Download possible FRQs

Possible Free Response Questions (FRQs) for Unit 3 Test (chapters 7, 11)
Directions: You will be asked to answer two of the five questions listed below (my choice), which are weighted equally;
the suggested time is about 22 minutes for answering each question. Write all your answers on the pages following the
questions in the pink booklet. Where calculations are required, clearly show how you arrived at your answer. Where
explanation or discussion is required, support your answers with relevant information and/or specific examples.
1. An APES student is trying to decide if they should become a vegetarian or not.
Use the data below to answer the questions that follow. For each calculation, show all work.
Each kilogram of beef requires 20.0 kg of feed input
100 g of beef contains 240 calories
100 g of corn contains 360 calories
Corn yield is 6.0 tons/ha
1 ton is equal to 1000 kg
The average American consumes 100 kg of meat per year
(a) Calculate the amount of feed corn (in kilograms) needed to feed an average American for one year.
Assume that the only meat they eat is beef that is entirely corn-fed.
(b) Calculate the number of hectares of corn needed to support the beef eaten by an average American in
one year using your answer from part a.
(c) Calculate the number of corn calories that are required to produce 4800 beef calories.
(d) The difference in part c does not violate the laws of thermodynamics.
(i) Explain the first law of thermodynamics.
(ii) Explain how the difference between the two caloric values does not violate the first law of
thermodynamics.
(e) Identify and describe TWO ways in which increased demand for corn negatively impacts the
environment.
2. An APES student named Wellington surveyed the nitrogen and algae content in local lakes near Fremont.
Nitrogen Concentration (ppm)
30
35
48
59
88
Algae biomass (g/L)
0.1
0.4
0.5
0.6
1.2
(a) On the graph below, plot the data from the table above and draw a smooth curve.
(b) Using the smooth curve that you created above, predict the algae biomass, in g/L, that would be found
in a lake containing 70 ppm nitrate.
(c) Identify one natural (non-human) source of nitrogen and one anthropogenic source of nitrogen that
could be contributing to the algae populations in the Fremont lakes.
(d) Describe the process of eutrophication and explain how it can create hypoxic zones such as the “dead
zone” in the Gulf of Mexico.
(e) Identify and describe TWO human activities that have disrupted the CARBON CYCLE. For each activity
identified, explain how it affects the movement of carbon through the environment.
3. Read the following article from 2008.
Eleven fishers were released this morning at remote sites within the Elwha Valley of Olympic National Park,
marking the first step toward restoring these small, reclusive mammals to the state of Washington.
About the size of a house cat, fishers are members of the weasel family and are related to mink, otter and
marten. They are native to the forests of Washington, including the Olympic Peninsula, but vanished from
the state decades ago because of over-trapping in the late 1800s and early 1900s and habitat loss and
fragmentation. Fishers were listed as a state endangered species in 1998 by the Washington Fish and
Wildlife Commission and were designated as a candidate for federal listing in 2004 by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service.
“This is an exciting day, not only because we’ve returned fishers to Olympic National Park, but also because
their return is the result of a long and productive partnership,” said Olympic National Park Acting
Superintendent Sue McGill. “By working together, we’ve restored a species and created a brighter future for
the park and generations yet to come.”
Restoration of fishers to Washington and Olympic National Park is the result of a strong and diverse alliance
including federal and state agencies along with nonprofit partners.
(a) Explain the term “fragmentation” as it is used in the article and explain how fragmentation would
contribute to the fisher population decline.
(b) Identify one other threatened or endangered species and explain why its population has declined.
(c) Identify and describe TWO benefits of high biodiversity.
(d) Biodiversity can be measured on a species level as well as on a level of genetic diversity.
(i) Explain the difference between species diversity and genetic diversity.
(ii) The reintroduction of Olympic fishers results in relatively low genetic diversity. Explain TWO
negative consequence of low genetic diversity.
(e) Name and describe one United States federal law or one international treaty that is intended to prevent
the extinction of species.
4. Biodiversity varies significantly from one ecosystem to the next.
(a) Identify and describe TWO major threats to biodiversity.
(b) Identify and describe TWO ecosystem services that biodiversity provides.
(c) Choose one specific region of the world to protect biodiversity and justify focusing conservation efforts
there.
(d) Two islands are surveyed and found to vary significantly with respect the number of species residing on
them. Assuming all other variables are the same, discuss one possible difference between the islands
and how it could explain the substantial discrepancy between the islands’ biodiversity.
(e) Describe one approach that zoos could partake in to help save a single endangered species from
extirpation.
5. The zebra mussel, a mollusk native to Eurasia, was first discovered in the Great Lakes of North America in
1988. Zebra mussels attach to solid substrates and are filter feeders. Adult zebra mussels can survive for several
days or even weeks out of water if the temperature and humidity are favorable. An adult female zebra mussel
can produce as many as one million eggs per year. The recent range of occurrence of zebra mussels in the
United States is indicated by shading in the map above.
(a) Why are zebra mussels located primarily in areas in the eastern United States rather than in the western
United States?
(b) How are zebra mussels introduced into isolated lakes? Describe one viable method for preventing the
spread of zebra mussels into isolated lakes.
(c) Identify and explain one impacts that zebra mussels can have on aquatic environments.
(d) Identify another invasive species, either terrestrial or aquatic, and describe one negative impact it has
had.
(e) Discuss TWO specific characteristics of invasive species that enable them to thrive in new environments.