QUESTION 1 i) What is meant by BOD? (Biological Oxygen demand)?

Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) is a measure of the oxygen used by microorganisms to decompose this waste. If there is a large quantity of organic waste in the water supply, there will also be a lot of bacteria present working to decompose this waste. ii) Explain the causes of high BOD in natural environment. BOD - biological Oxygen Demand is a measure of how fast biological organisms use up oxygen in a body of water. In natural environment, you have more living organisms in water and they use up Oxygen leaving the water containing less oxygen. So, BOD is higher. QUESTION 2 Explain FIVE functions of wetlands Wetland Functions 1. Act like giant sponges to soak up water, reduce floods, and recharge groundwater. 2. Provide resting place for migrating birds. 3. Filter out pollutants, trap sediments, and improve water quality 4. Provide water, food, protective cover and breeding areas for wildlife. 5. Reduce soil erosion by slowing runoff from storms and spring runoff. 6. Provide nursery areas and protection for fish. 7. Supply shade, water, and forage for livestock. 8. Act as carbon sinks, helping to keep atmospheric carbon in balance (reduce global warming). 9. Supply agricultural products: cranberries, peat, blueberries 10. Provide recreational, educational, and scientific opportunities. QUESTION 3 List FIVE sources of indoor air pollution. 1. Carbon Monoxide: An invisible, odorless, and tasteless gas produced by the incomplete burning of carbon based fuels like gas and oil in devices like furnaces, gas ranges, and non-electric space and hot water heaters. 2. Combustion by-products (CBPs): Gases and particles created by cigarette smoking, fireplaces, woodstoves, furnaces, gas ranges, and non-electric space and hot water heaters. 3. Dust: Believe it or not, the average 6-room home accumulates roughly 40 pounds of dust each year, and here's not much we can do about it because dust- is being

made around us all the time as the materials we se in our daily lives breakdown and shed microscopic particles. Household dust can contain tiny pieces of extiles, wood, and food; mold spores; pollens; insect fragments; furs and hairs; and particles of smoke, paint, nylon, rubber, fiberglass, plastic, and paper. 4. Formaldehyde: A chemical used in everything from carpet and pressed wood products like plywood to bed linens. Formaldehyde is a volatile organic compound (VOC) but it's so common that some experts believe it to be the single most important indoor air pollutant. For this reason, it warrants a separate mention among the many hundreds of VOCs that can exist in indoor air. Formaldehyde is colorless gas with a sharp odor, although at the concentrations typically found in indoor air, it is undetectable by the nose. 5. Composite or pressed-wood products are a common source of indoor formaldehyde. Wood resins and glues containing it are found in particleboard, plywood, paneling, furniture, wallboard and ceiling panels. Other sources include carpets, decorative wallpapers, and fabrics in which formaldehyde is used as a finish to create permanent press, flame-resistant, water-repellant, and shrinkproof materials. Formaldehyde can also come from gas stoves, glues, room deodorizers, cosmetics, personal care products, paper grocery bags, waxed paper, paper tissues and towels, and even feminine protection products. 6. Nitric Oxide and Nitrogen Dioxide (Nitrogen Oxides): Colorless, odorless and tasteless gases produced by gas ranges. Ozone: A gas created by the breakdown of volatile compounds found in solvents; reactions between sunlight and chemicals that are produced by burning fossil fuels; and reactions between chemicals found in materials like paint and hair spray. 7. Most ozone in the home comes from outside and results predominantly from automobile exhaust which is why this pollutant is more problematic in urban and suburban homes than rural homes. Ozone can also come from copy machines, laser printers, and ultraviolet lights. 8. Particulates: Tiny particles of soot and other materials. The biggest sources of indoor particulates are windblown dust, house dust, and tobacco smoke. Secondary sources include wood stoves and appliances like furnaces and nonelectric heaters. 9. Pesticides: The mere act of applying these toxic materials spreads them around the house and introduces them to indoor air. Residues that remain continue to pollute the home and its occupants. 10. Radon: A natural radioactive gas that seeps from the rocks and soil surrounding certain homes. Radon is odorless, colorless, and tasteless and largely a problem only in basements in regions where soils have a large radon content. 11. Tobacco smoke: A mixture of over 4,700 different chemical compounds and the, single most preventable indoor air pollutant on this list.

QUESTION 4 i) Explain why the biomass of primary consumers is less than the biomass of primary producers. A pyramid of biomass is a representation of the amount of energy contained in biomass, at different trophic levels for a given point in time. The amount of energy available to one trophic level is limited by the amount stored by successively less total energy as you move up trophic levels. In general, we would expect that higher trophic levels would have less total biomass than those below, because less energy is available to them. ii) Explain how harmful insecticides can be found in organisms at the higher trophic levels. A lot of the total energy and organic matter of an ecosystem is tied up in dead bodies. Dead bodies contain energy (in the form of potential energy found in the chemical bonds). They also contain organic (molecules containing carbon) and inorganic matter (e.g. iron, vitamins). Detrivores (scavengers) such as corpse beetles, jackals and vultures, and saprophytes such as bacteria and fungi break down this dead organic matter. As a result, decomposers recycle a small part of the energy, but they significantly recycle the organic matter such as carbon, nitrogen and oxygen contained in these dead bodies. All decomposers such as bacteria and fungi use this food in cellular respiration just as other consumers do. Therefore, they too release carbon dioxide and water back into the ecosystem, making them available to other consumers. QUESTION 5 i) Reason studying species that are threatened with extinction? That threatened specie is filling an ecological niche one that might have a domino effect this is only part of why endangered species are studied. ii) Explain how geology, embryology and molecular biology supported the evolution? The first of all everything started out with geology, because first the earth formed hense geology. next molecules started to form proto bacteria that only multiplied by spliting, AKA molecular biology. and finaly the bacteria evolved into creatures that finaly used embryos to create a new living creature hense the evolution theory by Charles Darwin.

PART B INSTRUCTION: Answer ALL questions. QUESTION 1 Question 1 Sanitary landfill is a form of waste treatment by burying waste materials. i. What are the physical factors to be considered before building a sanitary landfill? Basic requirements As a minimum, four basic conditions should be met by any site design and operation before it can be regarded as a sanitary landfill: Full or partial hydrogeological isolation: if a site cannot be located on land which naturally contains leachate security, additional lining materials should be brought to the site to reduce leakage from the base of the site (leachate) and help reduce contamination of groundwater and surrounding soil. If a liner - soil or synthetic - is provided without a system of leachate collection, all leachate will eventually reach the surrounding environment. Leachate collection and treatment must be stressed as a basic requirement. Formal engineering preparations: designs should be developed from local geological and hydrogeological investigations. A waste disposal plan and a final restoration plan should also be developed. Permanent control: trained staff should be based at the landfill to supervise site preparation and construction, the depositing of waste and the regular operation and maintenance. Planned waste emplacement and covering: waste should be spread in layers and compacted. A small working area which is covered daily helps make the waste less accessible to pests and vermin. ii. Explain how pollutants can enter the environment from sanitary landfills. Sanitary landfills often contain both domestic garbage and industrial wastes. The wastes break down anaerobically within the landfill. After a period of time,the remainder of the wastes consists of refractory organic molecules, similar to those found in soils. The leachate flows from sanitary landfill are controlled by the percolation rate (t.e the precipication-runoff-evapotranspiration change in water storage). This could very considerably, often being between 15 to 50 percent of precipitation. The pollution lead from a landfill also depend on the leachate quality, e.g, the concentrations of present pollutants. The leachate flow, however, is often the most important factor controlling the pollution lead (e.g the mass flow). The primary concentrations of pollutants are mainly controlled by physico-chemical and biochemical process, such as solubilization, sortion, ion-exchange or biological degradation. Physico-chemical processes act as sinks for pollutants, resulting in a substantial decrease in pollutant

mobility. The apparent effect of this phenomenon is lower concentrations of pollutants in the leachate. Leachate quality in sanitary landfill is to a very high degree, dependent on biological degradation. It obviously will control the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) of the leachate as well as metal and sulphate concentrations. Any landfill containing biodegradable material will undergo separate degradation phases., although the necessary time might differ substantially from one case to another. When the landfill passes through the se phase, the leachate quality changes from a high pollution level to a rather low pollution level. iii. Explain why source reduction is preferred than recycling and reusing. Saves Natural Resources - By making products from recycled materials instead of virgin materials, we conserve land and reduce the need to drill for oil and dig for minerals. Saves Energy - It usually takes less energy to make recycled products; recycled aluminum, for example, takes 95% less energy than new aluminum from bauxite ore. Saves Clean Air and Water - In most cases, making products from recycled materials creates less air pollution and water pollution than making products from virgin materials. Saves Landfill Space - When the materials that you recycle go into new products, they don't go into landfills or incinerators, so landfill space is conserved. Saves Money and Creates Jobs - The recycling process creates far more jobs than landfills or incinerators, and recycling can frequently be the least expensive waste management method for cities and towns.

References Dr. Ho Wei Song & Wong Sin Yeng. (2007) SBBI 4303 Environmental, Biology. Oum. http://pkukmweb.ukm.my http://www.doe.gov.my http://www.fkkksa.utm.my http://www.sabah.gov.my Mah Chee Wai & Dr. Tina Lim Awee Kim (2005). Ulangkaji Total SPM Biologi. Petaling Jaya. Sasbadi Sdn. Bhd. Noorlaili Ismail. (1998). Nota Komprehensif SPM Biologi. Petaling Jaya. PrestonCorporation Sdn. Bhd.