Earth and Environmental Science Final

If an incandescent light bulb used for lighting has an efficiency rating of 5 percent, then for every 1.00 joule of electrical energy consumed by the bulb, which of the following is produced?

.05 joule of light energy

The land on a 100 acre farm is equally suited for grazing cattle and growing corn. Of the following ways of distributing land use, which would produce the greatest number of calories for human consumption?

0 for cattle 100 for growing corn

Living organisms must acquire energy from their environment. Examples of adaptation that help organism acquire this energy include which of the following?

1 and 2 only

Approximately what percentage of water on earth is freshwater?

2.5%

Approximately what percent of the population in country 2 is under age 15?

25%

A sample of radioactive waste has a half life of 10 years and an activity level of 2 curies after how many years will the activity level of this sample be .25 curie?

30 years

How many units of energy are used by the earths surface?

50

How many extinctions have occured in Earth's History

6

How many unites of energy do greenhouse gases contribute to the greenhouse effect?

60

The current word population is closest to which of the following?

7.5 billion

Approximately how many more mammal species became extinct in the period 1901-200 then became extinct in the period 1801-1900?

90

It has been observed that forest fired can produce up to 40 percent of the mean annual global emissions of

CO2

Which of the following best shows the process of evolution?

A population of mosquitoes develops resistance to a pesticide

How would you get salt out of dirt?

Add a lot of water to leach out salt

An effective short term remediation strategy for the pond would be to

Add calcium carbonate into the pond water

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 required all agencies responsible for a major federal project that could significantly affect the quality of the environment to file which of the following?

An environmental impact statement

Marine sediments that for from limestone are a major sink for this element

Carbon

Which of the following is most likely to result from the destruction of wetlands surrounding a river?

An increased frequency of flooding of the river valley

Risk that many cancer causing chemicals pose to humans can be estimated using laboratory tests on rats. A significant scientific limitation of such tests is that

Animal models may not reflect human responses

The source whose use is a direct cause of deforestation

Biomass

How do we prevent killing fish in dams

Build fish ladders

The west Nile virus identified in the western hemisphere drug synner if 1999 and was associated with human, equine, avian deaths. This virus is acquired by

By coming in contact with an infected mosquito

Which of the following compounds is NOT Involved in the depletion of stratospheric ozone?

Carbon dioxide

Which of the following has the largest coal reserves?

China

Which of the following is a greenhouse gas that comes only from human sources?

Chlorofluorocarbons

Exemplified by moss growing on a tree trunk in a forest

Commensalism

Primary cause of earth's seasons is the

Constant tilt of the earth's rotational axis with respect to the plane of its orbit around the sun

Most plastics pose a special problem in the waste stream because they

Decompose slowly, if at all, and persist as a waste

The diagram above illustrates how the number of individuals in a population changed with time as a result of external stresses and resource limitations. Which lettered portion of the curve most likely corresponds to the carrying capacity of the ecosystem? which lettered portion of the curve most likely responds

E

Zero population growth is associated with

Phase I and IV

The high sea surface temperature in 2016 was most likely due to

El nino

Which of the following characteristically produces non point source pollution?

Erosion from agricultural land

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

Exposure to neurotoxins which affect the endocrine system

Salmon farming threatens the health of wild salmon stocks primarily because

Farmed salmon can spread parasites and diseases

Of the following, which constitutes the greatest percent of domestic use of water in the United States?

Flushing toilets

For a primary producer, the main function of photosynthesis is to manufacture

Glucose

Exemplified by bees consuming nectar and carrying pollen from one flower to another

Mutualism

Which of the following changes would also be expected in the pond over the same time period? 1. Decreased levels of dissolved oxygen 2. Increased levels of heavy metals 3. Increased number of fish species

I and II

Countries undergoing rapid population growth include which of the following?

I only

Reasons that human populations historically have settled in floodplains include which of the following

I,II and III

High rates of species extinction caused by human activities have taken place at which of the following times in earth's history?

III only (during recent titmes)

Which of the following is the most likely reason that the greatest number of extinction of bird species occurred in the period 1901-2000?

Increased environmental disturbances from human activities altered bird habitats

Which of the following best illustrates a mitigation approach to climate change

Increasing the proportion of commercial energy

Which of the following is an example of an external cost?

Individuals pay for medical treatment of lung disease aggravated by pollution from a coal fired power plant

Which of the following is most likely the primary cause of high death rates in phase I?

Infant and childhood mortality

Switching from customary large scale agricultural practices to which of the following is most likely to reduce exposure of farmworkers and nearby residents to toxic chemicals

Integrated pest management

The source that produces long lived hazardous wastes

Nuclear fission

Of the following ecosystems, which has the lowest net primary productivity, measured as kilocalories of energy produced per square meter per year?

Open ocean

Which of the following elements constitutes the highest percentage of mass in the earth's crust?

Oxygen

The largest single component in our municipal waste is

Paper

Exemplified by ticks feeding on a deer

Parasitism

What are the stages of coal?

Peat, lignite, bituminous, anthracite

Which of the following will result in accelerated eutrophication into streams lakes and bays?

Phosphates

Guano from fish eating birds is a commercial source of this element

Phosphorus

The two major process involved in the carbon cycle are

Photosynthesis and respiration

The major biological source of dissolved oxygen in the oceans come from

Photosynthesis of phytoplankton

All of the following are considered toxic except?

Potassium

Members of an r-selected species characteristically

Reach sexual maturity quickly

Most high level radioactive waste is currently stored

Reactor site

Which of the following correctly orders the method

Reduce reuse recycle

According to the information in the graph above, which of the following ways most effectively slow the loss of arable land?

Reducing urban development

Which of the following actions would be the most effective in decreasing acid rain and acid reposition problems?

Reducing use of follow fuels.

The great grasslands have what in common

Seasonal cycle of temperature and precipitation produce abundant vegetative

The crude growth rate, r of a population is calculated by

Subtracting the crude birth rate from the crude death rate

This element in pyrite contributes to acid mine drainage

Sulfur

Which of the following pollutants is correctly paired with one of its major

Sulfur oxides.. Acid deposition

The source that is converted directly into electrical energy by photovoltaic cells

Sunlight

Which of the following is an inorganic compound?

Table salt

The ultimate source of energy for terrestrial ecosystems is

The Sun

The rate of population growth slowing is associated with

The beginning of phase III

Which of the following is most likely to occur in a forested region that has been recently clear cut?

The concentration of nitrates

A laboratory study using rats showed a steady increase in physical effects as the concentration of a toxic substance in their food was increased. This suggests that

The dose-response relationship is linear

All of the following are likely consequences of indoor air pollution except an increase in?

The risk of developing skin cancer

What is the most important factor in sea level rising?

Thermal expansion of the oceans

Which of the following best describes soils in many tropical rain forests?

They are quickly depleted of nutrients when the forest is removed

Caused by suspended particulates

Turbidity

Ozone in the stratosphere is important to organisms at Earth's surface because ozone molecules are very strong absorbers of?

Ultraviolet rays

Which of the following metals is considered an energy resource?

Uranium

Which of the following best describes the process of leaching

Water percolating through soil, dissolving some of its material

Which of the following is the best example of gray water

Water that has been used for bathing and for washing clothes

The danger from radon gas would most likely be greatest in

Well insulated homes

The source caused by differential heating

Wind

Of the following organisms, which occupies the lowest trophic level

deer

Most data indicate that during the past 100 years mean global annual temp setae has

increased by .5C

The increase in mean global temperature is likely to result in all of the following EXCEPT

increased ground level ultraviolet radiation

Which of the following is most likely to be the direct result of a lack of genetic diversity in a food crop such as corn?

increased susceptibility to plant disease

Which of the following best describes the mechanism of the greenhouse effect in earths atmosphere?

infared radiation

If you remove a pollutant from wastewater what happens to the cost of treating it further?

it increases as the concentration of the pollutant decreases

Which of the following is true about the region of Earth's atmosphere known as the stratosphere?

it is the layer of atmosphere in which nearly all weather takes place

The activity with the health risk most likely to be overestimated by the general public in the united states is?

living near a nuclear power plant

The most abundant gas in the world's atmosphere is?

nitrogen

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

secondary consumers

Which of the following would most likely have the greatest impact on the quality of natural environment

stabilization of reduction of the size of the human population

Which of the following is most likely to reduce the united states contribution to the increase in concentration of atmospheric CO2?

switching from cars and trucks to

In 1986 Country X established regulations to reduce the maximum allowable concentration of chromium in industrial effluents form 37 ppm to 25 ppm. In 1994 government research indicated that a chromium concentration of up to 35 ppm in effluents presented an acceptable risk; in the same year the government also discovered that a certain chemical company had been discharging effluents with chromium concentrations of 32 ppm each year since 1981. Based on this information, which of the following statements is correct?

the chemical company did not violate from 1982 to 1985 but it violated at some other time