Practice IB Environmental systems and societies (ESS) Topic 2.3 Biogeochemical Cycles with authentic exam-style questions for both SL and HL students. This question bank focuses on the exact syllabus content for 2.3 Biogeochemical Cycles and mirrors Paper 1, 2 style where relevant.
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Explain the First Law of Thermodynamics and its relevance to ecosystem energy flow.
Outline four ways that the conversion of primary forests to intensive agricultural land may influence processes in the carbon cycle.
Natural gas is a resource that can be exploited from geological reserves. Discuss how the value of this resource to a society may vary over time.
To what extent are the impacts of global climate change better addressed through radical shifts in human lifestyle and consumption than through large-scale technocentric geoengineering?
The following figure (Figure 1) shows the average residence times of water within four different global storages:
Using Figure 1, identify the storage with the longest average residence time and the storage with the shortest average residence time. Identify two other storages shown in Figure 1.
Explain how solar radiation drives flows in the global hydrological cycle, with reference to processes shown or implied by Figure 1.
Discuss how differences in residence time among global water storages (as shown in Figure 1) influence the impacts and management of human pressures on the hydrological cycle.
Describe the process of photosynthesis and its role in ecosystem energy flow.
Define the terms "energy" and "matter" in the context of ecosystem processes.