Concepts Ch 19

How are the CFCs dangerous to the environment?

breaking O3 to make O2

Which example would best demonstrate the law of unintended consequences?

building levees on the Mississippi River

Which are products of burning fossil fuels in the atmosphere?

carbon dioxide and water, nitrogen oxides and sulfur compounds, water vapor and sulfur compounds, carbon dioxide and NOx

It takes more than 100 years for an economy to change its industrial municipal fuel choices (T/F)

false

Life moved to land on earth only after the greenhouse shield formed several hundred million years ago (T/F)

false

The ozone hole was first detected over Antarctica because of a chlorine research project located there (T/F)

false

The ozone levels must be sampled directly from aircraft flying into the region under study (T/F)

false

The total warming in the northern hemisphere since the last ice age is 5 degrees fahrenheit (T/F)

false

The treaty that came out of the 1986 international environmental conference in Montreal created for an immediate global ban on CFC (T/F)

false

If the annual temperature of Washington DC warms 2 degrees celcius, its climate would be most like

georgia

Which of these groups are listed as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd trophic level order?

grass, deer, mountain lion

The creation of NOx requires nitrogen, oxygen, and

heat

Which of the following initiated the law of unintended consequences at Lake Victoria in Africa?

introducing the Nile perch

A national recycling program is inhibited by

lack of market for some recycled products, each type of trash requires unique chemical process to be recycled, the sheer volume of trash needing to be processed, America's "use it and lose it" attitude

What are some ideas proposed to decrease global warming?

limit the burning of fossil fuels, pass laws with strict auto-emission limits, nothing- global warming is a natural process, plant trees to take in extra carbon dioxide

Earth's atmosphere is transparent to visible light and UV but opaque to infrared wavelengths (T/F)

true

Global climate models are not reliable for long term predictions because the resolution of the data cells is too coarse (T/F)

true

Scientists are unable to predict the consequences of the greenhouse effect with certainty (T/F)

true

Since introducing Nile Perch to Lake Victoria, the shore tree density has decreased (T/F)

true

The Everglades Restoration Plan will change the flow of water in Florida (T/F)

true

The US did not sign the international Kyoto Accord (T/F)

true

Without the greenhouse effect, the earth's average temperature would be -20 degrees celcius (T/F)

true

An ecosystem can be as large as the earth and as small as an aquarium (T/F)

true

Carbon Dioxide causes the rainfall to be naturally acidic (T/F)

true

CFC replaced Freon as a coolant in refrigerators and air conditioners (T/F)

false

Why do scientists believe that global warming is occuring?

15 of 20 years since 1980 were warmer than normal, sea level is rising, glaciers are melting, 1998 was the warmest year on record

How far above the earth would we find the highest concentration of "good" ozone?

20 miles

What were the principles of the Kyoto accords?

Decrease in carbon dioxide emissions on a global scale

Carbon dioxide protects the earth's surface from harmful radiation (T/F)

false

What were the results of the Montreal Treaty of 1986?

Industrial Nations would decrease then stop their production of CFCs

Why is any effort to control the greenhouse effect so difficult?

The global economy depends on fossil fuels, its natural phenomenon necessary to keep its average temperature on earth above freezing, the global climate models are not yet dependable enough to determine energy policy, there is no reliable substitute energy source available to the average citizen on a global scale

According to the equilibrium hypothesis, introducing a new species to an isolated ecosystem will

cause another species to go extinct

Urban landfills use procedures that

decrease the decomposition rate for newspapers

The flow of energy in an ecosystem

decreases by 90% at each trophic level

Acid rain is known to cause problems by

destroying statues and limestone buildings

What do scientists think will happen if the earth's atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are doubled?

earth's average temperature will increase 2-6 degrees celcius, the oceans will take up extra carbon dioxide, the plants will increase in biomass productivity, the earth will become cloudier

Which term refers to the particular way an organism obtains energy?

ecological niche

Which statement about an ecosystem is correct?

matter is recycled by an ecosystem

How are scientists determining atmospheric ozone levels?

measuring spectral lines from satellites, collecting samples with specifically outfitted airplanes, analyzing data collected in ground-based labs

The value of the ozone layer to earth's citizens is

protection from UV rays

Daniel Simberloff & E. O. Wilson supported theory of Island Biogeography. What happened at the end of the experiment?

the island biota were replaced by similar but different species of animals

The amount of solid waste produced by an average American each year equals

the weight of 2 large dump trucks

A list of ecosystem components would include the abiotic as well as the biotic parts (T/F)

true