Self Check: 5.6 - 5.12

Corn can be grown at a rate of 1,000 kcal per hectare, and it takes 20 times more land to produce beef than it does to produce corn. Which of the following equations would correctly calculate the amount of land needed to produce 10,000 kcal of beef?

1 ha/1000kcal corn X 20kcal corn/1kcal beef X 10000kcal beef

A family of five recently replaced its 5-gallon-per-minute showerheads with water-saving 2-gallon-per-minute showerheads. Each member of the family averages 8 minutes in the shower per day. In a 30-day period, how many fewer gallons of water will the family use with the new showerheads?

3,600

If an area was originally forested and then underwent urban development, which of the following shows the most likely effects on various parts of the water cycle in the area?

A

The process of extracting and separating gold in remote regions often results in environmental contamination with which of the following?

Cyanide

Storm water runoff from the new development into nearby Samel Creek will likely lead to which of the following?

Destruction of fish habitats by high levels of suspended solids and sediments

After reviewing personal footprint data, Student 5 decides to take action to lower his or her overall footprint by reducing money spent on shoes and clothing. Land use in which of the following categories will be most affected by this change?

Goods and services

The development of dangerous strains of disease organisms represents a significant consequence of which of the following agricultural practices?

Incorporating antibiotics into the feeding regimens of densely concentrated livestock.

Which of the following best describes an environmental advantage of urbanization?

Individuals living in cities usually have a lower transportation carbon footprint than individuals living in rural areas.

According to the information in the graph above, which of the following would most effectively slow the loss of arable land?

Reducing urban development

A farmer observes that increasingly higher concentrations of a particular pesticide have been required each year over the past ten years to achieve the same level of effectiveness on a specific insect pest. Which of the following best helps explain the observation?

Some individual insects are more likely than others to survive and reproduce due to their inherited traits.

Which of the following is the best example of an economic approach to reduce overfishing for a fish species with a declining population?

The federal government sets a catch limit (per person or per boat) for the species and imposes a tax on any extra fish that are caught.

Which of the following is a limitation of using only the data in the table to complete an ecological footprint analysis of the different students?

The footprint is a static analysis and does not include all environmental impacts of an individual.

The presence of fecal coliform bacteria in a sample of river water suggests which of the following?

The water is contaminated with animal waste.

Which of the following best explains why the maximum sustainable yield for ocean fisheries has been exceeded?

Too many fish of reproductive age are harvested.

Which of the following solutions would help decrease flood frequencies and flood sizes that are caused by urbanization?

Using new, more permeable materials for roads and sidewalks

Based on the information shown in the graph, which of the following statements is most likely to be true?

When precipitation varies, streams in watershed II experience the greatest fluctuations in water volume.

The land on a 100-acre farm is equally suited for grazing cattle and growing corn. Of the following ways of distributing land use, which would produce the greatest number of calories of human consumption?

acres for grazing cattle: 0 acres for growing corn: 100

Compared with people in developing countries, people in industrialized countries are more likely to eat

beef

One way that consumers can help prevent a decrease in the number of fish species that are experiencing population declines is to

eat fish that are caught using sustainable harvesting methods, therefore ensuring fish populations remain stable and reducing the amount bycatch harvested

Overgrazing of grasslands can lead to reduced range quality. Two of the major effects of overgrazing are

erosion and desertification

As urbanization increases and natural soil surfaces are covered, the groundwater supply is reduced due to

loss of recharge area

The major cause for the decline in the worldwide catch of fish since 1990 is

overfishing

Environmentalists oppose the mining of antarctic mineral resources because

the antarctic environment is fragile and extremely vulnerable to the disturbances that would accompany development

It has recently been estimated that the growth in world population has slowed in the past decade. Despite this trend, environmentalists remain concerned about the environmental impact of world population, principally because

the standard of living is increasing in many developing countries, leading to an increased per capita use of natural resources

An insect population in an agricultural field is affected by monthly applications of a pesticide, as shown in the graph above. A likely cause of the overall increase in the insect population over time is

the survival of increasing numbers of resistant insects