U116 Environment: journeys through a changing

world

Assignment Booklet 1
2010J

Contents

Tutor-marked assignment TMA U116 01 cut-off date: 29 October 2010 2

Submitting your tutor-marked assignments 2
Learning outcomes 2
TMA U116 01 3
Reference 5
Article for TMA 01 Question 3 6

Copyright © 2010 The Open University WEB 01698 0

3.1
Tutor-marked assignment TMA U116 01
This TMA covers module materials associated with Parts 1 and 2 of Block 1.
You should submit your completed assignment to arrive no later than 12 noon
(UK local time) on the cut-off date of 29 October 2010.
This is your first tutor-marked assignment (TMA) of U116 and it serves as an
introduction to the module assessment. This TMA will give you an opportunity to
communicate with your tutor early on in the module about your progress so far. It
will also introduce you to the sort of feedback you will be receiving from your
tutor throughout the module.
Make sure you have read the U116 Tutor-marked assignment guide that is on the
module website before starting this assignment.

Submitting your tutor-marked assignments

This module uses the electronic TMA (eTMA) system for submission of TMAs.
To submit your TMA, please go to your StudentHome page and follow the link(s)
provided.
If you foresee any difficulty with submitting your assignment on time then you
should contact your tutor well in advance of the cut-off date.
For further information about policy, procedure and general submission of
assignments please refer to the Assessment Handbook, which can also be
accessed via your StudentHome page.
You may submit on paper using the postal system (further details in the
Assessment Handbook) but you must discuss this with your tutor beforehand.

Learning outcomes
This assignment is designed to test the following Block 1 and module learning
outcomes:
� Appreciate some of the interrelationships between humans and environment
on a global scale.
� Be aware of the complexity of environmental issues and problems.
� Appreciate that information is written for a purpose and begin developing
skills of reading and evaluating information presented in a variety of forms.
� Be able to read and interpret a graph and bar chart.
� Appreciate the connection between carbon and climate change.
� Have developed further reading skills and some note-making skills.
� Plan and organise your work and reflect on your learning.

2
TMA U116 01
You should answer ALL FOUR questions in this assignment.
Please note that although this assignment will be marked out of 100, in total the
four questions in this assignment count for 8% of the assessment for the whole
module.

Question 1
This question carries 25% of the marks for this assignment.
In your opinion, what are the most serious environmental issues today? Outline
one global and one local issue and give at least two reasons for each choice.
You will be awarded up to 5 marks for the clarity of your answer.
(Your answer to this question should be a maximum of 250 words in total.)
(25 marks)

Advice on answering Question 1

You may wish to refer back to your answers to Activity 1.1 in Block 1.
Question 1 asks you for your own view, so there is no one right answer. The
process word (the process word tells you what your answer has to ‘do’, see p. 2 of
the U116 Tutor-marked assignment guide) used in Questions 1, 2 and 3, is
‘outline’, which means give the main features.
Word counts are given at this stage for guidance. It is good practice to stay within
the limit for the question.

Question 2
This question carries 30% of the marks for this assignment.
Figure 1 is an indexed graph showing the changes to North Sea fish stocks.
The 1963 populations for each category are set to 100. This means that any
changes in later years are shown as a percentage of the original (1963)
stocks.
700
haddock
600

500
index (1963 = 100)

400

300

200
cod
100
herring
0
1963 1967 1971 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2002
year

Figure 1 Indexed graph showing the changes to North Sea fish stocks between
1963 and 2002 (source: redrawn from ONS, 2006)

3
Answer the following questions in note form:
(a) Outline the main trends in North Sea fish stocks between 1963 and 2002.
(12 Marks)

(b) What further information can you think of that could provide a fuller picture
about North Sea fish stocks?
(3 Marks)

(c) Imagine you have been asked to give a biased view of the information in
Figure 1. How could you use some of the data in the figure selectively to give
the impression that fish stocks are (i) increasing, (ii) decreasing?
(10 Marks)

(d) Comment on the difference in information presented in your answers to (a)

and (c).
(5 Marks)

Advice on answering Question 2

This question assesses your ability to read information from a graph or bar chart,
so look carefully at all the information presented before answering. You may
wish to refer back to the Study Notes on reading graphs and bar charts in Block 1,
Part 1.

Question 3
This question carries 30% of the marks for this assignment.
Read the article ‘Over half of Europe’s amphibians face extinction by 2050’ at
the end of this booklet, then answer the following questions in your own words.
(a) Outline the reasons suggested by the author as to why European amphibians
may be driven to extinction.
Why does the author suggest that amphibians living on islands are more at
risk? Use an example from Block 1, Part 1 of the module material to illustrate
your answer.
(5 Marks)

(b) Using evidence/examples from the article explain what Sir David
Attenborough means when he refers to amphibians ‘playing key roles in the
function of ecosystems’.
(5 Marks)

(c) Attempt to make an estimate of the number of species of amphibians that are
thought to have existed in Northern Europe at the end of the last decade.
(5 Marks)

(d) What are the short- and long-term solutions to the problems of amphibian
extinction?
(5 Marks)

(e) This article has been taken from a UK daily newspaper. For what purposes
may this article have been written? Outline the reasons for your view.
(10 Marks)

4
Advice on answering Question 3
This question assesses your ability to extract information from a passage of
writing and consider its purpose. You may wish to refer back to SAQ 1.1 and the
study notes on reading in Block 1, Part 1.

Question 4
This question carries 15% of the marks for this assignment.
(a) Identify, giving reasons, two things that have gone well with the module so
far and one thing you have found difficult.
(10 marks)

(b) Looking ahead, outline how you might improve your study of the module.
(5 marks)

(Your answer to this question should be a maximum of 200 words in total.)

Advice on answering Question 4
This question gives you an opportunity to think about how you are getting on
with studying the module and to let your tutor know about your progress. How
you answer this is entirely up to you.
The process word used in this question is ‘identify’, which means pick out or
select.

Reference
ONS (2006) ‘North Sea Fish Stocks’, Office for National Statistics,
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=367 (Accessed 3 August
2010).

5
Article for TMA 01 Question 3
Over half of Europe's amphibians face
extinction by 2050
Climate change, disease and urbanisation blamed

British toads and newts among those under threat

Ian Sample
26 September 2008
The Guardian
More than half of all frogs, toads and newts living in Europe could be driven
to extinction within 40 years as climate change, diseases and habitat
destruction take their toll, scientists warned last night.
The majority of the most threatened species live in Mediterranean regions,
which are expected to become warmer and drier. Island species, such as the
Mallorcan midwife toad and Sardinian brook newt, are especially at risk
because they are unable to move to cooler climates.
In Britain, where viruses are already wiping out many hundreds of
amphibians a year, conservationists fear for the future of the common toad,
natterjack toad and crested newt.
Researchers described the bleak outlook for Europe's amphibians at a
meeting of the Zoological Society of London last night. Sir David
Attenborough, who was due to attend the symposium, said: ‘Amphibians are
the lifeblood of many environments, playing key roles in the function of
ecosystems, and it is both extraordinary and terrifying that in just a few
decades the world could lose half of all these species. ‘
One in three of the world's amphibians are already on the International
Union for the Conservation of Nature's red list of endangered species, with
some estimates suggesting 150 species have already become extinct since the
1980s.
The expansion of towns and cities into natural habitats is chiefly to blame for
the amphibians' precarious future, but many scientists believe climate change
and diseases are acting together as a double whammy. ‘A lot of European
amphibians, especially those found in the Mediterranean, cannot move to find
more suitable habitats, because they are surrounded by sea water, which they
can't tolerate, or they are blocked off by mountain ranges, ‘ said Trent Garner,
research scientist at the Zoological Society of London.
Snakes, fish and birds that prey on the amphibians are already showing some
signs of decline as the staple of their diet dies out. The disappearance of some
amphibians is also expected to lead to a rise in insects and other creatures
that amphibians feed on. ‘Given that many of the things that amphibians eat
are the things that destroy our crops or bite us and suck our blood, we might
be feeling some of the effects a bit more directly than we've expected, ‘ said
Garner.
Ten years ago, scientists raised the alarm after finding vast numbers of
amphibians were being wiped out by chytrid fungus, which infects the skin
through which many of the animals drink and breathe. Scientists in Australia
now suspect they have lost nine species to the infection.

6
In recent decades chytrid fungus has spread rapidly, appearing almost
everywhere there are amphibians. Some scientists believe the fungus has
become more deadly as a result of climate change. One alarming case has
been seen in the Penalara national park near Madrid, where the climate has
become more humid and the fungus has caused mass mortality among
amphibians.
Garner and his colleagues based their assessment on published research into
the effects of climate change on amphibian habitats, and believe more than 40
species could be extinct by 2050. One study showed that as global warming
alters the climate in Europe, almost every amphibian habitat would be
affected. ‘It's horrifying to think that you can have a large group of organisms
suffer such a catastrophic decline. Over 150 species may have gone extinct
already in the past few decades and to me that is unacceptable, ‘ said Garner.
In Britain, infections caused by a family of pathogens called ranaviruses,
which emerged in the 1980s, are causing widespread deaths among some of
the most common amphibians. ‘When people find frogs in their gardens that
look emaciated with sores all over their bodies, and quite often with toes
missing, that is probably ranavirus, ‘ said Garner.
Scientists at the meeting will emphasise the need to reduce the effects of
climate change by reining in greenhouse gas emissions, but for many species
that will come too late. In the short term, conservationists are urging zoos to
set up captive breeding programmes for the most threatened amphibians.

Copyright 2008 Guardian Newspapers Limited.

All Rights Reserved.

Reference
Sample, I. (2008) ‘Over half of Europe's amphibians face extinction by 2050’
[Online], Guardian, 26 September 2008,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/26/wildlife.conservation
(Accessed 6 July 2010).