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CHAPTER 1: A fictional vision of a more environmentally healthy planet in the future uses underground heat, algae, sun and wind and flowing water Biology, chemistry, geology and economics best describes the areas of study that are important in the discipline of environmental science Goal of environmental science: Learn how life on earth has thrived and survived, understand how we interact with the environment, and live more sustainably and find ways to deal with environmental problems. Environmentalism is a social movement dedicated to the protection of the Earth's natural capital Which of the following terms encompasses all of the others? natural capital Forests, flowing water, wind energy, coal and oil gained directly or indirectly as a result of solar energy You have decided to install solar collectors on the roof of your home that will cut your use of propane gas to heat both your hot water tank and the living spaces in your home. In doing so, you are using a perpetual resource rather than a nonrenewable resource. One of the reasons biodiversity is such an important aspect of sustainability is the fact that two of these answers are correct Water purification is best categorized as an example of a natural service When we speak of protecting the environment, we are referring to all living and non-living things A group of organisms with a unique set of characteristics that distinguishes them from other organisms, is called a Species Nutrient recycling is a vital natural service carried out by Topsoil The three principles of sustainability are: solar energy, biodiversity and chemical cycling Solar energy would best be categorized as a perpetual resource An essential characteristic that indicates whether a resource should be categorized as a renewable resource: It must have the capacity to be replenished within days to several hundred years. Select the choice that correctly states the best priority for use of non-renewable resources, such as metals and plastics, from the environmentally sustainable perspective. reduce, reuse, recycle Collecting and re-melting aluminum beer cans and making them into new cans is an example of recycling Developed countries are high-income and use about 88% of the world’s resources Developing countries: They are classified as middle-income or low-income. About 80% of the world's human population lives in the developing countries. All of the following are potentially renewable resources except Oil You generally buy and eat microwave dinners. After dinner, cardboard tops and plastic trays remain. The least effective way to deal with this type of solid waste problem is to Put all of the solid waste in the household trash to be taken to the landfill. Nonrenewable resources include oil, minerals, salt, sand and coal Sustainable yield is the highest rate at which we can use a(n) renewable resource without reducing its available supply. The tragedy of the commons refers to overuse of shared common resources Evidence that we are living unsustainably includes Deserts are expanding, renewable forests are shrinking, topsoil is eroding and the lower atmosphere is warming.

What is meant by an ecological footprint: It is the amount of biologically-productive land and water needed to supply the people in a particular country or area with the resources they need. If a country’s ecological footprint is larger than its biological capacity to replenish its renewable resources and absorb the resulting waste and pollution: It is said to have an ecological deficit. Which of the following best describes the concept of environmental degradation? two of these answers The IPAT model states that the key factor in environmental impact in more than one of these answers Point sources of pollution are cheaper and easier to identify than nonpoint sources Nonpoint sources of pollution are more difficult to control than point sources The total ecological footprint for humanity is expected to be twice the planet’s ecological capacity by the year 2035 Pollution cleanup efforts can be ineffective because They often transfer pollutants from part of the environment to another, once they are dispersed it costs too much to reduce them to acceptable levels, and they can be overwhelmed by growth in population and consumption. China currently is the second largest economy on the planet, is the world’s largest producer of wind turbines and cars and is projected to soon be the world’s largest producer of solar cells. Root causes of unsustainability include all of the following except inclusion of environmental and social costs in market prices Environmental benefit of affluence and wealth: Increased wealth provides resources to apply toward the creation of environmentally beneficial technologies. Major factor contributing to the degradation of natural capital associated with the pricing of consumable goods: They are priced in such a way that they do not reflect the environmental damage caused by their production. The resource consumption of the average person in the United States is about 30 times that of the average citizen of India, and about 100 times that of the average person in the world’s poorest countries. A worldview that holds that we can and should manage the Earth for our own benefit but that we also have an ethical responsibility to be caring stewards is called the stewardship worldview In 2009, the world population is about 7.0 billion people Every day, approximately 83 million new people are added to the global population. The actual cost of gasoline that U.S. consumers purchase for their cars is about $14 per gallon when one considers estimated harmful environmental and health costs. Billions of poverty-stricken people do not have access to basic necessities of life. The lack of adequate sanitation facilities basic necessities affects the largest number of people? With respect to making a shift from unsustainable lifestyles to sustainable lifestyles, it is estimated that we have about 50 to 100 years to accomplish this, but that it takes about 5 to 10 percent of the population to bring about such major social changes.

CHAPTER 3: Tropical rain forests cover about 2% of the Earth’s land surface, and contain up to one-half of the Earth’s total biodiversity The tropical rain forests are damaged by humans cutting down trees, growing crops and grazing cattle, by building settlements, and degradation is increasing and they may be severely damaged or disappear within your lifetime Which of the following choices best describes how an ecologist would typically study an ecosystem? The ecologist would study an animal or plant, plus all the biotic and abiotic aspects of the ecosystem in which it lives The innermost layer of the atmosphere is the Troposphere Nitrogen (N2) is not a greenhouse gas? All physical forms of water (solid, liquid, and gas) make up the Hydrosphere Fossil fuels and minerals are found in the Geosphere Submarines explore the Hydrosphere Geologists find rock and soil samples in the Geosphere Ozone, a gaseous O3 molecule that filters out harmful UV radiation, is found in the Stratosphere The crust, core, and mantle are all areas located within the Geosphere Which of the following statements is most accurate? Nutrients cycle, energy flows. As energy flows in ecosystems, it can be said to flow from highquality to low-quality energy in a one-way fashion You have decided on a career as an ecologist. Your work could possibly be studying interactions of wolves and their prey species in Yellowstone National Park Ecologists study interactions within and among organism, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere Which one of the following contains all of the others? Community Ecology is the study of how: Organisms interact with each other and their nonliving environment. A group of individuals of the same species living in a particular place is a(n) Population A community of different species interacting with one another and the physical and chemical factors of their nonliving environment is called a(n) Ecosystem Pronghorn antelope is the only North American antelope. It lives in the high desert of the Great Basin in the western U.S. Antelope has to content with lack of available water and extreme maximum and minimum temperatures in the desert Bacteria and fungi are typically categorized as Decomposers Of the total energy that falls on their leaves, producers on average convert to chemical energy through the process of photosynthesis at 1% The best represents the process of photosynthesis Carbon dioxide + Water + Solar energy => Glucose + Oxygen A grizzly bear eating blueberries is best categorized as primary consumer Decomposers plays a key role in the recycling of nutrients in the biosphere Phytoplankton in the ocean provide much of the planet’s oxygen and remove much of the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere Giraffes and caterpillars have in common: They are both herbivores

An entomologist is a biologist that has special training in the study of insects. Entomologist possibly study carpenter ants Photosynthesis yields glucose and oxygen gas as products The conversion of solar energy into chemical energy occurs in Photosynthesis Organisms that feed on both plants and animals are called Omnivores Groups can be called autotrophs: daisies, roses and grass The organisms that are classified as primary consumers are the Herbivores Organisms that break down bodies of dead plants and animals into nutrients that are released into the soil or water are called Decomposers Earthworms, some insects, and vultures are all examples of detritus feeders Aerobic respiration requires glucose and oxygen The coyotes would be classified as secondary consumers The coyotes typically forage on mice and squirrels. However, as members of the canine family, Canidae, they are known to be able to eat berries and parts of plants as well as small animals. Thus, they would be classified as Omnivores If the biomass of flowers that support the butterflies was known to contain 100,000 units of energy, and certain bird species were eating the butterflies that foraged on the flowers, what amount of energy, on average, could be expected to be transferred to the birds? 1,000 A sequence of organisms, each of which serves as a source of nutrients or energy for the next, is called a(n) food chain Hawk would be considered a tertiary consumer Complex arrangements of feeding patterns in ecosystems are best described as food webs If the producers in an ecosystem capture 40,000 units of energy, assuming average efficiency of energy transfer, how many units of this energy can likely be successfully converted into secondary consumer biomass? 400 With regards to productivity of an ecosystem, GPP is greater than NPP because of the metabolic process of respiration. The aquatic ecosystems with the highest average net primary productivity are Estuaries Net primary productivity is the rate at which producers use photosynthesis to produce and store chemical energy minus the rate at which they use this energy through aerobic respiration Swamps and marshes has the highest net primary productivity The portion of the planet that is responsible for the vast majority of the Earth's annual biomass production is/are open oceans Over land, about 90% of the water vapor in the atmosphere comes from water that has transpired from the surface of plants Nitrogen makes up approximately 78% of the volume of the atmosphere. Phosphorus (biogeochemical cycles) does not include the atmosphere as a temporary reservoir Mammal would have the highest concentrations of phosphorous at bones and teeth The hydrologic cycle refers to the movement of Water Of the following water-cycle processes, the one working against gravity is Transpiration The hydrologic cycle is driven primarily by solar energy and gravity All of the following increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere except Photosynthesis

Transfer of carbon among organisms depends primarily on photosynthesis and cellular respiration The most common gas in the atmosphere is Nitrogen Nitrogen is a major component of all of the following except Groundwater Nitrogen fixation is accomplished by Bacteria The form of nitrogen most usable to plants is Nitrates Ammonium ions are converted to nitrite ions and nitrate ions through the process of Nitrification When organisms die, their nitrogenous organic compounds are converted to simpler inorganic compounds such as ammonia through the process of Ammonification Electrical storms and lightning fix Nitrogen into a form that plants and animals can use. Water, organisms, rocks and marine sediment best describes the common phosphorus reservoirs in the ecosystem. All of the following are sources of phosphorus except acid rain The major plant nutrient most likely to be a limiting factor is Phosphorous You have decided to change your diet to a more sustainable way of eating. One of your choices is to eat only grass-fed beef. In addition to having healthier meals that benefit you directly, this choice also benefits the planet because it will help to decrease addition of animal wastes from livestock feedlots that interferes with the phosphate cycle in aquatic ecosystems Which of the following is NOT a property of water It contracts when it freezes Ocean sediments and volcanoes are sources of both sulfur and nitrogen Sulfuric acid and sulfates in the atmosphere are a problem when they are deposited as acid rain All of the following statements describe field research except It has provided very little in the way of knowledge about ecosystems. Which statement least characterizes laboratory research It has been used to develop most of our knowledge about ecosystems. Which statement least describes ecosystem modeling: It is typically applied only to very small natural systems, such as a single pond or stream. GIS (geographic information systems) software is a new, powerful tool for research on ecosystems. Sulfur content of deep ocean sediments is NOT something that we can rely on GIS data to reveal. Which phase of the above-described situation could be called computer simulation? when the scientists learned from the computer that woodrat nest numbers would impact cactus populations The study described above is best categorized as a combination of all three types of research Cactus plants and woodrat nests were mutually exclusive best describes the scientists’ initial observations

CHAPTER 4: For every shark that injures or kills a person every year people kill at least 1 million sharks Reasons why sharks should be considered important to humans: They never get cancer and are a keystone species Biomes are large terrestrial regions of the earth with distinct climate and certain species adapted to them The variety of genes within a species or population is called the genetic diversity Statements best describes insect species as a group: They have skin or integument similar to mammals. Deserts, tropical forests, prairie grasslands, and coniferous forests are all examples of Biomes Chaparral, coniferous forest, desert, prairie grassland and deciduous forest are found along the 39th parallel in the United States? Evidence for the history of life comes from fossils and analysis of glacial ice core and rock samples The fossil record is incomplete because Not all fossils have been found, some have decomposted and some life forms have left no fossils. Natural selection determines the types of mutations that survive in a population is true with regard to mutations. A change in the genetic composition of a population is called Evolution An adaptive trait is any heritable trait that improves organisms’ chances for survival and reproduction at higher rates than other individuals in a population Since the mutation produced a specific wing trait that was passed on, the mutation must have occurred in reproductive cells The larger wingspan could be called a heritable trait, an adaptive trait and a genetic variability It could be said that natural selection favored the bee with the larger wingspan, and so the population evolved. The trait must be genetically based must be true in order for a trait to be impacted by the forces of natural selection and then play a role in the process of biological evolution. Which of the following is true of a trait that creates a specific advantage for some organisms in the struggle to survive: It enables individuals with the trait to leave more offspring than other members of the population leave. Humans walk upright, have opposable thumbs, complex brains and can use tools is/are thought to be in part responsible for the evolutionary success of humans Genetic resistance to antibiotic drugs is an important example of natural selection How has the geological process of plate tectonics influenced the process of evolution over geologic time? The changing location of the plates across the Earth's surface results in changing climatic environmental conditions for various communities and populations of organisms. This has driven evolutionary change. A major factor that allowed species to adapt to new environments and form new species through natural selection happened because Pangaea began splitting apart about 135 million years ago The advance and retreat of ice sheets happened most recently about

18,000 years ago over much of the northern hemispheres and caused alternating periods of heating and cooling Approximately 3.5 billion years has there been life on planet Earth We can say that on a long-term basis, that the Biodiversity principle of sustainability has especially helped life on earth to adapt to drastic environmental conditions. Which of the following statements is false? By definition, the fittest animals are the largest and strongest animals. The process by which members of isolated populations become so different in genetic makeup that they cannot produce live, fertile offspring if they are rejoined is best described as reproductive isolation Which of the following is not true of the process of biological extinction? The extinction of an organism can be reversed if enough government funding is provided. Geographic isolation may result from a volcanic eruption; an earthquake; a mountain range Not true with regards to the concept of niches: A niche is the place where an organism lives. Panda bears would best be described as a specialist species An organism's niche is analogous to its way of life Best describes an organism's habitat: the location where a species lives The bird species known to forage in shrublands after they have experienced a wildfire are very different from the bird species that forage in shrublands that have not burned. In fact, the bird species foraging in burned shrublands are closely correlated with the age of the burn, or the number of years that have passed since the fire. Certain birds forage at one-year post fire, different birds forage at three-years post fire, and so on. These birds could be called indicator species An intertidal species of seastar helps to maintain the diversity of the intertidal region by controlling the mussel population. Without the seastar, the mussel population would crowd out other species and take over their territory. The seastar could be called a(n) keystone species Specialist species are more likely to become extinct Amphibians are frogs, toads, and salamanders. Approximately 33%, 43% of amphibian species is threatened with extinction and declining worldwide? Not a factor that is contributing to the decline in amphibian populations: hunting of frogs for froglegs, a delicacy that is served in restaurants It can be said that amphibian populations are declining worldwide, in all areas, even in protected wildlife preserves and parks True regarding keystone species: Some keystone species are more vulnerable to extinction than other species.

CHAPTER 5: The southern sea otter population, although hunted to near extinction, recovered during the years 1938 to 2010 The key reason we should care about recovery of the southern sea otter population is the fact that they are a keystone species Sea otters play a role in maintaining the biodiversity of coastal kelp forests The best categorizes the most common form of interspecific species interactions: Competition Hawks typically forage for their rodent prey species duri...