1st 100 APES

62. Of the following sources, which supplies the most commercial energy in the world today?

(B) Oil

23. Represents the biotic potential of the species

A

38. Which of the following factors is fundamentally responsible for seasons on Earth?

B) The tilt of Earth's axis of rotation

2. Approximate efficiency of the conversion of light energy to chemical energy in photosynthesis

E) 1%

98. A metropolitan region of 100,000 people has 2, 000 births, 500 deaths, 200 emigrants and 100 immigrants over a 1-yr. period. Its population growth rate is

b) 1.4 percent.

33. If a city of population 10,000 experiences 100 births, 40 deaths, 10 immigrants, and 30 emigrants in the course of a year, what is its net annual percentage growth rate?

A) 0.4%

4. The maximum efficiency possible in an energy conversion process that is not limited by the second law of thermodynamics.

A) 100%

92. The drop in stratospheric ozone levels in the Southern Hemisphere (the "ozone hole") is most evident during which season?

A) Antarctic spring (October)

20. Country with the greatest percentage of land area affected by desertification...

A) Australia

41. An industry uses natural gas for manufacturing and uses the waste heat to produce electricity. This is an example of which of the following processes?

A) Cogeneration

77. Which of the following is a process that indirectly removes carbon from Earth's atmosphere?

A) Formation of carbonate deposits.

27. Which of the following energy sources is not derived directly or indirectly from solar energy?

A) Geothermal

25. The most commonly used measure of the economic growth of a country is which of the following?

A) Gross national product

36. Negative environmental impacts associated with large-scale hydroelectric projects have been demonstrated in which of the following areas?

A) James Bay, Quebec

72. The major human health problem related to radon accumulation is...

A) Lung cancer.

63. Which of the following is a greenhouse gas that is also a by-product of anaerobic respiration?

A) Methane, CH4

12. Ammonia is converted to nitrite, then to nitrate.

A) Nitrification

78. Which of the following is the best explanation of the fact that agricultural production on floodplains is often relatively high?

A) On floodplains, soils tend to be nutrient-rich and fertile.

8. The most abundant element in Earth's crust

A) Oxygen

6. The process in which glucose is synthesized by plants

A) Photosynthesis

89. Of the following, which is the best example of reclamation of disturbed lands?

A) Restoring vegetation to an area that has been mined

15. Most often cited as the causative factor for acid deposition

A) Sulfur dioxide

28. Which of the following best exemplifies global collaboration for a sustainable environment?

A) The Montreal Protocol

73. Why do introduced species often become pests?

A) They displace native species.

45. A state highway was constructed over wetlands. The state obtained a permit to fill the existing wetlands in accordance with the provisions of the Clean Water Act of 1972, and agreed to create another wetland. This trade-off approach to addressing an environmental issue is known as...

A) mitigation

48. An advantage of recycling aluminum rather than disposing of it in landfills is that aluminum can be...

A) produced from recycled metal using much less energy than is required for its production from bauxite (aluminum ore)

3. Approximate percentage of electric energy converted to heat in the average incandescent light bulb

B) 95%

11. The element commercially extracted from bauxite...

B) Aluminum

14. Nitrate ions and nitrite ions are converted into nitrous oxide gas and nitrogen gas (N2).

B) Dentrification

83. At the current rate of growth, Earth's human population will double in about 50 years. Which of the following is the LEAST viable strategy for ensuring adequate nutrition for a population of this size?

B) Doubling the area of arable land on a global basis

51. Which of the following methods of agricultural irrigation results in the loss of the least amount of water by evaporation?

B) Drip irrigation

34. Which of the following statements about genetic diversity is true?

B) Genetic resistance to pests and diseases can be increased by crossing a crop plant with ancestral varieties.

16. Implicated in human neurological damage...

B) Lead

96. If mean global temperature keeps on increasing as predicted by contemporary scientists, which of the following is most likely?

B) Specialist species living in fragile ecosystems will risk extinction.

79. The increase in the size of Earth's human population in the last century has been dramatic. Which of the following identifies two major contributors to this increase?

B) The Industrial Revolution and modern medicine

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

B) The water is contaminated with animal waste.

81. Which of the following natural events would be most likely to contribute to the cooling of Earth's atmosphere?

B) Volcanism

37. A country with an age distribution like that shown in the figure above, is most likely a country that

B) is experiencing slow or no population growth

46. Information gathered by a scientist about the toxicity of chemical X and chemical Y showed that they had individual safe limits for fish at particular concentrations. But when they were used together at the safe concentrations, there were extensive fish kills. This is an example of...

B) synergism

54. The major source of radon in houses in the United States is...

B) the underlying bedrock

47. The polar regions radiate away more heat energy than they receive from the Sun in the course of a year. However, they are prevented from becoming progressively colder each year primarily by the...

B) transport of heat through the atmosphere and oceans

57. Integrated waste management employs all of the following EXCEPT

B) using disposable diapers instead of cloth diapers

24. Represents the growth of a population predicted by the logistic model

C

64. If the population of a country grows at a rate of approximately 5 percent per year, the number of years required for the population to double is closest to

C) 15 years

1. Approximate efficiency of an average coal-fired power plant

C) 30%

50. The current global human population is about 6.1 billion and is growing at an annual rate of 1.35 percent. If world population were to grow at this rate for the next year, approximately how many people would be added?

C) 8 x 10^7

52. Which of the following components of a wastewater treatment plant is designed to facilitate the decomposition of organic material by aerobic microorganisms?

C) Activated-sludge tank

13. Plant roots absorb ammonium ions and nitrate ions for use in making molecules such as DNA, amino acids, and proteins.

C) Assimilation

7. The process by which a soil nutrient is reduced and released to the atmosphere as a gas

C) Dentrification

70. Which of the following identifies the two factors thought to be the most harmful to biodiversity?

C) Destruction of habitat and invasion by nonnative species

67. Which of the following is the primary environmental problem associated with the use of nuclear power to generate electricity?

C) Disposal of radioactive waste

76. Stratospheric ozone depletion is most likely to result in which of the following?

C) Disruption of photosynthesis in plants.

39. If wastewater treatment plant effluent that contains nitrates and. phosphates is allowed to flow into a body of water, which of the following may result?

C) Eutrophication

59. Economic benefits of building large dams include which of the following? I. Storage of water for agriculture and domestic use II. Controlling floods upstream III. Production of renewable energy

C) I and III only (Storage of water for agriculture and domestic use, production of renewable energy).

10. The most abundant element in Earth's core

C) Iron

97. Photosynthesis is the major source of which of the following gases in Earth's atmosphere?

C) O2

17. Considered harmful in the troposphere but beneficial in the stratosphere...

C) Ozone

82. Even if a country reduces its birth rate and maintains replacement level fertility, its population will still continue to grow for several decades because of...

C) Population momentum.

31. Which of the following best helps to explain why phosphorus is often a limiting factor in many ecosystems?

C) Under many conditions, phosphorus forms stable insoluble compounds.

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

C) loss of recharge area

55. The data in the graph can be useful in explaining the greenhouse effect when they are compared with...

C) mean global temperatures

53. Ozone in the stratosphere is most important to life at Earth's surface because it absorbs

C) ultraviolet light

90. If the annual consumption of petroleum in the United States is about 23 barrels per capita, the total annual consumption of petroleum in the United States is closest to...

D) 6 billion barrels

5. The rapid rate of this process in tropical forests results in low-nutrient soils

D) Decomposition

43. Critics of incineration of municipal solid waste suggest that it may not be the best solution for the future, for which of the following reasons?

D) Incineration contributes to air pollution

69. The chart above compares the daily water use per person to the price of water in selected countries. Which of the following conclusions can be correctly drawn using only the data in the chart?

D) Increased water use is generally correlated with lower water prices.

58. Which of the following pairs of indicators best reflects the availability of health care in a country?

D) Infant mortality rate and life expectancy

9. The most abundant element in Earth's atmosphere

D) Nitrogen

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

D) Overfishing.

42. The water-holding capacity of soil is LEAST likely to be affected by the addition of which of the following?

D) Pesticide

95. Which of the following is the usual cause of cultural eutrophication in surface waters of both developed and developing countries?

D) Runoff of nitrate compounds into bodies of water

19. Country with the largest area of boreal forests

D) Russia

100. Which statement best describes the approximate global distribution of coal supplies?

D) The United States, the former Soviet Union, and China together contain 50% of proven reserves.

74. Acid rain associated with which of the following?

D) The burning of fossil fuels

85. Which of the following best describes the significance of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, which was held in 1972 in Stockholm?

D) The conference provided the first global forum for dialogue on environmental problems.

40. Which of the following describes a fundamental characteristic of the green revolution in food resources?

D) The development of new strains of crops with higher yields

80. Many scientists maintain that a rise in sea level has occurred in the last hundred years as a result of global warming. If this is true, which of the following factors best explains such a rise?

D) Thermal expansion of the ocean

99. Traveling southward from the Arctic regions of Canada to the tropics of Panama, one passes through several biomes—tundra, coniferous forest, temperate deciduous forest, and tropical rain forest. This pattern of change in vegetation is primarily the result of...

D) an increase in both mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation

91. One solution for reducing the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide would be to...

D) decrease the use of fossil fuels

22. Represents the maximum number of individuals that can be supported by a particular ecosystem on a long-term basis...

E

61. United States residents are how many times more likely to die from breast cancer than residents of Hungary?

E) 1.5

84. The combustion of one gallon of automobile fuel produces about 5 pounds of carbon (in CO2). Two autos are making a trip of 600 mies. The first auto gets 20 miles per gallon, and the second gets 30 miles per gallon. Approximately how much less carbon (in CO2) will be produced by the second auto on this trip?

E) 50 lbs

94. Which of the following would be the strongest evidence in support of a scientist's contention that a local area was experiencing acid deposition?

E) An increase in the concentrations of soluble heavy metals in a local pond

88. Which of the following best illustrates the concept of the tragedy of the commons?

E) Depletion of an aquifer by regional farmers

71. For a certain insecticide, the LD-50 dosage level for rats is determined to be 250 milligrams per kilogram of body mass. On the basis of this information, which of the following is the best prediction regarding the consequences of receiving this dosage of the insecticide?

E) Five hundred out of every one thousand rats would die.

75. Characteristics that tend to increase the risk of a species becoming endangered include which of the following?

E) I, II, and III (Having a very limited distribution, being a specialist at the end of a long food chain, having a small population size).

87. Which of the following is a true statement about replacement-level fertility?

E) It is greater in countries with high infant mortality rates than in countries with low infant-mortality rates.

44. Which of the following is likely to minimize soil erosion?

E) No till agriculture

29. Which of the following is an effective alternative to chlorine for disinfecting wastewater in a municipal treatment plant?

E) Ozone

18. Is the major pollutant that electrostatic precipitators are designed to remove from power-plant smokestack emissions

E) Particulates

66. Which of the following will occur if the trend of global temperature increase continues?

E) The troposphere will contain more water vapor.

60. Which of the following statements is best supported by the data?

E) There is a positive correlation between breast cancer and dietary fat intake.

68. Compared to a coal-fired power plant that produces the same amount of energy, a nuclear power plant generates more

E) Thermal pollution.

21. Country with the largest area of temperate deciduous forest...

E) United States of America

32. Factors contributing to the rise in world hunger include all of the following EXCEPT

E) increasing consumption of vegetable protein in place of meat protein

26. The factor that likely poses the greatest threat of extinction of species worldwide is

E) increasing loss of habitat

35. In the United States, most municipal solid waste is disposed of by

E) landfilling

56. The annual fluctuation in carbon dioxide concentration can best be explained by the...

E) seasonal photosynthetic activity of green plants

86. Regulations that deal directly with the disposal of hazardous materials in the United States include which of the following?

RCRA