apes unit 8 and 7

Many homeowners are unaware that their garbage may contain hazardous waste, which should be taken to a designated hazardous waste dump site instead of being placed in their regular trash.List some common household hazardous waste. EXCEPT ________________.--batteries--oil-based paint--motor oil--bug spray--food scraps

(answer: food scraps)

Describe a way that persistent organic pollutants (POP's ) cause harm in the environment.

. they are soluble in fats and can easily bioaccumulate

Which waste reduction strategies to decrease the landfill volume of packaging material from food and other consumer products is the most energy efficient?

1. Promoting the use of reusable containers for consumer goods

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

500 out of every one thousand rats would die

Approximately 60 percent of municipal solid waste in the United States is composed of some form of organic matter that could be composted. Every American generates approximately 2 kg of waste every day.The amount of compostable waste that could be generated by one individual in a week would be closest to what number?

8.4g

Although ozone in the stratosphere has been decreasing in recent years, ozone near Earth's surface is on the increase. The ozone near the surface is undesirable because it does what

?is a strong oxidant and a respiratory irritant

Researchers are evaluating the waste treatment facility located on the Moose River in the northeastern United States. They are sampling the river and its tributaries at several locations, as shown on the map below. Water from which location would best serve as a control group for the study?

A (it's kind of on the main stretch or stream flow of the river, in between tributaries. It's also the furthest one upstream in the diagram)

What is one of the most direct consequences of the trend in air travel in recent years?

A. the increase n the spread of infectious diseases

When scientists discover the existence of an emerging infectious disease such as SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), they must take immediate steps to determine the cause of the disease and the method of transmission. These initial steps would include what?

Acquiring recent medical and travel history of the disease variants

What components of a wastewater treatment plants designed to facilitate the decomposition of organic material by aerobic microorganisms?

Aeration tank/activated sludge tank

An ecologist examining several different ponds discovers that in one pond all the frogs are female. What is most likely going to lead to the all-female population of frogs?

An endocrine disruptor

Describe the action of an endocrine disruptor.

An endocrine disruptor blocks the receptor protein binding site of a hormone so that the cell cannot receive a signal.

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

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

What is most likely to result from destruction of wetlands surrounding a river?

An increased frequency of flooding of the river valley.

How does mercury enter the food web?

Anaerobic bacteria or seafood consumption

What is the human health impact most closely associated with atmospheric particulates?

Asthma, damage to the respiratory system

The data that were used to create the graph were collected in the winter. How would the graph be different if the data were collected in the middle of the summer?

B. Concentration for components C...Concentrations for component CC would be higher throughout the graph

Describe the use of baghouse filters in exhaust systems.

Baghouses utilize fabric filter bags or pleated filters arranged in rows and mounted vertically in a sheet metal housing. They are designed to receive dusty gas from fugitive or process sources, capture the particulates, and exhaust clean air.

The graph above shows the effect of sewage on biological oxygen demand (BOD) and dissolved oxygen(DO) in a flowing stream. The smallest fish populations will most probably be found at point?

C, DO decreasing slope

Based on the diagram, what is an expected consequence of runoff and sewage in an aquatic environment?

C. Decreased oxygen production by seaweed on the seafloor from an increase in turbidity

The graph below depicts the various components of smog for a densely populated urban area in the Northern Hemisphere. Each plotted line ( A,B, C and D ) is a different component of smog. Which of the curves on the graph depicts the concentration of ozone, which requires sunlight to form?

C; Ozone concentrations peak in the afternoon as the intensity of the sunlight peaks. Ozone is a secondary pollutant formed in the atmosphere in a reaction that involves both nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the presence of sunlight. By late afternoon, the ozone that forms during the day breaks down.

What chemical compound leads to formation of photochemical smog in the troposphere when it reacts with other compounds in the presence of sunlight?

Carbon monoxide

What pollutant is has a stronger affinity for hemoglobin than oxygen has?

Carbon monoxide

The use of what type of controlling agricultural insect pests is most likely to have a negative and persistent impact on an ecosystem?

Chlorinated hydrocarbons, lindane

Describe an environmental disadvantage of using industrial scrubbers and electrostatic precipitators for pollution abatement.

Coal ash is stored and not disposed which contributes to acid mine drainage, surface and groundwater pollution

What is primarily responsible for acid rain in the northeast United States?

Coal burning power plants. Coal.

The majority of atmospheric mercury is produced by what?

Coal fueled power plants

In the figure below, the letters A, B, C, and D represent the different thermal layers present in an inversion.What is the correct sequence of thermal layers as one moves vertically upwards from the surface of Earth?

Cool sea breeze → Warm → Cool

What would be the most likely effect of acid deposition on a northern forest?

Decreased ability of trees to withstand cold weather

What is an expected consequence of runoff and sewage in an aquatic environment?

Decreased oxygen production by seaweed on the seafloor from an increase in turbidity, decrease in oxygen level in surface water as a result of decrease in photosynthetic rates by algae

What actions would be the most effective in decreasing acid rain and acid deposition problems?

Decreasing amount of coal and natural gas

What are the direct products of the use of hydrocarbon fuels in automobile engines?

E) CO2, NOX, and VOCs

Describe the use of electrostatic precipitators in exhaust systems.

Electrostatic precipitators use an electrical charge to make particles coalesce in exhaust so they can be mechanically removed. This reduces the amount of particulate matter in the air.

Alligators in a Florida lake polluted by high levels of dioxins (chlorinated hydrocarbons) had low testosterone levels and failed to reproduce. Scientists came to the conclusion that the dioxins were acting as what?

Endocrine disruptors

List examples of point sources of pollution.

Examples include smokestacks, discharge pipes, and drainage ditches. Factories and power plants can be a source of point-source pollution, affecting both air and water. Smokestacks may spew carbon monoxide, heavy metal, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, or "particulate matter" (small particles) into the air. refers to a single, identifiable source of a pollutant, such as a smokestack or waste discharge pipe.

List examples of nonpoint sources of pollution

Excess fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides from agricultural lands and residential areas, Oil, grease and toxic chemicals from urban runoff and energy production, Sediment from improperly managed construction sites, crop and forest lands, and eroding stream banksNonpoint sources of pollution are diffused and can therefore be difficult to identify, such as pesticide spraying or urban runoff.

What water quality tests would best indicate if sewage from the wastewater treatment plant has contaminated the Moose River?

Fecal coliform measured at site B

Factors that increase the spread of infectious diseases include what?

Flooding, global warming, introduction of insect vectors, rural poverty

What pollutant is emitted from most manufactured building materials and furniture?

Formaldehyde

What are three common methods employed in the cleanup of oil spills?

Genetically engineered bacteria, booms and skimmer boats

Based on the diagram, which of the following is associated with the primary treatment of sewage?

Grit chamber

Mercury concentrations were measured in freshwater shrimp populations in two different ponds, one polluted with mercury and one unpolluted, with a similar food web in each pond. What scientific question would guide this investigation?

How much mercury accumulates in the tissues of freshwater shrimp living in a polluted pond?

True statements about ozone include which of the following? 1. Ozone is a precursor of acid rain. 2. Contact with ozone can be injurious to human health. 3. Ozone absorbs some wavelengths of ultraviolet radiation

I and II

Regulations that deal directly with the disposal of hazardous materials in the United States include which of the following? 1. RCRA 2. Clean Water Act 3. Clean Air Act

I only

Defining characteristics of a wetland involve which of the following? 1. Hydrology2. Soil type3. Species composition

I, II, III

What is involved in integrated waste management?

IWM is a set of management alternatives that include reuse,source reduction,recycling,composting,landfill, and incineration

Critics of incineration of municipal solid waste suggests that it may not be the best solution for the future. Why?

Incineration produces ash that increases landfill volume.

What is a potential human health effect most likely to be associated with a thermal inversion?

Increase in respiratory irritation due to increased levels of fine airborne particulates

what is a problem that is associated with a thermal inversion?

Increase in the rate of smog formation and causes pollution

What is the most likely consequence of runoff transporting chemicals that are endocrine disruptors to a pond?I

Increased frequency of birth defects in fish populations in the pond

Rachel Carson's contributions to the environmental movement include what?

Increased public awareness of the risks of using pesticides, DDT specifically

What is the most serious immediate problem associated with sanitary landfills?

Leachate contamination of groundwater.

Why does a thermal inversion tend to concentrate pollutants in the air layer closest to the Earth's surface?

Less-dense, warm air creates a temperature inversion between more-dense layers, trapping pollutants near the groundThe air layer closest to the Earth's surface is denser than the layer above it.

The activity with the health risk most likely to be overestimated by the general public in the United States is what?

Living near a nuclear power plant

Scientists are interested in measuring the effect of pollution on the water quality of a stream. They will use observations of various bottom-dwelling insects, or macroinvertebrates, collected in the stream as indicators of the physical, chemical, and biological conditions within the stream. Why can macroinvertebrate sampling be used to assess the overall health of a stream?

Macroinvertebrates live in an aquatic ecosystem for a long enough time to show the chronic effects of pollutants, and many tend to remain in the same area throughout their lifespan.

What poses a health risk to humans who eat large quantities of marine fish such as swordfish and tuna?

Mercury

What is a common component of photochemical smog and is a reddish-brown gas with a pungent odor?

Nitrogen dioxide, NO2

Bats use echolocation to find prey by emitting high-pitched bursts of sound and analyzing the reflection.Scientists studying a population of bats in a forest observed that their population size had declined in the years following the completion of a nearby highway.Based on the information above, describe how noise pollution from the highway has affected the size of the bat population?

Noise pollution interrupted the bats ability to find food/get food

Lakes that are characterized by high water clarity and low concentrations of dissolved nutrients are classified as what?

Oligotrophic

Although the use of DDT was banned in the United States in 1972, a test of the body tissue of an average United States resident today would most likely reveal the presence of DDT. Why?

Others countries that export product to the us still do it

In August of 2014, residents of several Ohio cities that use Lake Erie as a drinking water source were warned not to drink tap water because of the presence of toxins released by blue-green algae(cyanobacteria). What is the most likely cause of recent blooms of blue-green algae in Lake Erie?

Phosphorus contained in agricultural runoff

Describe the formation of photochemical smog in large cities in the United States?

Photochemical smog is a mixture of primary and secondary pollutants formed under the influence of UV radiation from the sun. The formation of photochemical smog begins when exhaust from morning commuter traffic releases large amounts of NO and VOCs into the air over a city.

A beach community was recently negatively affected by a hurricane. Community leaders are looking for a potential solution to prevent damage from future hurricanes.What solutions would best address the issues of greatest concern in the community?

Planting mangrove forests

What practices would best help to protect against inland and coastal flooding in urban areas?

Preserving wetland and coastal mangrove habitats

What components are part of the tertiary treatment of wastewater?

Remove nutrients and pathogens, removal of nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen and practically all suspended and organic matter from wastewater.

What is a natural source of atmospheric carbon dioxide?

Respiration, decomposition, volcanic eruptions

What are the consequences of indoor air pollutants?

Respiratory disease, asthma, irritation to the eyes, nose, and throat

Is noise pollution bad?

Rise in blood pressure, increased stress level

The diagram shows how cholera is transmitted. Based on the diagram, what is the most likely reason that a community with good sanitation could still have individuals who contract cholera?

Runoff from a nearby agricultural field pollutes a reservoir used for drinking water.

What is a primary air pollutant produced from burning coal?

SO2, sulfur dioxide

What is an appropriate remediation strategy for removing radon gas from the home?

Seal or ventilate places where radon enters the living space

Many synthetic chemicals, such as PCBs, act as estrogen mimics. In an ecosystem, these persistent chemicals would have the greatest effect on what?

Secondary Consumers

Scientists are interested in determining if selenium, from a nearby mine, magnifies in the tissues of fish living in a lake. Describe a testable hypothesis for the study.

Selenium will be at a higher concentration in fish tissue than in the tissue of fish prey.

Why do more contaminants get leached when solid waste is crushed into small particles and put in contact with water than when the particles are large?

Smaller particles have a larger surface area per unit volume than larger particles.

If wastewater treatment plant effluent that contains nitrates and phosphates is allowed to flow into a body of water, what may result?

Storage of water for agriculture and domestic use and production of renewable energy. Eutrophication

Most often cited as the causative factor for acid deposition?

Sulfur dioxide

The diagram illustrates a sewage treatment plant. The different processes at the plant are labeled A to D. This process uses chlorine, ultraviolet radiation, or ozone as part of the disinfection of wastewater.

Tertiary treatment

What federal laws specifically deals with the cleanup of abandoned hazardous waste sites?

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

Based on the diagram, why does a population in an area that has poor sanitation can be particularly at risk for a cholera outbreak?

The bacterium that causes cholera is spread through ingestion of contaminated water or food.

Acid rain is associated with what?

The burning of fossil fuels, a chemical reaction that begins when compounds like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide are released into the air

A massive bluegill fish kill was observed in a lake near a power plant during the winter months. It was determined that the plant was releasing large amounts of hot water into the lake. Which of the following explains what likely caused the death of so many bluegills in the lake?

The influx of warmer water caused an unexpected increase in the metabolic rate of the bluegills, which led to increased physiological stress from limited resource availability

Some drinking water standards allow bacteria in water at dosages up to the 10% probability of illness.Why?

The newly discovered bacterium would have the lowest allowable dosage to meet the drinking water standards.

he major source of radon in houses in the United States is what?

The underlying bedrock. Radon gas can infiltrate homes as it moves up through the soil and enters homes via the basement or cracks in the walls or foundation. It is also dissolved in groundwater that enters homes through a well.

A student is setting up a model to study the carbon cycle and natural sources of carbon dioxide. They create a microenvironment that contains soil, leaf debris, an earthworm, heterotrophic bacteria, and a sun lamp. What natural source of carbon dioxide and major metabolic process was left out of the model?

There is no representation of photosynthesis in the model environment.

If the air layers in the diagram were relabeled to illustrate normal atmospheric conditions, the correct labeling from the air layer closest to the Earth's surface to the one farthest from the Earth's surface would be what?

Use temperature of air layers as your guide. Warm air, cool air, cooler air

Based on the diagram, what is the most likely reason that V. cholerae can spread rapidly through a population?

V.cholerae is a microscopic bacterium that can survive in various aquatic environments for prolonged periods of time and can cause a delayed onset of visible symptoms.

The water used in this type of power plant is often released back into a reservoir. What effects could this released water have on the reservoir?

Warm water is released into the reservoir which increases dissolved oxygen levels.

A local citizen science group is monitoring the water quality of a nearby lake. They gather water samples once a week on Wednesday between the hours of 7 A.M. and 9 A.M. from the same location. One day in August they were unable to sample within that time frame and collected the sample at 3 P.M. How might this modification to the sampling procedure affect the results?

Water sampled later in the day may be warmer and therefore have lower dissolved oxygen levels

What is an unintended result from recycling programs?

When items are placed in recycling that cannot be recycled, the cost of recycling increases

Which law establishes cradle-to-grave tracking of hazardous waste?

Which law establishes cradle-to-grave tracking of hazardous waste?

Smoke from forest fires is most likely to affect air quality over larger areas for many days when what happens?

a persistent atmospheric inversion exists in the region

Describe the process of bioaccumulation.

a process of accumulation of chemicals in an organism that takes place if the rate of intake exceeds the rate of excretion.

What location in the US would most likely receive acid deposition?

a town downwind from a coal-fired power plant, north eastern united states

What is an advantage of recycling aluminum rather than disposing of it in landfills?

a. Produced from recycled metal using much less energy than is required for its production from aluminum ore

List some common heavy metal toxins

aluminum, mercury, lead, cadmium and chromium.

What is commonly used to deal with the side effects of eutrophication in lakes?

applying herbicides to kill nuisance plants, dredging out lakes to deepen them, pumping oxygen into the lowest layer of water, introducing insects that eat certain nuisance plants

What is composed of fibers known to cause lung disease?

asbestos

Eutrophication results in the death of trout and other fish as a result of what?

asphyxiation from lack of oxygen

The use of nitrogen-based fertilizers in the Midwestern United States is a major contributing factor to what?

b. Hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico

What best explains why DDT has been found in penguin eggs in the Antarctic?

because it travels long distances because of the wind and water (burned into air or prayed into the air and has to come down somewhere), chemicals used in one region of the earth can circulate to the biosphere and affect organisms in distant region

West Nile virus was identified in the Western Hemisphere during the summer of 1999 and was associated with human, equine, and avian deaths. This virus is acquired how?

being bitten by an infected mosquito

Some toxic compounds are ingested and retained in the tissues. These pollutants pose special risks to humans and other organisms high on the food chain because of which process?

biomagnification

the primary cause of acid precipitation in the northeastern United States is what?

burning of sulfur-containing fossil fuels to produce electricity

In addition to volatile organic compounds (VOC's ), what components must be present in the atmosphere to create photochemical smog?

c. NOx and UV light

Catalytic converters reduce which of the following pairs of pollutants in car exhaust?

carbon monoxide & hydrocarbons

Which law mandates the restoration and maintenance of the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters?

clean water act

What type of electricity-generating power plant releases radioactive materials as well as toxic metals such as lead and arsenic under normal operating conditions?

coal burning

Most plastics pose a special problem in the waste stream. Why?

decompose slowly, if at all, and persist as solid waste

what would most likely reduce the concentration of ground-level ozone in the air of a city?

decrease in the emissions of nitrogen oxides

Researchers suspect that sewage leaked into the Moose River. Rates of what diseases should be used to determine whether the human population using the river as a source of drinking water was exposed to sewage?

dysentary

This pathogen infects the intestine and is spread through contaminated water or food.

e. coli

Ticks are vectors for various diseases. The ticks acquire the disease-causing organisms from what?

feeding on host animals

he presence of what contaminants would be the strongest reason for judging municipal sewage sludge unfit for use as fertilizer?

heavy metals

Endocrine disruptors directly affect what in an organism?

hormones

The release of a large amount of sewage and other organic wastes into a river would likely result in a sharp increase in what?

increase in the biological oxygen demand

What is a common characteristic of lakes undergoing cultural eutrophication?

increased levels of plant nutrients

In a river ecosystem, dissolved oxygen concentrations drop quickly downstream from a point-source input of organic matter into the river. This effect is due to what?

increasing bacterial activity as organic matter decays

The three main anthropogenic sources of gaseous air pollutants in the United States are what?

industry, transportation, and energy production.

What is a way to potentially eliminate one of the greatest threats to the world's mangrove wetlands?

integrate ecologically sound shrimp aqua-cultural practices with mangrove management, Increase desalination to reduce the effects of prolonged drought in mangroves.

Describe one way the Clean Air Act helped reduce air pollution.

introduced regulatory measures to control the amount of lead in fuels. regulating the use of lead,cap and trade

What is phytoremediation? i

involves using natural or genetically engineered plants to absorb, filter and remove contaminants from polluted soil and water.

What is the primary method of waste disposal in the United States?

landfilling

What pollutant is found in old plumbing pipes and fixtures and some ceramic glazes?

lead

What toxin is implicated in human neurological damage?

lead

Which cities regularly experience the worst levels of photochemical smog that is enhanced by thermal inversions?

los angeles

This pathogen is primarily transmitted by mosquitoes and is found most often in sub-Saharan Africa.

malaria

What is a flammable gas produced by landfills?

methane

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 in 1972, and agreed to create another wetland. This trade-off approach to addressing an environmental issue is known as what?

mitigation

Ground-level ozone in most major United States cities results primarily from what source?

nitrogen dioxide

What is a natural process that adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere?

organisms respire or decompose (decay), carbonate rocks are weathered, forest fires occur, and volcanoes erupt. (photosynthesi), bushfires, dust storms, sea spray, pollens

What is an effective alternative to chlorine for disinfecting wastewater in a municipal treatment plant?

ozone

In the United States, the largest single component of municipal solid waste is what?

paper products

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

particulates

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

particulates

What will result in accelerated eutrophication when introduced into streams, lakes, and bays?

phosphates

The diagram illustrates a sewage treatment plant. The different processes at the plant are labeled A to D. Large objects, such as sticks and rocks, are screened out and removed during this process.

primary treatment

What pollutant is colorless, odorless gas that is a naturally occurring decay product of uranium?

radon

What pollutant is has been implicated as the cause of as much as 15 percent of lung cancer case

radon

The diagram illustrates a sewage treatment plant. The different processes at the plant are labeled A to D. This process results in the biological breakdown of most of the organic matter in the sewage.

secondary treatment

If wastewater treatment plant effluent that contains nitrates and phosphates is allowed to flow into a body of water, what may result?

storage of water for agriculture and domestic use and production of renewable energy. eutrophication

What is true about noise pollution?

sudden or persistent noise may lead to permanent hearing loss

What is an important precursor to acid rain?

sulfur dioxide- comes from burning fossil fuels with high sulfur content, is an important precursor to acid rain

Information gathered by a scientist abut 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 what?

synergism

Based on the diagram, which of the following best describes how a malfunctioning air compressor would affect the process of sewage treatment?

the oxygen concentration in the aeration tank would increase. The settling of large debris, such as wood, from the water would be prevented. Fewer bacteria would be available to absorb dissolved oxygen

Acid deposition would most likely result in what?

the release of aluminum ions from soil

What important phenomenon that often plays a role in air pollution episodes in some cities

thermal inversion

This pathogen infects the respiratory system, typically the lungs, and can spread through the air when a person coughs, sneezes, or talks.

tubercolsis

What is a measure of the amount of suspended material in water?

turbidity

Describe the use of fluidized-bed combustion in the boiler furnaces

used to remove SO2 from emissions by combusting coal close to calcium carbonate (limestone), which removes sulfur in a reaction that produces gypsum, the mineral used in drywall

What sources should be examined in a study to determine the impact of a geologic source on levels of CO2 in the atmosphere?

volcanoes

List the supporting ecological service provided by wetlands.

water purification, flood protection, water filtration, and habitat.

The danger from radon gas would most likely be greatest in what situation?

well-insulated homes

How do we reduce SO2 emissions from coal-burning power plants?

wet scrubber units

Incineration is one solution to reduce the volume of municipal solid waste. Municipal solid waste can be used to produce energy at waste-to-energy plants. What materials would be best suited for incineration to reduce total volume, produce energy, and have minimal release of air pollutants?

wood