Fall, 2009, ESRM100. This exam is for the 10:30AM time.

 

The best answers is marked in bold green.

 

1) Please answer correctly, as it will be graded. The subject of this course is _______.
A)
Environmental Science
B) Underwater Basket Weaving
C) Advanced Soil Physics
D) Chemical Thermodynamics


2) The current consumption of the Earth's renewable natural resources is estimated to be about _________ the EarthÕs biological productivity replaces each year.
A) 50 percent greater than
B)
20 percent greater than
C) 10 percent less than
D) about the same as


3) The "balance of nature" means that _______.
A) natural events lead to devastating, permanent changes in ecosystems
B) humans and animals can coexist in harmony
C) carnivores and predators will balance each other's numbers
D)
natural systems that are not disturbed by people tend to persist in a steady state


4) Positive feedback occurs when  ________.
A)
an increase in output leads to a further increase in the output
B) an increase in output leads to a further decrease in the output
C) no change in the system
D) serious environmental problems


5) We use both ____ and ____ to solve environmental problems.
A) technology, work
B) money, hypotheses
C)
science, values
D) mythology, veganism


6) When we harvest a product from an ecosystem, we need to be concerned about the _______ of the harvest.
A)
sustainability
B) demographics
C) amount
D) financial incentives


7) Which of these positive environmental effects are mainly caused by the fact that human population is constantly decreasing?
A) Development of new eco-friendly technologies used to produce energy
B) Reduction in the amount and concentration of green house gases in the atmosphere
C)
There is no positive effect because human population is currently increasing
D) People are more "engaged" about the environment


8) What kind of curve shape best describes the current pattern at which global population is changing?
A)
"J" shaped curve
B) Negative slope straight line
C) "S" shaped curve
D) None of the above. Human population is constantly changing, and cannot be estimated


9) Which of the following is not a typical population's age structure?
A) Pyramid
B) Column with bulge
C) Inverted pyramid
D)
Inflected pyramid


10) What is the most accurate estimate of how many people the planet can support with basic requirements of life?
A) From 1 to 5.5 billion
B) From 1 to 6.8 billion
C) From 2.5 to 6.8 billion
D)
From 2.5 to 40 billion


11) The cause of the highest number of deaths in the United States in 1998 was ______.
A) suicide
B) accidents
C)
heart disease
D) cancer


12) Which of the following is not a component of the EarthÕs major reservoirs?
A) Atmosphere
B) Lithosphere
C) Hydrosphere
D)
Mesosphere


13) Which of these cycles is not part of the geologic cycle?
A)
Metamorphic
B) Hydrologic
C) Biogeochemical
D) Tectonic


14) Approximately how long has the Earth's geologic cycle been functioning?
A) 200 million years
B) 1.5 billion years
C)
4.6 billion years
D) 10.2 billion years


15) Seattle started discharging treated wastewater into Puget Sound instead of Lake Washington in 1968 because of _____ contamination problems.
A)
phosphorus
B) nitrogen
C) cyanide
D) bioremedial oxygen demand


16) What essential element is acquired by plants primarily from the air?
A) calcium
B) potassium
C) aerium
D)
carbon


17) The erosion of the Grand Canyon is an example of the effects of _____.
A) nutrient cycling
B)
Techtonic uplift
C) geological deposition
D) rock formation


18) A group of individuals of the same species occupying a given area at the same time is called a ____.
A) species
B)
population
C) community
D) genus


19) Photosynthesis ____.
A) converts glucose into energy and water.
B) requires the combustion of carbon.
C) produces carbon dioxide and oxygen gas.
D)
yields glucose and oxygen gas as products.


20) The place where a species lives is termed its ______.
A) residence
B) ecological niche
C)
habitat
D) environmental abode


21) The competitive exclusion principle indicates that two species that compete for the same resources ______.
A)
cannot coexist in the same habitat
B) add to the biological diversity
C) remain contant in numbers
D) can increase the biological integrity


22) Symbiosis in nature is _________.
A) always detrimental to species
B) very rare
C)
widespread
D) internal


23) We call the group of organisms and their interactions with the living and nonliving environment a(n) ________.
A)
ecosystem
B) symbiotic entity
C) free living system
D) mutualist society


24) A change in the genetic composition of a population over successive generations is called ____.
A) emigration.
B) mutation.
C) natural selection.
D)
genetic drift


25) Among the causes of evolution is(are) ______.
A) species conditioning
B) mutualistic adaptation
C) biological responses
D)
Competition for resources


26) _______ occurs when two or more species are isolated and evolve differently.
A) Ecological adaptation
B) Species migration
C)
Divergent evolution
D) convergent evolution


27) The failure of antimalarial efforts starting in 1957 over time shows how organisms can develop ________.
A) populations
B) biological integrity
C)
resistence
D) embryonic adaptation


28) _______ is best defined as the total number of genetic characteristics of a specific species, subspecies, or group of species.
A) genetic succession
B) genetic drift
C)
genetic diversity
D) biodiversity


29) Biologists estimate that ________ species exist on Earth today.
A) 80-200 thousand
B) 300-500 thousand
C) 1-2 million
D)
3-10 million


30) _________ is the initial establishment and development of an ecosystem where one did not exist.
A) Secondary succession
B) Tertiary succession
C)
Primary succession

    D) Restoration


31) What was the most successful restoration method for lead mines in England?
A) Fertilizer applications
B) Fast-growing commercial grasses
C) Top soil
D)
Slow-growing native grasses


32) Dune grass is an example of a(n) ________ in succession.
A) Interferer
B)
Facilitator
C) Remediator 
D) Obligator

 

33) The Fort Valley Experimental Forest shows that it can be a problem ecologically to ________ fire.
A) increase
B) prescribe burn
C)
eliminate
D) propagate


34) _______ is the initial establishment and development of an ecosystem where one did not exist.
A) Biological development
B) Ecological restoration
C)
Primary succession
D) Secondary succession


35) Left undisturbed for a long time, an ecosystem _______ its stored elements.
A)
slowly loses
B) rapidly loses
C) slowly increases
D) rapidly increases


36) Which species is best suited to clearcutting in the Pacific Northwest?
A) Western red cedar
B) Western hemlock
C)
Douglas-fir
D) Ponderosa pine


37) Aldo Leopold developed the term _______, which holds that all of EarthÕs resources have the right to exist in a natural state, and humans should not be conquerors of those resources, but citizens of the Earth and protectors of resources.
A) Conservation
B) Preservation
C) Restoration
D)
The Land Ethic


38) For fun (any answer will be considered correct). What is the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything?
A) 3.1415926
B)
42
C) 89
D) 102


see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrases_from_The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy


39) According to the discussion list, it is estimated that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch contains about ________ million tons of garbage and is growing daily.
A)
3.5
B) 12
C) 28
D) 150


40) According to the discussion list, the population of China is ____ people.
A) 750 million
B)
1.2 billion
C) 1.7 billion
D) 1.825 billion