Enviromental Biology exam 2

A 2004 study by the New York City Department of Design and Construction found that consumers could save more than _____ in annual cooling costs by installing green roofs on just 5% of the city's buildings?

$5 million

What is a "green" city?

A city that pursues sustainable options to be more environmentally friendly and socially equitable

An example of a cultural benefit of an ecosystem is

Kayaking on a river

Which of the following is true of LEED certified buildings?

LEED certified buildings contain more environmentally sound design features.

How does suburban and exurban sprawl impact the environment?

Land use changes result in a reduction of valuable ecosystem services.

A movement that promotes the creation of compact, mixed-use communities with all the amenities of day-to-day living close by and accessible is known as?

New urbanization

The role a species plays in its community, including how it receives energy and nutrients is called its:

Niche

Which two components are included in species diversity?

Species richness and species evenness

Which of the following is a disadvantage of living in an urban area compared to a suburban area?

Stormwater problems due to less green space

What type of LEED certification does the Bronx Library center have?

Silver

Which of these has intrinsic value?

the existence of a giraffe

How many total species have scientists identified so far?

1.5 million

Nearly _____ of all packaged foods and household products in the United States contain palm oil.

1/2

How much energy is passed on to the next trophic level?

10%

The most recent estimate of the monetary worth of ecosystem services puts the value at

125 trillion

Since the 1950s, the world population has become increasingly urbanized. In what year did the worldwide urban population surpass the rural population?

2008

When did the world's urban population exceed that of its rural population?

2008

The pileated woodpecker, a large forest bird, excavates holes in dead or dying trees for nesting purposes. Other species who also live in the same forest, such as flying squirrels, weasels and small owls cannot make their own nest cavities but will move in to an abandoned woodpecker nesting cavity. These smaller species are utterly dependent on the woodpeckers to provide them with a place to live. In this example, woodpeckers are considered:

A key stone species

What was the project that Majora Carter and her neighbors were fighting against?

A waste facility

Environmental justice is the concept that?

Access to a clean, healthy environment is a basic human rights

Which trophic level do decomposers and detritivores occupy?

All of the consumers level

One reason that ecological succession is important is because it?

Allows damaged areas to repair themselves.

What species is the main apex predator of the Everglades food web?

American alligator

Which of the following is a keystone species in the Everglades?

American alligator

What is the place where two different ecosystems meet?

An ecotone

How are ecological diversity and species diversity related?

As ecological diversity goes up, species diversity goes up.

Where would you expect see primary succession occur?

Bare rock from a lava floor

The variety of all life on Earth is called

Biodiversity

Which of the following descriptions fits the species interaction of competition?

Both species are negatively affected

Which of the following consumes 40% of global energy and generates 30% of the world's greenhouse gases?

Building in cities

What are some of the strategies that promote smart growth within cities?

Building parking areas up rather than out, Initiating affordable and convenient car sharing programs, Developing abandoned or empty lots within the city.

Which of these are criteria used in the Green City Index?

Carbon foot print, Water use efficiency, Amount of green spaces

In which species interaction does one species benefit while the other is unaffected?

Commensalism

Species diversity is biodiversity at which level?

Community

What is a social benefit of green spaces?

Community participation

A narrow corridor of forest that links two larger forest patches may not be used by:

Core species

Which one of the following is a smart growth principle?

Creating a range of housing opportunities and choices

When a natural forest is converted into a palm oil plantation, what happens to the majority of the orangutans living there?

Death or displacement

Green building design, as specified by the LEED program, promotes?

Design features low in volatile organic compounds.

Most of the megacities of the world are located in

Developing countries

A new neighborhood is being built in a woodland area. Many of the woodland trees are removed to create space for the neighborhood. Which of the following would increase as a result of this development?

Edge habitat

Situating a landfill or waste incinerator in the neighborhood of low-income families is an example of

Environmental injustice

Some city commuters live far outside the city center in towns with very low population densities. The average home there is larger than that of other areas and the commute time is the longest, often an hour or more each way. These areas are known as the

Exurbs

A strategy of green building that can reduce stormwater runoff is?

Green roofs

What factors lead to urban flight from city centers?

High crime rates in cities promote urban flight because suburbs and exurbs are perceived as safer. Overcrowding promotes urban flight because people want more living space for their growing families. Noise and air pollution contribute to urban flight because they negatively affect health and quality of life.

What can food webs tell ecologists about an ecosystem?

How many communities are affected

Where can environmental injustice issues be found?

In every U.S. state and every country in the world

What is one effect of green space in urban areas?

Increase in property values

A species that is vulnerable to ecosystem changes and can give us advance warning of a problem in that ecosystem is a/an?

Indicator species

Which taxonomic group has the most known species (and probably the most total species, if we had a tally of them all)?

Insects

Which of the following is a method to make a building "greener"?

Installing a green roof

What is the effect of high biodiversity on instances of Lyme disease?

Instances of Lyme disease are lower with high biodiversity, since some species can effectively remove the disease-carrying ticks to prevent the spread of Lyme disease.

In the Everglades, both the wood storks and raccoons feed on frogs as part of their diet. What type of species interaction do the wood storks and the raccoons have?

Interspecific competition

When individuals of the same species are trying to get a limited resource for themselves, what is the interaction called?

Intraspecific competition

The Cross Bronx Expressway enabled suburban commuters to travel in and out of Manhattan each day. How did this affect the Bronx?

It bypassed the neighborhood, which segregated it from the rest of New York City.

Pioneer species usually seen in primary succession are?

Lichens

Why are low-income and minority populations often subjected to actions that damage or pollute their environment, such as the siting of polluting industries in their communities?

Low-income and minority populations rarely have a voice in the local government that is making these choices

What is a benefit of infill development?

Minimizes the amount of land used by developing empty lots within a city

In general, the _____ affluent a nation is, the _____ its carbon footprint.

More higher

Which of the following explains why urban dwellers typically have a lower ecological footprint than suburban dwellers?

More mass transit travel

Why is it easier to implement recycling programs in cities?

More people can share the cost of these services

What species interaction did researchers from the University of Georgia find between wood storks and alligators?

Mutualism

What is the largest city in the United States?

New York City

Why does one ecological community replace another in the process of ecological succession?

Physical conditions such as moisture, soil depth, and shade change over time.

Which of the following is an ecosystem service?

Pollination

Community ecologists study all of the _____ in a specific area.

Populations

The adaptations of sharp teeth and powerful jaws would facilitate which species interaction?

Predation

Why do city dwellers have a smaller than average carbon footprint?

Recycling in cities is more cost‑effective because services are shared by more people. Stacked living helps limit the suburban sprawl that can disturb nearby wild ecosystems. Mass transit decreases the need for personal vehicles, which burn more fossil fuels.

The ability of an ecosystem to recover after damage is known as:

Resilience

Several different species of small birds that all eat insects may be found feeding on the same tree; however, each will be feeding from a different levels of the tree than the other bird species. This is an example of:

Resource partitioning

The science that deals with the repair of damaged or disturbed ecosystems is:

Restoration ecology

What are the benefits of green roofs?

Saving on cooling costs, easing pressure on city sewer systems and mitigating water pollution, reducing greenhouse gas emissions

Wetland areas go through ecological succession, responding to the presence of water and:

Sediment death

Which of the following is NOT a way for cities to achieve self-sufficiency?

Separate open and agricultural land away from the urban area

Suppose that four new buildings have been constructed in the same commercial district. All four buildings are designed for the same purpose and share many of the same features. Some of these features are green building features, but they differ between the buildings. Assuming that all other green building features are the same between the buildings, select the description of the building that provides the most benefits to building occupants and the environment.

The building has a green roof, radiant floor heat, and solar panels, and is constructed with 100% recycled materials.

Which of the following is included in an urban area?

The city and the surrounding suburbs

What effect does higher species richness and evenness generally have on a community?

The community is less likely to collapse in a disaster.

One method to persuade people to support smart growth is to show them the benefits to?

The community, environment, and economy in the area.

Why are endemic species most commonly found in small, isolated ecosystems like islands or mountaintops?

The members of the population cannot easily disperse and share genes with other populations.

The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) is expected to cost more than $8 billion but will help restore important ecosystem services to south Florida including:

The provision of fresh water to aquifers (groundwater).

A tropical rain forest has more different kinds of trees than the same area in a boreal forest. Which of the following is true?

The tropical rain forest has higher species diversity than the boreal forest.

Why did Ireland lose almost all of its potatoes to a fungal blight in the mid-1800s?

There was no genetic diversity in the potato crop; every plant was just like the others.

Why are minority or low‑income communities more likely to be affected by unhealthy urban environments?

These communities are often close to undesirable industries or pollution. Government revenues are not sufficient to build and maintain communal green spaces. Housing may contain health hazards or fail to meet local building codes.

Why are keystone species so important in a community?

They provide a unique service other species depend on.

The urban heat island effect is caused by high energy use and which two other factors?

Too few plants and too much pavement

The most biodiverse ecosystems of the world include which of the following?

Tropical rain forest

Why are smart growth strategies difficult to implement in older cities?

Upgrading infrastructure often costs more than new construction.

Moving out from a city center into low population-density developments in the surrounding areas is known as?

Urban flight

Instrumental value is a species' worth based on its

Usefulness to humans

Which of the following is a characteristic of a niche generalist?

Uses a wide variety of resources

Which city has a goal of ensuring all residents are within a five-minute walk of a green space?

Vancouver, Canada

What is included in ecological diversity?

Variety of niches in an area

What is the urban heat island effect?

When urban areas are warmer then surrounding countryside

Areas with high ecological diversity will have a _____ variety of habitats and _____ niches.

Wide many

Which of the following is an example of a niche specialist in the Everglades?

Wood stork

What is NOT a way that smart growth can reduce traffic congestion and air pollution?

Zoning laws to keep residential areas separate from commercial areas

Students inventoried the species of trees in a patch of forest near their school. They counted 55 trees and identified 12 different species of trees. Most of the 55 individual trees were either red oaks or scarlet oaks; other species were represented by less than 3 individuals each. They then inventoried a patch of forest of equal size in a nearby national forest and found 80 trees representing 28 species of trees, and there were 2 - 4 individual trees for each species in the patch. Compared to the forest near the school, the national forest has:

greater species richness and evenness.

Which of the following is considered an ecosystem service provided by biodiversity?

organisms capturing nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus and passing them along

What is the relative abundance of each individual species in a community?

species evenness

We depict the trophic levels of an ecosystem as a pyramid because:

there is less biomass at each subsequent level, so they get progressively smaller.