Lesson 3.1.4.5

3.1.4.5 Human impacts on cold environments Quiz: AQA Geography, Unit 1

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

In partnership with Revision Ninja

Lesson 3.1.4.5, Human impacts on cold environments: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA Geography (7037), Unit 1: Physical geography, written with Revision Ninja.

Host it live on the board and students join with a game code on their own devices, or revise alone with Free Play. The answers are revealed in the game.

Host this setFree Play

The 20 questions

  1. What is environmental fragility in the context of cold environments?

    • An abundance of rapid recovery after disturbance, since plants regrow within a single season
    • Strength that allows the environment to resist all human impact, because cold conditions protect it
    • A high sensitivity of the environment to disturbance, with slow recovery after damage
    • The absence of any natural processes in cold regions, which leaves the land unchanged by activity

  2. Which human activity has caused lasting damage to tundra vegetation through trampling and off-road driving?

    • Planting of shelter belts for crop protection, which is carried out on the margins of the farmland
    • Recreational vehicle use and off-road travel
    • Construction of coastal sea walls, which is built along the shoreline to resist wave attack
    • Building of rock check dams, which is used to slow runoff in gullies on dryland slopes

  3. Which impact of climate change is significant for permafrost regions?

    • A reduction in summer thaw depth to zero, which would stop any change in the active layer
    • Increased permanent snow cover on the ground, which insulates the frozen layer from the air
    • Thawing of permafrost, which can destabilise infrastructure and release stored carbon
    • Increased stability of slopes through greater freezing, which strengthens the soil

  4. Which human activity has most affected the cold environment of Svalbard through shipping and resource use?

    • Planting large commercial rubber forests, which would need warm and wet conditions
    • Constructing large rice terraces on the valley floors, which needs flooded ground
    • Mining and tourism, which bring disturbance and infrastructure to fragile areas
    • Growing tropical crops on the tundra, which requires clearing the vegetation for fields

  5. Why is management of cold environments difficult?

    • Cold environments have no natural processes that require management, so there is little to decide
    • Cold environments are always easily accessible and cheap to manage, which removes most difficulty
    • Cold environments never change under any scenario, so management decisions are rarely needed
    • Their remoteness, slow recovery and multiple uses such as tourism, mining and conservation make decisions complex

  6. Which management approach could reduce human impacts on fragile cold environments?

    • Removing protection so that development is easier, which would allow new building on the tundra
    • Introducing non-native crops to replace tundra vegetation, which would change the local ecology
    • Expanding road networks across all tundra areas, which would open the landscape to more access
    • Restricting vehicle access and designating protected zones for vulnerable vegetation

  7. Which feature is most important for evaluating an alternative future for cold environments?

    • Assuming the current situation will never change, which fixes the future at the present state
    • Comparing scenarios of climate change, development and conservation and their likely outcomes
    • Considering only tourism as the sole future driver, which would limit the range of possible outcomes
    • Ignoring the role of climate change in future scenarios, which would simplify the analysis

  8. Why does a small disturbance in a cold environment sometimes have long-lasting effects?

    • Disturbance never has effects in cold climates, because the ground is too hard to be damaged
    • Low temperatures and short growing seasons slow the recovery of vegetation and soils
    • Cold climates speed up soil formation, so the land recovers immediately after any disturbance
    • Cold environments recover within weeks from any disturbance, so the effects rarely last

  9. Which impact of tourism in an Arctic setting is most likely to be long-lasting?

    • Erosion of tundra soils along footpaths and tracks
    • A short-term rise in the number of photographs taken, which has no physical effect on the land
    • A temporary increase in the number of visitors in summer, which returns to normal in autumn
    • A brief increase in litter collected from beaches, which is removed by the next clean-up

  10. Which statement about the impact of climate change on cold environments is most accurate?

    • Warming will increase ice cover everywhere in the Arctic, which will protect the land from change
    • Warming will only affect the tropics and not cold regions, which remain stable under any change
    • Warming is likely to reduce ice cover, thaw permafrost and alter ecosystems, with consequences for people
    • Warming will have no effect on ecosystems in cold environments, which are unaffected by temperature

  11. Which description best defines the management of cold environments in the future?

    • Balancing development, conservation and climate adaptation with the aim of sustaining the environment
    • Replacing the natural environment with artificial structures, which would remove the need for management
    • Maximising extraction of resources regardless of environmental cost, which is the main aim of development
    • Abandoning all management because the environment is too remote to be affected by people

  12. A survey finds that a tundra landscape has many footpath scars after several years of tourism. Which conclusion is best supported?

    • The footpaths show that repeated use has damaged fragile vegetation, which may take many years to recover
    • The footpaths will recover fully within one summer, so no management is needed at all
    • The footpaths show that the tundra is highly resistant to damage, so its use is unlimited
    • The footpaths have no effect on the tundra's vegetation, which is unaffected by visitors

  13. Which example illustrates a human impact on a cold environment through pollution?

    • Solifluction that moves soil down a slope, which is a natural mass movement process
    • Frost shattering that breaks rock on a mountain ridge, which is a natural weathering process
    • Atmospheric deposition of pollutants transported to Arctic regions that accumulate in snow and ice
    • Natural snowfall that adds fresh snow to a glacier, which is a natural input to the ice

  14. Which factor makes the impact of climate change on cold environments especially important for human settlement?

    • Thawing permafrost increases the stability of foundations, which makes building safer over time
    • Frozen ground always provides a stable base for all building, whatever the temperature
    • Thawing has no effect on infrastructure in cold regions, which is built on rock rather than soil
    • Thawing permafrost damages buildings, roads and pipelines built on frozen ground

  15. What is a key concern about tourism in polar environments?

    • Visitors have no effect because polar areas are too cold for any impact to last
    • Visitor trampling and disturbance of wildlife and vegetation in sensitive areas
    • Tourists increase the stability of permafrost through their footfall on the ground
    • Tourism always improves the vegetation by spreading seeds in new areas of the tundra

  16. Which activity is most likely to cause the release of stored carbon in cold environments?

    • Installing solar panels on the roofs of settlements in the north of the region
    • Planting shelter belts of conifers across the tundra margins to protect the settlements
    • Draining or disturbing peatland and permafrost soils, which exposes carbon to decomposition
    • Harvesting reindeer for meat from managed herds in the region each autumn

  17. Why is oil and gas development in the Arctic a concern for fragile environments?

    • Oil development has no effect on the environment because the Arctic is covered in ice year round
    • Pipelines always raise the local temperature and improve permafrost stability in the area
    • Oil spills are quickly removed by natural processes within a single season of the year
    • Spills, road building and pipelines can damage vulnerable ecosystems that recover slowly

  18. Which management strategy best addresses increasing visitor pressure on a fragile cold environment?

    • Setting visitor limits and designated routes to concentrate use and protect sensitive ground
    • Opening new unmarked trails across all areas to spread visitors evenly across the landscape
    • Removing all signs so that visitors can explore freely without restriction in any area
    • Building a large car park at the most sensitive viewpoint in the area for convenience

  19. What is the main significance of ecological sensitivity in cold environments?

    • Species in cold environments respond quickly, so disturbance is always short-lived and easily reversed
    • Ecological sensitivity refers only to the number of tourists who visit each year to the area
    • Cold environments have no ecological processes, so sensitivity does not apply to them at all
    • Species and soils respond strongly and slowly to change, so small disturbances can have long-lasting effects

  20. Which approach would help to assess the scale of human impacts over time in a cold environment?

    • Measuring only the total rainfall in one recent wet year as a single data point
    • Recording the number of new hotels built within the nearest town over a single season
    • Comparing repeat surveys of vegetation, soils and visitor use with historical records
    • Counting the number of photographs posted online each summer by visitors to the area

All AQA Geography quizzes