Moreton Bay and Key Geographic Concepts Worksheet The Australian Curriculum: Geography draws on seven key geographic concepts: place scale space environment change interconnection sustainability They are the 'big ideas' that can be applied across the subject to identify a question, guide an investigation, organise information, suggest an explanation or assist decision making. Place Places are parts of the Earth s surface and can be described by their location, but also by their characteristics such as their shape, boundaries, and features. A place may be characterised by natural features, such as a landform (eg: cape, delta or a valley) or by its human features, such as a settlement, political region, country or continent. Places range in size from an individual building to a major world region. The location of places can be stated as absolute location, through methods such as latitude and longitude or grid referencing, or as relative locations, which involves stating its distance and direction from a major feature, landmark or place. The location of a place can also be clarified by stating the region, state or country it lies within. Places may be perceived and valued differently by different people. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, for example, Country/Place is important for its significance to culture, identity and spirituality. In Years 7 10, students extend their focus beyond their own communities to a wider exploration of the world. Students explain how geographical processes influence the characteristics of places and how places are perceived and valued. Scale As a geographic concept, scale refers to the size of place, phenomena or issue. Different spatial levels of scale are used to investigate phenomena or represent phenomena visually, such as in maps, images, cross sections and graphs. The scale we view a phenomenon may range from the personal to local, regional, national, world regional and global. Issue may be investigated at a number of scales. When we view a particular type of natural environment, for example, we may investigate the impact of climate on a broad regional scale, but within these large regions, we could investigate how variations in soil, moisture, slope and aspect of the sun s rays can create further divisions of classification. In examining a particular industry, such as the production of a given commodity, we may look at examples from local and regional scales as well as the global connections within this industry worldwide, such as the trade in the commodity and factors which affect its economic value. In Years 7 10, students explore the interaction between geographical processes at all scales, and in a range of locations. Space Spaces are defined by their pattern of features and processes across and upon the Earth s surface. Features and processes are distributed in certain patterns across space. Mountains may form ranges or be scattered randomly across a plain, while rivers may form certain spatial patterns within their catchment. Transport networks may form a particular network pattern, and settlements may be described by the way buildings are arranged over space. People in different places may also form different patterns of distribution and different densities, which may change in time and may form the basis of how the space is managed. Geographers can describe the general patterns apparent over space in a variety of ways, as well as identifying anomalies to such patterns. They can investigate the factors affecting spatial patterns, such the many factors influencing the climate of a region and the relationship between climate and the vegetation of a region. They may also investigate how the features and use of space changes over time, and how spaces are managed. In Years 7 10, students investigate the spatial distributions patterns, trends and relationships among geographical phenomena over time and at a variety of scales. 1
Environment The type of environment in a given place is the product of physical processes such as geological, atmospheric, hydrological, geomorphic, biotic processes as well as human influences. The environment of a region included its air, water, rocks, soil, plants and animals as well as its human characteristics. Two places widely separated in space may sustain very similar environments, owing to the similarity in the biotic (living) and abiotic (non- living) components that produce them. Similarly, a particular space may reveal a variety of different environments due to variations in natural processes and human activities. The environment supports and enriches human and other life by providing raw materials and food, absorbing and recycling wastes, maintaining a safe habitat and being a source of enjoyment and inspiration. In Years 7 10, students focus on the significance of the environment and how different views of places and environments influence decisions about their management. Change Change involves any alteration to the natural or human aspects of places and environments over time and space. Change can occur over both short and long time frames, and result from natural processes or human activities, and the interconnection of both. An understanding of the current processes of change can be used to predict change in the future and to identify what would be needed to achieve more sustainable futures. In Years 7 10, students seek to understand the causes and consequences of environmental change and the methods used to evaluate and select strategies to manage the change. Interconnection Interconnection is the way that people and/or geographical phenomena are connected to each other through natural processes and human activities. Interconnections can be simple, complex, reciprocal or interdependent. The climate of a place may be interconnected with its vegetation, with climate influencing the type of environment it develops, as well as the local climate be influenced by the vegetation, such as through evapotranspiration and its influence on wind. People in one place may be interconnected to people in another place through activities such as trade, industry, communication and tourism. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a holistic connection to Country/Place and the knowledge and practices that developed as a result of this connection. In Years 7 10, students investigate how people, through their choices and actions, are connected to places throughout the world, and how these connections help to make and change places and their environments. Sustainability Sustainability involves human activities being managed in a way that ensure an environment can be maintained in the long term. Sustainable patterns of living meet the needs of the present generation of people without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. It therefore requires the balance of the economic and social uses of environments with their ecological integrity. When human use a place, resource or environment in a way which depletes it or damages it to a point where natural processes cannot restore it, the use is not sustainable. Forest may be used, for example, to provide a source of timber, but if the trees are logged at a rate faster than the rate they regenerate, then such logging may be unsustainable. Similarly, resources may be used to produce a certain consumer product, but there may not be measures taken to ensure the product can be recycled at the end of its use, or its production may deplete a certain resource required for its production. In Years 7 10, students begin to focus on sustainability, which is a continuing theme and is progressively developed to become the major focus in Year 10. 2
Moreton Bay and Key Geographic concepts questions Place: 1. Use an atlas or Google Earth to describe the location of Moreton Bay. Include relative location and absolute location in your description. Place relative location general region absolute location Moreton Bay Space: 2. Locate Moreton Bay using Google Earth. Describe the major human and natural features within and adjacent to the Moreton Bay. 3. Still using Google Earth, identify the major land- uses spatially associated with the region. What gives you this information? 4. Compare and contrast your answer with the land- use map that can be found using the link. What are some of the main similarities and differences? http://www.bom.gov.au/water/nwa/2011/seq/#land_use Scale: 5. Describe the size of Moreton Bay using the measurement tools on Google Earth or the scale in your Atlas in terms of area. 3
6. Describe the size of Brisbane s metropolitan region in terms of area and population. Interconnection: 7. Explain how Brisbane s urban area is connected to Moreton Bay. What are the positive and negative impacts of this connection on people and the environment? 8. How might Moreton Bay be connected to other places in Australia and around the world? Think about the movement of marine animals, tides, trade, etc. Environment: 9. Moreton Bay is an important marine ecosystem. It has one of the largest seagrass beds in the world, includes an extensive mangrove system and contains one of the largest populations of dugongs close to an urban area. Where are seagrass meadows found and why are they an important ecosystem? Use this website to help: http://ocean.si.edu/seagrass- and- seagrass- beds 10. The wetlands of Moreton Bay are Ramsar listed. Outline the significance of the Ramsar Convention. Briefly outline the key environmental features that make the Moreton Bay wetlands significant. Use the description on the Ramsar website: http://www.ramsar.org/wetland/australia 4
Change: 11. Watch this short YouTube clip (The Many Lives of Moreton Bay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrqrw0r0l78) and briefly describe how the human and natural environments of Moreton Bay have changed over time. It might be worth conducting further research to find out more. 12. Compare the land- use map of Moreton Bay and surrounds in 1996 and 2013 (attached pdf). Identify the major changes and suggest how the region may change in the next 20 years. Sustainability: 13. Over the last 170 years, Moreton Bay has become one of the most intensively fished areas along the entire Queensland coastline. It now accounts for one third of the state's recreational fishing effort, even though it has just three percent of the coastline. Furthermore, reclamation of tidal land for port, industry and residential development has led to removal of mangroves, seagrass and salt marshes. Explain how these activities and practices are unsustainable. 14. Identify the current processes and activities in Moreton Bay which may prove to be unsustainable in the future. Use this website for further information: http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/parks/moreton- bay/zoning/information- sheets/pressures_on_the_marine_park.html 5