question

Which best describes the discipline of Environmental Science?

answer

an applied, interdisciplinary field with an emphasis on problem solving

question

Solutions to environmental problems ________?

answer

must be sustainable

question

Nonrenewable natural resources include _______?

answer

coal, crude oil, minerals

question

Scientific method and knowledge is based on ________?

answer

testing hypotheses that are built on observation

question

A hypothesis is________?

answer

an educated guess that explains a phenomenon or answers a question

question

A paradigm is _______?

answer

a dominant world view in science

question

John Muir, a great American environmentalist, felt that _________?

answer

pristine wilderness should be preserved because "We need beauty as well as bread"

question

To whom do we owe the following quote: "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs"?

answer

Gro Harlem Brundtland

question

Sustainable development _______?

answer

means consuming resources without compromising future availability

question

Tragedy of the Commons describes a situation in which _________

answer

a resource belongs to everyone, but no one person or institution is responsible for the maintenance or preservation of that resource

question

Who brought the idea of "tragedy of the commons" to public attention?

answer

Garrett Hardin

question

An ________ is best defined as one who consider the impacts on the whole ecosystem, both the living and non-living, when considering an action.

answer

ecocentrist

question

Sara and Fred are having a discussion about the scientific method. Sarah makes the comment that every time she sees people carrying open umbrellas, she also sees several small car accidents. This is a(n) ________.

answer

observation

question

Environmental problems whose dimensions include differential exposure to risk from toxic wastes and air pollution or lack of access to the natural beauty of parks based on ethnicity or race are issues of __________.

answer

environmental justice

question

By studying ancient civilizations, such as Greek and Roman empires and the Angkor civilization of Southeast Asia, historians have concluded that these civilizations declined party because of _________.

answer

environmental degradation caused by unsustainable use of resources

question

The process by which several researchers review another researcher's manuscript prior to publication to ensure research quality is referred to as ________.

answer

peer review

question

Geothermal energy, wind and solar radiation are all examples of ________.

answer

renewable natural resources

question

Who is credited for articulating the conservation ethic and for founding the U.S. Forest Service?

answer

Gifford Pinchot

question

The Endangered Species Act, passes by Congress nearly four decades ago, has spawned a continuous series of debates between those who feel the ethical necessity, to protect species at the brink of extinction and others who feel that if we have to protect every habitat of every species at risk, then there will be a loss of jobs and a blow to an already shaky economy. This argument reflects a conflict between ______

answer

anthropocentrists and ecocentrists

question

If a population of organisms has achieved overshoot then the population ________.

answer

has grown past the capacity of the ecosystem to support it

question

The word "environment" originates from the ________.

answer

French word "to surround"

question

Science rarely results in "proof"

answer

true

question

In the modern, developed nations, we no longer depend on ecosystem services for our survival

answer

false

question

The largest ecological, per person footprint belongs to _______.

answer

USA

question

Who suggested that "The hypothesis with the fewest number of assumptions is most likely to be true?

answer

William of Ockham

question

The ore from which we get aluminum for cans and other uses come from _________.

answer

bauxite

question

In the manufacture of paper that is not recycled, what agent is used to bleach the paper?

answer

hydrogen peroxide or chlorine

question

About what percent of the energy used to mine aluminum to make a soft drink could be saved if the can came from recycled cans?

answer

98%

question

Consider a lake such as Lake Belton with a pH of 8.0. If the lake is chemically treated to lower the pH to 7.0

answer

the lake is now pH neutral and it has more hydrogen ions than at the pH 8.0

question

The figure above suggests that the biological pH values displayed in the graph

answer

range from 1.5-8

question

_______ is defined as the number of protons plus the number of neutrons in the nucleus of an

answer

mass number (or atomic mass)

question

_______ are composed of amino acids

answer

proteins

question

________ are the primary water-insoluble components of cell membranes

answer

lipids

question

Which is an example of a positive feedback loop?

answer

melting arctic snow exposing dark surfaces that heat up and cause further melting

question

Which represents an example of aerobic cellular respiration?

answer

glucose+oxygen=water+carbon dioxide+ energy

question

The greatest source of nitrogen and phosphorus entering Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico is ______.

answer

agriculture

question

Compared to energy-flow in ecosystems, the flow of matter _________.

answer

is conserved and recycled

question

Which of the following types of biological molecules are not polymers?

answer

lipids

question

The greatest source of water in the hydrological cycle is ________.

answer

oceans

question

River water held behind a dam is best described as a form of _______.

answer

potential energy

question

The trophic level of "producers" includes ________.

answer

any organism producing biomass directly from photosynthesis

question

Which best describes net primary productivity?

answer

the energy used by plants to make biomass after respiration

question

Biological nitrogen fixation (nitrogen fixation that is performed by living organisms) is carried out by _________.

answer

several species of specialized bacteria and blue-green algae

question

The greatest planetary pool of nitrogen is ________.

answer

the atmosphere

question

Aquifers are _________.

answer

porous rock formations located underground that store groundwater

question

The greatest human impact on the carbon cycle has been through _________.

answer

combustion of fossil fuels

question

Hair, skin, muscles, and enzymes are all made up of ________.

answer

proteins

question

Electronically charged atoms or combinations of atoms are called ________.

answer

compounds

question

Some organisms such as plants, algae, and cyanobacteria produce their own food by absorbing the sun's radiation. These organisms are referred to as _______.

answer

autotrophs or producers

question

The symptoms of the lake suggest ______

answer

Eutrophication

question

A water quality expert checked the level of dissolved oxygen in the lake and found it ________.

answer

Low-normal on the surface but extremely low near the bottom

question

The same expert found that dissolved phosphorous and nitrogen levels were more than 10 times what they were 70 years ago. The primary sources of these are very likely from _________.

answer

Agricultural and urban fertilizer runoff as well as increased urban wastewater discharges

question

A task force composed of water quality chemists, environmental landscape experts, townspeople and corn growers meet and share information. They decide that they must focus on _________ in the initial efforts to restore the lake.

answer

Reducing fertilizer inputs into the lake by exploring alternative farming techniques, increasing the efficiency of the wastewater plant and using aerators to increase oxygen levels in the areas where streams flow into the lake

question

What happens to carbon dioxide when it is in contact with water?

answer

A chemical reaction occurs and the water becomes more acidic

question

Why does water stick to a penny?

answer

Water has cohesion

question

Solid carbon dioxide sublimes. What does the term "Sublime" mean?

answer

Carbon dioxide transitions form the solid to the vapor state

question

The distinction of scientific study's input into governmental solution of environmental problems is that it _________

answer

Bypasses the private sector in making improvements by technology

question

In recent decades a great deal of scientific research and observation has been funded and published by commercial and corporate interests. Since this science may not have to pass the peer review process and may have motives for bias reporting it could be included in the diagram as _________

answer

Lobbying by private sector

question

Legislation passed by congress is known as ________

answer

Statutory law

question

Enforcement and elaboration of U.S. statutory law is given to ______

answer

Administrative agencies

question

If domestic gas prices rise to $5.00 per gallon, conservation will increase, alternative fuels will be developed, and energy efficiency and our quality life will improve. This view is consistent with _______

answer

Environmental economics

question

The social changes in the U.S. in the second half of the 20th century gave right to environmental laws concerned primarily with _________

answer

Reducing pollution caused by industry

question

Environmental damage from industry or land development has traditionally been labeled as ________ by economists.

answer

External costs

question

The first national park in the world was ________

answer

Yellowstone

question

Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring, published in the 1960's ________

answer

alerted the public to chemical pollutants, especially pesticides

question

The national environmental policy act (NEPA)

answer

Required environmental impact statements for any projects funded by the U.S. government

question

The principle that "internal costs," which are the costs and benefits borne by the buyer and seller alone, represent the true and full economics of all transactions is a principle of ________

answer

Neoclassical economics

question

The world bank was established in 1944 to _______

answer

Fund economic development for all countries including dams and irrigation projects in the poorest countries

question

In modern market capitalist economies, the government intervenes to provide all of the following except

answer

Resource allocation

question

External costs include

answer

Environmental damage

question

Which of the following is an assumption of neoclassical economics?

answer

Growth is good

question

The economic philosophy developed by Adam Smith

answer

Advocates laissez-faire policies that many credit for the tremendous gains in material prosperity of industrial nations

question

Restrictive use and active management describe concepts that

answer

Are central to current environmental policy in the U.S.

question

The Cuyahoga River

answer

Caught fire several times in the 1950's and 1960 because of the oil and industrial waste pollution

question

The greenest president of the U.S. was

answer

Teddy Roosevelt

question

This nation has made the decision to reforest its land and has benefitted economically as a result of having done so

answer

Costa Rica

question

In the U.S., wetlands are primarily considered to be _________

answer

Useful to develop for economic purposes

question

Wetlands in the U.S.

answer

Have increased because of human development

question

In the past, the economic principles in play with the fate of U.S. wetlands have been governed largely by

answer

Traditional neoclassical cost-benefit analysis, excluding environmental damage

question

From the scenario above, one conclusion regarding the Gulf Coast damage from hurricane season of 2005 (Hurricane Katrina) is that __________

answer

Wetland losses are improper economic perspectives leading to budget cuts were responsible in large part for the extent of damage

question

If you were a resident of southern Louisiana in 2009-2012, your most affective political response to try to lessen future hurricane damage might be to

answer

Consider joining a local PAC, focused on wetlands restoration and flood control

question

Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring because

answer

She was opposed to the overuse of pesticides

question

Temperate deciduous forests are characterized by

answer

Moderate temperatures and moderate amounts of precipitation

question

Zebra mussels _________

answer

Are an invasive, exotic species that clog water intake pipes at factories, power plants, and wastewater treatment facilities Are in Lake Belton

question

Zooplankton populations in Lake Eerie and the Hudson River have declined by up to 70% since the arrival of zebra mussels because

answer

Zebra mussels feed on phytoplankton, which zooplankton need as a food source

question

Individuals of a single species fighting over access to a limiting resource is one example of ______

answer

Intraspecific competition

question

By definition, parasites _________ their host

answer

Feed on and harm

question

Which of the following captures solar energy and use photosynthesis to produce sugars

answer

Producers

question

Grazing animals such as deer are ______

answer

Primary consumers or herbivores

question

Zooplankton-eating fish are

answer

Secondary consumers

question

Which of the following is true about top predators?

answer

They are likely to be keystone species

question

Which terrestrial biome has the most biodiversity?

answer

Tropical rainforest

question

Which terrestrial biome has rich soil, makes productive farmland, and may be fry during some years

answer

Prairie

question

Microbes in our digestive tract which provide us with the vitamin biotin demonstrate a ______ association

answer

Symbiotic

question

A climax community always

answer

Remains in place until a disturbance restarts succession

question

Of the following , _______ are pioneer species

answer

Lichens

question

Kelp

answer

Suffers intense herbivory from sea urchins

question

Detrivores include

answer

Millipedes, soil insects, and many ants

question

The statement, "hiking up a mountain in the southwestern U.S. is like walking from Mexico to Canada," is meant to demonstrate that ________ changes rapidly as you change altitude and latitude

answer

Biomes

question

If the climate warms significantly, tundra permafrost may melt, exposing underlying rock. This may next lead to primary succession in the community. Of the following, ________ might be the first to populate an area after permafrost melts in response to global climate change

answer

Lichens

question

Intense hurricanes that may result from global warming can directly lead to ________ within impacted terrestrial communities

answer

Secondary succession

question

Some models of climate change from North America predict that the grassland regions of the prairie states will become warmer and dryer. This would result in ______

answer

The need to develop varieties of agricultural crops that tolerate desert conditions

question

The relationship between flowering plants and caterpillars is best described as

answer

Herbivory

question

The relationship between flowering plants and bees is best described as

answer

Mutualism

question

A trophic cascade is the effect of ________ on _________

answer

Top consumers; abundance of lower consumers

question

The figures demonstrates that it requires roughly ________ times more feed input to produce 1 kg of eggs compared of 1 kg of milk

answer

4

question

The comparison shown in the figure is environmentally significant because _________

answer

Production of beef and pork is resource-intensive

question

Thomas Malthus, and Anglican priest and advocate for the poor, warned against unchecked population growth. Why have his predictions not come true, despite enormous population increases?

answer

The green revolution increased the amount of food

question

Robert Fogel won the Nobel Prize in economics in 1993. He has suggested that developing nations today are much like

answer

England and France in the 1790's

question

The largest cause of blindness in children worldwide is inadequate

answer

Vitamin A

question

Why did the Indonesian government support IPM (integrated pest management) agriculture in 1986?

answer

Pesticide subsidies were expensive

question

Anemia can lead to serious complications, even death from bleeding, during childbirth. Anemia is a deficiency of which nutrient?

answer

Iron

question

Monoculture _______

answer

Is an agricultural practice of growing large stands of a single species

question

Recombinant DNA ______

answer

Is the merging of DNA from unrelated organisms to create new genetic varieties

question

Raising _________ requires the most land and water

answer

Beef cattle

question

Humus is

answer

Composed of organic matter and is necessary to fertility and holding soil moisture

question

Industrial agriculture

answer

Increased our ability to obtain more food from the same area

question

Normal Borlaug, who passed away in 2009, pioneered the development of ________

answer

High-yield wheat

question

Terracing, contour farming, intercropping, and crop rotation all _______

answer

Techniques for conserving soil resources and fertility

question

The Conservation Reserve Program pays farmers to

answer

Stop cultivating highly erodible land

question

The loss of more than 10% productivity in an arid area due to erosion, soil compaction, deforestation or overgrazing is _________

answer

Desertification

question

Which is NOT a part of the green revolution?

answer

Aquaculture

question

If a person is chronically undernourished, then he/she _______

answer

Has inadequate calories for a healthy life

question

If a person is malnourished, then he/she

answer

Is lacking s specific nutrient in the diet

question

About 50 million children world-wide under the age of 5 years suffer from protein and calorie deficiency. What technical name do we give this problem?

answer

Marasmus

question

The Dust Bowl of the southern plains was one of the three great environmental disasters of all time. What disease proved fatal to people, especially children and elderly, who tried to survive the drought?

answer

Dust pneumonia

question

Which country has provided an international seed bank for all other nations?

answer

Norway

question

What caused the Dust Bowl on the southern plains of the U.S.?

answer

Extensive plowing of the prairie, exposing the soil

question

Seed banks are important for ______

answer

Protecting genetic diversity

question

Aquaculture

answer

Can bring economic benefits and food security to man developing regions

question

Over-irrigation can result in_____

answer

Soil salinization and waterlogging

question

To make organic fertilizer by composting, you do NOT include ______

answer

Shredded plastic and metals, waste from animal butchering

question

The consequences of over-fertilizing include

answer

Eutrophication and dead zones in aquatic ecosystems

question

The A horizon of soils consists of

answer

Mostly organic material

question

This man is called the "father of the green revolution." He is credited with saving one billion lives. He won the novel prize for peace in 1970.

answer

Norman Borlaug

question

Why have most bioengineered crops been modified for "resistance" traits?

answer

These traits have the economic potential to save on production costs

question

If GM crops can decrease pesticide use, why are environmentalists still concerned about them?

answer

Inserted genes can spread to non-target species

question

The lumen of your coronary artery, the primary vessel that feeds blood to your heart, is about the size of

answer

The inside diameter of a retractable ball-point pen

question

Blood is like quicksand and/or ketchup because all of these liquids demonstrate

answer

Non-Newtonian fluid dynamics

question

Assume that the scales for graphs (a) and (b) are identical. Compare the graphs. Which of the following statements is true?

answer

The toxicant shown in (b) has a lower toxicity than the toxicant shown in (a)

question

That flat line at the left in (b) represents

answer

No response was observed below the threshold dose

question

The graph in (c) is one type that may occur when a test animal is exposed to a(n)

answer

Endocrine disruptor

question

_________ are best defined as substances that cause cancer

answer

Carcinogens

question

_________ are best defined as substances that cause birth defects

answer

Teratogens

question

Carcinogens may be difficult to identify because

answer

There is a long lag time between exposure to the agent and disease

question

Bisphenol A is ________

answer

An estrogen mimic that is used in the manufacture of plastics

question

Transport or airborne toxicants a specific problem in agricultural environments, is called pesticide _________

answer

Drift

question

Aquatic animals such as fish and frogs are especially good indicators of water pollution because

answer

Most chemicals are water soluble so they enter these organisms through drinking or skin absorption

question

Suppose that the concentration of DDT in a lake is 0.0000003 ppm (parts per million) and the concentration of DDT in the tissues of an osprey (a fish-eating bird) is 35 ppm. This is an example of

answer

Biomagnification

question

Acute exposure to an environmental toxin

answer

Are high exposures over short times and associated with a specific cause

question

Chronic exposure to an environmental toxin is best describes as

answer

Low levels of exposure over a long period of time

question

An organism, such as a mosquito, that transmits a disease-causing organism to a host I called a

answer

Vector

question

Synergistic effects of toxicants that are mixed together

answer

Are multiplicative (the toxicants may multiply each other's effects) or greater than additive

question

According to the Precautionary Principle

answer

Restrict any chemical that is suspected of toxicity until it is proven

question

The goal of Stockholm Convention is to ________

answer

→ End the use and release of 12 POPs (persistent organic pollutants) shown to be the most dangerous

question

Toxicants that interact with an organism's natural hormone receptors are ______

answer

Endocrine disruptors

question

Toxicants that cause harm by affecting the immune system include ________

answer

Allergens

question

Chemicals used in cosmetics in the U.S. are

answer

Not reviewed before being sold

question

Radon, cigarettes smoke, asbestos and lead all have in common that they are all ________

answer

Indoor pollutants

question

Which is considered a cultural hazard?

answer

Doing wheelies on a motorcycle

question

Which is considered a physical hazard?

answer

Being part of a mudslide

question

Prior to 2005, no rules regulating mercury emission from coal-fired power plants existed in the U.S. This represents the ________

answer

Innocent-until-proven-guilty approach

question

Mercury is not readily excreted; it is stored in mammalian body tissues. This is best described as _________

answer

Bioaccumulation

question

Based upon the specific health effects described above, mercury would be best classified as a(n)

answer

Neurotoxin

question

Mercury us to methylmercury as DDT is to _______

answer

→ DDE

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