AQA Biology 4.7.3.2

Waste management and pollution

More people, each using more, means more waste. Badly handled, it pollutes water, air and land, and every one of the three kills living things.

Combined Science · Higher tier

Start here

Two stretches of one river.

Upstream, a river runs past fields and woods. Further down, a pipe from a town empties untreated sewage into it. Scientists count the different kinds of animals in each stretch.

If you had to guess, which stretch has more kinds of living things?

Two drivers

More people, and more per person.

The human population is growing rapidly, and the standard of living is rising. Both mean more resources are used and more waste is produced. Unless waste and chemical materials are properly handled, more pollution will be caused. Change each driver and watch the waste.

Population

Waste per person (standard of living)

Double one driver, then the other.

One town · three places

Pollution in water, in air, on land.

Tap each place to see its sources and what they do to living things.

Sources

Sewage; fertiliser washed off fields; toxic chemicals.

Effect on living things

Kills organisms living in rivers, lakes and seas.

Biodiversity

The variety of all the different species of organisms in an ecosystem. Pollution kills plants and animals, which can reduce biodiversity: it falls when species are lost from the area.

Handled properly

Treating sewage, filtering gases from chimneys and recycling all cut pollution. How sewage is treated is in Potable water.

Think again · good for crops

“Fertiliser helps plants grow, so it can’t be a pollutant.”

Your call

Choose

Rain washes fertiliser off a field into a river. What happens?

Sort

Water, air or land?

Place each source by where it pollutes.

Tap a card, then tap the box it belongs in. Tap a placed card to take it back.

Command words in this lesson

Describe: Name the place and the source: water, from sewage.
Explain: Pollutant, then organisms killed, then species lost, so biodiversity falls.
Suggest: Apply the idea to a new place or a new pollutant.

Key fact

Pollution can occur in water, in air and on land. Pollution kills plants and animals, which can reduce biodiversity.

Key note · AQA 4.7.3.2

Waste management and pollution

The human population is growing rapidly and the standard of living is rising.
So more resources are used and more waste is produced.
Unless waste and chemical materials are properly handled, more pollution is caused.
Water: sewage, fertiliser, toxic chemicals. Air: smoke, acidic gases. Land: landfill, toxic chemicals.
Pollution kills plants and animals, which can reduce biodiversity.
Biodiversity is the variety of all the different species of organisms in an ecosystem.

Photograph this card. Tomorrow, cover it and say each line first.

Previous and next

Connects to

Ask MrBadmus

Not sure which place a pollutant belongs to?

The waste bars are relative amounts, not data. The town diagram is schematic.