APES Waste Management
The LD50 for arsenic in humans is 13mg/kg. Which of the following approaches should be used to calculate the number of grams of arsenic it would take to reach the LD50 in a 140-pound person?
140lbs x 1kg/2.2lbs x 13mg/1kg x 1g/1000mg
A pesticide was applied to a population of roaches, and it was determined that the LD50 was 55mgkg. If the average mass of a roach was 0.02kg, which of the following approaches will determine the dose in mg per roach?
55mg/1kg x .02kg
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
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
An ecologist examining several different ponds discovers that in one pond all the frogs are female. Which of the following most likely led to the all-female population of frogs?
An endocrine disruptor
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.
Some toxic compounds are ingested and retained in the tissues. These pollutants pose special risks to humans and other organisms high in the food chain because of which process?
Biomagnification
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 is the most likely route for mercury to enter the food web?
Coal-burning emissions ä deposition ä ocean ä plankton ä fishes
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
Based on the data in the graphs, which of the following strategies would best increase the total volume of municipal solid waste being recycled?
Enacting a single-stream recycling program and providing bins to residential homes
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
Which of the following water quality tests would best indicate if sewage from the wastewater treatment plant has contaminated the Moose River?
Fecal coliform measured at site B
Endocrine disruptors directly affect which of the following in an organism?
Hormones
Mercury concentrations were measured in freshwater shrimp populations in two different ponds, one polluted with mercury and one unpolluted, with a similar food web in each pond. Which of the following best identifies the scientific question that would guide this investigation?
How much mercury accumulates in the tissues of freshwater shrimp living in a polluted pond?
Which of the following is the most likely consequence of runoff transporting chemicals that are endocrine disruptors to a pond?
Increased frequency of birth defects in fish populations in the pond
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 primary method of waste disposal in the United States?
Landfilling
Of the following, which is the most serious immediate problem associated with sanitary landfills?
Leachate contamination of groundwater
The use of which of the following to control agricultural insect pests is most likely to have a negative and persistent impact on an ecosystem?
Lindane, a chlorinated hydrocarbon
Scientists are interested in measuring the effect of pollution on the water quality of a stream. They will use observations of various bottom-dwelling insects, or macroinvertebrates, collected in the stream as indicators of the physical, chemical, and biological conditions within the stream. Which of the following best describes why macroinvertebrate sampling can be used to assess the overall health of a stream?
Macroinvertebrates live in an aquatic ecosystem for a long enough time to show the chronic effects of pollutants, and many tend to remain in the same area throughout their life span.
Poses a health risk to humans who eat large quantities of marine fish such as swordfish and tuna
Mercury
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.
Which of the following best explains why top predators can have up to 60 times as much of persistent organic pollutant (POP) as their prey and up to 600 times as much of the pollutant as producers?
POPs accumulate in the body fat of living organisms. POPs increase in concentration as they move up the food chain.
Which of the following best describes a way that persistent organic pollutants (POPs) cause harm in the environment?
Persistent organic pollutants are soluble in fat, so they accumulate in an organisms' fatty tissues.
Which of the following best describes a way that persistent organic pollutants (POPs) cause harm in the environment? Responses
Persistent organic pollutants are soluble in fat, so they accumulate in an organisms' fatty tissues.
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.
If all four of the bacteria species shown in the graph are equally likely to contaminate agricultural products at a dose of , regulating which of the following species would have the greatest effect in reducing the likelihood of illness in humans?
Salmonella spp.
Scientists are interested in determining if selenium, from a nearby mine, magnifies in the tissues of fish living in a lake. Which of the following best describes a testable hypothesis for the study?
Selenium will be at a higher concentration in fish tissue than in the tissue of fish prey.
Based on the diagram above, which of the following best describes why a population in an area that has poor sanitation can be particularly at risk for a cholera outbreak?
The bacterium that causes cholera is spread through ingestion of contaminated water or food.
Glyphosates are herbicides that are often applied to genetically modified (G M) crops to kill weeds without harming the crop itself. Some studies have indicated that global amphibian populations are declining and that exposure to herbicides in agricultural runoff is implicated in the decline. Which of the following is the most likely explanation of how herbicides affect amphibians?
The herbicides act as endocrine disruptors.
Some drinking water standards allow bacteria in water at dosages up to the 10% probability of illness. Which of the following statements is best supported by the data in the graph?
The newly discovered bacterium would have the lowest allowable dosage to meet the drinking water standards.
Based on the diagram above, which of the following is the most likely reason that V. cholerae can spread rapidly through a population?
V. cholerae is a microscopic bacterium that can survive in various aquatic environments for prolonged periods of time and can cause a delayed onset of visible symptoms.
Incineration is one solution to reduce the volume of municipal solid waste. Municipal solid waste can be used to produce energy at waste-to-energy plants. Based on the data in the graphs, which of the following materials would be best suited for incineration to reduce total volume, produce energy, and have minimal release of air pollutants?
Wood
Which method reduces the volume of waste but could release toxic emissions into the atmosphere?
incineration
Although the use of DDT was banned in the United States in 1972, a test of the body tissue of an average United States resident today would most likely reveal the presence of DDT because ____________________.
other countries that export produce to the United States still use DDT
An advantage of recycling aluminum rather than disposing of it in landfills is that aluminum can be
produced from recycled metal using much less energy than is required for its production from aluminum ore
If all four of the bacteria species shown in the graph are equally likely to contaminate agricultural products at a dose of 10^2 CFU, regulating which of the following species would have the greatest effect in reducing the likelihood of illness in humans?
salmonella spp.
Information gathered by a scientist abut the toxicity of chemical X and chemical Y showed that they had individual safe limits for fish at particular concentrations. But when they were used together at the safe concentrations, there were extensive fish kills. This is an example of
synergism
