Genius Challenge Human Impact on the Environment

To support the claim that the consumption of natural resources by humans has a negative impact on the environment, what kinds of data would be needed to provide evidence?

• Increasing human life span over time and global increase in sea level

• Increasing human population and decreasing size of habitats for plants and animals

• Increasing the consumption of resources by humans and increasing biodiversity

• Increasing burning of fossil fuels by humans and decreasing use of other resources

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS3-4

Some factories that burn coal produce smoke with harmful chemicals, such as sulfur. Scrubbers are devices that are attached to the smokestacks to reduce the amount of sulfur put into the atmosphere. To evaluate the effectiveness of these devices, what data would need to be collected?

• The percentage of sulfur contained, on average, in a certain amount of coal

• The amount of coal a factory burns each year, and how much sulfur it emits

• The increase, over time, in the use of scrubbers by factories that burn coal

• The amount of sulfur emitted by a smokestack before and after the scrubber is attached

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS1-2

Students decide to remove the litter from an abandoned park and plant trees. Which of the following observations provides the best evidence that the action of the students has had a positive effect on the health of the park ecosystem?

• The number of human visitors decreases

• The level of yearly precipitation increases

• The number and diversity of animals increases

• The average daily high temperature decreases

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-4

Spix’s macaw is an endangered species of bird native to Brazil. The population of the bird has declined over the past 30 years. During this same period, much of the Brazilian rainforest habitat of the bird has been lost due to logging. What data would best support the claim that logging is a likely cause of the decline in the population of Spix’s macaw?

• The trees harvested by logging are not those that are usually the home to this bird.

• This bird is a popular pet and has been bred successfully in captivity.

• The population of this bird was relatively constant before logging began.

• The land cleared by logging is often taken over by farmers for growing crops.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-1

NGSS.MS-LS2-4

The claim is made that carbon dioxide (CO2emissions can be reduced by increasing the amount of electricity produced by wind. Which pair of graphs, showing data for CO2emissions and wind production of electricity would support this claim?

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Tags

NGSS.HS-ESS3-1

NGSS.HS-ESS3-2

NGSS.HS-ESS3-5

NGSS.HS-ETS1-3

NGSS.HS-LS2-7

The process of a species disappearing forever

• Biosphere

• Natural habitat

• Extinction

• Population

• Species

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

A group of interacting individuals of the same species

• Biosphere

• Natural habitat

• Extinction

• Population

• Species

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-4

The place where an organism naturally lives and grows

• Biosphere

• Natural habitat

• Extinction

• Population

• Species

A group of living things that have similar genes capable of reproducing

• Biosphere

• Natural habitat

• Extinction

• Population

• Species

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS3-1

NGSS.MS-LS4-4

The sum of all living matter on Earth

• Biosphere

• Natural habitat

• Extinction

• Population

• Species