APES Unit 8
Which of the following approaches should be used to calculate the amount of lead, in milligrams, that would be present in a population of 200 rats with each rat weighing on average 20 grams, dosed with the LD50 dose?
200 rats x 20g/1 rat x 1kg/1,000g x 100mg/1kg
What is a pathogen?
A living organism (virus, bacteria, fungus, protist, worm) that causes an infectious disease
Describe the difference between a pollutant and pollution.
A pollutant is a specific chemical with a specific environmental or human health effect, while pollution is a vague term for any substance harmful to the environment
Most dose-response studies are considered ______, since they usually only measure effects over a short period of time.
Acute
When pH leaves range of tolerance, they cannot survive at all, due to?
Aluminum toxicity and disrupted blood osmolarity
Identify 2 major N/P sources that can lead to eutrophication.
Animal waste from CAFOS and Synthetic fertilizer from agriculture
List and describe a point source pollutant.
Animal waste runoff from a CAFO which releases ammonia
How can dysentery be treated?
Antibiotics
Which of the following would best be described as a point source of pollution from a farm? a. Nitrogenous fertilizers added to drip irrigation used for growing crops b. Runoff from the waste lagoons of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, which enters local waterways after a flooding event c. Tractors and harvesters burning fossil fuels and releasing carbon dioxide and nitrous oxides into the atmosphere d. Particulate matter from bare soil on plowed fields entering the atmosphere from wind
B.
How to practice general safety.
Be safety conscious, ask if you don't understand, don't take shortcuts
Describe how biomagnification occurs.
Begins with POPs or methylmercury in sediments/plants within ecosystems. Primary consumers take in POPs by eating producers, causing bioaccumulation of POPs in tissue. Secondary consumers then eat primary consumers, taking in POPs.
The increase in concentration of substances per unit of body tissue that occurs in higher levels of a food chain in a food web.
Biomagnification
A biologist is studying a small food web in which phytoplankton are eaten by krill, krill are eaten by fish, and fish are eaten by seals. During their study of the ecosystem, the biologist discovers that PCBsPCBs are present in measurable levels in the water and wants to examine how PCBsPCBs could vary in different trophic levels. Which of the following best identifies a testable hypothesis for the study?
Biomagnification will cause the seals to have the highest amount of PCBs in their tissues.
Coral lose color & become stressed and vulnerable to disease without algae.
Bleached coral
Can break reef structure and stir up sediment.
Bottom trawling
Identify one method of oil spill clean up.
Burning oil off surface
At what step in the diagram would the last solid waste be removed from the wastewater in the treatment plant?
C (Filter beds or activiated sludge)
Which of the following correctly identifies an example of an endocrine disruptor and the effect it might have on the human body? a. High levels of lead in drinking water could lead to neurological damage. b. Exposure to radon in indoor air is linked to increased rates of lung cancer. c. Phthalates in cosmetics and shampoos reduce fertility. d. The bacterium E. coli found in vegetables causes abdominal cramping and vomiting.
C.
Describe the route of exposure for a pollutant such as lead.
Can be found in water pipes and paint chips
Describe one example of synergism.
Carcinogenic effect of asbestos combined with lung damage from smoking.
Based on the data in the graph, which of the four chemicals is the most toxic to amphibians regardless of dose?
Chemical A
Clay-soil mixture used to cover the landfill once it's full; keeps out animals, keeps in smell, and allows vegetation to regrow.
Clay cap
Can attach to fly ash (PM) from smokestack and be carried by wind, deposited in ecosystems far away.
Coal ash
Organic matter (food scraps, paper, yard waste) being decomposed under controlled conditions.
Composting
What is the independent variable in the dose response curve?
Concentration of chemical added
Which of the following approaches would best decrease the impact of frequent flooding in a community that is subject to the hazard of flooding?
Construct wetland areas near the rivers and streams.
List 2 ways landfills can be harmful.
Contaminate groundwater and release harmful gases
Used to cool steam back into water & to hold warmed water before returning to local surface water.
Cooling towers
List the 5 reasons to prevent accidents.
Costs, deaths, injuries, insurance, disabilities
Identify and describe 1 solution to watershed pollutants.
Cover crops, absorb nutrients that could leach into groundwater
Which of the following examples includes both a point and a nonpoint source of pollution? a. A factory smokestack and a sewage overflow b. Runoff from city streets and pesticides from agricultural fields c. Waste from animal feedlots and sediment from construction sites d. Fertilizer from suburban lawns and wastewater from a water treatment plant
D.
Endocrine disruptor that is a broad- spectrum insecticide that was phased out, but still persists in environment.
DDT
POP that was widely used as an insecticide before phaseout in most developed nations.
DDT
As pH decreases outside optimal range for a species, population ______.
Declines
Causes a dead zone.
Decrease of DO
Which of the following is the most likely impact of thermal pollution from power plants on a river ecosystem?
Decreased oxygen levels because warm water holds less dissolved gas than cold water does.
As water temperature rises, DO _____.
Decreases
List the 3 ways to drive safely.
Defensive driving, don't drive impaired, and watch for other drivers
UV light, ozone, or chlorine is used to kill bacteria or other pathogens, such as e. Coli (considered part of 3).
Disinfectant
Which of the following components, which are not shown on the diagram, are part of the tertiary treatment of wastewater?
Disinfectants
Bacterial infection caused by food or water being contaminated with feces (often from sewage release into rivers & streams used for drinking water)
Dysentery
Waste from old computers, TVs, phones, tablets.
E-waste
Raw sewage release contaminates surface waters with?
E. coli, phosphate, nitrogen
Based on the data in the graphs, which of the following strategies would best increase the total volume of municipal solid waste being recycled?
Enacting a single-stream recycling program and providing bins to residential homes
Chemicals that interfere with the endocrine (hormonal) systems of animals.
Endocrine disruptors
Occurs when a body of water is enriched by nutrients.
Eutrophication
List the 4 most common types of workplace accidents.
Falls, electric shock, being struck or running into an object, motor vehicle accidents
Based on the diagram, which of the following best describes how a malfunctioning air compressor would affect the process of sewage treatment?
Fewer bacteria would be available to absorb dissolved organics in the tank.
Based on the data in the graph, which of the following likely occurred from 1960 to 2015 because of changes in solid waste disposal methods?
Fewer natural resources needed to be extracted
1st procedure for reporting an accident.
Follow individual workplace procedures
Based on the diagram, which of the following is one way that the Zika virus can be spread within the human population?
From a mother to her unborn child
Released from landfills due to decomposition; both contribute to global warming & climate change.
GHG
What are the 5 ways to prevent accidents?
General safety, lift objects properly, drive safely, maintain clean work area, and practice good health habits
List 2 ways humans disrupt coral reef ecosystems.
Greenhouse gas emissions and overfishing
Identify a regulating service of wetlands.
Groundwater recharge
Identify a provisioning service a wetland offers.
Habitat for animals
List the ways accidents can be costly for employers.
Having to pay workers compensation, repairing machines, lost production
Groundwater can be contaminated with _____ if leachate leaks into soil beneath.
Heavy metals
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. Which of the following best identifies the scientific question that would guide this investigation?
How much mercury accumulates in the tissues of freshwater shrimp living in a polluted pond?
Toxic to many marine organisms and can kill them, especially if they ingest (eat) the oil or absorb through gills/skin).
Hydrocarbons in crude oil
Bodies of water that are low in DO.
Hypoxic waterways.
Based on the data in the graph, which of the following solutions most significantly contributed to the decrease in the amount of waste sent to landfills from 1990 to 2015 ?
Increased recycling
How does thermal pollution affect the respiration rate of aquatic organisms?
Increases the respiration rate, leading to thermal shock.
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?
Increasing bacterial activity as organic matter decays
How does mercury disrupt our hormonal systems?
Inhibits estrogen & insulin (interferes with menstrual cycle & ovulation)
Which of the following is a way to potentially eliminate one of the greatest threats to the world's mangrove wetlands?
Integrate ecologically sound shrimp aquacultural practices with mangrove management.
Why is recycling the least sustainable of the three R's?
It requires significant energy use to process and covert materials
Refers to the dose or concentration of the chemical that kills 50% of the population being studied.
LD50
Generally have very low rates of decomposition due to low O2, moisture, and organic material combination.
Lanfills
System of tubes/pipes at bottom to collect water draining through waste & carrying pollutants for treatment & disposal.
Leachate collection system
List 3 examples of pollutants causing physiological stress.
Limited growth, limited reproductive function, difficulty respiring (potential suffocation)
A naturally occurring element in rocks in the ground that can dissolve into drinking water.
Mercury
Emitted from burning coal & by volcanoes, carried by wind, and deposited in water where bacteria convert it into toxic methylmercury.
Mercury
Coal ash can be a source of?
Mercury, arsenic, and lead
A type of cancerous tumor caused by exposure to asbestos, primarily affecting the lining (epithelium) of the respiratory tract, heart, or abdominal cavity.
Mesothelioma
Overtime, ponds naturally shift from oligotrophic, to _______, to _______.
Mesotrophic; eutrophic
_______ gas produced by decomposition in landfill can be collected with pipes & burned to generate electricity.
Methane
System of tubes/pipes to collect that methane produced by anaerobic decomposition in the landfill.
Methane recovery system
Highly toxic to animals and a neurotoxicant that damages central nervous system.
Methylmercury
List the ways accidents can be costly for employees.
Missing work, loss of income, no promotion, being discharged, can't pay medical bills
Solid waste from cities (households, businesses, schools, etc.)
Municipal solid waste
Urban runoff is a type of this pollution.
Non-point source
Estuaries and bays are polluted by many _______ pollution sources from the large watersheds that empty into them.
Nonpoint
Pesticides sprayed on agricultural fields are an example of _____ source pollutants.
Nonpoint
Pollutants enter the environment from many places at once.
Nonpoint source
A scientist is studying the correlation between air pollution and cardiovascular disease in humans. Which of the following measures would best show a link between air pollution and cardiovascular disease?
Occurrences of emergency room visits by individuals with cardiovascular disease on days with a high air quality index value
Which of the following is a point source pollutant that would likely affect the ecosystem health of a coral reef?
Oil released from a broken hull
List and describe how an oil spill could cause physiological stress.
Oil spill reduce visibility and photosynthesis in the water due to limited sunlight
How does an oil spill decrease tourism revenue?
Oil washes ashore and kills fish
List 1 item that is not accepted in sanitary landfills and why it is not accepted.
Old tires can become breeding grounds for mosquitos
Waterways with low nutrient (N/P) levels, stable algae pop, and high dissolved oxygen.
Oligotrophic waterways
Identify one endocrine disruptor and describe how it affects the environment. Describe a solution to this problem.
One endocrine disruptor is Atrazine. Atrazine binds to receptor cells that should convert estrogen in male frogs to testosterone. This results in a low sperm count in males, which limits reproductive rates ultimately lowering biodiversity. One solution is to use natural herbicides in agricultural practices.
Identify one threat to a wetland.
Overfishing (disrupts food webs of wetlands, increases prey)
POP that is toxic to fish, causing spawning failure and endocrine disruption.
PCB
POP that is found in plastics and paint additives.
PCBs
Synthetic (human-made) compounds that do not easily breakdown in the environment; accumulate and buildup in water & soil.
POPS
What is the main source of tropospheric ozone?
Photochemical breakdown of NO2
Endocrine disruptor; compounds used in plastic and cosmetic manufacturing.
Phthalates
Which of the following solutions would best address the issues of greatest concern in the community?
Planting mangrove forests
Emissions from a smokestack of a coal power plant (CO2, SO2) are an example of _____ source pollutants.
Point
City bus exhaust is a type of this pollution.
Point source
Pollutants that enters environment form an easily identified and confined place.
Point source
List and describe a major source of thermal pollution.
Power plants use cool water from surface/ground water sources nearby to cool steam used to turn a turbine back into water to reuse
Step in the water treatment process where there is a physical removal of large debris (TP, leaves, plastic, sediment) with a screen or grate.
Primary treatment
Identify and describe 1 pro to composting.
Produces rich organic matter that can enhance water holding capacity and enhance nutrient levels of agricultural or garden soil
Based on the LD50LD50 data in the table, which of the following equations should be used to calculate how many times greater the resistance of a rabbit to xx-rays is than that of a dog?
Rabbit/dog
Process by which certain solid waste materials are processed and converted into new products.
Recycling
Reduces demand for new materials, especially metals and wood which cause habitat destruction & soil erosion when harvested.
Recycling
Identify one pro to recycling.
Reduces landfill volume
List 1 pro and con to incineration.
Reduces volume, but releases CO2
Using a reusable water bottle or riding your back is an example of which of the three R's?
Reducing
How can PCBs negatively affect human health?
Reproductive failure & cancer in humans
What is the dependent variable in the dose response curve?
Response measured in organism (Death or impairment)
Buying second hand clothes is an example of which of the three R's?
Reusing
Ways that a pollutant enters the human body.
Routes of exposure
Based on the diagram, which of the following is the most likely reason that a community with good sanitation could still have individuals who contract cholera?
Runoff
The diagram below depicts a surface water source that has undergone cultural eutrophication. Based on the diagram, which of the following processes most likely caused the algal bloom in the lake?
Runoff carried excess fertilizer from the cornfield into the water.
If all four of the bacteria species shown in the graph are equally likely to contaminate agricultural products at a dose of 102 regulating which of the following species would have the greatest effect in reducing the likelihood of illness in humans?
Salmonella
Step in the water treatment process where there is a biological breakdown of organic matter (feces) by bacteria; aerobic process that requires O2.
Secondary treatment
How can agricultural and urban runoff damage coral reef ecosystems?
Sediment pollution can make the water more turbid which limits photosynthesis
Describe bioaccumulation.
Selective absorption and concentration of elements or compounds by cells in a living organism
Inorganic, solid waste that collects at the bottom of tanks in primary and secondary treatment.
Sludge
List the 4 most common types of workplace injuries.
Sprains, Strains, Wounds, Burns
The interaction of two or more substances to cause an effect greater than each of them individually
Synergism
Step in the water treatment process where ecological or chemical treatments are used to reduce pollutants left after primary & secondary (N, P, bacteria).
Tertiary treatment
Which of the following statements best describes how the Clean Water Act legislation aims to protect wetlands from being lost?
The Clean Water Act requires wetlands to be constructed to mitigate the effect of newly drained wetlands.
Describe the mutualistic relationship between coral and algae.
The coral is the animal and the algae lives on it. The algae supply glucose to the coral, and the coral provides CO2 and detritus to the algae
A scientist wanted to investigate the effect of tropospheric ozone on the respiratory function of mice. Twenty female mice were placed in one of five different field environments that mimicked the natural habitats of the mice. Each environment had a tube connected to it that would pump in a set level of ozone measured in ppmppm. In each field environment, the scientist measured the average respiratory output for the twenty mice over a three-month time frame. Which of the following describes the independent variable in the experiment?
The different levels of ozone
When water used to cool power plants during normal plant operations is released into adjacent waterways, which of the following is most likely to occur as a result?
The dissolved oxygen in the adjacent waterways would decrease because used coolant water is warm and leads to thermal pollution.
Explain how eutrophication can affect ecosystems and biodiversity.
The increased nutrients in an aquatic environment causes algal bloom. When the bloom dies, microbes digest the algae and oxygen in the water leading to decreased DO. The lack of DO can result in suffocation of fish.
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. Which of the following statements is best supported by the data in the graph?
The newly discovered bacterium would have the lowest allowable dosage to meet the drinking water standards.
The diagram below depicts a surface water source that has undergone cultural eutrophication. Based on the diagram, which of the following processes most likely caused the fish in the lake to die?
The remains of the bottom-dwelling plants and algae decomposed, depleting the amount of oxygen in the water.
A small lake, located downstream of a power plant, recently experienced a die-off of multiple aquatic species. Environmentalists had been monitoring the temperature of the lake for several months prior to the die-off and noticed a significant spike in the temperature of the lake immediately preceding the die-off event. Which of the following best explains why the die-off event occurred in the lake following the increased water temperature?
The warm water decreased the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water, which led to an increase in the respiration rate of the aquatic organisms.
How can E-waste be harmful to humans?
The waste can leach endocrine disrupting chemicals out of landfills if thrown away with regular MSW.
When heat released into water has negative effects on organisms living in the water.
Thermal pollution
Biomagnification of DDT can cause?
Thinning of eggshells in top predators
Worsens respiratory conditions like asthma, emphysema, bronchitis, COPD.
Tropspheric ozone
List and describe a nonpoint source pollutant.
Urban runoff such as motor oil
A living organism (rat, mosquito) that carry and transmit infectious pathogens to other organisms.
Vector
Which of the following best describes how thermal pollution from power plants can affect aquatic ecosystems?
Warm water discharged into rivers and streams decreases the oxygen content of the water, which reduces the number of fish species.
How is climate change affecting the spread of pathogens?
Warmer temperatures allow pathogens and their vectors (mosquitos) to spread north & south to parts of the world previously too cold
How can mercury be prevented from reaching drinking water?
Water filters
An area with soil submerged/saturated in water for at least part of the year, but shallow enough for emergent plants.
Wetland
