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Chapter 1
Environmental Foundations and Sustainability
3 topics with full worked solutions
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Chapter 1
Environmental Foundations and Sustainability
3 topics with full worked solutions
Environmental Perspectives and Values
Factors shaping environmental viewpoints, personal and societal values, contrasting worldviews, and the historical development of environmental movements.
Understanding Environmental Systems
Systems thinking, different types of systems, equilibrium and feedback processes, tipping points, resilience, and the use of models to represent environmental interactions.
Sustainability and Sustainable Development
Core principles of sustainability, sustainable development, environmental justice, sustainability indicators, citizen science, sustainability frameworks, and alternative economic models.
2
Chapter 2
Ecology and Ecosystem Processes
5 topics with full worked solutions
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Chapter 2
Ecology and Ecosystem Processes
5 topics with full worked solutions
Organisms, Populations and Ecological Communities
Ecological systems, classification and taxonomic methods, human populations, factors affecting populations, population growth, population investigation, ecosystem functioning, advanced classification, fundamental and realised niches, and life-cycle strategies.
Energy Flow, Biomass and Productivity
Energy transfer through ecosystems, photosynthesis, respiration, trophic levels, food chains and food webs, energy losses, productivity and biomass, ecological pyramids, human impacts on energy and matter flows, autotrophs and heterotrophs, primary and secondary productivity, sustainable yield, and ecological efficiency.
Biogeochemical and Nutrient Cycles
Major biogeochemical cycles, carbon cycling, human disruption of the carbon cycle, strategies to reduce carbon impacts, carbon stores, the nitrogen cycle, and human influences on nitrogen cycling.
Climate Systems and Global Biomes
Weather and climate, major biomes, atmospheric circulation, ocean currents, different climate types, El Niño–Southern Oscillation, and links between tropical cyclones and climate change.
Ecosystem Succession, Stability and Change
Zonation, ecological succession, ecosystem resilience and stability, factors influencing succession, changes in productivity during succession, reproductive strategies, and the development of climax communities.
3
Chapter 3
Biodiversity, Evolution and Conservation
2 topics with full worked solutions
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Chapter 3
Biodiversity, Evolution and Conservation
2 topics with full worked solutions
Biodiversity and Evolutionary Processes
Biodiversity and ecosystem resilience, evolutionary processes, biodiversity assessment and management, genetic diversity, reproductive isolation, biodiversity hotspots, human effects on evolution, the geological timescale, mass extinction events, and the Anthropocene.
Conservation, Restoration and Regeneration
Biodiversity preservation, conservation strategies, habitat management, protected-area design, rewilding, planetary boundaries for biodiversity, conservation perspectives, conservation organisations, habitat restoration, assessment of conservation success, and ecotourism.
4
Chapter 4
Water Systems and Aquatic Resources
4 topics with full worked solutions
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Chapter 4
Water Systems and Aquatic Resources
4 topics with full worked solutions
Water Systems and Ocean Processes
The hydrological cycle, human impacts on water systems, physical and chemical properties of water, carbon sequestration and ocean acidification, water stratification, upwelling, and ocean circulation.
Water Access, Use and Security
Factors affecting freshwater availability, methods of increasing supply, responses to water scarcity, freshwater use, water stress, strategies for managing water stress, and issues of water equity.
Aquatic Food Production and Sustainable Harvesting
Aquatic food webs, rising human demand, overexploitation and unsustainable harvesting, mitigation strategies, aquaculture, climate change and ocean acidification, ocean productivity and nutrient dynamics, fish-stock assessment, sustainable harvesting, recovery of depleted fish populations, and regulation and ethics of marine harvesting.
Water Pollution and Water Quality
Sources of water pollution, plastic contamination, water-quality monitoring, eutrophication, pollution-management strategies, water quality in aquatic ecosystems, sewage treatment, water-quality indicators, drinking-water standards, and approaches to reducing pollution.
5
Chapter 5
Land, Soil and Food Systems
1 topic with full worked solutions
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Chapter 5
Land, Soil and Food Systems
1 topic with full worked solutions
Soil Systems and Soil Processes
Soil composition and structure, soil functions and properties, soil profiles and horizons, factors affecting soil formation, variation in soil characteristics, and carbon release from soils.
6
Chapter 6
Atmosphere and Climate Change
4 topics with full worked solutions
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Chapter 6
Atmosphere and Climate Change
4 topics with full worked solutions
Atmospheric Systems and Processes
Atmospheric composition and functions, the greenhouse effect, atmospheric dynamics, changes with altitude, Milankovitch cycles, hothouse Earth conditions, and links between atmospheric composition and the evolution of life.
Climate Mitigation, Adaptation and Intervention
International climate action, decarbonisation, mitigation and adaptation strategies, broader climate responses, greenhouse-gas emission scenarios, climate technologies, geoengineering, challenges of climate intervention, and differing stakeholder perspectives.
Stratospheric Ozone and Atmospheric Protection
Ultraviolet radiation, stratospheric ozone, the Montreal Protocol, ozone depletion, polar ozone loss, and the environmental roles of chlorofluorocarbons and hydrofluorocarbons.
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Chapter 7
Natural Resources, Energy and Waste
3 topics with full worked solutions
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Chapter 7
Natural Resources, Energy and Waste
3 topics with full worked solutions
Natural Capital and Resource Management
Natural capital and natural income, valuation of natural resources, sustainable resource use, resource security and choices, uses of natural capital, environmental impact assessment, unsustainable exploitation of renewable resources, and natural-resource security.
Energy Resources and Energy Security
Energy sources and sustainability, patterns of energy consumption, energy choices, storage and conservation, energy security, fossil-fuel reserves, nuclear power, and battery-storage technologies.
Solid Waste and Waste Management
Types and sources of waste, environmental and social consequences of waste, disposal methods, and strategies for reducing and managing solid waste.
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Chapter 8
Human Populations and Urban Environments
3 topics with full worked solutions
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Chapter 8
Human Populations and Urban Environments
3 topics with full worked solutions
Population Dynamics and Environmental Pressure
Human population change, approaches to managing population growth, population composition and modelling, links between population growth and environmental stress, dependency ratios, population momentum, population patterns and trends, and environmental migration.
Urban Systems and Sustainable City Planning
Characteristics of urban areas, urbanisation, urban expansion, urban planning, ecological approaches to city design, urban sustainability models, and green architecture.
Urban Air Pollution and Atmospheric Quality
Causes of urban air pollution, pollution-management strategies, acid rain, photochemical smog, and the environmental and health impacts of tropospheric ozone.
Need theory or case studies first?
Read the Revision Notes before tackling exam questions.