G185 Midterm Quiz
Why has the ban on whaling by the International Whaling Commission not been a complete success?
Greenpeace is not taking any action against Icelandic whalers. Some countries continue to catch whales under a special exemption clause. The US continues to allow groups to whale within its waters. No alternative commercial businesses have been established that can benefit from whales.
Carrying capacity of an ecosystem is reached when human use reaches a maximum without:
Harming any children. Making a net profit. Polluting the environment. Causing degradation.
Which of the following is an example of a technology that is not environmentally damaging?
Electric car. Fertilizers. Solar-powered kettle. Nuclear power.
What type of long-term trend can be illustrated by a system that incurs a drought that has sufficient resilience to allow recovery?
Episodic. Catastrophic. Constant. Directional.
What type of resources are provided by the human environment?
Extrinsic resources. Solar Energy. Clean water. Non-renewable resources.
The Mesopotamian marshlands was originally threatened by which of the following actions:
Fishing. Dams. Climate change. Dams and drainage works.
The flow of solar energy through living organisms is known as a:
Food chain. Pyramid scheme. Ponzi scheme. Biome.
The Malthusian theory states that:
Governments will encourage their populations to exploit resources. Population growth will outstrip food production. Intergenerational inequities will outstrip all resources. Economic imbalance will produce a population decrease.
Siltation of dams is not good for their function because:
it generates extra flow. it reduces the storage of the dam. it makes the water not as clear. it is actually good for dams.
The importance of restoring and preserving peatlands over that of wetlands is:
its natural wastewater filtering. its large carbon storage capabilities. its acquired smell. its flood control.
The management plan that is best suited for lakes is one that is focused on the:
lake entire catchment tributaries shoreline
Using the equation: I = P x A x T Which of the following is not a way that limits throughput to respond to reaching the capacity of an environment:
limit population. decrease technology. limit affluence. improve technology.
Most of the Earth's water is stored in:
liquid form in the oceans. liquid form in the lakes. gaseous form in the atmosphere. solid form in the glaciers.
Knowledge is a key resource that increases the implementation of the ___________________ of climate change risks.
mitigation and adaptation. risks. vulnerability. top-down governance.
Salinization of soils in drylands occurs because:
of the low impact and sustainable practices of farmers. of a direct result of having desalinization plants. the potential evaporation rate of water from the soil exceeds the input of water as rainfall. the traditional peoples who live there enjoy salty foods.
An __________ will have interests in solving environmental issues by modifying our ethical and moral approaches to nature.
technocentric. ecofeminist. cornucopian. ecocentric.
The coastal zone is not the region:
that has the some of the least diverse ecosystems. between the continental shelf and the coastal plain. that is one of Earth's most biologically productive region. that accounts for 20% of all land area & 40% of all population.
An ecological footprint is an assessment of:
the benefits to an ecosystem one would bring by consuming its resources. the size of of a ecosystem. the total area required to support the population and at its current resource consumption rates. the amount of steps you have to take to walk through an ecosystem.
The tragedy of the commons is:
the common ownership of a resource with no rules to limit exploitation. when the value of a commodity is increased and no one can buy it. when an individual owns all of the needed resource. when the use of a common resource is limited.
The uncertainty in predicting climate change in the future is from:
the fact that we are not fully aware of all the processes of the climatic system. GCMs oversimplifying the global climatic processes. All of these. Disagreement in models of cloud feedbacks
The threat of desertification naturally only applies to semi-arid and arid regions, so estimating a fixed carrying capacity for grazing is:
the most surefire way of increasing productivity of the desert. essential to limit the overgrazing on these lands. a the preferred method of traditional pastoralists to limit overgrazing. not meaningful, as these ecosystems are rarely in a state of equilibrium.
The demise of the Californian kelp forests was triggered by:
the overfishing of sheephead fish. the almost extinction of sea otters by hunting. the overfishing of sea urchins. the overfishing of abalone.
What industry is considered a new real threat to tropical forests?
Medicinal Bacon Oil Wheat
1 Pg of Carbon is equal to:
1 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. 1000000 grams of carbon. The amount of carbon in the atmosphere. The amount of carbon moved in rivers every year.
Groundwater extraction in urban areas has led to ground moving to a total of over ____ in total for some examples.
3.0 m down. 8.0 m down. 20.0 m down. 8.0 m up.
A child born at the turn of the century in an industrialized country will add more to resource consumption and pollution over their lifetime than ___________ children born in developing nations
30-50 50-100 2-3 5-10
Geologists believe that the Earth is how old?
4600 million years. 460 million years. 100000 years. 375 million years.
Despite the uncertainty in global deforestation there is some consensus that the global tropical deforestation rate in the last couple decades is around:
50 million hectares per year. 5 million hectares per year. 10 million hectares per year. 20 million hectares per year.
How long has it taken Singapore to increase its total land area by over 130 km2 by 2010?
80 years 40 years 20 years 60 years
Which of the following impacts do not currently threaten the Southern Ocean ecosystem:
Acidification. Low seal populations. Depletion of blue whales. Low Krill stocks.
The Dust Bowl was:
An event in the 1930s triggered by the Stock Market crash. An alternative name for the Hollywood Bowl arena. The period in the 1930s where drought stricken overcultivated lands experienced extreme wind erosion. A bowl left out for too long.
A trophic cascade is:
An increase in predators within a food web. The sequence of who eats who in a food web. The decline of all species in a food web from overfishing. The restructuring of entire food webs from overfishing predatory species.
Part of the role of the IPPC Working Group II is to:
Assess who is susceptible to harm from climate change impacts. Model climate change in the future. Identify the causes of climate change. Measure the change in the climate.
Evidence of observed ecological changes in the past and present leading to decreased well-being are well documented, but where is there examples of increased agricultural production because of global warming?
Australia California South Asia Egypt
A strong sustainable urban environment model is one that emphasizes what the most?
Car-pooling. Recycling. Limiting the inputs and waste outputs. The use of renewable energy.
Which of the below are not a type of fish population dynamics:
Catastrophic. Cyclical. Irregular. Spasmodic.
Variations in fish populations can be attributed to:
Changes in fishing policy. All of these. Changes in the fishing industry. Oscillations in surface sea water temperatures.
What driver was ultimately responsible for the initial large amounts of deforestation that took place in Brazil?
Coffee production. Soybean production. 1970s OPEC oil crisis. The World Bank.
What is a way that outsiders can make a negative contribution to controlling the use of forest resources?
Contribute to international markets in carbon trading. Fund the groups to further the identification and protection of biodiversity in the forests. Use a wood-burning stove. Call for an improvement in environmental performance of commercial banks.
Climate related risk emerges from the overlap of what climate factors?
Coping strategy, poverty, andd inequality. Height above sea-level, latitude, and altitude. Vulnerability, exposure, and hazards.
Which of the following effects from the damming of rivers and subsequent creation of reservoirs has actually caused issues related to the dam functions?
Decomposition of submerged forests. Flooding of archaeological sites. Decreases in fish production. Resettlement of inhabitants.
The positive feedbacks between drivers that occur in drylands can lead to greater desertification impacts. Which of the below are an example of one these feedbacks?
Decreased vegetation increases the surface albedo leading to reduced rainfall. Increased population in desert cities increase energy efficiency. Overgrazing increases manure applications to reduce soil nutrient losses. Sand blown from deserts causes more rain to fall.
The sedimentation rate of a catchment that drains into Chesapeake Bay has decreased to background levels since 1930 due to:
Decreases in agriculture and deforestation. Increases in deforestation. Decreases in European settlers. Increased urbanization and dams.
An example of a ecosystem process that has a spatial scale of 10-100 km and a temporal scale of days is:
Hurricane. Drought. Tornado. Biome shift.
The small amount of fresh water found in lakes, rivers and wetlands (1% of global) have created which of the following societal controversies?
Increased concentrations of pollutants. Increases in water withdrawals that exceed their historical amounts. All of these Decreases in oxygen levels from increased river temperatures.
Fishing down the food web will lead to:
Increasing the biological degradation of the Oceans. Higher catches at first, followed by large reductions. Decreasing demersal stocks. All of these.
The country that has experienced the most rapid deforestation rates in the world (during the second half of the 20th century) is:
Indonesia. Ivory Coast. Honduras. Brazil.
Which of the following is considered a cause of desertification:
Invasion and settlement of areas by outsiders. All of these. Drought. Land degradation.
Floods and hurricanes (and their indirect effects such as storm surges) can pose serious threats to coastal populations. What is a way the best way populations can cope with this threat?
It is nothing to worry about as these rarely happen enough to cause significant damage. Try to maintain coastal environments to take advantage of their natural defenses to such threats. Build static barriers to protect development in areas that were part of the coastal systems. Increase insurance rates for those living closer to the ocean.
Predicting the threshold for lake ecosystem species survival is complicated by many factors. Which of the following lakes have a history that has surprised scientists by its resilience?
Lake Atitlan Lake Victoria Gatun Lake Lake Geneva
What makes people more vulnerable to climate change?
Living in the floodplain and being homeless. Living in an area with severe droughts. Living in a globally small GDP country. Living on a small pacific island
According to Kummar (1991), the most common route to a fully deforested area is:
Logging, then construction of roads. Agriculture, then logging. Construction of roads, then logging, then agriculture. Shifting cultivation, then road networks.
The effect of urban regions on the local climate from the increased non-reflective pavement, buildings, low proportion of vegetation, heat generated from vehicles and factories, and emissions of heat trapping pollutants can lead to negative outcomes for the residents such as:
Longer growing season. All of these. Better weather. Severe heat waves.
The warming trends in the last 100 years are the largest for the northern latitudes due to feedbacks from:
Loss of sea ice. Decrease in polar bears. Increased marine transport. Loss of fish stocks.
Sustainable development can be increased by:
Maintenance of ecological processes. Sustainable use of resources. Maintenance of genetic diversity. All of these.
What is the most common driver of river degradation?
Many interacting drivers interacting with river responses. Deforestation. Interactions with native exotic species. Overfishing.
As warmer temperatures are felt across the planet, what area might feel the brunt of this effect due to reduced water flow in rivers from smaller glaciers?
Mexico Europe Asia Sierra Leone
Mangroves forests are an important coastal ecosystem because of their resilience to storm surges and fish habitat for breeding, so they have been replanted in large amounts by this country:
Myanmar Sierra Leone Vietnam India
What is considered not to be a root cause of land degradation:
Natural disasters. Desertification policies. Ignorance. War and civil unrest.
Climate risk management has to be done:
Only at the global scale. Under high levels of uncertainty. With all the facts known. Only at the species scale.
All environmental issues are made up of:
Only physical elements. Both physical and human elements. Only furry animals. Only human elements.
A human-induced threat to warm-water coral reefs does not include:
Overcollecting Fishing Coastal Development Whale watching
What is the "ultimate resource"?
Power. Oil. Humans. Money.
What human-induced activity affecting climate change has led to a net negative radiative forcing?
Production of aerosols. Production of methane. Production of long-lived greenhouse gases. Decrease in tropospheric ozone
What is a role that coral reefs play?
Protect the coastline from waves and storm surges to prevent erosion. Provide nutrients and breeding grounds to fish. All of these. They support 25% of marine species.
Which of the following is not a benefit seen by the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River?
Providing water from the reservoirs for irrigation. Protection against floods and droughts. Flooding of historical monuments. Generation of electricity for Egypt's use.
According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment a force that enables, encourages or compels people to act in inappropriate ways that directly or indirectly cause a change in an ecosystem is also called a:
Putter. Driver. Shift. Issue
The location of the world's fisheries are principally governed by the:
Rainbows. Demand for fish. Distribution of fishing vessels. Distribution of floating plants.
Climate change adaptation in the global south will be most effectively created by:
Relying on current culture norms to inform people of the risks. Using existing resources and workstreams with proven technology. Investing in new projects outside of the community. Using new untested technology.
"Re-operation" of dams is:
Restoring natural flow regimes in big dams. Utilizing once defunct dams. An agreement to allow equal allocation of the river flow. The removal of the dam to restore the river's historic regime.
Which of the following is not a main driver identified by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment:
Sociopolitical. Demographic. Scientific and technological. Natural.
The largest impact from climatic change for small island developing states is:
Subsidence Sea level rise Decreased winds Decreased precipitation
If the global temperature is observed to be warming from human activities, why are industrialized urban areas generally seeing little to no warming?
That is not true, everywhere is getting hot. Emissions of sulphate particles reflect incoming radiaiton. There are too many errors in the measurements. It is because global warming is a hoax.
What is a striking feature of the tundra biome?
The absence of trees. It is mostly located south of the Arctic Circle. Precipitation mainly comes in the form of dew. The summers are hot and dry.
An activity in the coastal zone that has occurred in the past that has altered its function is:
The closing of estuaries that have led to shortening the Dutch coastline by 700 km. The development of beaches from the construction of groynes. Removal of coral reefs in Bali to produce lime for cement in construction. All of them.
What does it mean if the degree of flow regulated by dams within a river exceed 100%?
The dam reservoirs can hold more water than annual average discharge. That there are more dams on the river in height (feet) than the length of the river. The river has been modified so that it receives more rain than in the past. That the dams are letting more water flow in the river on average than in the past.
The Colorado River does not flow into the Gulf of California, Mexico regularly because:
The evaporation from all of the reservoirs has reduced the flow. All of these. The amount of dams reduce the flow of the river. The amount of water used for irrigation exceeds that of the flow
Why can't we install green roofs that reduce flooding and increase cooling within the building, everywhere?
The technology is not proven. Not everyone wants to reduce climate change impacts. The costs can be prohibitive for poorer countries.
Overfishing of Atlantic herring in the North Sea resulted in:
The upturn in stocks in later years. A complete recovery in stock. A ban on catches for four years. A successful EU-wide control on fleet reduction.
Which of the following marine environment pollutants are considered to be the largest growing threat due to accumulation in the marine food chain:
Thermal sewage Oil Plastics, radioactive isotopes, toxic metals. Domestic sewage
The reduction in natural forest cover is São Paulo from 82% to only 9% is because of population growth driver?
Tourism (beaches). World Cup (soccer). Crime. Expansion of coffee and sugar cane plantations.
What is an example of a proxy variable for temperature in the Holocene?
Tree-ring widths. The Weather Network. Weathering on buildings. Fashion.
A higher population always leads to a greater resource depletion and environmental degradation.
True/False
Although land degradation from overgrazing is an important driver of desertification, it has probably been exaggerated in the past and the encroachment of thorny bushes is the more likely ecological response.
True/False
An adaptation deficit to climate change is the vulnerability of a nation to current climate change risks
True/False
Coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, salt marshes, and estuaries are subject to pressures from human activities that can lead to rapid degradation of these systems limiting their functions that protect the land region.
True/False
Environmental issues are a result of a mismatch between the human and natural environment.
True/False
Mono Lake in California is a lake that had its water supply diverted to LA causing the lake to dry up, creating increased morbidity and transport hazards from dust storms.
True/False
Negative feedbacks dampen down the original effect.
True/False
The creation of reservoirs behind dams can change the local weather.
True/False
The intrusion of sea water is the only process that can increase salinity of rivers that have dams installed on them.
True/False
The technocentric approach of the soviets is the main cause of the Aral Sea degradation - not the lack of forethought or projections.
True/False
Traditional ecological knowledge is a complementary additional source of information about ecosystems other than written historical data and scientific data.
True/False
Which of the following diseases has not been associated with water impoundment from the creation of reservoirs?
Tuberculosis Malaria Schistosomiasis River blindness
The United Nations program established to combat desertification is:
UNCITRAL UNCCD UNFCCC UNEP
Which mechanism is not an example of human-induced climate change?
Volcanic eruptions. Albedo change. Direct atmospheric inputs. Diversion of fresh water into oceans.
What is the best way to reduce climate risk?
Wait until all the science is out on climate change. Increase disaster response funding. Mitigation and adaptation.
In Figure 3.4, when does a society move from being in cycle A, to entering cycle B?
When an environmental threshold is crossed. When sustainable development improves the environment. When stress is reduced by degrading the environment.
Integrated Coastal Zone Management is:
a ploy from countries to stop pirate commercial fishing. a strategy to reduce the coastal zone to its natural state without any benefits to humans. a strategy for the conservation and sustainable use of coastlines. a strategy to maximize profits from coastal resources.
Tropical deforestation for pasture use and its subsequent effects can be summarized as:
a positive feedback loop. having no ill effects. a negative feedback loop. a positive effect.
Stratospheric ozone is important because it:
absorbs outgoing ultraviolet radiation. reflects incoming solar longwave radiation. absorbs incoming solar ultraviolet radiation. increases the albedo of the surface.
The deforestation process involves a very complex set of drivers and motivations, but it is agreed that the people who don't actually cut down any trees are:
agriculturalists. politicians. loggers. ranchers.
The timelag between rainfall and peak discharge is _________ and the peak discharge is __________ in urban areas vs. non-urban forested areas.
decreased, increased. decreased, decreased. increased, increased. increased, decreased.
The decline in ecosystem health in the Black Sea is mainly caused by:
decreasing oxygen levels from nutrient loading. increasing water levels. increased tourism. increased sewage treatment.
A negative consequence of tropical deforestation is:
economic stability. increased biodiversity. the loss of cultural identity of indigenous people. increased profits.
Runoff from urban areas is:
effects on thermal regimes of rivers. All of these decline in biological conditions. elevated concentrations of contaminants.
Increased amounts of dissolved nutrients that arrive in bays of the north-east US were mainly from the increase in:
habitat removal. fishing vessels. public water and sewage systems. agriculture.
The precautionary principle advocates that:
human responses to environmental issues should seek solutions to anticipate larger problems. reactionary environmental management is least costly. government should make all decisions related to environmental issues. humans should not make any decisions on environmental issues until all facts are known.
Which of the following are not a type of drought:
hydrological societal agricultural meteorological
River conflicts arise mainly from rivers flowing through more than one country or region and therefore sustainable river management is complicated by:
incomplete knowledge of the processes operating in the river. all of these. ineffective governance. fragmented land ownership.
Global climatic change in the last 200 years is highly likely caused by:
increased in solar strength due to orbital eccentricity. the little ace age. human action increasing the release of greenhouse gases. increased of earthquakes
Sustainable development (idealized as cycle C in Figure 3.4) is the throughput or flow of environmental matter and energy that is __________
increased to maximize profits. unconfined. controlled by politicians to renew their term. controlled by the environment's capacity to support it.
Poverty can __________ the impacts from climate change
intensify
The total economic value:
is the total net value of a product. is an approach that does not include any costs. is an approach to include only the costs to the environment from a natural resource. is an approach to compare the benefits and costs associated with ecosystems.
Payment for Environmental Services (PES) is:
the payment to government officials to allow deforestation. the passing of laws to not allow logging. the payment to private landowners to conserve forest. the payment to lawyers to sue logging companies.
A piosphere is:
the zone where intensive grazing does not have an impact. a circular area not impacted by cattle grazing. bare area around a well from grazing cattle. a forbidden region to help reduce the impacts of desertification.
Generally, cities grow at the expense of:
urban sprawl. commercial centers. road networks. the natural environment.
Riverine pollution from sewage is still a threat today because:
wastewater treatment is nonexistent in many poorer countries. only 64% of Japan's water is treated. all of these. only 51% of Hungary's water is treated.
