APES Unit 8

Which of the following best describes the action of an endocrine disruptor?

An endocrine disruptor blocks the receptor protein binding site of a hormone so that the cell cannot receive a signal.

Which method introduces microorganisms to break down hazardous organic compounds?

Biological treatment

Some toxic compounds are ingested and retained in the tissues. These pollutants pose special risks to humans and other organisms high on the food chain because of which process?

Biomagnification

The graph above shows the effect of sewage on biological oxygen demand (BOD) and dissolved oxygen (DO) in a flowing stream. The smallest fish populations will most probably be found at point

C

An individual is exposed to the water in the stream from which the sample show in the graph was taken. If the individual was exposed to the highest dose of the bacteria, which of the following bacteria would have the lowest probability of causing illness if ingested?

C. jejuni

Which of the following best describes why DDT is classified as a persistent organic pollutant?

DDT is very stable, and as much as 50% of the original concentration can remain in the soil 15 years after the initial application.

Researchers suspect that sewage leaked into the Moose River. Rates for which of the following diseases should be used to determine whether the human population using the river as a source of drinking water was exposed to sewage?

Dysentery

Alligators in a Florida lake polluted by high levels of dioxins (chlorinated hydrocarbons) had low testosterone levels and failed to reproduce. Scientists came to the conclusion that the dioxins were acting as which of the following?

Endocrine disrupters

Of the following, which is the best example of a point source of water pollution?

Factory effluent

Based on the diagram, which of the following is associated with the primary treatment of sewage?

Grit chamber

Of the following, which is the primary method of waste disposal in the United States?

Landfilling

Many synthetic chemicals, such as PCBs, act as estrogen mimics. In an ecosystem, these persistent chemicals would have the greatest effect on which of the following?

Secondary consumers

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

food scraps

All of the following are considered toxic metal pollutants EXCEPT

potassium

When scientists discover the existence of an emerging infectious disease such as SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), they must take immediate steps to determine the cause of the disease and the method of transmission. These initial steps would include which of the following?

Acquiring recent medical and travel histories of the disease victims

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 from a nearby agricultural field pollutes a reservoir used for drinking water.

Of the phenomena that correlate with the data above, the one that is the most direct consequence of the trend in air travel is

the increase in the spread of infectious diseases

Is a flammable gas produced by landfills

Methane

Based on the data in the graph, which of the following should be used to calculate the difference in LD50 for the two different species of mice?

575mg−490mg

Water from which of the following locations on the map would best serve as a control group for the study?

A

Which of the following best explains why DDT has been found in penguin eggs in the Antarctic?

Chemicals used in one region of Earth can circulate in the biosphere and affect organisms in a distant region.

Mandates the restoration and maintenance of the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters

Clean Water Act

Which of the following is the most likely route for mercury to enter the food web?

Coal-burning emissions → deposition → ocean → plankton → fishes

Which of the following federal laws specifically deals with the cleanup of abandoned hazardous waste sites?

Comprehensive Environmental Responsibility Compensation and Liability Act

If wastewater treatment plant effluent that contains nitrates and phosphates is allowed to flow into a body of water, which of the following may result?

Eutrophication

Which of the following examples includes both a point and a nonpoint source of pollution?

Fertilizer from suburban lawns and wastewater from a water treatment plant

For a certain insecticide, the LD-50 dosage level for rats is determined to be 250 milligrams per kilograms of body mass. On the basis of this information, which of the following is the best prediction regarding the consequences of receiving this dosage of the insecticide?

Five hundred out of every one thousand rats would die.

Significant increases in water temperature can drastically change dissolved oxygen (DO)(DO) levels in a lake. Why does the combined effect of these two environmental changes result in algal blooms?

Low dissolved oxygen leads to death for aerobic organisms, like fish, whose decomposition provides an overabundance of nutrients for the algae, resulting in the large blooms.

Which of the following is a point source pollutant that would likely affect the ecosystem health of a coral reef?

Oil released from the broken hull of a shipwrecked tanker

Which of the following is an effective alternative to chlorine for disinfecting wastewater in a municipal treatment plant?

Ozone

Which of the following practices would best help to protect against inland and coastal flooding in urban areas?

Preserving wetland and coastal mangrove habitats

Which of the following laws gave the EPA the authority to control hazardous waste from "cradle-to-grave", including the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste?

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

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.

Which of the following is a measure of the amount of suspended material in water?

Turbidity

Eutrophication results in the death of trout and other fish as a result of

asphyxiation from lack of oxygen

West Nile virus was identified in the Western Hemisphere during the summer of 1999 and was associated with human, equine, and avian deaths. This virus is acquired by

being bitten by an infected mosquito

When logging is carried out in a watershed, a likely effect on the local streams is

increased water temperature

Lakes that are characterized by high water clarity and low concentrations of dissolved nutrients are classified as

oligotrophic

The use of nitrogen-based fertilizers in the Midwestern United States is a major contributing factor to which of the following?

Hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico

Which method reduces the volume of waste but could release toxic emissions into the atmosphere?

Incineration

Based on the data in the graphs, which of the following would result in the largest reduction in volume of municipal solid waste disposed of in landfills?

Introduce composting programs for yard trimmings and food waste

Of the following, which is the most serious immediate problem associated with sanitary landfills?

Leachate contamination of groundwater

A scientist is studying PCBs in tertiary consumers. She wants to determine if PCBs can be found in tertiary consumers even though these compounds were banned in the United States in the 1970s. Which of the following best identifies a testable hypothesis for the study?

PCBs are persistent organic compounds that are fat-soluble, so they should be found in the fatty tissues of tertiary consumers even though the compounds have been banned for decades.

Coral bleaching can be hazardous to some fish species because

coral reefs provide unique habitats for fish

Factors that increase the spread of infectious diseases include all of the following EXCEPT

exposure to neurotoxins, which affect the endocrine system

Ticks are vectors for various diseases. The ticks acquire the disease-causing organisms from

feeding on host animals

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

Although ozone in the stratosphere has been decreasing in recent years, ozone near Earth's surface is on the increase. The ozone near the surface is undesirable because it

is a strong oxidant and a respiratory irritant

In the United States, the largest single component of municipal solid waste is

paper

Of the following strategies to decrease the landfill volume of packaging material from food and other consumer products, the most energy efficient is

promoting the use of reusable containers for consumer goods