EeNawic OctoberNovember 2009 Question 1 a. What is (are) the difference(s) between an organism and a specie? L b. What is (are) the difference(s) between food chain and food web? LS c. Explain the energy flow in the food chain fo d. What are the basic characteristics of viruses? (ro) e, What causes most algae to be green and why is that important? ® Which organism is the indicator of choice for drinking water and why is it criticised? 6 [4oy Question 2 List the main elemental cycles and draw only one of the cycles at a global scale. [10] Question 3 Briefly describe the Gaia hypothesis and give your opinion in 1 page maximum [20] Question 4 ‘A medium containing an abundance of substrate was seeded with 20 mg/L VSS of an active mixed culture. After 8.0h the VSS concentration was measured at 590 mg/L. Data indicate that there was a lag time of 0.5 h. Assuming a log growth and knowing that N=N,2"* =N,e", what is the average generation time of this culture? [10] Question 5 Why does the environment matters for engineers? (Maximum 1.5 pages) [20] ° UNISA 2008 2 TEND)EENAM1C January/February 2010 Question 1 a. What is (are) the difference(s) between an ecosystem and the biosphere? o \ b. Whatis (are) the difference(s) between Producers, consumers and decomposer?®) @ ©. What is (are) the characteristics of an ideal indicator micro-organism for faecal — contamination? . me d. What is the most widely used indicator organism? a e. What is the difference between Assimilative processes and Dissimilative processes? as ) f. What is an Ecosystem and what are its components? 440). [40] Question 2 What are the main elemental cycles? Draw only one of these cycles at a global scale. f [15] Question 3 What is climate variability? [15] Question 4 If ideal conditions existed for 30 hours, how many organisms would exist in a culture that started with one organism that had a doubling time of 25 minutes, after 10, 20, and 30 hours? Remember that N=No2"*, S [10] Question 5 Why is it important for engineer to consider the environment in their projects? (Maximum 1.5 pages) 2) 7 [20] TOTAL MARKS [100] ©. UNISA 2009 2 Eno}