Environmental Science – A mathematical study of the effects of species diversity

13 Jun Environmental Science – A mathematical study of the effects of species diversity

Question
1) Environmental Science is:

a) A mathematical study of the effects of species diversity on human well-being, as perceived through the scientific method involving observation, experimentation and documentation.

b) A holistic approach to social systems and their role in determining the world view of different cultures as pertains to the support systems provided by planetary physical and biological conditions.

c) A comprehensive and integrated investigation of the physical, biological, and societal conditions through which we, and the rest of the planetary ecosystem, sustain life.

d) An easy “A”

2) Which of the following is NOT a major human perturbation of the environment?

a) land use

b) emissions

c) whaling

d) all of the above

3) The ‘tragedy’ related to the commons is:

a) the fact that people destroy or consume resources including the atmosphere, water and oil

b) that consumption rates exceed current biocapacity

c) that from the perspective of the individual, the immediate benefit from exploiting the commons is large compared to the cost, which is distributed among the entire community

d) none of the above, the tragedy is a Shakespearian play

4) Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs is a definition of

a) applicability

b) transgenerational transferability

c) superadiabatic generationality

d) sustainability

5) The precautionary principle suggests that

a) the most authority will be given to the most cautious part of government

b) each should do what needs to be done even when no one else is willing to try

c) you should take action to improve environmental conditions (or prevent them from degrading) just in case it turns out to be important, even if you don’t know specific consequences

d) curiosity killed the cat

e) grade school administrators should caution their school children against the dangers of environmental hazards

6) What describes a comprehensive and integrated investigation of the physical, biological, and societal conditions through which we, and the rest of the planetary ecosystem, sustains life?

a) molecular biology

b) cosmology

c) accounting

d) sociology

e) environmental science

7) Fundamental environmental issues include

a) littering

b) sustainability

c) wolf predation on sheep in Yellowstone National Park

d) all of the above

8) The main human perturbations of the global environment stem from

a) pollution and hunting

b) emissions and land use

c) air travel and railroads

d) shipping and receiving

9) Which of the following does NOT describe science?

a) testable

b) disprovable

c) democratic

d) imperfect

10) There was mud on his shoes. It rained that night. The murder occurred in the park, where the grass had been dug up for a construction project. The weapon could only have been wielded by a strong man. – On the basis of this, what kind of scientific reasoning would Sherlock Holmes use to crack the case?

a) inductive reasoning

b) deductive reasoning

c) reductionist reasoning

d) reactionary reasoning

11) What is the best demonstrated scientific concept?

a) hypothesis

b) thesis

c) inference

d) theory

12) Marvin is stressed about waking up and making it on time to his first day of physics class. He sets the alarm on his digital watch (reads to 1/100 of a second!) and arrives at 9:00:00.00 a.m. Unfortunately, every other clock on campus reads about 9:10. Marvin is woefully late and goes on to become an art history major. Which of the following is a correct statement about Marvin’s watch?

a) it is precise, but not accurate

b) it is accurate, but not precise

c) it is neither accurate nor precise

d) it is both accurate and precise

e) Marvin needs to learn to tell time

13) One distinction between (A) science and (B) religion, ethics, and morals is that scientific statements are:

a) disprovable

b) universally accepted

c) inference

d) deductive

e) numerical

14) Premise: A straight line is the shortest distance between two points._Premise: The line from A to B is the shortest distance between points A and B._Conclusion: Therefore, the line from A to B is a straight line. The above is an example of _________________

a) a scientific proof

b) a hypothesis

c) inductive reasoning

d) deductive reasoning

e) a scientific fact

15) Generalizations based on a number of concrete observations are:

a) inductive

b) deductive

c) persuasive

d) always true

e) usually false

16) Accuracy is identical to precision

a) True

b) False

c) Precisely

17) Which principle holds that history is dominated by major or sudden events, rather than the normal everyday processes?

a) parliamentarian

b) uniformitarian

c) catastrophism

d) Antidisestablishmentarianism

18) If you see the sun rise everyday and thus infer that it will rise again tomorrow you are using

a) inductive reasoning

b) deductive reasoning

c) productive reasoning

d) reactive reasoning

19) A Theory is:

a) a testable explanation for observations

b) a proven set of hypotheses that has passed rigorous testing by observations, experiments and applications

c) very difficult to establish and arrogant to presume

d) a set of observations

20) Science is

a) agreeable

b) democratic

c) believable

d) testable

21) In the Daisyworld model:

a) black daisies thrive in cool temperatures

b) daisies are an invasive species and out-compete other species

c) black daisies tend to cool the planetary temperature

d) white daisies thrive in cool temperatures

22) The stability of the distribution of black and white daisies in daisyworld is due to

a) positive feedback

b) negative feedback

c) runaway greenhouse effect

d) energy flow between trophic levels

23) Which is NOT a scientific principle of the Gaia hypothesis?

a) life affects its physical environment

b) life has altered its planetary environment such that it continues to exist

c) the history of the Earth is dominated by sudden and sometimes devastating and catastrophic events

d) life controls the global environment on purpose

24) The Gaia Hypothesis states that the dominant force that has shaped the global environment through time is

a) The oceans

b) The atmosphere

c) Life

d) The Gaia species from Alpha Centauri

e) Humans

25) Considering inputs to a pool and outputs from it, the pool will be in steady state when:

a) inputs exceed outputs

b) outputs cease

c) inputs equal outputs

d) outputs exceed inputs

e) inputs cease

26) A nonlinear system is one in which

a) output is zero

b) output change is proportional to input change

c) output amplifies or buffers input

d) none of the above

27) The Gaia hypothesis supports the idea that:

a) the earth is not self-sufficient

b) the environment is deteriorating

c) the earth is a self regulating system (homeostasis)

d) the earth is not a self regulating system (no homeostasis)

28) When one person in a room yawns, many others are likely to yawn as well. This is an example of :

a) Positive feedback

b) Negative feedback

c) all of above

d) none of above

29) If the rate of increase is proportional to present stock, ____ can be observed:

a) Logistic growth

b) Exponential growth

c) Slow growth

d) Declining growth

30) The rate at which something enters or leaves a reservoir is a

a) Stock

b) Bond

c) Flood

d) flux

31) Parks are like islands in that species diversity is determined by:

a) distance to other parks or natural areas

b) amount of food on the island

c) size of park

d) longitude of park

e) a and c

32) If people are part of the global environment, then

a) whatever we do is natural

b) the resources provided by the environment that surrounds us are ours to use up

c) nature will adapt to our activities and continue to support the ecosystem

d) feedbacks exist between environmental perturbations and impacts on society and health

33) What is the carrying capacity of the Earth?

a) 1 billion people

b) 6 billion people

c) 40 billion people

d) depends on how people want to live

34) Ten percent of all the people who have ever lived are still alive because of

a) decreased birth rate

b) increased incidence of cancer

c) decrease in the number of people who eventually die

d) explosive recent population growth

35) If a population grows at 10% per year, what is the doubling time?

a) 1 year

b) 7 years

c) 10 years

d) 18 years

36) “Carrying capacity” refers to:

a) the maximum weight that can be put on a vehicle or machine

b) the nutrient value of a food source

c) the amount of a mineral resource that can be recovered economically from a mine

d) the average life-expectancy of an individual in a population

e) the maximum number of individuals that can be supported by an ecosystem

37) Which of the following does not contribute to a person’s ecological footprint?

a) the food and fiber consumed by that person over a specific time period

b) the waste produced from the person’s energy consumption

c) the person’s annual income

d) the space needed for infrastructure (living space etc)

38) The curve of the history of human population, atmospheric CO2 concentration, and other environmentally relevant parameters looks like a

a) ski pole

b) pool cue

c) badminton racquet

d) baseball bat

e) hockey stick

39) As the surface ocean warms, it releases carbon dioxide due to a decrease in solubility. This leads to

a) uniformitarianism

b) positive feedback

c) negative feedback

d) catastrophism

40) What is a biogeochemical cycle?

a) something that organic kids ride while wearing sustainable helmets

b) the path a chemical takes through the various reservoirs (stocks), including the biosphere

c) a series of college courses involving biology, geology, and chemistry

d) the way carbon interacts with nitrogen in the soil

41) What is the “missing sink”?

a) a failure to account for the different between precipitation and evaporation in the hydrologic cycle

b) the difference between global atmospheric carbon emissions and known uptake

c) the difference between anthropogenic and organic nitrogen fixation

d) the hole in the kitchen counter where mom used to wash the dishes.

42) In the process of denitrification

a) nitrate is converted to nitrite

b) nitrite is converted to ammonium

c) nitrogen is converted to carbon

d) nitrate is converted to gaseous nitrogen

43) Who is primarily responsible for denitrification?

a) primary producers

b) bacteria

c) top predators

d) the United States Denitrification Agency

44) In the global carbon cycle, the most carbon is stored in

a) the atmosphere

b) vegetation, soil, and detritus

c) marine biota

d) the ocean

45) The process of converting fixed nitrogen to molecular N2 is:

a) nitrogen fixation

b) nitrate fixation

c) denitrification

d) eutrophication

46) Who is responsible for nitrogen fixation?

a) Algae

b) bacteria

c) cryptosporidium

d) nitromechanical engineers

47) What drives the hydrologic cycle?

a) tidal power

b) wind

c) the sun

d) nuclear reactors

e) socioeconomic trends

48) Warm water can dissolve less CO2 than cold water. SO what is the relation between the marine solubility pump and climate change?

a) negative feedback

b) positive feedback

c) all of above

d) none of above; this is not a feedback mechanism

49) Which of the following organisms is at the lowest trophic level?

a) Snake

b) Oak tree

c) Eagle

d) Ephydrid flies

50) What are the components of an ecosystem?

a) abiotic

b) biotic

c) human

d) all of the above

51) What is a trophic level?

a) the altitude of a mountain on the equator

b) a tool for straightening a shelf on which trophies are displayed

c) where you are on the food chain

d) none of the above

52) Which has more trophic levels?

a) marine ecosystem

b) terrestrial ecosystem

c) high school trophy case

d) college trophy case

53) If all species in the world were placed everywhere at once, what is most likely to happen?

a) global diversity will increase

b) primary producers will convert to primary consumers

c) global diversity will decrease

d) marine trophic levels will decrease

54) If two species look alike, live in different places, but are not genetically related, it is probably a case of

a) convergent evolution

b) divergent evolution

c) evolutionary cyclicity

d) uniformitarianism

55) What does NOT control the species richness on an island?

a) island size

b) distance from the mainland

c) climate

d) longitude of the island

56) Species can be especially vulnerable to extinction when:

a) the population has high genetic variability

b) the population is small

c) the population lives far from human activity

d) the population is very widely distributed

e) the population’s ecosystem is productive and fertile

57) When two species are genetically related, but after some time, find different ecological niches and look and behave different, it is called

a) convergent evolution

b) divergent evolution

c) parallel evolution

d) unintelligent design

58) How many biomes are there on Earth?

a) 1

b) 12

c) 17

d) it depends on how they are defined

59) In general, where it is warmer, it is also

a) wetter

b) drier

c) cooler

d) host to less diverse ecosystem

60) If the climate is very rainy in one town, and very dry in another just 50 miles away what is most likely?

a) they are in different countries

b) there is a river between them

c) there is a mountain between them

d) the price of umbrellas will be higher in the drier town

61) Which biome is most likely to host a large bird population?

a) tropical rain forest

b) desert

c) hydrothermal vent

d) tundra

62) Why do you find large mammals in the Arctic tundra, but not in Alpine tundra?

a) there is not enough oxygen in the Alpine environment

b) there is too much precipitation in Alpine environments

c) Alpine environments are geographically restricted

d) Santa’s reindeer cannot climb mountains

63) If there were to be life on Mars, where it is dry with highly variable temperature, what biome would you expect?

a) tropical rain forest

b) tundra

c) desert

d) hydrothermal vent

64) Two components aid in the definition of the term “invasive species.” The first component is that the species is exotic. The second component is:

a) the species causes damage to economic, environmental, or human health

b) the species is unusually large

c) the species is predatory

65) Where would you expect to see the most productive forest?

a) polar regions

b) desert

c) high elevation (> 15,000′)

d) equator

e) deep sea vent

66) The tulips planted around campus are not from this area, but do not spread or cause damage. What would these tulips be considered?

a) an invasive species but not an exotic species

b) an exotic species but not an invasive species

c) an invasive species but not a pathogen

d) both an exotic and an invasive species

67) What is the main feature of a wetland?

a) it is wet all year round

b) it has little variation in water temperature over the course of the year

c) the water table is at or near the ground surface for much of the growing season

d) the duration of inundation depends on the precipitation

e) the wetland soil is characterized by sufficient oxygen

68) What is the “energy” in the following chemical equation when going right to left?

C6H12O6 + 6O2 = 6CO2 + 6H2O + energy

a) kinetic energy

b) nuclear energy

c) sunlight

d) battery power

69) Autotrophs get their energy from:

a) sulfur compounds

b) organic matter

c) photosynthesis

d) they don’t need energy

70) C6H12O6 + 6O2 = 6CO2 + 6H2O + _____

a) food

b) energy

c) production

d) photosynthesis

71) Humans are:

a) Heterotrophs

b) Autotrophs

c) Chemoautotrophs

d) Primary Producers

72) Gross Primary Productivity- respiration = ___?_____

a) energy

b) net primary productivity

c) carbon emissions

d) power

73) About what percentage of energy is lost between each trophic level?

a) 45%

b) 90%

c) 80%

d) 65%

74) What is autotrophy?

a) what you get for winning the Indy 500

b) processing of sugars into energy

c) burning hydrocarbons

d) using photosynthesis to produce organic molecules from inorganic

75) The first law of thermodynamics states that:

a) efficiency of energy conversion is always less than 100%

b) energy is never created, never destroyed, but always preserved

c) the present is the key to the past

d) energy is measured in joules, power in watts

e) energy can go from higher quality forms to lower, but not in the opposite direction

76) The second law of thermodynamics states that:

a) efficiency of energy conversion is always greater than 100%

b) energy is never created, never destroyed, but always preserved

c) the present is the key to the past

d) energy is measured in joules, power in watts

e) the net effect of energy use is to reduce the quality of total resulting energy

77) What are the products of photosynthesis?

a) oxygen and nitrogen

b) oxygen and water

c) carbon and water

d) sugar (glucose) and oxygen

78) _______ in animals stores the most energy:

a) Muscle

b) Organs

c) Fat

d) bones

79) Who eats autotrophs?

a) Super carnivores

b) Carnivores

c) Herbivores

d) Primary producers

80) _______ occurs when the pioneer species stabilize the environment for later, longer-lived species.

a) Facilitation

b) Interference

c) Succession

d) Precautionary Principle

81) What must one restore when restoring an ecosystem?

a) plants

b) animals

c) rivers

d) ecosystem functions

82) Which of these does NOT have a negative effect on succession within an ecosystem?

a) facilitation

b) interference

c) chronic patchiness

83) ________ successional species are quick to germinate and grow while ______ successional species are slow but live longer:

a) late, early

b) early, late

c) herbivore, autotrophic

d) pioneer, colonizer