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