Enviro-imprints – question bank

Q. Why do scientists use a bioassay?

• Toxicity
• Developing an assay

Q. What impacts do current farming methods have on our environment compared to those of the pre-European Māori?

• Soil quality

Q. Why measure an animal’s response to pollution in its environment when you can measure the actual amount of pollution itself?

• The advantage of using worms

Q. Why is the acceptable level of a pollutant so much lower for a residential area than for a farming or industrial area?

• Soil contamination

Q. What is the difference between a bioassay, a bioindicator and a biomarker?

• Bioindicators
• Toxicity
• Bioavailability

Q. Why do worms make a good biomarker for soil pollution?

• Why use earthworms?

Q. How do scientists know that their models are actually modelling what they think they are modelling?

• Models in science
• Air movement models
• Christchurch model

Q. How do scientists calculate a health risk figure on the effects of pollution?

• Ill health and pollution

Q. How do politicians put a monetary figure on the detrimental effects of pollution?

• Air pollution study

Q. How does the weather affect the levels of pollutants in the air?

• Dr Peyman Zawar-Reza
• Air pollution in Christchurch
• Air movement models
• Temperature inversion

Q. How do the issues affecting water in New Zealand differ from those in Australia or in the third world?

• Water quality
• Water issues

Q. Why do scientists determine the amount of harmless bacteria rather than disease-causing organisms present in faecal matter?

• Poo indicators

Q. How would knitting a cotton fibre into the cloth of a T-shirt make it less biodegradable?

• Biodegradability
• Measuring biodegradability