APES Random Questions Midterm
The combustion of one gallon of automobile fuel produces about 5 pounds of carbon (in CO2). Two autos are making a trip of 600 miles. The first auto gets 20 miles per gallon, and the second gets 30 miles per gallon. Approximately how much less carbon (in CO2) will be produced by the second auto on this trip?
50 lbs
which of the following statements best describes why there is seasonality in climate?
Earth is tilted on its axis, thus changing the amount of sunlight energy received by a specific place on the planet during the year
Which of the following statements regarding temperate grasslands are true? I) Grassland soils are not very fertile. II) Prairie fires can result from lightning strikes. III) Grasslands are lower in productivity than tropical forest communities. IV) Grasslands have too little precipitation to support abundant tree growth.
II, III, and IV
Oceanographers have suggested slowing the rate of greenhouse warming by fertilizing the ocean to increase the growth of algae. How would this reduce the greenhouse effect?
It would use CO2, which would otherwise trap heat in the atmosphere.
Which major international treaty agreed to phase out production and use of CFCs to protect stratospheric ozone?
Montreal Protocol
What are National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)?
Standards established by the EPA that set the maximum concentrations of six criteria pollutants allowed in outdoor air
What can ice cores tell us about Earth's history?
The atmospheric composition, greenhouse gases, and temperature trends from hundreds of thousands of years ago
What was the main goal of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol?
To reduce emissions of six greenhouse gases based on each country's history and phase of development
Which of the following would you expect to find in a rainshadow?
a desert
when discussing air pollution, what is a primary pollutant?
a pollutant that can cause harm directly or can react with other chemicals to form harmful substances
one reason areas near the equator get more rainfall than areas 30 degrees north or south do is that _____
air near the equator rises, cooling as it rises and losing its ability to hold water vapor
What is a major consequence of a thermal inversion?
air pollutants become trapped and accumulate below the inversion layer
In temperate latitudes, surface winds tend to blow __________.
away from the equator
in temperate latitudes, surface winds tend to blow ______
away from the equator
elements that cycle in the environment and that also have a gaseous phase at some point in their cycle include which of the following?
carbon and sulfur
how does the burning of fossil fuels contribute to the net increase in atmospheric carbon?
carbon that has been sequestered underground is added to the carbon cycling between the atmosphere and the biosphere
of the following organisms, which occupies the lowest trophic level?
deer
which of the following best characterizes a population that is growing exponentially with time?
doubling in size over equal increments of time
which of the following ecological concepts includes all of the others?
ecosystem
In tropical areas, surface winds tend to blow toward the equator because __________.
equatorial air is heated by the sun and rises
This biome has been largely converted to agricultural crop production because of its deep, fertile soils.
grassland
Grasslands have evolved to tolerate ____ and _____, both of which can limit tree growth.
grazing; fire
characteristics that tend to increase the risk of a species becoming endangered include which of the following?
having a very limited distribution, being a specialist at the end of a long food chain, having a small population size
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 of the following is not a primary pollutant?
industrial smog
which of the following is NOT a property of water?
it absorbs relatively little heat as it vaporizes
Which of the following is not a mitigation strategy for addressing future climate change?
modifying water management practices to cope with drought
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 is most likely to limit primary production in freshwater lakes?
phosphorus
the two major processes involved in the carbon cycle are
photosynthesis and respiraiton
the major biological source of dissolved oxygen in the ocean comes from
photosynthesis of phytoplankton
Most volcanism in the world is associated with
plate boundaries
The kind of tropical forest in a given area—thorn forest, deciduous forest, or rainforest—depends mostly on __________.
rainfall
Members of an r-selected species characteristically
reach sexual maturity quickly
Generalized global air circulation and precipitation patterns are caused by
rising, warm, moist air masses that cool and release precipitation as they rise and then, at high altitude, cool and sink back to the surface as dry air masses after moving north or south of the tropics
Population biologists are concerned about introduced species such as the zebra mussel in North America because...
the introduced species compete for resources more effectively than native species
change of seasons is caused by ____
the tilt of the earth
which of the following is a characteristic of tropical rainforests?
their soils are relatively poor in nutrients
Reasons that the population size of an exotic species often grows rapidly when the species is introduced in a new environment include which of the following?
there is a large, underutilized food source in the new environment and the exotic species has few natural predators in the new environment
A ________ occurs when a layer of cool air is trapped under a layer of warm air in the troposphere.
thermal (temperature) inversion
which of the following best explains why decomposers in soils and water are important to ecosystems?
they recycle nutrients
all of the following statements about invasive exotic species are true EXCEPT
they tend to have low reproductive rates
