ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE: FINAL EXAM

If an insect eats a plant and a bird eats the insect, about how much energy from the plant is stored in the insect for the bird to use?

10%

What essential characteristic does a good experiment have?

A single variable is tested and a control is used

An endangered species is:

A species in danger of extinction

Which of the following describes soil and temperature in an ecosystem?

Abiotic factors

Which of the following is not a biotic factor in an ecosystem?

Air

Which organism is likely to be in the bottom trophic level of a food chain?

Algae

A hybrid car uses:

An efficient gasoline engine and an electric motor

Renewable energy is energy from sources that:

Are constantly being formed

What part of Earth encompasses all areas where organisms can obtain the energy they need?

Biosphere

Which of the following is the most geologically active region on the surface of Earth?

Boundaries between tectonic plates

Which of the following situations best describes the use of a renewable resource?

Building wooden furniture

Geothermal heat pumps can heat homes by:

Circulating fluid underground to absorb heat from the Earth

The process of two species changing genetically in response to long-term interactions with each other is:

Coevolution

Ocean water _______ than fresh water.

Contains more salts

A group that does not receive the experimental treatment in an experiment is the:

Control group

Electric generators work by:

Converting mechanical energy into electrical energy

The energy in fossil fuels is often converted into:

Electrical Energy

The percentage of energy put into a system that does useful work is:

Energy efficiency

Using scientific information from chemistry and biology to devise a plan to clean up a lake and make it healthy again describes:

Environmental Science

What kind of natural disaster helps some forest communities by allowing some trees to release their seeds, by clearing away deadwood, and by encouraging new growth?

Fire

What term is used to refer to the many feeding relationships that are possible in an ecosystem?

Food Web

Which of the following are photosynthetic organisms?

Freshwater Algae

Which of the following is an example of secondary succession?

Growth of plants after a forest is destroyed by fire

Gangue minerals:

Have no commercial value

Which kind of organism obtains energy only from producers?

Herbivores

The most energy-efficient vehicles available today are:

Hybrid Cars

Which of the following includes all of the water on or near the Earth's surface?

Hydrosphere

Where is most of the freshwater on Earth located?

In ice caps and glaciers

Most of the energy consumed in the United States are used for:

Industrial Purposes

Which of the following describes the depletion of a renewable resource?

Intensive cultivation of farmland that exhausts the soil of nutrients

Which of the following is an advantage of nuclear energy?

It does not produce air pollution

The distance North or South of the equator, as measured in degrees, is called:

Latitude

All of these fields of study contribute to environmental science except:

Linguistics

The molten rock that is found in the upper mantle is:

Magma

The Richter scale best describes the:

Magnitude of an earthquake

Which of the following best describes a population?

Members of the same species living in the same place at the same time

Which gas makes up 78% of our atmosphere but can be used by plants only when transformed by bacteria first?

Nitrogen

Which step in the experimental method are scientists conducting when they photograph birds in flight?

Observing

Which of the following are minerals that contain valuable substances?

Ore minerals

The organisms most likely to belong to the same species are:

People at a football game

The community of a pond is made up of all the:

Populations of fish, insects, and other living organisms

In order for evolution to occur in a population, individuals with a trait that is "naturally selected for" must:

Reproduce

Reclamation is the process of:

Returning land to its original or better condition after mining

The ozone layer is located in the:

Stratosphere

Where would an ecologist be least likely to go to study primary succession?

The Amazon Rain Forest

Climate in a region is:

The long-term, prevailing atmospheric conditions

The energy in most ecosystems comes from:

The sun

In an experiment, the factor of interest is called the:

Variable

Most infectious diseases are transmitted through:

Water

Large-scale atmospheric phenomena caused by air that is constantly in motion is known as:

Weather