Environmental Science 1401 - Test 1

What percent of the Earth's water is undrinkable?

99%

Personal ethical commitment can

All of these are correct. (help guide behavior in the absence of supporting laws; help environmental laws match national or community ethics; help a person to modify individual environmental actions.)

When dealing with environmental regulations, the United States government can

All of these are correct. (infringe on personal property rights; force land owners to modify the use of their land; enforce environmental regulations without regard to personal property.)

Pseudoscience

All of these are correct. (is a deceptive practice; utilizes appearance and language of science; is misleading.)

Industries pollute because

All of these are correct. (manufacturing consumes energy and produces waste; they want to cut costs and increase profits; proper waste disposal is too costly.)

Environmental science is an interdisciplinary area of study that deals with all of the following except

All of these are correct. (politics; economics; ethics.)

Ecologists have traditionally categorized the roles of organisms in ecosystems into three broad categories that include

All of these are correct. (producers; consumers; decomposers.)

The scientific method is

All of these are correct. (reliable; impartial; limited in when it can be used.)

Risk tolerance can be based upon

All of these are correct. (users management policy; risk tolerance programs; perceptions of risk.)

Ecologists distinguish two different kinds of competition. One is

Both intraspecific and interspecific are correct.

Biocentrism is not considered when looking at life-centered environmental ethics.

False

Economic considerations are not involved with environmental decisions.

False

Environmental Pragmatism is an approach that focuses on ethics rather than policy.

False

Environmental science is a narrowly defined field of physical and biological sciences.

False

Industrial ecology is the study of laws which are designed to protect the health of human beings and their environment.

False

Biocentrism is also known as

Life-centered environmental ethics.

Which of the following is NOT a pollution cost?

None of these are correct. (expenditure to avoid pollution damage once it has occurred; increased health costs; sewage treatment)

Which of the following is NOT a decomposer?

Oak tree

Which of the following books cites the danger of pesticides to food, wildlife, and humans?

Silent Spring

Biodiversity is fundamental to human welfare and economic development and plays a critical role in meeting human needs by maintaining the ecological processes upon which our survival depends.

True

Ecocentrism, it is suggested that the environment itself, not just living organisms that inhabit it, has moral worth.

True

Ecosystem boundaries are usually defined by easily identifiable demarcations.

True

Environmental Aesthetics is the study of how to appreciate beauty in the natural world.

True

Environmental decisions involve economic considerations because often one group of people is receiving income from the resource being used.

True

Growth, expansion, and domination remain the central sociocultural objectives of most advanced societies.

True

Some ecosystems have easily recognized boundaries, such as lakes, islands, or floodplains.

True

The bioaccumulation of contaminants is greatest in the top predators of an ecosystem.

True

The ecosystem approach requires scientists to recognize and understand natural interactions and to integrate this with human needs for natural resources.

True

The word environment is usually understood to mean the surrounding conditions that affect organisms, but a broader definition would include everything that affects an organism during its lifetime.

True

Extinction of organisms is

a common event.

The relationship between frogs and insects is an example of

a predator-prey relationship.

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of sustainable development?

adaptability

Which of the following is a pollution prevention technique?

alternative fuels

Carbon enters the carbon cycle in the form of

atmospheric carbon dioxide.

What is the fundamental subunit of matter?

atom

"Matter" is made up of

atoms.

Another name for nutrient cycles in ecosystems is

biogeochemical cycle.

In a mutualistic relationship

both species benefit.

Scientists distinguish between situations that are merely correlated and those that are correlated and show

cause-and-effect relationships.

Across the world, cultures have different ethical commitments, which are reflected through

cultural relativism.

Which is NOT a step in the cost-benefit analysis?

determination of tradable emissions

Tapeworms living inside the intestines of their host are an example of what type of relationship?

endoparasitism

Environmental anthropocentrism is a theory which states that

environmental responsibility is derived from human interest.

World food production has doubled in the last 40 years because of

fertilizers, pesticides, and high-yielding varieties.

What is the term used to describe food chains which overlap and intersect?

food web

Which of the following organisms is a primary producer?

grass

An ecosystem is

group of interactive species and their environment.

When energy is converted from one form to another, the loss of energy is usually in the form of

heat.

Which correctly demonstrates the sequence in which the three major worldwide economic transformations occurred?

industrial revolution > technology revolution > globalization

The energy released as water flows downhill from behind a dam is an example of

kinetic energy.

Ideally, the _____ of a particular nation or community should match the ethical commitments of those living there.

laws

The small amount of dissolved oxygen found in warm water is considered a _______ to the success of many fish species.

limiting factor

Economics factors should be considered when

making any environmental decisions.

Which of the following elements is a limiting factor to plants in naturally occurring soil?

nitrogen

Ethics is

one branch of philosophy.

Risk based corrective action was formed to

protect environmental ecological resources.

Which of the following is NOT one of the General Motors Environmental Principles?

public education

Risk analysis consists of two primary considerations:

risk and cost.

The use of facts and assumptions to estimate the probability of harm to human health or the environment is called

risk assessment.

When a population becomes isolated from another over a long period of time

speciation is likely to occur.

Two organisms that interbreed and produce fertile offspring are said to be individuals of the same

species.

Pollution Prevention (P2) can

take on purely economic aspects.

In which region has the original, natural ecosystem been replaced by agriculture?

the Middle U.S.

Which of the following is an example of an abiotic factor?

the climate of the community in which the species mentioned above inhabit

Each step in the flow of energy through an ecosystem is known as a

trophic level.

The second law of thermodynamics states that

useful energy is lost when converting from one form of energy to another.

Which of the following does NOT demonstrate the use of renewable resources?

using underground coal deposits to produce heat and electricity

Phosphorous is released from rocks by which process?

weathering and erosion

Natural selection is the process that determines

which individuals within a species will reproduce and pass their genes to the next generation.

Which of the following organisms is a secondary consumer?

wolf