Credit recovery

Students needing to make up hours will right a paper about: 

The Signs of Climate Change 

The Effects of Climate Change 

1 page and 1 source per hour needed

Must be credible resources, and original work. 

Email to: tmegahan@dallasisd.org

5th 6 weeks three weeks test

3/24

Online administration of the three weeks test:

http://www.schoolobjects.com/Aware/OnlineTesting?org=DAL-4923843B-63B


Username: ID number
Password: adamson  or ID number


The back up plan. If you have problems, you can open a digital copy of the test here:

Environmental Systems 5th 6 weeks 3 weeks exam

Fill in answers on the bubble document as well as a backup. You can write your free response on the back of the bubble sheet.

Dallas Drinking Water

3/21/2014

Click on:
Water Quality Report

Prepare a report about Dallas Drinking water that answers the following:

• What is the rating for Dallas drinking water.
• What is the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ)?
• How does the rating system work? What's  lowest rating and highest?
• Create a chart comparing Dallas to 4 other nearby cities. Who has the best water?
• Where does Dallas get it's water?
• How does the treatment process work?
• Research your assigned contaminant
• What is the level of contamination (include units)?
• What is the source of the contaminant?
• What dangers or hazards are associated with this contaminant?
• How much is too much? Calculate the LD50 for someone of your height and weight based on the Material Safety and Data Sheet for that material

 



     

Dissolved Oxygen

3/19/2014

Dissolved Oxygen Sag Curve

 

Oxygen Depletion

Microbes and higher plants and animals obtain the energy stored in the chemical bonds of organic matter, C(H₂O), through the process of respiration:

C(H2O) + O2

CO2 + H2O + Energy

Organisms that depend on others to produce that organic matter are called heterotrophs (or other-feeders). Examples of heterotrophs include bacteria, fungi and even people! We tap into the sun’s energy when we eat organic matter (e.g. pizza) and breathe in oxygen and then breathe back out carbon dioxide and water vapor.
If there is too much organic matter in a lake or river, oxygen can be consumed by bacterial respiration faster than it is re-supplied from the atmosphere. This can lead to oxygen depletion and fish kills. In rivers, oxygen depletion takes a special form called the dissolved oxygen sag curve. The oxygen concentration in the river drops rapidly following the discharge of a waste containing organic matter. Later, as the organic matter becomes used up, the oxygen resources of the river are replenished.
Biochemical Oxygen Demand
Biochemical oxygen demand or BOD is a chemical procedure for determining is the amount of dissolved oxygen needed by aerobic biological organisms in a body of water to break down organic material present in a given water sample at certain temperature over a specific time period. It is most commonly expressed in milligrams of oxygen consumed per litre of sample during 5 days of incubation at 20 C and is often used to determine how badly a body of water is polluted by organic waste.
BOD can be used as a gauge of the effectiveness of wastewater treatment plants, as sewage being an organic waste can deplete the oxygen in a body of water.
Oxygen Sag Curve
In a flowing stream, when a pollutant is dumped in the stream, the concentration of the pollutant will decrease as the water flows down stream.  The Oxygen Sag curve depicts graphically how this concentration impacts the dissolved oxygen in the stream and the biological diversity of the organisms in the stream as the water flows further from the source of the pollution.

Using the Oxygen Sag Curve and the information given above, answer the following questions.
1.  In the clean zone, the BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) was low, why?


2.  In the decomposition zone, the level of oxygen fell.  Why?  The BOD started going up.  Why?  The number of fish decreased.  Why?


3.  In the septic zone, describe the level of dissolved oxygen.  What types of organisms found in this zone?  If you were testing the water quality of a nearby stream and found only these types of organism, what conclusion might you draw about the stream?


4.  In the recovery zone, what was happening to the dissolved oxygen and the BOD?  Was this change in the types of organisms found in that part of the stream?  How?


5.  In the final zone – describe the DO, BOD and the types of organism.  Which earlier zone does the final zone most resemble?


6.  What factors might cause the recovery of the stream to be slower or require more distance of flow?

Quiz

Toxic Avengers

3/07/2014

Toxics Worksheet                                                                              

Go to www.scorecard.org.

Type in a zip code and find out the following.

 

I - Toxics

A.    List the top three toxic polluters in the county.  How much? (in tons

1.      _____________________                        ___________

2.      _____________________                        ___________

3.      _____________________                        ___________

 

B.     What are the top three toxics released?  How many tons?

1.      _____________________            _____________

2.      _____________________            _____________

3.      _____________________            _____________

 

C.     Are there any Superfund sites in your county? List them. 

 

 

D.  Use Google maps to map the location of the top three toxic polluters, and Superfund sites. Map the location of the school, and your homes as well...just call it "home". Send to my email. tmegahan@dallasisd.org

 

II – Air

A.    How many days a year is your air healthy? __________

 

B.     List the top three air polluters in your county.  How many tons?

 

1.      _____________________            _____________

2.      _____________________            _____________

3.      _____________________            _____________

III – Water

            A. How many watersheds in your county?   _________

           

B.     List them and indicate the Characterization Category.

 

C.     Animal Waste Summary

 

1. Total animal head                            ___________________

 

2. Total amount of waste                  ____________________ tons/yr

 

3. Total Volume of waste                   ___________________ gall

Water Pollution Notes

Teacher Notes Water Pollution

I.                     Freshwater Pollution – introduction of chemical, physical or biological material into water that lowers the quality of the water and affects organisms that use it.  (Putting anything in the water that harms humans or wildlife)

a.        Point pollution – comes from one place (pipe) something you can point to.  Ex. Faculty, tanker.  -  Easy to control

b.        ­­­N­­onpoint pollution – comes from many places (can’t point to the polluter) ex. Runoff from lawns, streets. farms, etc.  Hard to control.

c.        Pathogens – bacteria, viruses or parasitic worms that can cause disease

d.        Bioaccumulation – where organisms store toxins or pollutants in their fat

e.        Biomagnification – where the amount of toxin in the body increases as you go up the foodchain.

f.         Artificial or cultural eutrophication – where artificial plant nutrients (food like nitrates or phosphates) get in the water and cause excessive growth of algae.  When the algae dies, it decomposes, which uses cellular respiration, sucks the oxygen out of the water and causes fish to suffocate

Use these notes to complete Cornell Notes. 

Watch the film "Troubled Waters" and record examples of each one of the bolded points in the notes.

Answer the following questions:

Strange Days on Planet Earth:  Troubled Waters

1.  What organism is Scientist Tyrone Hayes searching for in the wetlands?

           

2.    What deformity is being seen in the organisms collected?

.

3.    The pattern that Hayes sees in regards to the deformed animals is that the

abnormalities occur when the frogs are in water containing _______________, a

common herbicide used for crops.

4.    Why is the beluga whale called the “canary of the seas”?

5.  Scientist Robert Michaud believes that _______________  ________________are

     the cause of the Beluga Whale’s cancers. 

6.  True / False

            If two chemicals are not toxic by themselves, together they are also not toxic.

7.  True / False

The number and combinations of chemicals is something that humans do not have to worry about.

      

 8.  What was the potential cause of the unhealthy levels of sperm in men?    

a.  Industry and factory pollution

            b.  Air pollution and greenhouse gasses

            c.  Poor water treatment systems in rural towns

d.  A cocktail of farm chemicals  

 9.  Name 3 sources of chemical exposure we can find right in our own homes.

           

10.  How do these chemicals make their way out of our homes and into the world where

       they can affect wild plants and animals like the leapord frog and beluga whale?

11.  What chemical is contaminating the fish in Lake Hartwell, Georgia?

           

10.  True / False

In Lake Hartwell, as you go up the food chain the concentration of mercury is diluted as the fish get bigger.

12.  What is Meager using to extract the toxins from the lake?

           

13.  Water flows into __________________ zones where the chemicals may cause the

       breakdown of entire ecosystems.

14.  What types of things can runoff of modern day farm fields?

            a.  Herbicides                        b.  Insecticides

            c.  Fungicides                       d.  Nitrogen Fertilizer

            e.  Manure                             f.  All of the above

15.  What chemical is believed to be the cause of the outbreaks of the crown of thorns

       starfish?  

16.  Where does the chemical causing these outbreaks come from?  

17.  Nitrogen fertilizer is one of the great triumphs of ______________ production, but it

      has  ____________________  consequences.

18.  What is farmer Vince Vitale doing to help “sop up” his farm chemicals before they  

       are washed into his stream and get carried out in to the costal waters?

19.  What strange looking fish is being tagged in order to find out where open ocean

animals spend their time and possibly come into contact with pollutants?  And what do these big fish eat?

20.  Water’s path may twist and turn but the destination is always the same. 

       Where is that destination?

The Mammoth Cometh

3/5/2014

1. In ecology, succession refers to:
a) survival of the fittest
b) one species or group of species gradually being replace by another.
c) balances of power
d) predator-prey reltionahips.
e) one generation followed by another over time


2. A climax ecosystem is:
a) one developed by humans
b) one in which natural selection and evolution have stopped.
c) one in which population so fall species are in balance with each other
d) one that will exist indefinitely barring change in habitat or climate
e) c and d

3. Humans have caused ecological upsets by
a) introduction of new species
b) elimination of natural predators
c) establishment of monocultures
d) misunderstand the role of fire in certain ecosystems
e) all of the above

True of False

4. The period from primary to secondary succession takes longer than the period from secondary to climax community.

5. The nonequilibrium theory of succession states that change in an ecosystem can result in stronger, more resilient ecosystems. 





Write a summary paragraph about the article "The Mammoth Cometh"

6. When did the passenger pigeon become extinct?

7. Name two researchers working on de-extinction.

8. Name two animal candidates for de-extinction.

9. How can extinct species be brought back?

10. What are two arguments from the article against de-extinction and one argument in favor of de-extinction?

Succession

Article: The Mammoth Cometh

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/magazine/the-mammoth-cometh.html?referrer=