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
