Fall, 2009, ESRM100. This exam is for the 12:30PM 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) _________ is the time between a stimulus and a systemÕs response to that stimulus.
A)
Lag time
B) Environmental persistence
C) Delayed gratification
D) Feedback

3) The example of deforestation at Amboseli National Reserve in southern Kenya shows that environmental change is often caused by ________.
A) humans
B)
factors that are not immediately obvious
C) marauding elephants
D) overgrazing

4) In Environmental Science, a "system" is ________.
A) difficult, if not impossible to define and study
B) composed of intricate parts
C) extremely complicated in function
D)
a set of parts that function together to act as a whole.

5) The recognition that civilization can change the entire planetÕs environment is a(n) _________ phenomenon.
A)
recent
B) outrageous
C) ombrotrophic
D) long understood

6) The most basic environmental problem is ____.
A) deforestation
B)
human population increase
C) per capita resource allocation
D) environmental degradation

7) What is the most fundamental ecological problem in todayÕs world?
A) Global warming
B) Loss of biodiversity
C)
Population growth
D) Loss of ecosystems

8) ____________ is the approximate current population of the planet Earth.
A) 2.5 billion
B) 3.8 billion
C) 4.5 billion
D)
6.8 billion

9) Because our planet and its resources cannot expand as our population does, human population will eventually be limited by some factor or combination of factors. Which of the following belong to the long-term factors?
A) Outbreak of new diseases
B) Desertification
C)
Decline in groundwater supply
D) a) and b) are both long-term factors

10) In Stage III of population growth, the birth rate ______, so growth rate declines.
A)
drops toward the death rate
B) remains steady
C) increases exponentially
D) approaches zero

11) The first country to adopt an official population policy in 1952 was ______.
A)
India
B) the United States
C) Tanzania
D) Brazil

12) Living things need just 24 essential elements. These 24 elements are divided into categories; _____________ and ____________
A) metals, non-metals
B)
macronutrients, micronutrients
C) organic, inorganic
D) moderate toxic, highly toxic

13) Which of these scales is used to assess earthquake intensity?
A) Celsius
B)
Richter
C) Beaufort
D) Tectonic index

14) What is the name of the process in which bacteria converts organic nitrogen to ammonia, nitrate, or molecular nitrogen?
A) Nitrification
B) Nitrofurantain
C) Nitrogen cycle
D)
Denitrification

15) A _________ is a process in which new chemicals are formed from elements and compounds that undergo a chemical change.
A) chemical deposition
B) chemical decomposition
C)
chemical reaction
D) chemical toxicity

16) Most of the earth's fresh water is stored in _____.
A)
glaciers and ice caps
B) the oceans
C) rivers
D) lakes

17) For life to be sustained indefinitely within an ecosystem, _____ must be continually added.
A)
energy
B) nutrients
C) organisms
D) chlorophyll

18) Complex feeding patterns for consumers in an ecosystem are called ____.
A)
food webs
B) food chains
C) trophic levels
D) pyramids of energy

19) When humans do not interfere, predator/prey populations _______.
A)
vary widely
B) change very slightly
C) do not change at all
D) increase to their highest amounts

20) What a species does for a living is termed its ______.
A) environmental abode
B) habitat
C) residence
D)
ecological niche

21) The term _________ describes a relationship between two organisms that is beneficial to both and enhances each organismÕs chances of persisting.
A) mutual benefit
B)
symbiosis
C) competitive exclusion
D) biodiversity

22) Sea otters are an example of a _____ species in how they impact other species in kelp beds.
A) renovating
B) mutualist
C) predator
D)
keystone

23) In a food web, energy and chemical elements are transferred _______ trophic levels.
A) down through
B)
up through
C) into and out of
D) creatively

24) ______ is(are) the wealth of species that live on Earth.
A)
Biological diversity
B) Ecosystems
C) Biological communities
D) Keystone species

25) Among the causes of evolution is(are) ______.
A)
differences among individuals in their adaption to the environment
B) mutualistic adaptation
C) biological responses
D) species conditioning

26) Genetic drift refers to changes in the genetic makeup of a population due to ___________.
A)
chance
B) evolution
C) ecological adaptation
D) convergent evolution

27) Charles Darwin's observation of variation of finches (birds) on islands visited by the vessel the Beagle, was an example of ____.
A)
adaptive radiation
B) evolutionary elimination
C) extinction
D) predatory behavior

28) It is estimated that how many species have gone extinct during the last several billion years of Earth's existence?
A)
millions
B) hundreds of millions
C) billions
D) trillions

29) The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimates that ____ of all species are threatened with extinction.
A) 0.1 percent
B) 0.3 percent
C)
1 percent
D) 5.56 percent

30) What is the first step in restoration planning?
A) List the goals of the restoration
B)
Understand why the restoration is needed
C) Describe the areas to be restored
D) Determine the economic impacts of restoration

31) An example of where primary succession would be happening is a(n) _______. 
A)
Lava flow
B) Forest fire
C) Abandoned mine
D) Glacial retreat

32) In the Everglades, what was not one of the objectives of restoration?
A) Restore a natural flow of water to the Everglades
B) Recovery of native species
C)
Flood control protection
D) Restore habitat for all wildlife

33) Restoration ecology's goal is to return damaged, degraded, or destroyed ecosystems to some set of conditions  _______.
A)
functional, sustainable, and natural
B) pristine and desirable
C) like those that existed before the change
D) that are economically viable

34) _______ is the reestablishment and of an ecosystem following a disturbance.
A) Primary succession
B) Ecological restoration
C) Biological development
D)
Secondary succession

35) What is the primary cause of degradation of the Florida Everglades?
A) rapid loss of biodiversity
B) overhunting
C) introduced invasive species
D)
drainage of water

36) The idea that natural resources should be used wisely to the maximum benefit of society and not wasted describes:
A)
Conservation
B) Utilitarian
C) Nonutilitarian
D) Preservation

37) What is the reason for reindeer decline after they were introduced on the islands in Alaska?
A) Overhunting
B)
Inadequate food supply
C) Temperature change
D) Disease

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) 16
C) 23
D)
42

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

39) According to the discussion list the Washington State Department of Ecology states that every person in Washington State produces _____ of waste each day.
A)
6.8
B) 15.6
C) 25.2
D) 40.9

40) According to the EPA, what percent of food waste currently is landfilled?
A) 12 percent
B) 70 percent
C) 82 percent
D)
98 percent