Cold Environments | AQA GCSE Geography (8035)
Cold Environments
- 54 questions
- 4 subtopics
- Paper 1
- Paper 1
Cold Environments is examined in Paper 1, Living with the physical environment.
It covers cold environment characteristics, interdependence and adaptations, cold environment biodiversity, opportunities and challenges of developing a cold environment and protecting wilderness: balancing development and conservation.
Sample questions from Cold Environments
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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Cold environment characteristics, interdependence and adaptations
How are the climate, the permafrost and the soil of a cold environment linked in summer?
Show the answer
The cold keeps the ground frozen, and because meltwater cannot drain away through the permafrost the thin soil above is left waterlogged and boggy. -
Cold environment characteristics, interdependence and adaptations
Name two ways, besides thick fur, that animals get through a cold environment winter.
Show the answer
Many hibernate or migrate to warmer areas until the snow melts, and some grow a white winter coat that hides them against the snow. -
Cold environment biodiversity
How does a warming climate threaten the species of a cold environment?
Show the answer
Shrubs and trees spread polewards and out-compete the mosses, lichens and low plants, while animals that depend on snow and ice lose the habitat they need. -
Cold environment biodiversity
Why is over-fishing such a serious threat in polar seas?
Show the answer
Fish and krill are the food of seals, whales and seabirds, so taking too many removes the base of the whole food web. -
Opportunities and challenges of developing a cold environment
What is meant by inaccessibility, and why does it hold back development in a cold environment?
Show the answer
There are very few roads, railways or ports, so people and supplies must be flown in or shipped during the brief ice-free season, which is slow and expensive. -
Opportunities and challenges of developing a cold environment
Which minerals are mined in Alaska?
Show the answer
Zinc and lead from the Red Dog mine in the far north-west, one of the world's largest zinc mines, and gold from mines such as Fort Knox near Fairbanks. -
Protecting wilderness: balancing development and conservation
Give two reasons why damage to a cold wilderness has to be prevented rather than repaired afterwards.
Show the answer
Species already live at the limit of what they can survive, and growth is so slow that harm lasts for decades and some of it can never be undone. -
Protecting wilderness: balancing development and conservation
What can a government do to limit how much of a cold wilderness is developed?
Show the answer
Create national parks and protected reserves, and refuse or restrict the licences that companies need before they can drill, mine or fish.
The 4 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Cold environment characteristics, interdependence and adaptations | Polar and tundra environments, their long freezing winters and low precipitation, permafrost and the active layer, nutrient-poor soils, the links between plants, animals and people, and how plants and animals adapt to the cold. | 10 |
| Cold environment biodiversity | Why so few species live in the cold and why that makes the ecosystem fragile, and the threats from warming, thawing permafrost, oil spills, roads, over-fishing, pollution and hunting. | 10 |
| Opportunities and challenges of developing a cold environment | Mineral extraction, energy, fishing and tourism as opportunities, the challenges of extreme cold, inaccessibility and building on permafrost, and Alaska's oil, Trans-Alaska Pipeline, mines, fisheries and tourism, with the Exxon Valdez spill. | 21 |
| Protecting wilderness: balancing development and conservation | Why cold regions count as wilderness and matter to scientists, climate and indigenous people, why damage must be prevented, and the roles of technology, governments, international agreements and conservation groups. | 13 |
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Nearby topics
AQA GCSE Geography Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 1,429 questions with their answers.