ENVS 250 - Exam 1
Lab Time (Circle One): Tuesday AM Tuesday PM
Regis I.D. Number (NO NAMES): ______________________
Part One. Short answer (3 points each). Circle the BEST answer. There is only one correct answer.
1.
Which of the following is placed on the y-axis?
a. Independent variable
b. Dependent variable
c. Treatment
d. Control
e. Time
2. Using normally renewable resources faster than nature can renew them is called
a. nutrient cycling
b. nutrient deficit
c. sustainability
d. trade-offs
e. degrading natural capital
3. The annual market value of all goods and services produced within a country is called ______, which
measures a country’s economic growth.
a. net per capita GNP
b. GNP
c. per capita GDP
d. PPP
e. GDP
4. Nonpoint sources of pollution include all of the following except
a. wind carrying dirt and pesticides from croplands
b. runoff from a stockyard
c. a smokestack from a power plant
d. fertilizer runoff from lawns
e. runoff from cropland
5. The real prices of goods and services do not include
a. the cost of raw materials
b. the cost of manufacturing
c. the environmental costs of resource use
d. the cost of distribution
e. the cost of advertising
6. Which of the following is not a renewable resource?
a. groundwater
b. trees in a forest
c. fertile soil
d. oil
e. crops
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7. Which of the following is NOT a primary contributor to environmental problems?
a. Consumption
b. Poverty
c. Knowledge of ecological systems
d. Not paying the environmental costs of products and services
e. Population
8. What did Aldo Leopold do?
a. Wrote Silent Spring
b. Created the U.S National Parks
c. Determined via anthropology that a small group of people could effect great change
d. Questioned U.S. Environmental Polices regarding BPA
e. Developed a Land Ethic
9. What percentage of the world’s pollution is the
responsibility of developed countries?
a. 18%
b. 82%
c. 75%
d. 25%
e. 12%
10. How much of the world’s population is in the
developed world?
a. 18%
b. 82%
c. 75%
d. 25%
e. 12%
11. Which of the following is the usual order of applying the scientific process to a problem?
a. hypothesis-question-observation-experimentation-conclusion-analysis
b. hypothesis-conclusion-question-observation-experimentation-analysis
c. observation-hypothesis-conclusion-experimentation-analysis-question
d. observation-question-hypothesis-experimentation-analysis-conclusion
e. hypothesis-experimentation-observation-analysis-question-conclusion
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12. If you were testing two levels of fertilizer on the growth of peanut plants, which of the following would
be the best graph?
a. A line graph with peanuts on the x and growth on the y
b. A line graph with fertilizer on the x and peanuts on the y
c. A bar graph with fertilizer on the x and growth on the y
d. A bar graph with peanuts on the x and fertilizer on the y
e. A straight line showing positive correlation
13. In class we discussed the difference between correlation and causation. In the wintertime, people usally
wear coats. Additionally, in the Northern Hemisphere winter, people tend to gain weight. Which of the
following is NOT true from the information given?
a. Temperature and coat wearing are negatively correlated
b. Temperature and coat wearing are positively correlated
c. Temperature and weight gain are positively correlated
d. Coat wearing and weight gain are positively correlated
e. Weight gain is correlated with temperature and coat wearing
14. Protons, neutrons, and electrons are all
a. forms of energy
b. equal in mass
c. subatomic particles
d. negative ions
e. charged particles
15. The atomic number is the number of
a. atoms in a molecule
b. protons in an atom
c. neutrons in a molecule
d. electrons in an atom
e. protons, electrons, and neutrons
16. The measurement of the concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution is called
a. ionization
b. pH
c. alkalinity
d. covalent bonding
e. synergism
17. An example of an organic compound would be
a. H2O
b. NaCl
c. H2SO4
d. N2O
e. CH4
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18. The first law of thermodynamics tells us that
a. Doing work always creates heat.
b. Altering matter is the best source of energy.
c. Energy cannot be recycled.
d. Energy is neither created nor destroyed.
e. Energy cannot be converted.
19. A positive feedback loop is illustrated by all of the following except
a. compound interest in a savings account
b. exponential population growth
c. a thermostat maintaining a certain temperature in your house
d. the greenhouse effect
e. none of these
20. The community knew the effects of chemical X when it was used alone. They knew the same for
chemical Z, so they set safe limits for use for both chemicals. When the chemicals were released at safe
levels on the same day there was a massive fish kill. The most likely explanation is
a. homeostasis
b. a synergistic interaction
c. negative feedback
d. positive feedback
e. entropy
21. Ecology is the study of
a. human impact on the environment
b. the abiotic elements of the environment
c. the biotic elements of the environment
d. how organisms interact with each other and their abiotic environment
e. how evolution formed populations
22. These are the smallest and most fundamental structural and functional units of life.
a. atoms
b. molecules
c. compounds
d. cells
e. mitochondrion
23. The number of species already identified by biologists is approximately
a. 45,000
b. 165,000
c. 1.75 million
d. 4 million
e. 100 million
24. The most important factor in determining which biome is found in a particular area is
a. soil type
b. topography
c. biogeography
d. climate
e. longitude
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25. Organisms that feed only on plants are called
a. detritivores
b. omnivores
c. carnivores
d. herbivores
e. decomposers
26. Aerobic respiration requires
a. glucose and carbon dioxide
b. glucose and oxygen
c. oxygen and water
d. carbon dioxide and water
e. carbon dioxide and oxygen
27. If grass stores 1,000 energy units received from the sun, the ecological efficiency of the ecosystem is
10%, and the trophic levels are grass → cow → human, how many units of energy does the human
receive of the original 1,000 units?
a. 900
b. 200
c. 100
d. 10
e. 1
28. Which of the following is a primary link between photosynthesis and aerobic respiration?
a. phosphorus
b. sulfur
c. hydrogen
d. carbon
e. nitrogen
29. Which of the following statements is false?
a. Water exists as a liquid over a wide temperature range.
b. Water contracts when it freezes.
c. Water filters out wavelengths of UV radiation.
d. It takes a large amount of energy to evaporate water.
e. Liquid water is a good solvent.
30. Humans intervene in the nitrogen cycle in several ways. Which of the following is not one of those
ways?
a. Burning fossil fuels adds nitric oxide.
b. Agriculture releases nitrous oxides.
c. Destruction of forests releases nitrogen.
d. We store nitrogen in the topsoil when we harvest nitrogen rich crops.
e. Agriculture using fertilizers adds nitrogen to aquatic systems.
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Part Two. Short-answer section. Please write clearly and use only the space provided. Each question is worth
five points.
31. Describe the greenhouse effect; you may use a diagram if you wish (3 points). Is the greenhouse effect
natural or not? Explain your answer. (2 points)
Sunlight coming towards earth enters as high energy light, but then this energy slows down to heat as it
passes through the atmosphere and hits the earth. Some of this heat is absorbed by the earth, but the rest
of it is reflected to the atmosphere. The greenhouse effect is the name given to the phenomemon that the
atmospheric gasses of the earth trap this heat like a greenhouse. The effect is natural due to high
amounts of water vapor in the earth’s atmosphere, but it is also antrhopogenic because humans are
increasingly releasing more greenhouse gasses: CO2, N2O, CH4 and O3, amongh others.
See Slide 21, Chapter 3 Lecture Notes Introduction to Environmental Science 250 on the website for a
diagram.
32. Define nuclear fission and nuclear fusion (2 points). Which do we use for power? (1 point). Carbon-14
has a half-life of 5,700 years. If a sample of dead wood was found to have 1/8 of its original Carbon-14,
how old is it? Please show your work. Is Carbon-14 reliable for this sample, why or why not?
Nuclear fission is the splitting of a nucleus by coliding a neutron with it. This is the type of reaction
used in nuclear power. Nuclear fusion is the collision of two nuclei (usually hydrogen) under immense
heat to produce more energy. This is the type of reaction in the hydrogen bomb. The wood would be
17,100 years old. Yes, Carbon-14 would be reliable because the wood was carbon based and because
this time frame is within the appropriate range of Carbon-14 dating. If the wood had 1/16th of its
original carbon, the Carbon-14 dating could not be used since there wouldn’t be enough carbon left to
measure; thus, items over about 50,000 years old are too old for Carbon-14 dating, and a different
radioisotope is used.
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