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Questions and Answers
Which method is NOT used for treating solid waste?
Which method is NOT used for treating solid waste?
Non-biodegradable materials can be broken down easily by microorganisms.
Non-biodegradable materials can be broken down easily by microorganisms.
False
Name one type of waste that is biodegradable.
Name one type of waste that is biodegradable.
food waste
Solid waste includes materials like _____, which cannot be broken down easily.
Solid waste includes materials like _____, which cannot be broken down easily.
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Match the waste treatment method with its description:
Match the waste treatment method with its description:
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What is one benefit of composting?
What is one benefit of composting?
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Landfills can generate methane after a long time due to anaerobic microbes.
Landfills can generate methane after a long time due to anaerobic microbes.
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What is the primary purpose of wastewater treatment?
What is the primary purpose of wastewater treatment?
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Higher Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) indicates cleaner water.
Higher Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) indicates cleaner water.
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What is the primary purpose of solid waste treatment?
What is the primary purpose of solid waste treatment?
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What does BOD stand for?
What does BOD stand for?
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The first stage of wastewater treatment primarily involves _______ to remove large debris.
The first stage of wastewater treatment primarily involves _______ to remove large debris.
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Match the following treatment stages with their primary characteristics:
Match the following treatment stages with their primary characteristics:
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Which of the following is a characteristic of secondary treatment?
Which of the following is a characteristic of secondary treatment?
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The aerobic microbial treatment process includes trickling filters and activated sludge.
The aerobic microbial treatment process includes trickling filters and activated sludge.
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Name one method used in secondary wastewater treatment.
Name one method used in secondary wastewater treatment.
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What is the primary purpose of tertiary wastewater treatment?
What is the primary purpose of tertiary wastewater treatment?
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Secondary treatment is effective in removing both organic and inorganic pollutants.
Secondary treatment is effective in removing both organic and inorganic pollutants.
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What can occur if inorganic by-products are discharged into water bodies?
What can occur if inorganic by-products are discharged into water bodies?
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Tertiary treatment can reduce pollutants through _____ and microbiological processes.
Tertiary treatment can reduce pollutants through _____ and microbiological processes.
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Match the inorganic by-products with their effects:
Match the inorganic by-products with their effects:
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Which microbe is commonly associated with the degradation of toxic pollutants in bioremediation?
Which microbe is commonly associated with the degradation of toxic pollutants in bioremediation?
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Genetically engineered bacteria are used solely for organic pollutant degradation.
Genetically engineered bacteria are used solely for organic pollutant degradation.
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What type of sludge can undergo anaerobic digestion to produce methane?
What type of sludge can undergo anaerobic digestion to produce methane?
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Study Notes
Biology
- Biology is the study of all living organisms, from the smallest bacteria to the largest blue whales.
- Studying biology helps understand disease origins and factors, control infectious diseases, identify pest origins, and learn about the evolution of living organisms.
- It also leads to discovering new drugs and vaccines.
Application in Conservation of Natural Resources
- Conservation is the act of preserving and protecting natural resources.
- It also means the sustainable and wise use of natural resources to prevent extinction.
- Nature is the natural, physical, material world.
- Natural resources are resources (actual or potential) found in nature and useful to humans.
- Natural resources include soil, water, air, plants, animals, and energy.
- Examples of natural resources include gold, platinum, potash, limestone, natural gas, coal, lakes, volcanic oceans, waterfalls, soil etc.
Conservation Biology
- Conservation biology is the scientific study of nature with the aim of protecting biodiversity, habitats, and ecosystems from extinction.
- Resources are classified as renewable and non-renewable.
Types of Resources
- Renewable resources: Found in unlimited quantity, replaceable, and reusable. Examples include air, solar energy, water, plants (including animals and microorganisms).
- Non-renewable resources: Occur in limited amounts and cannot be replaced at the same speed they're consumed. Examples include diamonds, gold, iron, coal, petroleum, natural gas, and oil.
Why Conserve Natural Resources?
- Some natural resources are irreplaceable and might run out due to overuse.
- Balancing available resources with human needs is important.
- Ethical considerations, economic reasons, and aesthetic value are important factors.
- Preventing depletion of resources such as O₃ (ozone) is often critical.
Food and Nutrition Security
- Food security is when all people, at all times, have access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs for healthy and active lives.
- Low food security refers to reduced diet quality and variety due to a lack of secure access to sufficient nutritious food, compromising normal growth and health, potentially increasing mortality.
- Malnutrition (often chronic hunger) refers to deficiencies, excesses, or imbalances in energy or nutrient intake, resulting in health problems and societal issues.
- Types of malnutrition include wasting (severe weight loss due to acute malnutrition), undernourishment (having insufficient energy in a sustained way), and overnutrition (being too fat from consuming too much food).
Factors Affecting Food Security
- Global food supply is uneven as some regions produce more food than others.
- Both physical and human factors affect food security.
- Examples of factors are climate, technology, pests impacting crops and diseases of plants and animals, water stress, conflict, and loss of farmland. Poverty limits access to nutritious food, so this is a fundamental issue in global food security.
Impact of Food Insecurity
- Famine occurs due to lack of food; people starve.
- Soil erosion occurs quickly in dry areas.
- Deforestation, overgrazing, and overcultivation expose the soil to wind and water erosion.
- Rising food prices occur when sufficient food is unavailable, leading to social unrest and economic issues. Increased costs for food elements are very impactful as a result.
Effects of Food Insecurity
- War and conflict often leads to food insecurity.
- Poor nutrition leads to health issues.
- Gender inequality is a critical factor in food insecurity.
- Hunger and discomfort due to insufficient food.
- Overnutrition (overweight or obesity).
- Wasting (underweight).
- Stunting (being too short).
- Micronutrient deficiencies can result.
Conscious Citizens and Sustainable Development
- A conscious citizen is someone who values being fully human while connecting with a higher purpose.
- They understand their place globally and take action ethically to improve their community, state, and wider societal issues.
- They support peace, respect human rights, cultural diversity, and promote sustainable solutions.
- Biologists working consciously apply biology to solve global problems, like health issues, pollution, sustainable development, and food security.
- Protecting and wisely managing natural resources/managing the impact of industrial chemical/ waste release is often essential to achieving societal goals.
Sustainable Development Models
- The World Conservation Union suggests three models for sustainable development.
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- Economic: includes the viability of tourism and demand satisfaction by companies in a specific area.
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- Social: consists of benefits for local communities, employment opportunities, and respect for socio-cultural values.
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- Environmental: emphasizes preserving biodiversity and the rational use of natural resources.
Career Development
- Career development involves managing, learning, and work during one's life.
- It involves planning, setting achievable goals, and improving skills to reach those goals.
- Short-term and long-term strategy planning is needed.
- Effective goals follow the SMART structure - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
Biotechnology
- Biotechnology is using biological systems or organisms to create useful products.
- Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are organisms whose DNA has been altered which can result in them producing additional output. Examples include drugs, food supplements, and enzymes.
- Transgenic organisms result when genes from a different species are transferred to another.
- Transgenes are the genes transferred between species.
- Crop plants can be genetically modified to yield higher yields, increased nutritional value, or resistance to diseases/pests.
- Biotechnology can prevent/mitigate industrial, agricultural, and municipal waste.
- Diagnosing and treating diseases is another application of biotechnology.
Production of SCP
- Single-Cell Proteins (SCP) are generated from waste materials (like molasses, petroleum by-products, agricultural wastes).
- Yeast, fungi, algae, and bacteria create this kind of crude protein used in animal feed or human food intake.
- SCP production is an environmentally friendly solution to global food scarcity by increasing sustainable crop production (using less land).
Advantages of SCP
- High protein content
- All essential amino acids
- High vitamin content
- High surface area to volume ratio
- High growth rate
- Independence of soil and climate
- Eco-friendly
- Cost-effective
Other Aspects of Biotechnology
- Other forms/ uses of biotechnology/microorganism use include:
- Production of pruteen (using bacteria for animal food)
- Mycoproteins (proteins from fungi, used as a meat substitute)
- Spirulina (blue-green algae) in various food applications and a source of various nutrients.
- Vitamin production (of vitamin C and B-Vitamins using microbial fermentation)
- Production of Dairy products (e.g., buttermilk, yogurt, sour cream); microbes create essential flavor.
- Production of fermented meats (e.g. salami, sausages); microbes add flavor and help the preservation of the meats.
- Production of beer, wine, and spirits using microbes and fermentation and/or distillation or extraction using water and other chemicals.
- Brewing processes (for beer) involve grain fermentation/mashing/wort boiling/cooling steps using microbes (like yeast).
- Wine production involves grape fermentation and uses various yeast types.
- Bread production uses microbes for flavoring, conditioning, leavening, and gas production to help produce a product with the desired qualities via baking processes.
Genetic Engineering (Genetic Modification)
- Modifying (altering) an organism's genome by introducing foreign DNA.
- Used for producing various pharmaceuticals, gene therapy, transgenic plants (modified to exhibit particular traits), and transgenic animals (similarly modified to exhibit desirable traits/for targeted protein production).
Animal Breeding
- Choosing superior organisms to reproduce and produce offspring with desired traits.
- Superior animals may lay more eggs, produce more milk, have faster growth rate or higher meat product or resistance toward diseases/ pests.
- Breeding types include inbreeding (using closely related animals/ varieties) and cross-breeding (using unrelated ones).
- Cross-breeding can create hybrid vigor, but prolonged inbreeding usually decreases desirable characteristics/ increases homozygosity.
Tissue Culture
- Growing plant cells or parts in a controlled, artificial environment that can promote/ allow survival and function in an environment different to their natural habitat.
- Tissue culture is widely used to create plant clones, disease-free plants, and other desired qualities via specific methods.
- Example species in which this technology is often applied includes palm trees, carrots, bananas, or orchids.
Health & Wellbeing Uses
- Genetically modified bacteria produces products helpful for various uses.
- Example products include industrial/ cleaning enzymes, human growth hormone (to promote growth in otherwise growth-impaired individuals), and increased milk yield/ muscle development in livestock/ cattle, insulin for diabetics, and tissue plasminogen activator used for heart attack treatment.
Antibiotic Production
- Antibiotics are organic compounds produced by microbes that kill/ limit other microbes (e.g., bacteria).
- Example microbes that produce antibiotics include Streptomyces, Penicillium, and other bacteria.
- Penicillin and Streptomycin are examples of widely used antibiotics.
- Antibiotics are very effective at targeting microbes, and they are modified/ chemically altered to increase their effectiveness against various bacterial diseases.
- Antibiotic mechanisms of action include inhibiting cell wall synthesis, altering cell membrane function, inhibiting protein synthesis, or inhibiting nucleic acid synthesis.
- Antibiotics are generally bacteriostatic (preventing growth/multiplication of cells) or bactericidal (killing of microbes).
Biosensors
- Biosensors are devices combining biological components (enzymes, antibodies, cells) with electronic/ electrochemical components to measure/ detect substances.
- Measuring and detecting substances like proteins, toxins, vitamins, or sugars is used via biosensors in various systems/ in the environment.
- They use living components/biological reactions that are converted into electrical (electrical signals) or thermal (thermal signals) output signals.
- Applying biosensors to food, environmental samples, or human physiology provides us with critical data.
- Example applications include monitoring food quality, diagnosing diseases, detecting pollution, and monitoring/managing specific components in various complex systems (such as beer).
Forensic Science/DNA Fingerprinting
- DNA fingerprinting is a technique used to identify individuals based on their unique DNA sequences.
- DNA is extracted/analyzed from body/biological samples (blood, hair, saliva, semen, skin, or mucus).
- Bioinformatics is now used in forensic science to compare crime scene DNA with suspect DNA (helping produce a quicker and more reliable/ trustworthy outcome for investigations).
- Fragment comparisons are possible using techniques like electrophoresis and copying/amplifying specific DNA portions (or genes), such as via polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
Biomining
- Biomining is a technique to extract minerals from ores using microorganisms (often bacteria).
- Commonly, Thiobacillus ferrooxidans bacteria are used to accomplish this process.
- This can lead to a reduction in cost/ environmental impact.
Solid Waste Treatment
- Solid waste is unwanted materials from homes or businesses.
- Treatment methods include:
- Landfilling: Wastes are buried in holes.
- Composting: Wastes (e.g., vegetable peels, egg shells) are broken down by microbes into a stable fertilizer-like substance.
- Incineration: Solid/organic waste is burned into gas.
Wastewater Treatment
- Wastewater (sewage) is liquid waste from various sources.
- Treatment is critical to remove harmful microbes/substances from water so it can be used safely again.
- The process is critical to ensure safe water usage to avoid dangerous diseases (many waterborne diseases can spread due to unsafe water usage).
- Various physical, chemical, and biological techniques/methods can be used in waste water treatment.
- Breakdown/ removal of pollutants is measured via the Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) parameter.
- BOD measures oxygen consumed/ used by microbes breaking down organic matter from the wastewater.
Bioremediation
- Using living organisms (microbes, plants) to remove harmful substances from the environment.
- Different types of bioremediation exist, depending on the method/substance used and what outcome is focused on.
- Some types utilize microbial enzymes, or genetically engineered bacteria.
- Removing and/or modifying toxic substances from the environment in a controlled/safe way.
Biofuels
- Biofuels are fuels derived from plant materials, generally often produced via fermentation of sugar-rich plant substances.
- Commonly, ethanol from corn resides, sugar crops, and agricultural and industrial wastes.
- Advantages: carbon-neutral (similar carbon emission to carbon absorption from plants) and effective.
- Biofuel production can often involve harsher steps such as acid treatment of plant materials for example to help extract sugars.
Biogas Process
- Biogas is a combustible gas made from organic waste, primarily methane.
- The process involves these three microbial groups breaking down complex organic compounds into organic acids/alcohols/smaller molecules like hydrogen and carbon dioxide via anaerobic digestion.
- Hydrolytic bacteria: break down large organic molecules.
- Fermentative bacteria: convert the products into smaller organic acids
- Methanogenic bacteria: transform those product into methane gas.
- Various raw materials can be used for biogas production, including human/animal waste and crop remnants/waste.
- Excess byproduct (slurry) from biogas production can serve as fertilizers.
Composting
- A microbial process converting solid organic waste into a stable humus, often also used as fertilizer.
- It involves oxidation of the waste, by oxygen, to produce carbon dioxide, water, and other byproducts.
- A process critical for improved soil conditions used to increase the fertility of soil.
- A beneficial waste management technique.
Enzymes in Industry
- Enzymes (proteins produced by various species of microorganisms) can be generated/produced from readily available feedstocks (e.g., corn steep liquor or molasses) using commercial fermentation.
- Enzymes are used in various industrial settings, including cleaning products (like washing powders), processing food and dairy products, textile processing, fruit juice extraction, etc.
Biopesticides
- Microorganisms or their compounds for controlling insect pests.
- Examples include species of bacteria (e.g., Bacillus thuringiensis, Bacillus popilliae, and Pseudomonas fluorescens).
- Plants/ microorganisms are genetically engineered to help produce chemicals that are harmful toward specific insects pests.
Transgenic Animals/Plants
- Animals/plants that have foreign DNA inserted.
- Genetically modified animals/ plants have new traits introduced.
- Example traits include improved nutrition, disease resistance, or production of specific proteins/ useful chemicals for industrial use.
Cloning
- Cloning is a common method producing many genetically identical copies of cells or organisms; generally, produced either via artificial means or asexual reproduction.
- Cloning is helpful toward many applications, one example being the production of skin/tissues used to treat patients.
- The primary advantage of applying cloning technology is the ability to create many copies of animals or plants that have specific desirable traits.
- Cloning can help produce animals/ plants suitable for many various applications and uses.
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Description
Test your knowledge on solid waste and wastewater treatment methods. This quiz covers various topics related to biodegradation, treatment stages, and the primary purposes of these processes. Enhance your understanding of environmental management and waste sustainability.
