Environmental Science - Exam 1

Environmental science is the study of the ___________ of the environment.

A.biological components

B. interactions between the biological, chemical, and physical components

C. chemical components

D. physical components

An activity that is sustainable is best described as one that _________________.

A. does not negatively impact the lives of others

B. does not involve resource extraction or produce pollution

C. is a net positive activity (does more good than harm)

D. can be carried out indefinitely into the future

“Our Common Future,” written by the Brundtland Commission, attempted to ______________.

A. place restrictions on development that used resources in an unsustainable manner

B. classify countries into categories according to their wealth and level of industrialization

C. evaluate environmental impacts of industrialization and encourage more sustainable paths for economic development

D. spread wealth and resources more evenly across the globe in order to alleviate perceived economic inequities

Which of the following would be considered a renewable resource?

A. Coal

B. Cattle

C. Aluminum

D. Uranium

Renewable and Sustainable

Renewable and Unsustainable

Nonrenewable and Sustainable

Nonrenewable and Unsustainable

Of the following, which is the best research hypothesis for the question “Does flower color affect how attractive the flowers are to bees?”

A. Flower odor has a greater effect on attraction by bees than does flower color.

B. Bees can see light-colored flowers better than dark colored flowers.

C. Bees are attracted to flowers because they can drink the nectar and eat the pollen, and by visiting flowers, they help the flowers pollinate each other.

D. Light colored flowers will attract more bees than dark colored flowers.

A scientific theory is best described as a(n) _________________.

A. educated guess

B. hypothesis that has not yet been thoroughly tested

C. hunch

D. widely supported scientific explanation

What is the role of creativity in science?

A. Scientists must be creative in order to get the statistical results that support their hypothesis.

B. Scientists are not supposed to be creative because creativity is subject to human emotions and desires, and scientists are supposed to be objective.

C. Scientists must be creative in order to design experiments that will give them the results that they predict.

D. Scientists must be creative in order to design appropriate experiments and think critically about unexpected results.

To be valid, a scientific observation needs to be _____________.

A. performed over a period of several years

B. performed by multiple researchers to make sure the observations were not made up

C. accurate and repeatable

D. performed in a controlled laboratory setting

____________ experiments are those that involve the use of observations on a group that receives the same manipulations as the treatment group except for the one factor being studied or varied.

A. Controlled

B. Accurate

C. Observational

D. Manipulative

What is the role of statistics in science?

A. Statistics are used to prove that a theory is true, in a way that will be accepted by other scientists.

B. Statistics are used to assemble data into a form that will create results in an experiment.

C. Statistics are used to ensure that data collected in an experiment are accurate and reliable.

D. Statistics are used to determine whether the observed results of an experiment represent meaningful mathematical differences.

Why are models often used in environmental science? (Select the two correct answers.)

A. Models are used to study systems that would be too expensive to manipulate.

B. Models allow environmental scientists to study complicated systems where many different processes are occurring simultaneously.

C. When a scientist isn’t confident about their hypothesis, they will often use a model to confirm the hypothesis.

D. Mathematical models are used to help make decisions by predicting how conditions may change over time.

Which one of the following best describes the scientific peer review process?

A. A scientist’s friends vouch for the scientist’s honesty in order for their research to be published. The results are checked to see if they are statistically meaningful.

B. Scientists anonymously evaluate the research of another scientist.

C. Other scientists oversee the collection of data for an experiment to verify that a researcher is not making up results.

D. Editors of the scientific journal check to see if the researcher has a good reputation in their field.

Pseudoscience is ____________.

A. valid if its findings are supported by a scientist with a PhD

B. science carried out by people without college degrees

C. an alternative form of science that is becoming more popular in the scientific community

D. not published in peer-reviewed journals

You should be skeptical of scientific claims if ____________.

A. the person making the claims has no financial stake in the matter

B. they are supported by the findings of several studies

C. you don’t want to believe them or do not think they can possibly be true

D. they have not and will not go through the peer-review process

Which one of the following would be an emergent property of a prairie?

A. The dominant big bluestem grasses

B. The formation of thick, fertile soils

C. The need for water

D. The soil, plants, and earthworms living in the prairie

A ______ feedback loop occurs when part of a system responds to a change in a way that intensifies that change.

Heat in the atmosphere leads increased melting of ice, which increases the amount of dark, bare soil. The dark soil absorbs energy that was previously reflected by ice, and the heat radiating from the soil increases the heat in the atmosphere. This is an example of a _____

A _____ feedback loop occurs when part of a system responds to a change in a way that reduces the change. Identify the type of feedback loop in each of the following scenarios.

Heat in the atmosphere results in greater evaporation, which increases cloud cover. The clouds reflect more energy away from Earth, which cools the atmosphere. This is an example of a

A scientist is said to be “uncertain” when they  ____________.

A. are less than 100% certain

B. are more uncertain than certain

C. have model results that do not reflect known data about the system under study

D. receive many comments during the peer-review process

Which of the following best illustrates quantitative data?

A. Whether you like this class

B. Your IQ

C. Your gender

D. Your dorm room number

What is wrong with the graph shown here?

A. There needs to be a line connecting the points.

B. The data should be graphed as a bar graph.

C. The number of insects in a trap should have nothing to do with what day it is.

D. The axes are switched, since what day it is does not depend on how many insects are in a trap.

What is wrong with the graph shown here?

A. The axes are switched, since time is the independent variable.

B. The line should go in the upward direction, since carbon dioxide is increasing in the atmosphere.

C. Technically nothing in terms of how it is constructed, but it doesn’t show a long enough time period to be able to draw valid conclusions about carbon dioxide trends at the observatory.

D. There should not be a line connecting the points, since we do not know what the concentrations are between the points on the graph.

Which of the following might an economist study? (Select the four correct answers.)

A. Whether religious practices influence crime rate

B. How governmental decisions affect economic growth

C. The relationship between supply and demand in the pricing of goods

D. The effects of consumer choices on happiness levels

E. The decisions that govern resource allocation

F. Why consumers make the decisions they do

Which of the following are factors that are needed to produce goods and services?

A. How a business deals with scarcity

B. The availability of natural resources

C. Human capital

D. The location of the market

E. The demand for the goods and services

F. The availability of the necessary tools, machines, and infrastructure

According to the laws of supply and demand, _______________.

A. if the price of a product or service goes up, demand for it would increase

B. low demand for a product or service should drive its price down

C. if the price of a product or service goes down, demand for it would decrease

D. high demand for a product or service should drive its price down

This graph shows supply and demand curves for a particular brand of soup. Use this graph and your knowledge of microeconomics to answer the following questions.

Line A indicates that the company would increase its profits by increasing the quantity of soup produced and selling it at the highest price. This is known as the law of supply.

Line B indicates that as the price for an individual can of soup declines, consumers will be more likely to purchase it. This is called the law of demand.

The point at which consumer are willing to buy the same amount that producers are willing to make is called the equilibrium  point and occurs in the graph where line A crosses line B.

All of the following can dictate the price of a renewable resource except _______________.

A. the rate of production of the resource

B. the available supply of the resource

C. the demand for the resource compared to the size of the recoverable reserves of the resource

D. the demand for the resource

What does it mean when an economist is “discounting” natural resources?

A. Estimating the present value of resources based on their value in the future

B. Downplaying the importance of the value of the resources in the economy

C. Making the resources less expensive so they can sell more quickly when the supply is too high

D. Ignoring the value of natural resources in their calculations

A market failure occurs when ________. (Select the two correct answers.)

A. economists are unable to predict the behavior of consumers

B. a market does not take into account certain externalities when pricing goods or services

C. negative externalities fail to offset positive internalities in a market system

D. the market fails to regulate common pool resources

E. a market crashes, such as the crash that occurred to the stock market in 1929

Which of the following best represents a common pool resource?

A. The money being bet in a poker game

B. A municipal swimming pool

C. The rangeland owned by a rancher, where the rancher’s cattle graze

D. Groundwater in the Ogallala Aquifer, which farmers rely on to irrigate their crops

Which of the following represents an attempt to combat a market failure?

A. Firing the economists who caused the market failure and hiring more competent replacements

B. Instituting a carbon tax on the amount of carbon dioxide pollution produced by a car

C. Avoiding the placement of a market where there is not already a competing market

D. Making sure all internalities are considered when pricing a product

Which of the following best represents a resource that has direct use value, indirect use value, and existence value?

A. A large seam of coal near Gillette, Wyoming, that will provide mining jobs for the next 20 years

B. Black-footed ferrets, a mammal that was once thought to be extinct but was rediscovered in 1981 in Wyoming

C. A state forest in northern Wisconsin, where rotational clear-cutting is used to harvest trees to make newspapers

D. A wetland along the Mississippi River that has been restored for the purposes of flood control and hunting, where wolves and bald eagles have recently been seen

Which of the following best represents economic valuation of the environment being used in economic decision-making?

A. An electric generation facility switching away from using coal because natural gas is cheaper to purchase and doesn’t require mining

B. A large power company backing down from plans to build a new power plant because of strong resistance from residents in the area

C. The government instituting a “gas guzzler” tax on vehicles that get low gas mileage, with the proceeds going into a fund to clean up oil spills in U.S. waters

D. A family deciding not to visit Yellowstone National Park because they heard that the park’s environment is suffering from having too many visitors

If a cost–benefit analysis is performed, a project would be supported when ____________.

A. the costs of the project are greater than the benefits but are less than the difference between the costs and the benefits

B. the costs of the project are greater than the benefits

C. the benefits of the project are greater than the costs

D. the costs of performing the analysis are less than the benefits of performing the analysis

Your friend argues that economic growth is good and that policies hindering growth should be avoided. Which of the following counterarguments is most valid?

A. Policies that hinder growth actually stimulate growth by creating new markets in which growth can occur.

B. Economic growth may actually have a more negative effect than a positive effect on human welfare because today’s economic system ignores many negative externalities.

C. Policies that hinder growth are inevitable because those who experience the least growth wish to inhibit the economic advancement of others. Since the policies are inevitable, they should be embraced, especially by those in the lowest income brackets of society.

D. Economic growth is not good because economic growth requires more education, and it already costs too much to attend college.

A country’s GDP is the value of all of the

goods and services produced during a specific time period. A growing economy produces a rising

GDP, while an economic recession has the opposite effect on a nation’s GDP.

Which of the following generally occurs when a country experiences economic growth? (Select the three correct answers.)

A. Improved welfare for all its citizens

B. Increased concentration of GDP

C. Increased natural resource use

D. Increased pollution

E. Increased energy consumption

What is the major difference between GDP and alternative indices such as HDI?

A. Alternative indices all include measures of human welfare

B. Alternative indices all include measures of environmental health

C. Alternative indices do not include economic data

D. Alternative indices generally rise at a faster rate than GDP

In the context of environmental decision making, which of the following best illustrates the concept of instrumental value?

A. A forest in northern Minnesota is valuable because it sustains an entire community of organisms, from woodpeckers and butterflies to earthworms, fungi, and forest plants.

B. A lake free of pollution is valuable because we can safely use the water for recreation, fishing, and drinking.

C. Future generations of humans have the same value as today’s humans. The fact that they do not yet exist does not negate the fact that they will be as human as we are.

D. Wolves are valuable in the Yellowstone ecosystem because their activities keep elk herds and forests healthy.

Your friend argues that we need to take care of the environment for the sake of our great-grandchildren. This perspective most closely matches ______________.

A. ecocentrism

B. instrumentalism

C. anthropocentrism

D. biocentrism

Three people are in a horrible car accident and are brought to the hospital in critical condition. There is another patient just brought into the hospital for a broken leg. There are only three beds available in the emergency room, and one is occupied by the person with the broken leg. From a purely utilitarian perspective, what should the doctors do?

A. A person espousing a purely utilitarianism perspective would argue that the doctors should give the beds to the three most critically injured patients because doing so creates the greatest good for the greatest number.

B. A person espousing a purely utilitarianism perspective would argue that because the crash victims will inevitably contribute more to the depletion of Earth’s resources, the doctors should allow all three critical patients to die.

C. A person espousing a purely utilitarianism perspective would argue that the patient with the broken leg was there first and should be treated first.

D. A person espousing a purely utilitarianism perspective would argue that the decision of whom to save or let live would depend on economic status. Since wealthier people tend to have a greater negative impact on the environment, the doctors should treat the poorest patients first, regardless of the severity of their injuries.

A person espousing deontological ethics is most likely to make which of the following statements?

A. I should not shoot that bald eagle because there are federal laws and international treaties that prohibit me from doing so.

B. I should shoot that bald eagle because its meat will provide my family with sustenance, and its feathers can be used to stuff pillows.

C. I should shoot that bald eagle because it is awesome and majestic and will therefore look great mounted on the wall in my dorm room.

D. I should not shoot that bald eagle because it is awesome and majestic.

A person espousing virtue ethics is most likely to make which of the following statements?

A. I should shoot that bald eagle because it’s fun to kill things.

B. I should not shoot that bald eagle because there are federal laws and international treaties that prohibit me from doing so.

C. I should shoot that bald eagle because it is awesome and majestic and will therefore look great mounted on the wall in my dorm room.

D. I should not shoot that bald eagle because I believe that it would be wrong to deprive any animal of life.

All of the following are logical policies that could be instituted to deal with the problem of property damage due to catastrophic wildfires except __________.

A. requiring insurance companies to provide homeowner’s insurance to all homeowners

B. instituting higher property taxes in fire-prone areas to pay for increased fire-suppression measures

C. instituting zoning ordinances prohibiting the building of homes in remote forested areas

D. instituting strict building codes requiring the use of flame-resistant building materials

Who are the stakeholders in environmental policy?

A. Those who are affected by the policy

B. Those who enforce the policy

C. Those who write the policy

D. Those who pay for the implementation of the policy

The figure below  plots the severity and probability of three environmental events—A, B, and C. Using the figure as a guide, choose the word that is the best answer for each blank.

Event A has a low probability of occurring and a

high severity of effects. Event B has a

medium probability of occurring and a

medium severity of effects. And event C has a

high probability of occurring and a low severity of effects. 

Now consider how the colors of this graph change with increasing severity and probability. Since risk combines the severity of an event and the probability of that event occurring, events that are low risk fall in the blue range toward the bottom-left of the graph, and high-risk events fall in the red at the top-right. Considering this color-coding, a medium risk level would be assigned to each event.

Because of the negligence of an employee at a local meat-packing plant, a popular tourist lake becomes heavily contaminated with hazardous by-products from the plant. Which type of law would address lost fishing and tourism income caused by the negligence?

A. Criminal law

B. Civil law

C. Administrative law

D. Contract law

Taxes used in environmental policy serve all of the following functions except________.

A. raising money to fund environmental initiatives

B. making legislators more politically popular

C.making environmentally sound products more popular

D. encouraging industry to follow more environmentally sound practices

A cap-and-trade policy __________.

A. would allow some polluters to pollute more than others, so long as the amount of pollution released in a region stays within governmental limits

B. prohibits any power plant from releasing more than a predefined amount of pollution into the environment

C. does not take into consideration the fact that some polluters would experience greater financial hardship if all polluters were forced to decrease their pollutants to the same level

D. requires power plants to place caps on their smokestacks to prevent the release of pollutants into the environment

The Energy Guides that accompany appliances sold in the United States ___________.

A. require consumers to make purchases that will minimize their energy use

B. are voluntarily provided by the appliance companies

C. have been shown to be inaccurate because companies try to make their appliances more environmentally friendly than they really are

D. are required by federal law to help consumers make informed, voluntary decisions based on appliance energy use

For a bill to make it to the President, it must be _________.

A. written by a House committee and approved by a 60% vote in the Senate

B. approved by majority vote in both the House and Senate

C. approved by a 60% vote in both the House and Senate

D. approved by a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration belong to the _____________ of the federal government.

A. legislative branch

B. judicial branch

C. executive branch

D. legislative and executive branches

Which of the following are responsibilities of the judicial branch of the federal government? (Select the three correct answers.)

A. Enforcing laws

B. Ruling on the constitutionality of laws

C. Creating laws

D. Interpreting how laws should be applied

E. Settling disputes between states

F. Turning laws into enforceable regulations

The National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) does which of the following?

A. NEPA taxes industries that fail to abide by EPA emission standards.

B. NEPA regulates trade between Mexico and the United States.

C. NEPA establishes emission standards to be enforced by the EPA.

D. NEPA requires an environmental assessment for a major project.

The Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act are administered by the ___________.

A. Department of Clean Air and Water

B. judicial branch of the government

C. U.S. Congress

D. Environmental Protection Agency

The _____________ has jurisdiction over the safety of chemicals used in food, drugs, and cosmetics.

A. DFDC (Department of Food, Drugs, and Cosmetics)

B. USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture)

C. judicial branch of the government

D. FDA (Food and Drug Administration)

Most of the species that have been placed on the endangered species list __________.

A. have gone extinct

B. are still on the list

C. should technically not be on the list, but political wrangling has resulted in them being listed

D. have recovered and been delisted

How do state environmental policies compare to federal policies?

A. State policies may be more relaxed than federal policies.

B. Environmental policies are dictated by the federal government, and no states are allowed to have their own environmental policies.

C. State policies may be more restrictive than federal policies.

D. State policies cannot be stricter than federal policies.

In 2013 the city of Colorado Springs, Colorado, experienced a deadly wildfire that destroyed over 500 homes on the western side of the city, where people had built homes up into the foothills of the Rockies. Farther north, the city of Boulder is somewhat more protected from such wildfires because much of the front edge of the foothills has been designated as open space. Who legislates such rules regarding areas to be designated as open space?

A. U.S. Congress

B. Local governments

C. State legislators

D. City planners

Local

State

Federal

Lobbying is an attempt to influence __________.

A. public opinion

B. the President

C. elected officials

D. federal judges

Which of the following is an NGO?

A. Amazon

B. Environmental Protection Agency

C. Environmental Defense Fund

D. Yellowstone National Park

In the United States, treaties are negotiated by the _____________ and approved by __________________.

A. House of Representatives; the President

B. Senate; the President

C. President; a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate

D. President; a majority vote in the Senate

Generally speaking, who enforces international treaties?

A. The United States

B. The World Trade Organization

C. The countries involved in the treaties

D. The Justice League

The Antarctic Treaty established which of the following?

A. A penguin reserve where no hunting is allowed

B. A land mass divided up into territories owned by the nations signing the treaty

C. A land mass owned by no nations that can be used for only peaceful purposes

D. Regulations for extracting minerals and other valuable resources from Antarctica

The objective of the Montreal Protocol was to _______.

A. divide eastern Canada into territories owned by the nations signing the treaty

B. regulate emissions of gases that produce ozone

C. phase out the use of chemicals that deplete the ozone layer

D. regulate emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide

CITES endeavors to _______.

A. regulate emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide

B. regulate emissions of gases that produce ozone

C. protect endangered and threatened species by restricting trade of these species and their body parts

D. oversee agreements on agricultural activities and waste transport across international borders

The goal of the Kyoto Protocol was to _______.

A. protect endangered and threatened species by restricting trade of these species and their body parts

B. regulate emissions of gases that produce ozone

C. oversee agreements on agricultural activities and waste transport across international borders

D. regulate emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide

Which of the following is an example of kinetic energy being converted into potential energy?

A. energy from a wind turbine being used to charge a rechargeable battery

B. a rollercoaster rolling downhill after being carried to the top of the hill by a conveyor belt

C. water held behind a dam being allowed to flow through the dam’s turbines

D. gasoline being used to turn the wheels of an automobile

Which of the following best illustrates the concept of entropy?

A. When coal is burned in a power plant, some of the heat is lost out of the smokestacks into the atmosphere.

B. When coal is burned in a power plant, the heat produced is used to produce steam that is used to rotate a turbine, producing electricity.

C. Coal is not a 100% efficient power source because the coal has to be transported to the plant, which requires energy.

D. The burning of coal in a power plant is not 100% efficient because some of the coal is not completely combusted.

Which one of the following is the basic energy unit of the metric system?

A. calorie

B. Calorie

C. joule

D. BTU

An ecosystem ecologist is most likely to study which of the following?

A. population trends in European starlings since their introduction to the eastern United States

B. the effects of soil nutrients on plant growth

C. the composition of the atmosphere

D. the interaction between wolves and coyotes in Yellowstone National Park

Which one of the following is an autotroph?

A. a mushroom

B. a rhesus monkey

C. E. coli

D. a cactus

Which one of the following is produced during the process of photosynthesis?

A. light energy

B. oxygen

C. chlorophyll pigment molecules

D. carbon dioxide

Which one of the following is produced during the process of aerobic cellular respiration?

A. sugars

B. cytosol

C. oxygen

D. carbon dioxide

Which one of the following metabolic processes is 100% efficient?

A. protein synthesis

B. No metabolic process is 100% efficient.

C. anaerobic cellular respiration

D. aerobic cellular respiration

In 1962, Rachel Carson publishes the book silent spring, the documenting the devastating effects of pesticides inducing DDT, on birds and other organisms. In 1972 new policies were implemented that banned the use of DDT in the US, the preparation and publication of the book silent spring represented which step in the policy process

Which of the following best represents potential energy converted to kinetic energy?

With regard to tropic structure the rule of 10 states that

Regarding the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone NP. SELECT INCORRECT

Why is the sea otter considered a keystone species in areas of the Pacific Ocean?

What is an essential characteristic of the scientific method?

Which of the following would be an emergent property of a motorcycle

Regarding Allan savory and the soil carbon cowboys, select INCORRECT

Sustainable use of resources requires

Which of the following best illustrates sustainability

Read the following scenario, and answer the question below. Long famous as a - symbol of the United States, the bald eagle is also famous for its population decline and recovery during the 20th century. The bald eagle was declared endangered in the United States in 1967, when its population in the United States had declined to under 500 breeding pairs. The bald eagle was delisted in 1995 when its numbers had rebound to ~5,000 breeding pairs. An Illinois woman was convicted of violating the Lacey Act of 1900 and Bald Eagle Protection Act of 1940 after she gave Hillary Clinton a dream catcher that contained bald eagle feathers in 1994. The Lacey Act is a federal law that prohibits trade in wildlife and plants that have been illegally taken or possessed, and the Bald Eagle Protection Act (more recently amended to become the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act) is federal legislation that prohibits the possession of eagle parts, feathers, eggs, or nests without a permit. Typically, only Native Americans, raptor centers, and zoologists are able to obtain such permits.

What other federal legislation would the woman have violated when she made and attempted to sell dream catchers containing bald eagle feathers?

A(n) _____ ecologist would study the interactions between the invasive European starling and native cavity nesting birds in the United States

An organism range of tolerance is best exemplified by which of the following ?

Environmental justice seeks to____

Environmental ethics is best defined as___

How does the environmental protection agency (EPA) affect the environment policy?

All of the following are physical limiting factors affecting survival and growth of an organism EXCEPT

Negative feedback processes tend to function within ecosystems to___

Some coral reefs are protected from being overrun with algae by a sea urchin that grazes on the algae. In one of these reefs, a disturbance event (such as a hurricane) severely damages the coral reef; however, enough sea urchins live in the system to keep the algal growth under control while the corals rebuild themselves. Which of the following terms best characterizes this ecosystem and why?