:
A. The use of resources by human populations may affect
the quality of the environment
B. New technologies and changes in lifestyle can have
positive and/or negative effects on the environment
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
1. How does the accumulation of carbon dioxide (CO2) in
the atmosphere accelerate the greenhouse effect,
causing climatic changes?
2. How pollutants effect the diversity and size of
populations?
3. How can humans improve air and water quality?
4. How does human use of land and natural resources
affect the quality of the environment?
STUDENTS WILL KNOW:
A. The chemical cycling of carbon.
B. The impact of rapid human population growth on
ecosystems.
C. That the burning of fossil fuels increase carbon dioxide
in the atmosphere.
D. How the greenhouse effect may raise global
temperatures/climate change.
E. Major sources of water pollution including mercury,
phosphates and nitrates.
F. The bioaccumulation of various pollutants have an
impact on organisms.
G. The environmental impacts of landfills and
incineration of waste materials.
H. That some human transportation and land usage has
an impact of ecosystems.
STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO:
1. Describe how carbon is recycled throughout an
ecosystem.
2. Assess the impact of human population growth on an
ecosystem.
3. Explain how the burning of fossil fuels affects global
temperature.
4. Assess the impact on specific types of water pollution
on biodiversity and human health.
5. Explain the short- and long-terms impacts of landfills
and incineration of waste materials on the quality of
the environment.
6. Analyze their individual impact on their ecosystem.
(Ecological Footprint)
Unit 1 Vocabulary
Biogeochemical cycles
Ecosystem
Fossil fuels
Combustion
Atmosphere
Pollutants
Bioaccumulation/Biomagnification
Greenhouse Effect
Greenhouse Gases
Global Climate Change
Mercury
Phosphates
Nitrates
Hypoxia
Eutrophication
Dead Zone
Landfills
Groundwater
Runoff
Brownfield Sites
Remediation
Carbon
Abiotic
Biotic
Reservoirs
Carbon Footprint
Trophic levels
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1. Ecologists study how organisms interact with their environment at several levels. Define each of these four levels and
provide an example. (Textbook page 680)
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2. What factors influence life in a biosphere? On your response, be sure to include and define the terms biotic, abiotic,
physical factors, and chemical factors. (Textbook pages 680-683)
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3. Describe how organisms are related to one another in a food chain. Identify and discuss each
trophic level using the terrestrial food chain provided to the left. How much energy is retained at
each step? How does primary production play role? (Textbook pages 744-745, 750-753)
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4. Define atmosphere and describe what it does for our Earth.
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5.
a)
b)
c)
d)
Diagram the carbon cycle. (Textbook page 753, 767)
How does carbon enter a deer’s body?
Identify two ways this element can leave the deer’s body.
What two processes keep the levels of CO2 constant in the biosphere normally?
How have humans altered the cycling of carbon?
6. What is the greenhouse effect? In your response, be sure to define and provide examples of greenhouse gases.
How does the combustion reaction play a role? (textbook pages 766 – 769)
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7. Ice sheets have one particularly special property. They allow us to go back in time and to sample accumulation, air
temperature and air chemistry from another time. Ice core records allow us to generate continuous reconstructions of
past climate, going back at least 800,000 years. By looking at past concentrations of greenhouse gasses in layers in ice
cores, scientists can calculate how modern amounts of carbon dioxide and methane compare to those of the past, and,
essentially, compare past concentrations of greenhouse gasses to temperature. Evaluate the data below. Identify two
CLAIMS that can be made from the data and support them with EVIDENCE.
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8. Diagram the water cycle. Be sure to include and define the following terms: precipitation, condensation,
evaporation, radiation, infiltration, aquifer, transpiration, and runoff. (Textbook page 695)
9. How does global climate change impact the water cycle?
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10. Diagram the nitrogen cycle. (textbook pages 754-756)
a) Nitrogen is required for the synthesis of which organic compounds?
b) Explain how atmospheric nitrogen makes its way into a mammal. Identify the chemical forms of nitrogen involved,
the reactions that convert nitrogen from one chemical form to another, and any microorganisms required for each
chemical conversion.
c) Explain how the nitrogen in organisms is converted back into atmospheric nitrogen.
d) Why do farmers frequently include legumes as part of a crop rotation?
e) Why do farmers frequently use commercial fertilizers to increase the yield of their crops?
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11. How is hypoxia caused? In your explanation, include the terms eutrophication, nitrates, phosphates, decomposers,
and algae bloom. (textbook 756)
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12. For each of the specific types of water pollution listed below, make a table to help organize your explanation of its
specific impact on biodiversity and human health.
Type of
Pollution
Major Source (Where
does it come from?)
How does it enter the
ecosystem? (i.e. runoff,
leaching, etc…)
Identify one specific technological solution
that reduces the impact of this type of
pollution.
DDT
Dirt/Sediment
Mercury
Nitrates
Phosphates
13. Name and explain the concept illustrated in the image to the right. How are the
small fish affected in comparison to the large fish? Justify your answer.
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14. What is a Brownfield Site?
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15. How and why should a brownfield site be remediated? What are the benefits to having remediated land available?
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16. List two direct effects of human population growth on an ecosystem.
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17. If you had a choice, would you prefer a landfill or incinerator in your neighborhood? Please explain the reason for
your choice in terms of how the solution is engineered to minimize pollution and its specific impact on human health
and the environment.
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18. What is a carbon footprint? List 5 ways you can personally reduce your footprint.
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