Geography 2009 HSC Marathon (1 Viewer)

kbsb

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ok..im sure u know how this works....i ask a question and then whoever answers must post another question...

Q) What are the four factors that infleunce ecosystem vulnerability and resilience
 

Dibbles

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There's actually more than four factors which influence the vulnerability of ecosystems. These include: BILLSSUP
Biodiversity
Inertia, constancy, resilience
Linkages and interdependence
Location
Sustainability of resources
Spatial extent
Unpredictability
Population characteristics
The Geography syllabus is really messy and it pisses me off because there are many examples where the syllabus is really dated.

Question: What are the characteristics of World cities?
 

kbsb

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Question: What are the characteristics of World cities?
Characteristics of world cities are: finance and business centres (New yokr and london are the economic powerhouses in the global economy), centres for culture and dstinctuive lifestyles (eg. Tokyo--need for speed kill bill, film and entertainment), technolgical and communication hubs (eg Tokyo-Maglev), tourism meccas (eg paris-largest fasion industry, and eiffel tower-architecture)...........................(feel free to add on to this)

Q) What changes have led to the increaseing role of the regional centre and demise of small town (you can just dot point)
 

bayan92

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@ Dibbles - the four factors affecting the vulnerability and resilience of ecosystems are:

- natural stress
– impacts due to human induced modifications to energy flows
- nutrient cycling
- relationships between biophysical components

The causes of ecosystem vulnerability include:

  • Location
  • Extent
  • Biodiversity - genetic, species, ecosystems
  • Linkages
 

Dibbles

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@ Dibbles - the four factors affecting the vulnerability and resilience of ecosystems are:

- natural stress
– impacts due to human induced modifications to energy flows
- nutrient cycling
- relationships between biophysical components

The causes of ecosystem vulnerability include:

  • Location
  • Extent
  • Biodiversity - genetic, species, ecosystems
  • Linkages

Um, i'm pretty sure those causes are infact factors that influence.

But i'm not saying you're wrong, this question better not be asked because you can answer it in so many different ways
 

kbsb

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Um, i'm pretty sure those causes are infact factors that influence.

But i'm not saying you're wrong, this question better not be asked because you can answer it in so many different ways

I would talk about the four factors that cause ecosystem vulnerabiity and resilience (location...etc.) and how natural and human induced modification ot eneregy flows etc., affect tehse leading to vulnerability etc,
 

bayan92

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Just quietly I think if the Ecosystems question is not on Biophysical Interactions it will be.

Explain the factors which place ecosystems at risk and the reasons for their
protection.


It is an outcome and they have used an outcome as a question before. It will be an open question where more than one case study can be used. How would you answer it?
 

kbsb

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Just quietly I think if the Ecosystems question is not on Biophysical Interactions it will be.

Explain the factors which place ecosystems at risk and the reasons for their
protection.

It is an outcome and they have used an outcome as a question before. It will be an open question where more than one case study can be used. How would you answer it?
Factors that place ecosystems at risk-natural stresses, human stresses to energy flows, nutrinet cycles and relationships between biophysical components and how they lead to fragmentataion, small extent, location (near human, specilaisaion, salinity, wind etc,), linklages (eg. overreliance on keystone species etc,)

Reasons for management- 5 main ones-utility heritage, intrinsic, diversity and natural change AND vulnerabiity, human stresses etc.
 

kbsb

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correct me if im wrong...this type of question can be answered in a million ways
 

Allisonius

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Just quietly I think if the Ecosystems question is not on Biophysical Interactions it will be.

Explain the factors which place ecosystems at risk and the reasons for their
protection.

It is an outcome and they have used an outcome as a question before. It will be an open question where more than one case study can be used. How would you answer it?
The factors I would mention as placing ecosystems at risk would be:
  • Human induced modifications (intentional and inadvertent) such as species introduction, habitat destruction, hunting, pollution and so on.
  • Natural sources of stress such as drought, flood, fire, volcanic eruption, disease etc
In both of those I would go into specific examples from our two case studies, coastal dunes and rainforests.
And as for reasons for the protection of ecosystems I would talk about the "values" of ecosystems. Such as:
  • Heritage Value
  • Intrinsic Value
  • Utility Value
  • Maintaining Biodiversity
  • Maintaining Intergenerational Equity
 

sweetphilly92

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Basically, you can coathanger any influence on vulnerability and resilience on the B.E.L.L system:-

B- Biodiversity:- High biodiversity = resilient, low biodiversity = vulnerable.
E- Extent:- Large Extent = Resilient (depending on the ecosystem). Scattered, Fragmented, Small Extent = Vulnerable.
L- Location:- Near threats? That's a bad thing = vulnerable. Secluded, untouched = resilient.
L- Linkages:- Think food web. More linkages, more resilience. If all organisms are reliant on just the one primary producer (coral, in the GBR case study), then the ecosystem is more vulnerable as a result, as a small change can cause a big effect, therefore, due to the concept of dynamic equilibrium, this means a new ecosystem with different functioning can occur with less of a change. U can peg energy flows and nutrient cycling in here too.

You can talk about values - but don't harp on them, it's not part of the question.

Q:- Analyse the networks present between world cities, and the results of globalisation in relation to the role of world cities and mega cities.
 

sweetphilly92

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Explain the factors which place ecosystems at risk and the reasons for their
protection.
I don't think it will be that open, I do think that you will need more than one case study though.

It could be that you need to compare the factors affecting vuln and res between one case study and an ecosystem present in the syllabus, or evaluate/compare the management techniques between the two.
 

kbsb

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Q:- Analyse the networks present between world cities, and the results of globalisation in relation to the role of world cities and mega cities.
Network present betwen world cities-trade, flows of capital, telcommunications, TNC dominance and location, cultural networks, media, airline and transport, non voice system, western pacific subsystem northern european subsystem and northern american subsystem...

Result of globalisation- international division of labour, manafacturing in developing and business services and finance in world cities, mogration, technology advances etc.

  • In relation to role of mega cities -international and national functions, dependence, manafacturing, infromal economy, mechanisation
  • In relation to role of world cities- finance, cultural integrataion and homogenisation, technolgoy and communication
 

kbsb

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Q0 Describe a response to a health issue in mega cities
 

sweetphilly92

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Firstly, I doubt the questions will be that specific - The syllabus uses the words SUCH AS to make it more open (including topics not specifically on the list)

However, in relation to health, the below responses have been performed:-
Vaccination Programs - Polio and Smallpox
Site and Service projects to provide cleaner water to affected areas, lowers risk of water-borne disease.
Education programs on nutrition, to prevent decisions such as watering down of baby formula and poor nutritional habits.
Development of sewage facilities to accomodate growing demand (70.1% of Cairo now covered by new massive sewage facility, compared to 1/18th of the city with the 1900's system)

Sorry i don't have much on health, i have a lot more on Sewage/Services, and Transport.

Q:- Analyse the impacts of modifications to energy flows and nutrient cycling on the vulnerability and resilience of one case study you have studied. (I hated this question in my trial)
 

kbsb

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Q:- Analyse the impacts of modifications to energy flows and nutrient cycling on the vulnerability and resilience of one case study you have studied. (I hated this question in my trial)
Example of ecosystem-Narabeen coastal dunes

Human impacts to energy flows: agricultural system eutrophication, bioaccumulatioon, greenhouse effects, overfishing, exotic species etc.

Impacts of the above-disrupted eneregy flows, low linkage ecosystem, reductio n in bisoidversity etc.

Human impacts to nutrient recycling- salinity, wind, land clearing, removal of plants and animals, air pollution, urban runoff, development, sand mining

Impacts of the above: reduction in biodiversity, trampling, sediment compaction, vulnerability increases etc

Question---evaluate traditional management strategies (not case study question) in terms of ecological sustainability
 

kbsb

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^^^^and also natural stresses such as wind, constructuve and destructive waves, erosion and weatehirng etc,
 

bayan92

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Q. Describe a response to a health issue in mega cities
Health Issue: H1N1
Response: Many NGOs such as the World Health Organization intervene and direct and coordinate healthcare within the UN system. They provide aid to mega cities through providing supplies for and undertaking various health initiatives such as vaccination programs in response in the H1N1 outbreak in Mexico.

They wouldn't ask for a specific health issue just a specific response so it would be something like:

Q. Describe ONE response to health issues in mega cities.

Explain the factors which place ecosystems at risk and the reasons for their protection.
I think it would be highly likely for them to ask a broad question this year as they have been very straightforward for the past few years.

Next Question:
Evaluate the impacts of TWO global changes on local economic activities in general.
 

sweetphilly92

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I doubt that it will even be that general. They can't ask a single issue affecting mega cities, as the term "such as" prevents it. They can ask something like"

Q. Evaluate 3 responses to the challenges of living within mega cities, or
Q. Analyse three challenges of living within mega cities.

But they can't ask 'health' or 'formal employement', cause it goes against those who study mega cities with less prevalent challenges in terms of health, or with challenges not on the list. That's why they've remained broad fir that topic.

In response to that question above:-

Local Economic Activity:- Viticulture + Wine Making.
Global Changes:- Organisational factors - globalisation has led to the dominance of the TNC in the wine markets, puchasing wineries and branding these wines under a single label (Hardy's Wines, Constellation Wines) Banrock Station, has experienced this through the recent purchase of Hardy's Wines (a moderate sized wine company) by Constellation Wines Ltd. These lead to conflict between new and old world producers, also, increases revenue of the local winery due to economy of scale.

Social Changes:- Agin population, population structure has forced many local brands to remarket their products, and increases in revenue are resulting.

This is prob my weakest area.. must restudy this.

Q:- Analyse the nature and spatial patterns of one economic activity that you have studied.
 

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