Directions:
Place the letter of the correct answer in the space provided on the answer
sheet. Use CAPITAL LETTERS if you wish to receive credit.
1. An environmental sciences club studies
factors that might affect
pollution in a
local creek. Fertilizer, sewage, and trash from a garbage
dump are possible
polluting factors. Chemicals in the creek are not a
problem because
there are no chemical plants in the area. Which of the
following is a
hypothesis they could test?
a. The more fertilizer in a stream,
the more crops will grow along
the
stream.
b. The more chemical plants there are, the more chemical pollution
that
results.
c. The more trash sent to the garbage
dump, the higher the income
of the
family.
d. The more sewage in a stream, the
more pollution in the stream.
2. Marie wondered if the earth and oceans are heated equally by
sunlight. She
decided to conduct an investigation. She filled a bucket
with dirt and
another bucket of the same size with water. She placed
them so that
each bucket received the same amount of sunlight. The
temperature in
each bucket was measured every hour from
to
a. The greater the amount of sunlight,
the warmer the soil and water
become.
b. The longer the soil and water are
in the sun, the warmer they
become.
c. Different types
of materials are warmed differently by the sun.
d. Different amounts of sunlight are received at different times of
the day.
3. Most of the environmental problems
we face are:
a. increasing linearly c.
increasing exponentially
b. decreasing linearly d.
decreasing exponentially
4. A sustainable society:
a. manages its economy and population size without doing
irreparable
environmental harm
b. satisfies the needs of its people without depleting Earth
capital
c. protects the prospects of
future generations of humans and other
species
d. all of these answers
e. none of these answers
5. An example of a resource would be:
a. fresh air c.
fertile soil
b. fresh water d.
all of the above
6. Exponential growth:
a. remains constant
b. starts out slowly and remains slow
c. starts out slowly and becomes very rapid
d. starts out rapidly and remains rapid
e. starts rapidly and then slows
7. Resources that are
considered nonrenewable:
a. are also called perpetual resources
b. are only resources that are alive
c. are capable of economic depletion
d. none of the above
8. For something to
be classified as a natural resource, it must
a. satisfy a
human need
b. be
steadily renewed or replenished
c. be a form
of matter
d. exist in
great abundance
e. be used at
sustainable-yield levels
9. Which of the following is NOT a renewable
resource?
a. groundwater d.
air
b. trees in a forest e.
oil
c. fertile soil
10. The market value in current dollars
of all goods and services produced
within a country for final use during a year is
the:
a. gross national product d.
per capita GDP
b.
gross world product e.
gross domestic product
c. per capita GNP
11. Which of the following statements
about developing countries is true?
a. they are highly industrialized
b. they have high average GDP per person
c. they include the
d. they have about 15% of the world’s wealth and income
e. they have about 85% of the world’s wealth and income
12. A very simple model of environmental
degradation and pollution
would include all of the following except:
a. number of people
b. the climate in which people live
c. average number of units of resources each person uses
d. amount of environmental degradation/pollution generated
when
each unit
of resource is produced
13. All of the following are
potentially renewable resources except:
a. groundwater d.
oil
b. trees in a forest e.
animals
c. fertile soil
14.
Studies done at
the following
except:
a. the tight linkage between terrestrial ecosystems and
downstream
aquatic
ecosystems
b. excessive
nutrient loss resulted from decomposition and
nitrification
c. hydrologic
flows, erosion, and biogeochemical cycles were
altered
for several years due to this action
d. these
practices provide no practical information regarding
maintenance
of water quality or wildlife habitats
15. Nonrenewable resources include:
a. energy resources d.
water
b. wildlife resources e.
soil
c. animal resources
16. What does a hypothesis represent?
a.
the equivalent of a theory
b.
a potential solution or tentative explanation
c.
a scientific fact
d.
a reasonable doubt
17.
In science a theory is (a):
a.
verified hypotheses which can be used to explain many related
phenomena
b.
provisional explanation of the facts, in essence, an educated
guess
c.
synonym for the word hypothesis
d.
highly tentative statement
18. Nine groups of students were given
different concentrations of an
experimental drug designed to overcome
depression related to taking
environmental biology exams. A tenth group was given
a placebo
(sugar pill).
The placebo group can be referred to as the:
a.
background group c. sacrificial group
b. control group
d. experimental group
19. Scientific methodology is most like
which of the following problem-
solving techniques.
a.
guessing c. computer
simulation
b.
visualization d.
trial-and-error
20. A reasonable guess at the answer to
a relevant, testable question is
called a(n):
a. theory c.
hypothesis
b.
observation d.
problem
21.
Which of the following positions is most likely to be helpful in
responding to
environmental problems?
a. Humans are the root of all evil and
can never make up for the
harm they
have done the planet.
b. Most of the human population is
composed of victims of a few
powerful
industries who are causing severe environmental
degradation.
c. Life is as good as it has ever been
in the course of human history,
and there
really isn’t much of a problem.
d. Individual knowledge, attitudes,
and action can make a
difference.
22. Science offers hypotheses about
nature that can be:
a.
proven c.
shown to be absolutely false
b. tested d.
shown to be absolutely true
23.
Which of the following is a correct statement of the 1st Law
of
Thermodynamics?
a. matter can
neither be created or destroyed
b. matter may
be transformed into different types
c. all are
correct statements of the 1st Law
d. none are
correct statements of the 1st Law
24.
Something is useful as a resource only if it can be:
a. recycled
or reused
b. classified
as a perpetual resource
c. made
available at a reasonable cost
d. replaced
by a suitable substitute
25.
Environmental science integrates knowledge from the
disciplines of:
a. chemistry
and physics
b. ecology
and demography
c. resource
technology and engineering
d. economics
and politics
e. all of the
above
26.
Resource scarcity:
a. means
there is not an unlimited supply of a resource
b. may be
absolute or relative
c. leads to
an increase in the cost of a resource
d. all of the
above
27.
Which of the following is not important in determining the damage
produced by a
pollutant?
a.
concentration
b.
persistence
c. origin
d. chemical
nature
e.
interaction with other chemicals
28.
Which of the following best describes pollution?
a. something producing undesirable change in the physical
environment
b. substances
released into the environment in very large
amounts
c. substances
that cannot be decomposed by natural processes
d. anything
that physically injures or kills living things
29.
In the process of nuclear fission:
a. nuclei of
light elements are fused together
b. nuclei of
heavy elements are split apart
c. neutrons
are split apart
d. fission fragments
are fused together
30.
Fusion power:
a. is another
form of nuclear power
b. would fuse
hydrogen atoms into helium with a release
of energy
c. can be
obtained easily and cheaply
d. choices a
and b
e. choices a,
b, and c
31.
Commercial nuclear reactors use as a source of fuel.
a. coal c. uranium 235
b. uranium
238 d. plutonium 239
32.
Which of the following is an example of low-quality energy?
a.
electricity
b. heat in
the ocean
c. nuclei of
uranium-235
d. coal
e. oil
33. The atomic number of an atom is
the:
a. number of
neutrons in its nucleus
b.
number of protons in its nucleus
c.
total number of protons and neutrons in
the nucleus
d.
number of electrons in the nucleus
34.
Point sources of pollution:
a. enter
ecosystems from dispersed and often hard-to-identify
sources
b. include
runoff of fertilizers and pesticides from farmlands and
suburban
lawns
c. are
cheaper and easier to identify than nonpoint sources
d. are more
difficult to control than nonpoint sources
e. are always
found in rural areas
35. Isotopes of the same element
a. have the
same number of protons, but a different number of
electrons
b.
have the same number of electrons, but
a different number of
protons
c.
have the same number of protons and
neutrons
d. have the
same number of protons, but a different number of
neutrons
36. Patient A receives thyroid treatment
using radioactive iodine. This is
an example of a medical application using:
a.
neutrons c.
carbon
b.
isotopes d.
hydrogen ions
37. Effects of pollution
might include:
a. less diversity of stream life
because of road salt runoff
b. acid rain induced destruction
of a statue in the city park
c. spread of disease from an open
dump
d. all of these answers
38. Pollution prevention and cleanup can be encouraged by:
a. regulations
b. taxes d.
education
c. subsidies e.
all of these answers
39.
One consequence of the _____ is that everything we throw away is
actually still
here, in one form or another.
a.
second law of thermodynamics c. law of conservation of matter
b.
first law of thermodynamics d. atomic theory of matter
40.
Still (unmoving) water stored behind a dam has a large amount of:
a. potential
energy c. heat
energy
b. kinetic
energy d.
chemical energy
41. A community of plants and animals in balance
with the physical
environment is
called:
a. an
ecosystem c. a habitat
b. a landscape d.
a population
42.
The harmful effects of a chemical pollutant will be determined by the
pollutant’s:
a.
concentration, origin, and chemical
nature
b.
concentration, origin, and persistence
c.
origin, chemical nature, and
concentration
d.
chemical nature, concentration, and
persistence
43.
To decay to what is considered to be a safe level, a
sample of
radioactive
material should be stored in a safe enclosure for
approximately
______ half-lives.
a. 2 d.
20
b. 5 e.
30
c. 10
44.
Which of the following things is the most important thing to keep in
mind about
economics and the environment?
a.
benefit-cost analyses will answer our
questions about options to
choose
b.
businesses will voluntarily produce
less pollution
c.
we need to achieve a balance between
the costs of cleaning up pollution and the costs of a polluted environment
d.
it’s important not to hold up new
chemical products by requiring them to be tested for environmental safety
before release
45.
Which of the following
statement(s) is false?
a.
Six important environmental issues are
population growth,
increasing and wasteful resource use, local
climate change,
premature extinction of plants and animals and
construction of
wildlife habitats (biodiversity crisis),
pollution, and poverty.
b.
Environmental science is an
interdisciplinary study of how the
earth works, how we are affecting the earth’s
life-support
systems (environment), and how to deal with the
environmental
problems we face.
c.
An environmentally sustainable society
tries to achieve two goals: First, it satisfies the basic needs of its people
for food,
clean water, and shelter into the indefinite
future. Second, it
does
this without depleting or degrading the earth’s natural
resources.
d.
A resource is anything obtained from
the environment to meet
human needs and wants.
46. Examples of producers in ecosystems
are:
a. carnivores c.
herbivores
b. green plants d.
animals
47.
Children fly kites in the:
a.
stratosphere c.
biosphere
b.
troposphere d.
hydrosphere
48.
Which of these statements are false?
a.
The per capita ecological footprint is
the amount of biologically
productive area per person required to produce
the nonrenewable
resources (such as food and wood), supply space
for infra-
structure, and absorb the greenhouse gas carbon
dioxide
emitted from burning fossil fuels.
b.
We never completely exhaust a
nonrenewable resource. But such
a resource becomes economically depleted when
the cost of
extracting and using what is left exceeds its
economic value.
c.
Pollution is any addition to air,
water, soil, or food that threatens
the health, survival, or activities of humans
or other living
organisms.
d.
all are false
e.
none are false
49.
Which of these field studies was the first to document acid rain in
a.
Schindler’s lake studies
b.
Hubbard Brook Experimental
c.
Reagan’s
d.
Nisrey’s
50.
A group of individuals of the same species occupying a given area at a
given time is
called a:
a. species c.
community
b. population d. ecosystem
51. Which of the following is a
self-sustaining ecosystem?
a. an aquarium that contains only tropical fish, plants and is exposed to light
b. an aquarium that contains plants, small and large fish
and is exposed to
light
c.
a terrarium that contains only bacteria
and fungi and is
exposed to light
d.
none are self-sustaining ecosystems
52. The only independent organisms are
green plants. Which
statement best explains this fact?
a.
independent organisms live on a variety
of foods
b.
independent organisms use less food than
other organisms
c.
photosynthesis is a food making process
d.
green plants grow wherever they find
suitable soil
53.
Loss of plant life on the
a. foxes
eating the plants
b. Fur
traders killing the Aleutian geese
c. Radiation
damage from early underground nuclear testing
d. Reduction
in the amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus in the soil
54. The
that are in short supply. One particular rare
earth metal is also a key
component of an alloy used in Honda and Ford
cars as well as in wind
turbine generators. This element is:
a. neodymium c.
lanthanum
b. terbium d.
dysprosium
55.
a. reducing his carbon footprint might diminish his image
b. a carbon credit system for individuals should be
established
c. tap water is safe to drink in
d. all of the above are correct answers
e. none of the above are correct answers
56. The article entitled “Welcome to
the Red Planet” talked about
conditions on:
a.
Mars c.
b.
57. Paul Krugman
suggests that climate scientists have become gifted
with the ability to prophesy future disasters,
but cursed with the
inability to get anyone to believe them. This
characteristic is ascribed
to the Greek mythological prophet known as:
a.
Cassandra c.
Priam
b.
Apollo d.
Agamemnon
58. The new rules being
issued by the EPA regarding greenhouse gas
emissions are set to go into effect on
same date as:
a. reauthorization
of the Clean Air Act
b. new
limits on release of greenhouse gases from tailpipes of new cars and light duty
trucks
c. the
anniversary of the start of the National Association of Manufacturers
d. subjecting
small farms and large apartment buildings to the same rules
59. Fish and crustaceans in places such
as the gulf of Mexico,
Bay and the
oxygen levels, leaving only microbes on the
seafloor. The main culprit
is:
a. throwing back of dead fish parts in the water
b. nitrogen-rich nutrients from crop fertilizers that spill
into coastal
waters by
way of rivers and streams
c. increases in the levels of bacteria in the sediments
d. increases in the levels of annelid worms
60. The diet of the
season. Winter feed for the bears is being threatened by:
a.
Loggers cutting down trees for lumber.
b.
Increases in the numbers of red squirrels
c. decreases in the numbers of cutthroat trout
d. increases in the number of mountain pine beetles
61. Penguins on
a. often die when helped by onlookers who don’t know what
they are
doing
b. had probably gotten lost looking for anchovies
c. were place in the local zoo if they survived
d. all of the above
62. A farmer wants to improve crop
yield in his fields by testing the
effectiveness of a new pesticide available on
the market. Which of the
following is the best control for this
experiment?
a.
a higher concentration of new pesticide
used on the control field
than the
experimental field
b.
more shade on the control field than
the experimental field
c.
less new pesticide used on the control
field than the experimental field
d.
no
new pesticide used on the control field; new pesticide used only on the
experimental field.
63. In the
United States, several routes are available for water that falls
on the land. Of these routes, which one
represents the largest
percentage.
a. ground water c.
evapotranspiration
b. surface runoff d.
all percentages are equal