APES Final Exam (Practice Test 6)
Which of the following represents a positive feedback loop in the Arctic that is associated with anthropogenic climate change?
(A) Arctic Ocean ice melts - ocean surface water temperature increases - more ice melts
Carbon dioxide and particulates are emitted by volcanoes. Particulates form stratospheric aerosols that reflect sunlight. Which of the following best describes the impact of atmospheric carbon dioxide and stratospheric aerosols?
(A) Carbon dioxide contributes to global warming, and aerosols cause cooling.
Which of the following is an example of a carbon sink?
(A) Deposition of organic matter on the deep ocean floor
Extraction of natural gas by the process of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is most likely to result in which of the following environmental problems?
(A) Groundwater contamination
Researchers have found that over the last twenty years there are fewer native plants in the alpine meadows of the Rocky Mountains east of Salt Lake City and that the abundance of two species of invasive grasses has increased. Which of the following questions is most appropriate to ask when investigating the cause of the change in the alpine meadows?
(A) Has an increase in soil nitrates from air pollution allowed the invasive grasses to outcompete the native plants?
Recent studies have found that fine particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 μm or less can have negative human health effects. Which of the following correctly links a negative human health effect to an anthropogenic source of fine particulate matter?
(A) High rates of respiratory disease from power plant emissions
Which of the following describes a potential human health effect most likely to be associated with a thermal inversion?
(A) Increase in respiratory irritation due to increased levels of fine airborne particulates
The presence of which of the following in soil is most likely to neutralize acid rain?
(A) Limestone
As part of a school project, a group of high school students will attempt to determine whether increasing the species diversity of the edible plants in pastures used for grazing livestock will provide an economic benefit to ranchers. Which of the following hypotheses, if supported by experimental results, best demonstrates an economic benefit to the ranchers?
(A) Pastures with the highest diversity of plant species will have the highest net primary productivity.
A gaseous decay product of uranium that is found in rocks
(A) Radon
A leading cause of lung cancer in the United States
(A) Radon
Consumers who get their electricity from coal-fired power plants are not paying the true cost of energy production in their monthly utility bills. Which of the following is true about utility bills for these consumers?
(A) The bills do not include public health costs, such as those associated with air pollution.
Which of the following will be the greatest impact of the development on the local water supply?
(A) There will be less recharge of groundwater.
Which of the following is true about the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 ?
(A) They allowed power plants to buy and sell SO2 pollution allowances.
A student group is involved in a restoration study of a nearby disturbed area. They decide to collect six soil samples and analyze them for carbon (C) and nitrogen (N). Two of the samples are found to be very high in C and N, but the other four samples are low in both. The students also notice that the color of the two soil samples that are high in C and N is very dark. Which of the following is the most likely explanation of the data?
(A) Two of the samples were collected from an A horizon, and the others were collected from a B horizon.
Brown pelicans are fish-eating birds. As a result of an El Niño event, the population of brown pelicans in southern California declines. Which of the following best explains the relationship between the El Niño event and the population decline?
(A) Warmer ocean temperatures can cause fish to move to colder water farther from pelican nest sites.
Which of the following is the best example of the tragedy of the commons?
(A) Water pollution from oil rigs concentrated in the Gulf of Mexico
Which of the countries listed in the chart above is most likely to have limited educational opportunities for women?
(A) country A
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the pumping of highly pressurized water with a mixture of sand and chemicals into boreholes to
(A) create cracks within the rock in order to provide pathways for the release of gas and oil
Surface oceanic circulation results most directly in the
(A) distribution of heat from tropical to temperate and polar regions
The K-selection reproductive strategy maximizes survival of offspring by producing
(A) few offspring with high levels of parental care
Which of the following diagrams correctly illustrates the nitrogen cycle?
(A) graph with N2 on both sides of tree
Damaging tornadoes occur most frequently in this area.
(A) map
Corn can be grown at a rate of 1,000 kcal per hectare, and it takes 20 times more land to produce beef than it does to produce corn. Which of the following equations would correctly calculate the amount of land needed to produce 10,000 kcal of beef?
(B) 1 ha/1,000 kcal corn x 20 kcal corn/1 kcal beef x 10,000 kcal beef
At which time after clear-cutting does the ecosystem exhibit the greatest species richness?
(B) 100 years
Which of the following annual population growth rates is paired with the correct doubling time?
(B) 2% . . 35 years
The half-life of a radioactive substance with the decay rate shown in the graph above is closest to
(B) 7 seconds
Increased atmospheric CO2 concentration over the next 50 years is expected to cause which of the following global changes?
(B) A significant loss of biodiversity in the tropics
Catalytic converters reduce which of the following pairs of pollutants in car exhaust?
(B) Carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons
Which of the following is the most likely route for mercury to enter the food web?
(B) Coal-burning emissions -deposition - ocean - plankton - fishes
Which of the following is the most valid inference regarding electricity production, based on the graph above?
(B) Electricity production from coal began to decrease in 2008 because of the increasing use of natural gas and renewable energy.
Which of the following statements best explains the graphs above?
(B) Fruits and vegetables give the greatest monetary return per water usage.
Which of the following statements is best supported by the population doubling times indicated on the map?
(B) India has a higher population growth rate than China and Australia have.
Poses a health risk to humans who eat large quantities of marine fish such as swordfish and tuna
(B) Mercury
A North Carolina timber company proposes to clear-cut 45 hectares of oak-hickory deciduous forest in the Appalachian Mountains. The company has said that the forest will regrow naturally, and 50 years after the clear-cutting the company plans to harvest again, cutting all the oaks and hickories that have at least a 40-centimeter diameter. A local citizens' group claims that this is not a realistic plan. Which of the following, if true, best supports the claim of the citizens' group?
(B) Oak and hickory are late-successional species; pioneer species will dominate for many decades before the oaks and hickories are reestablished.
Which of the following is the best description of bioaccumulation?
(B) The absorption of a substance by an organism at a rate greater than the rate of elimination
Which of the following statements identifies a concern associated with the increased proportion of GM crops being grown?
(B) Use of GM seeds can lead to loss of genetic diversity in crops.
Based on the information shown in the graph, which of the following statements is most likely to be true?
(B) When precipitation varies, streams in watershed II experience the greatest fluctuations in water volume.
Eutrophication results in the death of trout and other fish as a result of
(B) asphyxiation from lack of oxygen
Major anthropogenic sources of nitrogen pollution include commercial fertilizers, vehicle exhaust, industrial air pollution, and
(B) discharge of sewage to surface waters
A major limitation of using photovoltaic cells to generate electricity is that they
(B) do not produce as much electricity on cloudy days
Which environment is characterized by the highest diversity of tree species?
(B) graph - high precipitation and steady temperature
Area where new crust is being created at a divergent plate boundary
(B) map
Fragmentation of tropical forests due to human activities is leading to a significant loss of biodiversity in this area.
(B) map
Phytoplankton are most abundant in the upper few hundred feet of most bodies of water because
(B) sunlight does not penetrate to great depths in water
The spread of infectious diseases is expected to increase with climate change, mainly because
(B) warmer temperatures allow disease-carrying insects to survive in areas that were once too cold
Burning one gallon of gasoline in a car releases approximately 20 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere.
(C) 20,000
Storm water runoff from the new development into nearby Samel Creek will likely lead to which of the following?
(C) Destruction of fish habitats by high levels of suspended solids and sediments
Which of the following accurately describes a fuel cell vehicle?
(C) Fuel cell vehicles use hydrogen to generate electricity that runs the motor.
What important phenomenon that often plays a role in air pollution episodes is illustrated in the diagram above?
(C) Inversion
Was once widely used in the United States as a gasoline additive
(C) Lead
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). Which of the following is the most likely cause of recent blooms of blue-green algae in Lake Erie?
(C) Phosphorus contained in agricultural runoff
Based on the data table above for a stream in Illinois, which site most likely has a construction site immediately upstream from it?
(C) Site C
Until 2005 the entire Postawko Creek Watershed in Fremont County consisted of a national forest interspersed with hay meadows and houses on lots with a minimum size of five acres. In 2005 Farmer Cobb opened a dairy farm in the watershed, and the citizens of Fremont County became concerned that the runoff from the dairy farm would negatively impact the water quality of the watershed. Scientists employed by the county collected water quality data at five sites in the watershed; some of the data are compiled in the table above. Based on these data, which site is most likely immediately downstream from the dairy farm?
(C) Site C
Some studies have indicated that global amphibian populations are declining and that exposure to herbicides in agricultural runoff is implicated in the decline. Which of the following is the most likely explanation of how herbicides affect amphibians?
(C) The herbicides act as endocrine disruptors.
Which of the following statements best explains the relationship shown on the graph?
(C) The use of glyphosate has selected for herbicide resistance in weed populations.
Which of the following is a reason why hybrid electric vehicles use less fossil fuel per mile traveled than a typical internal combustion engine vehicle uses?
(C) When the brakes are applied in hybrid electric vehicles, kinetic energy is converted into electric energy to charge the batteries that assist the electric motor.
In the graph below charting the growth of a population of organisms, the line labeled K represents the
(C) carrying capacity of the population
Which of the countries listed in the chart above is most likely experiencing a population decline?
(C) country C
Which environment is most likely to be characterized by dry scrub with frequent fires?
(C) graph - low precipitation and high temperature
Long-term intensive agriculture that does not add soil amendments such as manure or fertilizer has been shown to decrease soil organic matter content. Which of the following figures best shows this relationship?
(C) graph c - backwards j-curve
Water vapor is a greenhouse gas and is produced by burning fossil fuels. However, anthropogenic water vapor does not contribute significantly to global warming because water vapor
(C) has a short residence time in the atmosphere
Open oceans produce the largest share of Earth's biomass because the net primary productivity (NPP) of the oceans is
(C) low, but the large expanse of the oceans supports enormous numbers of producers such as phytoplankton
Area that exhibits a growing nonvolcanic mountain chain due to uplift
(C) map
Most deserts on Earth are located near the 30 north and 30 south latitudes because humidity is lower at 30. The best explanation for the lower humidity is that
(C) warm air rises at the equator, cools, and sinks at 30° latitude
A vegetable farmer wishes to switch to a combination of trees and vegetables (agroforestry) on several hectares of her land to reduce erosion and to diversify what she grows. She needs to assess whether her land can produce as much income by growing two crops instead of one. The farmer estimates that the new tree crop would cover 40 percent of her fields, with the vegetable crop covering the other 60 percent. Which equation should she use to calculate how much total income she would get from using the new two-crop plan?
(D)
A family of five recently replaced its 5-gallon-per-minute showerheads with water-saving 2-gallon-per-minute showerheads. Each member of the family averages 8 minutes in the shower per day. In a 30-day period, how many fewer gallons of water will the family use with the new showerheads?
(D) 3,600
What are the proportions of sand, silt, and clay for the soil at point T ?
(D) 60% sand, 30% silt, 10% clay
Which of the following is the human health impact most closely associated with atmospheric particulates?
(D) Asthma
An alpine area of a national park near a trail is normally covered by plants, but much of the area is now bare soil. Park rangers suspect that trampling by hikers has killed the plants. Which of the following will best test the hypothesis?
(D) Comparing plant survivorship in areas where hikers stay on the trail with plant survivorship in the area where hikers leave the trail
Which of the following would most likely reduce the concentration of ground-level ozone in the air of a city?
(D) Decrease in the emissions of nitrogen oxides
The terrestrial biomes shown in the diagram above vary in net primary productivity. The explanation for the variation includes which of the following? I. Temperature II. Precipitation III. Longitude
(D) I and II only
An experiment was carried out to determine the lethal dose of ammonium sulfate on mung bean germination. True statements about the experimental design include which of the following?
(D) II and III only
Which of the following is true of the Ogallala Aquifer?
(D) It underlies the United States High Plains and is being depleted by overuse.
Which of the following best explains the pattern in NO concentration?
(D) NO is produced by rush-hour traffic and is quickly oxidized in the atmosphere.
Which of the following statements is consistent with the graphs above?
(D) People in North America consume more meat per capita than people in other regions of the world do.
Which soil composition would be the best choice for lining a landfill?
(D) Point W
Red pine trees are currently found growing in only the cool northernmost areas of the central and eastern United States. Climate change is expected to have an impact on the distribution of the species. Which of the following describes the most likely change to the distribution of red pine over the next 200 years?
(D) Red pine distribution will shift northward into Canada.
For which of the following reasons do small isolated islands have a greater rate of species extinction than larger, less isolated islands ?
(D) Small isolated islands have a lower availability of resources.
Which tree species grows best with full sunlight?
(D) Sweet gum
If technology that reduces the hydrocarbon concentration had been utilized, which of the following would have been the most likely result?
(D) The concentration of O3 would have been lower.
Construction of a solar power plant is proposed for a desert area near a school. A student has hypothesized that the shade cast by the solar panels will increase the mortality of creosote bush, a native desert plant in the area. Before construction begins, what experimental data should the student collect in order to eventually test the hypothesis?
(D) The direct sunlight received by creosote bush in the desert area (in kWh/m2) during a 12-month period
All of the following are negative externalities EXCEPT
(D) bees pollinating vegetables in addition to creating honey
The world population growth rate in 2015 is about 1 percent. It is expected to drop to 0.5 percent by 2050, partly because of increased access to birth control in developing nations. Another likely cause for the expected decline is
(D) increasing numbers of women entering the workforce in developing nations
Large quantities of methane hydrates are located in this region and if released will contribute significantly to global climate change.
(D) map
This region of the world is currently experiencing the largest average annual temperature increase because of anthropogenic climate change.
(D) map
The Sun's radiation provides the energy for all of the following EXCEPT
(D) plate tectonics
Which of the following age structure diagrams represents a population that most likely has a negative growth rate?
(D) skinny big skinny population diagram
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
(E) 8.4 kg
Which latitude shown on the diagram above experiences 24 hours of daylight on December 21?
(E) E
Which of the following scenarios is NOT likely to result from increased temperatures in the Arctic?
(E) Increased melting of sea ice decreases the sea level and leads to more arable land area that can be farmed.
Which of the following describes the changes in a country's demographics as it begins its transition from a preindustrial state to an industrial state?
(E) Population increases rapidly, birth rate remains high, death rate decreases
Which of the following measures would be most likely to promote fertility above replacement level?
(E) Public housing priority for families with more than two children
Coal was surface mined from five sites, labeled 1 through 5, that had originally been covered by forest. Each site was planted with a mix of tree seedlings to reclaim the area to forest. Grass was also seeded over each site to prevent initial erosion and to provide forage. Ten years after planting, information was collected at the five sites and is given in the table below. Select the letter of the row that indicates the site with the most successful forest reclamation.
(E) Site #5
The table below shows measurements of the beak size of a sample of ten ground finches on each of two islands in the Galápagos archipelago. The two islands are about ten kilometers apart, and all the birds are the same species. Given that beak size is genetically determined, which of the following hypotheses is the most likely explanation for the differences in data between the islands?
(E) The types of food found on the two islands exert selective pressure on beak size.
Which of the following is considered an advantage of using nuclear power to generate electricity?
(E) There is no CO2 emitted from the nuclear reaction.
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. All of the following are considered household hazardous waste EXCEPT
(E) food scraps
Area that exhibits island arcs
(E) map
This region has been the largest petroleum exporter for the past four decades.
(E) map
One important step that homeowners in the new development can take to protect water quality in Samel Creek would be to
(E) use rain barrels to reduce the flow of storm water into the creek
