Environmental Science Final

Unlock all answers in this set

Unlock answers
question
These three sectors account for 50% of all jobs worldwide.
answer
agriculture, forestry and fishing
question
Increasing global demands for energy is
answer
increasing political attention to oil production and global climate change.
question
Rachel Carson's impact on environmental policy change was aided by support from
answer
public opinion.
question
The current global human population in 2012 is more than
answer
7.1 billion and is growing at a rate of 1.2%.
question
The economic gap between developing and industrialized countries may best be narrowed by
answer
stabilizing population growth in developing countries.
question
In 2013 most species in the world go extinct because
answer
of loss of habitat.
question
Which one of the following is least appropriate to the field of environmental science? Scientists
answer
study X-ray emissions for evidence of black holes.
question
The greatest environmental problems of the 1950s mainly concerned
answer
widespread and easily detected water and air pollution.
question
All scientific investigations are initially founded upon
answer
good observations.
question
Examine the differences between the plant on the left and the plant on the right. Which of the following represents a scientifically acceptable hypothesis about these plants?
answer
The plant on the left is taller and has more roots and needles because it has a root-fungus symbiosis missing on the plant on the right.
question
What was the experimental variable in the above experiment?
answer
pesticide Z
question
Sustainable solutions should
answer
incorporate the concerns of economists, ecologists, and sociologists.
question
A disproportionately high placement of toxic waste sites in regions of the United States populated by minorities presents an issue of
answer
environmental racism.
question
Discriminatory trade practices that favor industrialized countries over developing countries are
answer
the number one issue at every meeting of the World Trade Organization.
question
Which of the following has been most negatively impacted by globalization?
answer
local cultures' religious and dietary traditions
question
Globalization is largely the result of
answer
worldwide electronic communication.
question
The lessons learned from Rachel Carson's Silent Spring reveal the importance of
answer
sustainability and stewardship.
question
Centrally planned and free-market economies both
answer
represent ideals not found in pure form in any country.
question
In the classical view of economic activity in this figure, we expect businesses to prosper when
answer
labor costs are low and household incomes rise.
question
The classical economic paradigm and the new ecological economic paradigm differ in the way that
answer
each views the land, either as a resource within the human economy (classical) or as something that encompasses the economy (ecological).
question
Natural capital includes ecosystem capital plus
answer
nonrenewable resources such as fossil fuels.
question
Which of the following represents intangible capital?
answer
the library of the Smithsonian Institution
question
Unlike high-income countries, low-income countries rely most on their
answer
natural capital.
question
What would comprehensive environmental accounting add to the calculation of GDP?
answer
the depreciation of natural capital and reductions in ecosystem services
question
Examine the trends in the GDP and GPI. The GPI has remained fairly level because of
answer
the rising environmental and social costs of economic activity.
question
Which of the following best illustrates an intergenerational consideration?
answer
reducing the harvest of blue fin tuna to sustainable levels
question
Which of the following represents a market approach to environmental policy?
answer
using a cap-and-trade system to control the levels of carbon dioxide released into the air
question
In this figure, what level of pollution reduction comes at the highest cost?
answer
from 80-100% pollution reduction
question
As indicated in this figure, the most expensive period of pollution control is from years
answer
0-5 while the least expensive is in years 20-25.
question
The benefit to cost ratio of replacing chlorofluorocarbons in new cars turned out to be
answer
higher than predicted.
question
Shadow pricing is used to estimate the
answer
value of an endangered species of plant.
question
The Obama administration
answer
now encourages the development of renewable energy and reduction of carbon emissions.
question
As of 2012, it is clear that public opinion
answer
trusts the EPA much more than Congress to oversee the national environment.
question
Which of the following would most likely cause the greatest harm to wild Giant Panda populations in China?
answer
the introduction of beetles that eat bamboo
question
Compared to all of the organisms in a phylum, organisms that share the same family
answer
share a more recent common ancestor.
question
Within a community, species of
answer
bacteria, plants, animals, and fungi all interact.
question
Ecotones
answer
are transitional regions between ecosystems.
question
Which one of the following best illustrates an ecological landscape?
answer
a river flowing past fields and forests in Yellowstone National Park
question
Uncertain about the best way to keep his new lizard alive, Jerome places a heat lamp at one end of the long lizard cage. Over several days, Jerome notices that the lizard tends to sit in a certain place when the lamp is on. The lizard's selection of a particular place to stay represents its
answer
temperature optimum.
question
On some islands, during the mating season, birds compete intensely for breeding sites. On these islands, these breeding sites represent a(n)
answer
limiting factor.
question
Which one of the following is a molecule but not a compound?
answer
O2
question
Most organisms use water in
answer
liquid form.
question
What two spheres are most visible in this photograph?
answer
hydrosphere and biosphere.
question
Which of the following best represents potential energy converted to kinetic energy?
answer
turning on a flashlight
question
An average person might consume 2,000 Kilocalories of food in one day. This is enough energy to heat up how many 2-liter bottles of liquid water from 0 degrees Celsius to 100 degrees Celsius (just reaching the boiling point of water, but not turning the water into steam)?
answer
10
question
Sometimes people say that plants make energy from the sun. However, plants make sugars using sunlight. Stating that plants make energy is actually
answer
a violation of the first law of thermodynamics.
question
Plants grow as new organic molecules are formed by plant cells. Most of the carbon in the newly created organic molecules of these plants ultimately came from
answer
carbon dioxide in the air.
question
When you exercise, you can feel your body getting warmer, perhaps even starting to sweat. Why does exercise make you warmer?
answer
Glucose oxidation speeds up during exercise to power muscular activities, and as a byproduct, extra heat is generated.
question
The Haber-Bosch process creates nitrogenous fertilizers by
answer
converting nitrogen gas and hydrogen to ammonia.
question
Which of the following statements is not true of the sulfur cycle?
answer
Unlike nitrogen and carbon, organisms do not require or contain sulfur.
question
Golden frog populations would be more likely to survive the current threats if
answer
their populations were more widely distributed across Central and South America.
question
Plants such as leafy spurge can double their population size every year in part because of their efficient production of large amounts of seeds. Populations that can double every year, such as leafy spurge,
answer
exhibit exponential growth as they spread to new regions.
question
Many strategies have been used to control leafy spurge, including the deliberate introduction of different species of flea beetles that feed on leafy spurge. Each flea beetle female may lay about 200 eggs in her only year of life. In places where flea beetle introductions have quickly established large populations that have grown and stabilized, the population growth of these beetles most likely looked like
answer
an S-shaped curve.
question
Flea beetles alone are unlikely to eliminate all of the leafy spurge in a region. Instead, the number of leafy spurge plants and the number of flea beetles in a particular community may stabilize. At this point, the leafy spurge and flea beetle populations
answer
are experiencing environmental resistance.
question
In logistic growth (an S-shaped curve), how does population growth change as the population nears its carrying capacity?
answer
Population growth decreases.
question
In general, K-strategists have a
answer
type I survivorship pattern, and r-strategists have a type III survivorship pattern.
question
A grasshopper population in a prairie is limited in large part by the number of birds in the region. Following a terrible storm that killed many of the birds, the grasshopper population exhibits exponential growth. This happens because the grasshoppers experienced
answer
a steady biotic potential but suddenly decreased environmental resistance.
question
A population of catfish in a muddy pond reaches its maximum size as the food supplies start to run low. Without any new sources of food, the catfish population remains steady. This population represents
answer
density-dependent logistic growth.
question
Which of the following is analogous to a mutualistic relationship?
answer
A basketball player is paid by a company to wear its particular brand of shoes.
question
The relationship between the dung beetles and the cattle is a type of
answer
mutualism.
question
Which one of the following illustrates interspecific competition?
answer
Caterpillars of two different species of moth are feeding on the same plant's leaves.
question
Which of the following represents a type of mutualism?
answer
A honeybee feeds on nectar at a flower on an orange tree and pollinates the flower.
question
The relationship between the moose and wolf populations on Isle Royale reveals
answer
top-down and bottom-up population regulation.
question
The population of elk in Yellowstone
answer
reflects top-down and bottom-up population regulation.
question
Which one of the following illustrates intraspecific competition?
answer
male red-winged blackbirds defending nesting sites from other males
question
The concept of biological fitness is based on two separate abilities. These are the ability to
answer
survive and reproduce.
question
The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker may have been found in deep woods of Missouri. Even though a few individuals may have survived, this may not be enough to avoid extinction of this species. What else must these few birds do to ensure the survival of the species?
answer
maintain a viable breeding colony
question
The different Galápagos finch species
answer
evolved from a single ancestral species that flew to the Galápagos Islands.
question
Introduced alien species that cause the most harm are those that
answer
become invasive.
question
The species shown in photo (a) has
answer
become invasive and threatens the species in photo (b).
question
Volcanoes are triggered by
answer
movement of tectonic plates.
question
Biomes characterize regions with similar types of
answer
vegetation and climatic conditions.
question
In general,
answer
food chains are interconnected to form food webs.
question
A large oak tree with its abundant leaves glimmering in the sun on an early fall morning represents
answer
an autotrophic producer.
question
Hydrothermal vent communities are unusual because
answer
a producer exists without sunlight.
question
In this unusual ecosystem,
answer
there is no photosynthesis.
question
A raccoon spends its week eating raspberries, grain, eggs, and grasshoppers. Raccoons are therefore
answer
omnivores.
question
Examine the food web described by this figure. Which of the following organisms is at the highest trophic level?
answer
beluga whale
question
In the fall, Rose bought some fresh apple cider without preservatives sold by the local orchard. After several weeks stored in the refrigerator, Rose noticed the taste of alcohol in the cider. Friends later told her that she had accidentally made hard cider. Rose wondered how this could happen, and then her friends explained. After some time, natural yeast in her cider
answer
broke glucose down into alcohol by aerobic respiration.
question
Anaerobic respiration
answer
occurs without oxygen and may produce methane gas.
question
In general, biomes at higher latitudes are most like
answer
biomes at higher altitudes.
question
Biomes with precipitation between 10-60 inches per year and seasonal temperature at lower elevations are commonly
answer
grasslands.
question
Which biome is characterized by permafrost?
answer
tundra
question
The changes in this field, from grasses to shrubs to trees, represent
answer
ecological succession.
question
The mosses changed the environment enough to permit grasses to grow in a process called
answer
facilitation.
question
This region of Iceland once was covered with forests. However, humans logged the trees and grazed sheep on the logged regions, preventing natural regeneration. This situation, in which one ecosystem has now been converted to another, represents
answer
a tipping point for this ecosystem.
question
Which one of the following contributes the most to global climate change?
answer
the use of natural gas to heat homes
question
As we consider the pressing demands of a growing human population, ecosystem services must be
answer
given proper economic value and not taken for granted.
question
The best ecosystem management requires
answer
good stewardship and sustainability.
question
Which of the following groups would represent the primary stakeholders in this dispute?
answer
the native people
question
The best way to sustainably manage natural environments is to
answer
The best way to sustainably manage natural environments is to
question
Species are most likely to be conserved by humans if they have
answer
instrumental value.
question
Off the northern Atlantic coast, cod populations were severely depleted by the 1990s. Biologists that successfully argued for fishing bans on cod to let the cod populations recover argued for the
answer
instrumental value of cod.
question
Plants that can best resist a variety of environmental challenges are most likely
answer
wild plants with high degrees of variation.
question
Which of the following represents the greatest conservation of the genetic bank?
answer
the MSB and Svalbard seed banks storing seeds of thousands of plants from around the world
question
The search is on as the evidence from ethnobotany reveals the genetic potential of wild plants to produce chemicals of medical significance. The scientists exploring the medicinal use of plants by indigenous peoples throughout the world are engaged in
answer
bioprospecting.
question
Ecotourism throughout the world relies upon
answer
a widespread public interest in exploring and maintaining natural environments.
question
The ability of scientists to understand the natural relationships between organisms and their environments depends upon the
answer
availability and preservation of undisturbed regions in the world.
question
The acronym HIPPO identifies the five major factors contributing to extinction today. These are
answer
habitat destruction, invasive species, pollution, population growth, and overexploitation.
question
In the southeastern United States, the red fire ant is
answer
an invasive species that has caused a decline in biodiversity.
question
Which one of the following is not a major source of invasive species in the world?
answer
escape from zoos and animal parks
question
A shrimp farm in Thailand results in
answer
specific gains to the shrimp farmer.
question
The harvest of organisms is more likely to be sustainable if organisms are captured
answer
after they have had a chance to reproduce.
question
In general, as income levels rise, dependence on wild income
answer
deceases and consumptive use decreases.
question
The application of the precautionary principle to a commercial fishery whose primary catch species is in decline would result in
answer
a total allowable catch below the best estimate of the maximum sustainable yield.
question
The Santa Cruz River in Arizona has suffered from depletion from irrigation withdrawal for decades, and now natural and social scientists are asking stakeholders to
answer
help develop a user policy by identifying the river's services of major economic importance.
question
When completed, the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan will
answer
redirect much of the water flow southward.
question
The most productive systems on land are
answer
forests.
question
Which of the following lumber harvesting strategies will most likely produce erosion problems?
answer
clear-cutting
question
Even-aged and uneven-aged management are used in
answer
silviculture.
question
The greatest human impacts on ocean ecosystems are concentrated
answer
in the northern hemisphere.
question
The most promising solution to the global problem of depleted cod populations is to
answer
apply the principles used in the management of Pacific halibut.
question
The most ecologically sustainable meat with the lowest environmental impact would be
answer
open ocean aquaculture of fish or mollusks that feed on phytoplankton.
question
In addition to global climate change, humans are negatively impacting coral reefs by
answer
destructive harvesting of fish for food or pets.
question
The value of many natural ecosystem services is most apparent as
answer
we appreciate the damages and economic loss that result from the disruption of these ecosystems.
question
We can expect that as mangroves continue to be destroyed worldwide,
answer
coastal erosion will increase.
question
You want to have the best outdoor experience possible, experiencing life in the least disturbed ecosystems in the United States. The best place to visit would be a
answer
wilderness area.
question
Which of the following is the greatest current threat to forests in the United States?
answer
fires
question
Agricultural pollution in the Everglades Restoration Plan will be controlled by
answer
using manmade wetlands to remove agricultural nutrients before they enter the Everglades sheet flow.
question
The Neolithic Revolution is most clearly seen in human culture today in our use of
answer
modern agriculture to raise food crops.
question
The rerouting of the Mississippi to increase the efficiency of movements of steamboats and barges was the result of the
answer
Industrial Revolution.
question
Which problem today is primarily the result of the Industrial Revolution?
answer
extensive air and water pollution
question
At the mouth of the Mississippi River, large concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus flow into the Gulf of Mexico, causing nutrient overloading, algal blooms, and extremely low levels of oxygen. Which revolutions are most responsible for this problem?
answer
Green Revolution and Industrial Revolution
question
An isolated village of about 1,000 people in a developing nation may be hunting and raising only enough crops to feed themselves. Such a village may have fewer than half their children surviving to adulthood. This struggling village primarily reflects the result of which revolution?
answer
Neolithic Revolution
question
This photograph best represents the results of which three revolutions?
answer
Neolithic Revolution, Industrial Revolution, and Green Revolution
question
The greatest human population increases over the next few decades is expected to occur in
answer
Africa.
question
Although people living in the highest-density populations in urban areas generally live long, healthy lives, global overpopulation remains a problem because
answer
environmental impacts are not always experienced where resources are consumed.
question
The amount of land and ocean needed to provide the resources for one person and absorb his/her wastes defines the
answer
environmental footprint.
question
The GINI index assesses
answer
the relative economic disparity within nations.
question
Using the GINI index, more than any other high-income country, the United States has
answer
the lowest life expectancies, more people in prison, and more children in poverty.
question
This figure reveals a drop in growth rate that occurs about 20 years before the number of persons added per year declined. This 20-year lag represents:
answer
a drop in the number of people reaching reproductive age.
question
In this figure, the width of each bar includes a measure of the
answer
mortality within the age group.
question
Which of the following will slow the rate of global population increases?
answer
delaying the age of first reproduction
question
Projections of future world population do not typically include
answer
migration.
question
The age structure of the country in this figure reflects
answer
a fertility rate that has declined.
question
To maintain steady total populations in future decades, most European countries will need to
answer
accept more immigrants.
question
In most developed countries, an epidemiologic transition
answer
was followed by a fertility transition resulting in a demographic transition.
question
Which of the following demonstrates the best application of justice and good stewardship?
answer
Restrictions on the use of fossil fuels should be proportional to the carbon footprint.
question
The social and economic changes in Thailand over the past 50 years have
answer
slowed population growth significantly.
question
Countries that have completed the demographic transition typically have
answer
good use of technology and high per capita income.
question
The most recent Cairo population conference in 1994 found widespread agreement that the greatest way to help developing countries was to
answer
limit their population growth.
question
Why is the green line lower in Latin America than it is in Sub-Saharan Africa?
answer
Latin American communities have better use of modern medicine.
question
The 1994 Cairo Conference on Population and Development found that the greatest threats to the health of the environment were
answer
poverty, development, and population growth.
question
In general, as a country goes through the demographic transition, it experiences a
answer
falling dependency ratio that increases the demographic dividend.
question
In general, fertility rates
answer
decrease as per capita income increases.
question
A study is conducted to understand how some developing countries have made social and economic progress. Which of the following would be a surprising finding in such a study?
answer
decreased support of education
question
In general, which of the following would best help to reduce extreme poverty?
answer
programs specifically targeted to bring the poorest nations into the development process
question
The Millennium Development Goals focus on
answer
ending extreme poverty and hunger all over the world.
question
Which of the following affects the greatest number of people in the developing world?
answer
inadequate sanitation
question
The region of Kerala in India demonstrates that improvements in health care and longevity are correlated with
answer
reductions in total fertility rates and a high literacy rate.
question
One major effort in developing countries is illustrated in the photo above. This is an effort to
answer
increase the number of girls in schools.
question
What are the expected results of sending at least 50% of children in a developing country to secondary schools?
answer
healthier children, less poverty and decreased fertility
question
Unlike developed countries, children in developing countries often die from
answer
common ailments such as diarrhea.
question
Compared to a person in a developed country, a person in a developing country is about eight times more likely to die from
answer
communicable diseases.
question
With billions of dollars already spent to fight AIDS and the need for much more money, which of the following represents the best strategy to fight AIDS in the world?
answer
increase preventive measures to slow new infections, especially changes in sexual behavior
question
You are a newly appointed advisor in a government project to help move a developing country forward economically. With limited financial resources and staffing, which of the following would be your highest priority?
answer
help the government promote family planning throughout the country
question
Planned Parenthood and the UNFPA are
answer
international agencies that provide broadly based family planning services in developing nations.
question
Microlending has
answer
produced million of loans, primarily to women, in more than 40 countries.
question
The largest reserves of fresh water on Earth are found in
answer
polar ice caps and glaciers.
question
Which of the following are processes that generally reverse each other?
answer
evaporation and precipitation
question
Which of the following contributes the most as a greenhouse gas?
answer
water vapor levels in the air
question
Increasing the kinetic energy of liquid water enough to permit water molecules to break completely away from each other occurs as
answer
steam forms.
question
In the figure, blue water is represented by
answer
rain.
question
Water is naturally purified by
answer
evaporation and condensation.
question
In the western United States, we expect that rain shadows most frequently occur on
answer
the leeward, east side of mountain ranges.
question
Which of the following situations is most likely to have the lowest infiltration-runoff ratio?
answer
a paved parking lot
question
About 99% of all liquid fresh water on Earth is found in
answer
underground aquifers.
question
Gutters and storm sewers in a city are most concerned with the
answer
surface runoff loop.
question
Wetlands store and release water most like which component of the water cycle?
answer
groundwater reservoirs
question
If a plowed farm field was restored to natural prairie, we would expect that
answer
erosion of the soil would decrease.
question
How has converting forests to mostly paved urban areas changed the streams and rivers in the affected watersheds?
answer
Infiltration shifts to runoff.
question
Regions where humans produce high levels of aerosols and dust will most likely experience
answer
less rainfall, reduced solar radiation to the Earth's surface, and cooler temperatures.
question
Oceanographers are studying the thermohaline currents to determine
answer
whether global climate change may slow or alter their path.
question
The greatest worldwide use of water is for
answer
irrigation.
question
Which of the following would cause a rising water table?
answer
increased precipitation
question
As world populations increase
answer
the greatest increases in water demands will occur in the developing world.
question
The single greatest threat to irrigated agriculture is
answer
groundwater depletion.
question
Agricultural fields that must be irrigated to sustain a crop will eventually
answer
accumulate toxic levels of salts from evaporation.
question
Some people have thought that a big solution to water shortages in the southwestern United States is to create a large canal between the Great Lakes and the southwest. Why is this suggestion probably not sustainable?
answer
It could deplete water levels in the Great Lakes.
question
In the figure, the location of deserts in the northern and southern regions of Africa are best explained by understanding
answer
Hadley cells.
question
The wind patterns indicated by arrows in the figure are primarily the result of
answer
Earth's rotation.
question
Which one of the following soil horizons is least likely to be interacting directly with living organisms?
answer
C horizon
question
Which of the following farming practices would be expected to produce the least nutrient leaching, and thus contribute most to soil sustainability?
answer
no plowing, no irrigation, and the use of organic fertilizers
question
At a county fair, the winner of the best garden vegetable competition is asked how she grows such wonderful produce consistently. Wanting not to reveal all of her secrets, she says she uses composted materials. What this gardener is using is
answer
decomposed organic matter called humus.
question
The sustainability of agricultural practices
answer
decreases if the soil is degraded by erosion or salination.
question
Global satellite imagery of land on Earth over the past 20 years reveals
answer
a net decline in the overall quality of cropland.
question
You construct a home in a hilly forested region in Wisconsin. Which of the following would most likely result in the least amount of soil erosion from the surrounding forested hillsides?
answer
leave most of the forested region alone, in its natural state, and plant a few ornamental trees
question
The strips of farmland in this region are used to
answer
reduce water erosion.
question
Which one of the following would cause the greatest soil erosion to a forested hillside?
answer
cutting down and removing all of the trees
question
Irrigation can result in the salinization of soils because
answer
salts are deposited on the soil surface as water evaporates.
question
NGOs such as COSECHA in Central America
answer
work with village landowners in the roles of \"farmer experimenters\" to develop local sustainable agricultural techniques.
question
Subsistence farming
answer
is the traditional agriculture practiced by humans 12,000 years ago.
question
The industrial revolution has greatly impacted global agriculture such that
answer
agricultural productivity has more than doubled.
question
The industrial revolution has led to an increased reliance on fossil fuels to
answer
power farm machinery and to produce fertilizers and pesticides.
question
In the lower 48 states of the United States, the pressure to convert new land into crop production has
answer
decreased, and the use of erosion-prone land has been reduced.
question
The high price of food on the global market is closely related to
answer
the increased use of fertilizers and the rising cost of fossil fuels to produce fertilizers.
question
The method of farming illustrated in this photograph best represents
answer
subsistence farming.
question
The goals of biotechnology currently include
answer
growing crops that are more resistant to drought and disease.
question
In the past 50 years, the global production and availability of grains has
answer
remained at about 70 days, but importation is still required by most of the developing regions.
question
The graph in this figure suggests that
answer
eating less meat will make more grain available for human consumption.
question
Sustainable agriculture in the long term will require
answer
decreasing the use of fossil fuels and synthetic fertilizers.
question
Suffering the impact of swarms of locusts, a farmer uses an airplane to spray an insecticide over 1,500 acres of his corn field. This farmer is trying to address this pest problem by using
answer
a chemical treatment.
question
Pesticide resistance against one pesticide
answer
can become resistance to many if many are used.
question
In the processes of biomagnification and bioaccumulation described in the figure,
answer
the pesticide has to be non-biodegradable (persistent) for the processes to occur.
question
Pesticide exposure has been shown to cause diseases of the
answer
endocrine and immune systems.
question
The pesticides that also function as endocrine disruptors cause disease by
answer
mimicking the effects of estrogenic hormones.
question
In any food web, biomagnification will result in the highest concentrations of toxins in the
answer
highest trophic level.
question
Colony collapse disorder
answer
is thought to be caused by a combination of pesticides, pathogens, hive pests or other synergistic toxic chemicals.
question
Using a broad spectrum chemical pesticide would be counterproductive if you were relying on
answer
natural enemies control.
question
To meet current USDA organic food standards, 100% organic certified foods may be
answer
meat, grains, or vegetables.
question
Indonesia has become a model for other rice growing nations because
answer
they switched from heavy pesticide spraying to IPM with help from the FAO.
Get an explanation on any task
Get unstuck with the help of our AI assistant in seconds
New