Key term
WJEC A-Level Geography 601-8455-3
Coastal Landscapes
Topic overviewThe coast as an open systemSediment sources and sediment cellsTides and coastal currentsConstructive and destructive wavesHigh energy coasts and erosional landscape systemsLow energy coasts and depositional landscape systemsFetch, wave refraction and wave energyLithology and structural geology at the coastSub-aerial weathering and mass movementMarine processes of erosionErosional landforms of rocky coastsCoastal transport and longshore driftDeposition, flocculation and sediment sortingDepositional landforms of sandy coastsSand dunes and aeolian processesEstuaries, tidal flats and salt marshesCoral reefs and mangrove coastlinesCoastal change over different timescalesCoastal processes and human activityHuman impact on coastal landscape systems
Glaciated Landscapes
Topic overviewThe glacier as an open systemClimate change and the glacier budgetGlacier movementTypes of ice mass and their distributionGlacial weathering and erosion processesMacro-scale erosional landformsGlacial transport and depositional landformsFluvioglacial landformsSuites of landforms in glacial landscapesPeriglacial processes and ground icePeriglacial action of water and windGlacial change over different timescalesGlacial environments and human activity
Tectonic Hazards
Topic overviewThe internal structure of the EarthMechanisms of plate movementDivergent and conservative plate marginsConvergent margins and subductionHot spots and the global distribution of tectonic hazardsThe hazard profile and measuring magnitudeTypes of volcano and styles of eruptionPrimary volcanic hazardsSecondary volcanic hazardsImpacts of volcanic activity at different scalesContrasting volcanic eruptionsEarthquake characteristics and seismic wavesEarthquake hazards and ground behaviourTsunami processes and impactsContrasting earthquake eventsRisk, vulnerability and human factorsMonitoring, prediction and warningMitigation, response and the hazard management cycle
Changing Places
Topic overviewWhat gives a place its characterFlows and connections that shape placesMeaning, perception and attachment to placeHow places are representedEconomic restructuring and the Clark Fisher modelDeindustrialisation and social inequalityThe service economy and its impactsThe knowledge economy and clustersRebranding rural placesManaging change in rural placesRebranding urban placesManaging change in urban placesComparing a home place with a contrasting placeHow place change affects people's lives
Water and Carbon Cycles
Topic overviewThe water cycle as a global system and mass balanceGlobal water stores and residence timesCryospheric processes and sea-level changeDrainage basin inputs, stores and outputsFlows within the drainage basinRiver regimes and their controlsStorm hydrographs and hydrograph shapeAir uplift, cloud formation and precipitationExcess runoff and floodingDeficit in the water cycle and aquifer rechargeThe global carbon cycle and its storesCarbon pathways between land and the atmosphereCarbon transfers involving the oceansCarbon stores in biomes and land-use changeChanging carbon stores in peatlandsRising atmospheric carbon and its impactsFeedback within and between the water and carbon cycles
Global Migration
Topic overviewGlobalisation and a shrinking worldClassifying and mapping migrationCauses of international economic migrationConsequences and management of economic migrationRefugee movements and internal displacementRural-urban migration in developing countriesSuperpowers and global hub citiesMigration policy and public debate in the UKManaging refugee crisesInformal settlements in developing cities
Global Governance of the Oceans
Topic overviewSupranational institutions and global governanceLaws and agreements governing the oceansStrategic value of the oceans and maritime securityShipping, cables and illicit flowsSovereignty over ocean resourcesManaging marine environmentsOcean pollution and its managementGovernance across scales: an ocean case study
EcosystemsContemporary theme
Topic overviewThe value of ecosystems to peopleThe distribution of global biomesEcosystem structure, energy flow and productivityNutrient cycling in contrasting biomesMeasuring and threatening biodiversityConserving biodiversitySuccession and local ecosystemsThe Arctic tundra biomeSustainable use of the Arctic tundra
Economic Growth and Challenge: IndiaContemporary theme
Economic Growth and Challenge: ChinaContemporary theme
Development in an African ContextContemporary theme
Energy Challenges and DilemmasContemporary theme
Weather and ClimateContemporary theme
Fieldwork and Geographical Skills
Ecosystems
- 9 subtopics
- 27 things to know
- A2 Unit 4
- A2 Unit 4, two contemporary themes chosen from four
What Ecosystems covers
Ecosystems is examined in A2 Unit 4, Contemporary Themes in Geography, where two optional themes are chosen from four. It covers the value of ecosystems to people, the distribution of global biomes, ecosystem structure, energy flow and productivity, nutrient cycling in contrasting biomes, measuring and threatening biodiversity, conserving biodiversity, succession and local ecosystems, the Arctic tundra biome and sustainable use of the Arctic tundra.
Where it is assessed
A2 Unit 4
Contemporary Themes in Geography, where two optional themes are chosen from four.
Check the WJEC specification ↗The 9 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- The value of ecosystems to peopleEcosystem services, four categories of ecosystem service and provisioning service.Open →
- The distribution of global biomesSix major terrestrial biomes, climate that produces savanna grassland and climate of the boreal forest.Open →
- Ecosystem structure, energy flow and productivityTrophic level, pyramid of energy and gross primary productivity.Open →
- Nutrient cycling in contrasting biomesThree stores in the Gersmehl model of nutrient cycling, transfers in the Gersmehl model and relative store sizes in a tropical rainforest.Open →
- Measuring and threatening biodiversityThree levels at which biodiversity is measured, endemic species and biodiversity hotspot.Open →
- Conserving biodiversityTotal protection as a conservation strategy, sustainable use as a conservation approach and how ecotourism can support conservation.Open →
- Succession and local ecosystemsEcological succession, pioneer species and how lichens make a rock surface habitable for later species.Open →
- The Arctic tundra biomeTemperature regime of the Arctic tundra, three characteristic tundra plants and three tundra animals and one adaptation each.Open →
- Sustainable use of the Arctic tundraThree threats to the Arctic tundra, risk that a warming climate poses to Arctic infrastructure and two indigenous peoples of the Arctic.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Key term
Give a UK example of an invasive species and its effect.
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Name three tundra animals and one adaptation each.
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Describe one interrelationship between climate, soil and vegetation in the tundra.
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Define an ecosystem.
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Define a biome.
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Define a trophic level.
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Name the three stores in the Gersmehl model of nutrient cycling.
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Define conservation.
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Distinguish primary from secondary succession.
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Name three threats to the Arctic tundra.
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What are ecosystem services?
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Name six major terrestrial biomes.
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Name the trophic levels of a simple food chain.
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Name the transfers in the Gersmehl model.
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Distinguish preservation from conservation.
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Define a sere.
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Give two ways oil and gas extraction damages tundra.
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Give two examples of a provisioning service.
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Which two climatic variables control the global distribution of biomes?
Numbers
Roughly what proportion of energy is transferred between trophic levels?
Key term
Describe the relative store sizes in a tropical rainforest.
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Define biodiversity.
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Describe total protection as a conservation strategy.
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Name the four named seres and the surface each starts on.
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Describe the temperature regime of the Arctic tundra.
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Why do vehicle tracks persist in tundra for decades?
Take Ecosystems further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Gross primary productivity vs Net primary productivity
Gross primary productivity: the total rate at which producers convert light into chemical energy. Net primary productivity: what remains of that total once the producers' own respiration has been subtracted.
Species richness vs Species evenness
Species richness: a count of how many different kinds are present in a community. Species evenness: a description of how equally the individuals are shared out between those kinds.
Primary succession vs Secondary succession
Primary succession: a sequence of communities beginning on newly exposed ground with no soil at all. Secondary succession: a sequence beginning where soil and a seed bank have survived a disturbance.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Define an ecosystem.
Model answer
An ecosystem is a community of living organisms together with the non-living components of their environment, interacting as a system.
- 2
What are ecosystem services?
Model answer
Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems, including the goods they supply and the processes they regulate.
- 3
Name the four categories of ecosystem service.
Model answer
Provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services.
- 4
Give two examples of a provisioning service.
Model answer
Food from fisheries and farmland, and timber, fibre and fresh water.
- 5
Give two examples of a regulating service.
Model answer
Regulation of climate through carbon storage, and flood regulation by wetlands and woodland that slow run-off.
- 6
Give two examples of a cultural service.
Model answer
Recreation and tourism in natural landscapes, and the spiritual and cultural significance places hold for communities.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Ecosystems revision questions
- What does Ecosystems cover in WJEC A-Level Geography?
- 9 subtopics: the value of ecosystems to people, the distribution of global biomes, ecosystem structure, energy flow and productivity, nutrient cycling in contrasting biomes, measuring and threatening biodiversity, conserving biodiversity, succession and local ecosystems, the arctic tundra biome and sustainable use of the arctic tundra. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Ecosystems organised?
- By the WJEC 601-8455-3 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Ecosystems, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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