Download Midterm Exam Study Guide

Name: ________________________________________________ Block: _____ Date: _____/_____/_____
Environmental Science
Midterm Exam Study Guide
(Chapters 1, 2, & 4 – 9)
Multiple Choice
Identify the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
____
1. Which of the following situations best describes the use of a renewable resource?
a. filling a car with gasoline
c. mining copper
b. building wooden furniture
d. burning coal in a power plant
____
2. Using scientific information from chemistry and biology to devise a plan to clean up a lake and make it
healthy again describes
a. ecology.
c. earth science.
b. environmental science.
d. social science.
____
3. Why is the world’s loss of biodiversity a source of concern?
a. Humans depend upon other organisms for food and oxygen.
b. Species extinctions have been rare throughout history.
c. Loss of biodiversity is not a concern because extinctions are common.
d. Both (a) and (b)
____
4. _____ is a biodegradable material that becomes a pollutant if allowed to accumulate more rapidly than it can
decompose.
a. Plastic
c. Newspaper
b. Mercury
d. Metal from junk cars
____
5. The fact that useful man-made substances can cause unforeseen damage is illustrated by
a. the detection of Oscillatoria rubescens in Lake Washington.
b. the condition of the atmosphere’s protective ozone layer.
c. the pollution of the Gulf of Mexico from farm chemicals.
d. All of the above
____
6. Which country is most likely to have either a stabilized or a slowly growing population?
a. India
c. Mexico
b. Canada
d. Pakistan
____
7. A sustainable world would be characterized by the
a. preservation of rare animals by relocation from natural habitats to laboratories.
b. invention of safer storage facilities for increased amounts of toxic wastes.
c. maximum exploitation of natural resources using more advanced technologies.
d. indefinite existence of human populations in a healthy and prosperous condition.
____
8. According to the law of supply and demand, what would occur if the supply of oil declined and the demand
remained the same?
a. oil prices would drop
c. oil usage would drop
b. oil prices would increase
d. oil usage would increase
1
Name: ________________________________________________ Block: _____ Date: _____/_____/_____
Environmental Science
____
9. Which of the following is a developing nation?
a. the United States
c. Canada
b. France
d. Ethiopia
____ 10. Using economic considerations of resource use, the law of supply and demand describes
a. the availability of abundant resources.
b. the relationship between the availability and the worth of resources.
c. the worth of nonrenewable resources.
d. reduced demand resulting from a lack of available resources.
____ 11. By examining _____, scientists can test predictions for situations in which it is impossible or unethical to use
experiments.
a. correlations
c. control groups
b. observations
d. variables
____ 12. In an experiment, the factor of interest is called the
a. control group.
c. hypothesis.
b. experimental group.
d. variable.
____ 13. The experimental method includes which of the following steps?
a. remaining skeptical, organizing data, and analyzing data
b. drawing conclusions, being open to new ideas, and communicating results
c. observing, hypothesizing, predicting, experimenting, and communicating results
d. being curious, imagining, being able to see patterns, observing, and predicting
____ 14. What essential characteristic does a good experiment have?
a. A control group is given the experimental treatment.
b. A single variable is tested.
c. A control is used.
d. Both (b) and (c)
____ 15. Your county is considering buying land to form a nature preserve. On this land, an endangered species of bird
is known to breed. Which of the following is a possible negative short-term consequence to the county
making this decision?
a. The population of the endangered species increases.
b. Habitat destruction is immediately decreased.
c. Environmental controls are made less strict outside the preserve area.
d. Habitats outside the preserve area become damaged by overdevelopment.
____ 16. When making a decision about whether or not to build a dam, you are considering an economic value when
you ask which of the following questions?
a. Will the dam provide new leisure activities?
b. How many jobs will building the dam generate?
c. Will building the dam destroy natural resources?
d. Is it right to build a dam here?
____ 17. Which of the following is not an ecosystem?
a. vacant lot
b. oak forest
c. coral reef
d. utility pole
2
Name: ________________________________________________ Block: _____ Date: _____/_____/_____
Environmental Science
____ 18. The organisms most likely to belong to the same species are
a. people at a football game.
c. birds in a forest.
b. bacteria inside a person’s body.
d. organisms in a pond.
____ 19. The process of two species changing genetically in response to long-term interactions with each other is
a. artificial selection.
c. selective breeding.
b. coevolution.
d. resistance.
____ 20. In order for evolution to occur in a population, individuals with a trait that is “naturally selected for” must
a. live a long time.
c. reproduce.
b. leave the area.
d. coevolve.
____ 21. Which of the following animals is successful because it moves quickly, reproduces rapidly, and has a
waterproof external skeleton?
a. ant
c. bird
b. mouse
d. squirrel
____ 22. Which of the following describes soil and temperature in an ecosystem?
a. abiotic factors
c. unnecessary factors
b. biotic factors
d. selection factors
____ 23. Which of the following characteristics is usually shared by bacteria, fungi, and plants?
a. They usually have cell walls.
b. They have cell nuclei.
c. They are single-celled.
d. They have the ability to make their own food.
____ 24. Which kind of organism obtains energy only from producers?
a. decomposers
c. omnivores
b. herbivores
d. All of the above
____ 25. If an insect eats a plant and a bird eats the insect, about how much energy from the plant is stored in the insect
for the bird to use?
a. 90 percent
c. 10 percent
b. 50 percent
d. 1 percent
____ 26. Which of the following plants is likely to be a pioneer species?
a. lichen
c. shrub
b. grass
d. oak tree
____ 27. Which of the following is responsible for making nitrogen in the atmosphere usable by living organisms?
a. absorption of nitrogen into water systems
b. conversion of nitrogen into carbohydrates by photosynthesis
c. nitrogen-fixing bacteria
d. decomposing bacteria
3
Name: ________________________________________________ Block: _____ Date: _____/_____/_____
Environmental Science
____ 28. What type of vegetation would you expect to find on an abandoned farm that has remained undisturbed for
150 years?
a. short grasses
c. young pine trees
b. shrubs
d. tall, mature oak trees
____ 29. Which of the following is one of the largest carbon reservoirs on Earth?
a. limestone
c. Amazon rain forest
b. fossil fuels
d. Atlantic Ocean
____ 30. If you visited a savanna, you would likely see
a. large herds of grazing animals, such as rhinos, gazelles, and giraffes.
b. a dense forest.
c. snow and ice.
d. a coastal ecosystem.
____ 31. The tundra
a. has a layer of soil that is permanently frozen beneath the top soil.
b. is too cold to support insect life.
c. is resistant to environmental damage because it is usually frozen.
d. All of the above
____ 32. Biomes
a. contain two ecosystems, hence the name “biome.”
b. are usually described by their vegetation.
c. exist in limited regions of the world.
d. All of the above
____ 33. Adaptations demonstrated by plants in tropical rain forests include
a. trees with aboveground roots called buttresses, which increase stability.
b. orchids and vines that use tall tree trunks for support.
c. herbs with large flat leaves located in the understory.
d. All of the above
____ 34. Which of the following would you expect to see in the emergent layer of a tropical rain forest?
a. grasses, insects, and small succulents
b. eagles, bats, and snakes
c. lichens, mosses, and dwarf woody plants
d. epiphytes, small burrowing mammals, and burrowing toads
____ 35. The distance north or south of the equator, as measured in degrees, is called
a. altitude.
c. longitude.
b. latitude.
d. magnitude.
____ 36. The main factor that determines what type of plants grow in a biome is
a. temperature.
c. altitude.
b. precipitation.
d. Both (a) and (b)
4
Name: ________________________________________________ Block: _____ Date: _____/_____/_____
Environmental Science
____ 37. Which of the following is not an environmental function of wetlands?
a. increasing runoff
b. absorbing and removing pollutants from water
c. trapping carbon that would otherwise be released into the air
d. controlling floods
____ 38. Estuaries are very productive ecosystems because they receive fresh nutrients from
a. lakes and ponds.
c. marshes and swamps.
b. rivers and oceans.
d. streams and springs.
____ 39. Which of the following statements is not correct?
a. Lakes may contain a region that receives little sunlight.
b. Wetlands help remove pollutants from water.
c. Swamps are dominated by woody shrubs and water-loving trees.
d. Rivers generally move faster, and their oxygen levels decrease, as they near the ocean.
____ 40. An estuary functions as a mineral trap due to
a. its great depth and particularly sticky sediment.
b. the mixing action of river water and ocean water.
c. its storing of pesticides from agricultural runoff.
d. the filtering action of bottom-feeding fish species.
____ 41. What are the two main types of freshwater wetlands?
a. lakes and ponds
c. littoral zones and benthic zones
b. rivers and streams
d. marshes and swamps
____ 42. In which of the following relationships is neither species harmed?
a. predation
c. parasitism
b. competition
d. commensalism
____ 43. Which of the following has the greatest effect on reproductive potential?
a. producing more offspring at a time
c. having a longer life span
b. reproducing more often
d. reproducing earlier in life
____ 44. A true statement about parasitism is that parasites
a. may cause their hosts to become more vulnerable to predators.
b. do not live on or in their hosts’ bodies.
c. are always animals and never plants.
d. immediately kill their hosts.
____ 45. Competition for food cannot occur
a. between two populations.
b. among members of the same population.
c. among populations whose niches overlap.
d. between animals from two different ecosystems.
____ 46. The difference between a predator and a parasite is that a predator
a. usually kills and eats its prey.
c. lives in or on a host.
b. benefits from another organism.
d. harms another organism.
5
Name: ________________________________________________ Block: _____ Date: _____/_____/_____
Environmental Science
____ 47. Because birth rates have begun to fall, Earth’s population will
a. soon stabilize at the level it is today—about 6 billion.
b. begin to decrease until it reaches 5 billion.
c. increase for a short time and then decrease to current levels.
d. stabilize somewhere around 9 billion by 2050.
____ 48. Which of the following is not a strategy that could slow population growth?
a. public advertising
c. legal punishments
b. economic incentives
d. limiting education for women
____ 49. Countries with high growth rates usually have an age structure that has
a. an even distribution over all ages.
b. more older people than young people.
c. more younger people than older people.
d. more middle-aged people than younger people.
____ 50. Less-developed countries suffer more from rapid population growth because they are less likely to have the
_____ to support the population.
a. fertility rates
c. infrastructure
b. cultural values
d. family-planning methods
Completion
Complete each statement.
51. In statistics, the group of individuals used to represent the population is called the ____________________.
52. A(n) ____________________ is one type of graph that is particularly useful for organizing and comparing
experimental data for several things in one graph.
53. A(n) ____________________ can explain an observation and predict what might happen in the future.
54. Pine trees and other conifers are classified as _________________________ because they are woody plants,
the seeds of which are not enclosed in fruits.
55. Biomes found up to 30 degrees north or south of the equator are often ______________________________.
56. A forest that receives relatively little rainfall and has acidic soil would be located near the
____________________.
57. In the tundra, the frozen layer of soil just beneath the surface is called the ____________________.
58. The water in salt marshes is saltier than the water in ____________________ marshes.
59. Type I and Type III survivorship curves indicate populations that are growing ____________________.
6
Name: ________________________________________________ Block: _____ Date: _____/_____/_____
Environmental Science
60. Some less-developed countries have tried to move forward in demographic transition by directly reducing
____________________ with advertising and economic incentives.
Short Answer
61. Why are former grasslands among the most productive farming regions? Explain your answer. ___________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Problem
fig. (a)
62. Compare the energy losses due to respiration for the three organisms in the pie graphs in fig. (a). __________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
7