Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Environmental Science > Chapter 5-6 > Flashcards

Chapter 5-6 Flashcards

1
Q

How quickly does a forest recover from a fire?

A

After 13 years, it can be thriving.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Establishing of a biotic or abiotic community in a barren (plantless and soilless or bare rock) habitat is called?

A

Primary Succession

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Establishing of a community in a previously inhabited area is called?

A

Secondary Succession

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What are the trophic levels for different parts of the food chain?

A

Plants level 1, herbivores level 2, primary carnivores level 3, and secondary carnivores r level 4.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What is the food chain order?

A

Plants, Herbivores, Primary Carnivores, and then secondary carnivores.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Plants turn inorganic compounds into what?

A

Organic compounds

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

An organism that can convert inorganic matter such as a carbon dioxide into nutritional organic matter is called?

A

Autotroph

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Name the three heterotrophs

A

Herbivores, Primary Carnivores, and secondary carnivores.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What is the difference between secondary carnivores and primary carnivores?

A

Secondary carnivores feed on carnivores, while primary carnivores only eat herbivores.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What do heterotrophs do?

A

Consume organic matter and unable to produce it.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What are all the food chains in an ecosystem called?

A

Food web

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

In healthy ecosystem does P ≅ R

A

Yes, but P tends to exceed R a little

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What do you call a food chain that’s like this:
🌿 ➡️ 🐄 ➡️ 🦈
⬇️
➡️💩⬅️
⬇️⬆️
Detritivores or decomposers

A

Detritus food chain

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What do Detritivores eat?

A

Excrement

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What is this the Formula for:
Co2 + H20 ➡️CH2O + O2

A

Production of organic matter from inorganic compounds

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Consumed organic matter goes to?

A

Biomass, excretion, or Respiration

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

CH2O + O2 –> CO2 + H2O

A

Formula for where organic matter goes to

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Production of organic matter from inorganic compounds using either sunlight (photosynthesis) or an oxidation-reduction reaction (chemosynthesis) as an energy source. Autotrophic production.

A

Primary production

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

Production of one kind of organic matter from some other kind of organic matter. Heterotrophic production.

A

Secondary Production

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

The efficiency with which energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next?

A

Ecological Efficiency

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

Why do ecological efficiencies tend to be higher in an aquatic system?

A

Most aquatic organisms are cold-blooded, and they invest less energy in supporting their body weight. I.E. no body warming.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

Does biomass decrease or increase from the bottom to the top of trophic levels?

A

decrease

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

Biomass numbers for producers, first level consumers, second level consumer, and third level consumer:

A

100,10,1, & 1/10

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

Examples of biomagnification?

A

DDT insecticide used in farming and Japan waste containing mercury dumped into water both led to biomagnification

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

Producers?

A

Produce organic matter may be heterotrophic or autotrophic

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

Consumers?

A

Consume organic matter

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

Biomagnification:

The ecological efficiency in a food chain is 15%. A pollutant (X) is transferred from one trophic level to the next with an efficiency of 60%. The magnification factor between trophic levels is a factor of 4 (60% divided by 15%). If the concentration of X on trophic level 2 is 12 ppm (parts per million), what is the concentration of X on trophic level 1?

What is the concentration of X on trophic level 3?

A

3 on level 1 and 48 on level 3

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
28
Q

The ecological efficiency in a food chain is 10%. A pollutant (X) is transferred from one trophic level to the next with an efficiency of 50%. If the concentration of X on trophic level 2 is 20 ppm (parts per million), what is the concentration of X on trophic level 1?

What is the concentration of X on trophic level 4?

A

On level 1: 4 and on level 4, 500.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
29
Q

The accumulation of higher and higher concentrations of potentially toxic chemicals in organisms.

A

Bioaccumulation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
30
Q

Bioaccumulation, occurring through several levels of a food chain

A

Biomagnification

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
31
Q

What is classified based on climate and vegetation?

A

Biomes

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
32
Q

Temperature and rainfall are abiotic factors for what?

A

Terrestrial biomes

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
33
Q

Salinity, light, temperature, 02, and permanence of water are abiotic factors for what?

A

Aquatic biomes

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
34
Q

Dry tundra and moist tundra are?

A

Polar and alpine

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
35
Q

Cool tundra, cool desert, temperate desert, and hot desert are all?

A

Dry

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
36
Q

Tropical forest, grasslands, and hot desert are all?

A

Hot

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
37
Q

What percent of photosynthesis is done in aquatic systems?

A

50%

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
38
Q

Who starts a biome’s recovery from disturbances?

A

Plants must, as they are the autotrophs.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
39
Q

Six stages of forest growth?

A

Bare rock, mosses grasses, grasses perennials, woody pioneers, fast-growing trees, and climax forest.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
40
Q

What appears first on bare rocks in forest succession?

A

Lichen (fungus or alga or cyanobacterium)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
41
Q

What secretes weak carbonic acids that extract nutrients from rocks and weathers them.

A

Lichens and algae

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
42
Q

Large cracks formed by algae and lichens support the growth of what?

A

Grasses and small shrubs

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
43
Q

What is one of the plants that sprouts first after a volcano eruption in Hawaii?

A

‘Ohi’a Lehua

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
44
Q

How do ground fires keep pine forest from becoming deciduous forests?

A

Ground fires kill competition from other species.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
45
Q

What triggers secondary succession, which requires preexisting soil?

A

Forest fire, hurricane, agriculture, and forestry

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
46
Q

Is smokey the bear correct that all forest first are bad?

A

No smokey wrong bear!

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
47
Q

How do lodge pine seedlings like those in the Yellowstone National Park grow?

A

They germinate (release seeds) only if burned

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
48
Q

Give three examples of species well-adapted to periodic fires and one that isn’t?

A

Pines, grasses, redwoods, and oaks aren’t.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
49
Q

Ability of an ecosystem to return to normal functions after a disturbance is called?

A

Resilience

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
50
Q

What type of succession is a succession that occurs on an old farm?

A

Secondary succession as there is soil

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
51
Q

Why does Iceland have little trees, excluding their efforts to plant more in national parks?

A

Clear-cutting

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
52
Q

Lakes and ponds always eventually fill with?

A

Sediment

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
53
Q

How long does natural eutrophication take?

A

Centuries

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
54
Q

Cultural eutrophication, which is accelerated eutrophication, takes how long?

A

Decades

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
55
Q

Excess nutrients in a body of water normally from land run off which cause plant growth, sediment filling up, and animals dying is called?

A

Eutrophication

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
56
Q

What type of moss does not decay easily?

A

Sphagnum moss (peat moss)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
57
Q

What do you call the regulation of atmospheric chemical composition, such as UVB Protection?

A

Gas regulation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
58
Q

What do you call the regulation of biologically meditated climatic processes e.g. global temperature, precipitation, & green house gases?

A

Climate Regulation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
59
Q

What do you call the regulation of capacitance, damping, and integrity of ecosystem response to environmental fluctuations e.g., natural disasters

A

Disturbance regulation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
60
Q

What do you call the regulation of hydrological flows?

A

Water regulation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
61
Q

What do you call the storage and retention of water?

A

Water supply

62
Q

What do you call the retention of soil within an ecosystem?

A

Erosion control and sediment retention

63
Q

What do you call soil-formation processes, e.g. weathering and accumulation of lichen

A

Nutrient Cycling

64
Q

What do you call the recovery of mobile nutrients and the removal or breakdown of excess nutrients and compounds

A

Waste treatment

65
Q

Movement of floral gametes is called

A

Pollination

66
Q

What do you call trophic-dynamic regulations of populations, e.g., keystone predators balancing?

A

Biological control

67
Q

Habitat for resident and transient populations e.g., nurseries, migratory species’ habitat

A

Refuges

68
Q

What do you call the portion of primary production extractable as food?

A

Food production

69
Q

What do you call the portion of primary production extractable as raw materials?

A

Raw materials

70
Q

What do you call the sources of unique biological materials and products?

A

Genetic Resources

71
Q

Provisions of opportunities for recreational activities e.g. ecotourism is called?

A

Recreation

72
Q

Provision of opportunities for noncommercial uses is called?

A

Cultural

73
Q

What does CO 2 prevent?

A

The earth from freezing

74
Q

What are three natural “mother nature” methods of lowering CO2 in the atmosphere?

A

Volcanoes, photosynthesis, and carbonic acid weathering rocks lowers CO2.

75
Q

What creates carbonic acid?

A

Carbon dioxide and water

76
Q

What is the fact that the sun gets brighter over time, but the earth itself has no evidence of being frozen when the sun was dimmer, called?

A

The faint/pale sun Paradox

77
Q

What will get bigger and absorb Venus, Mercury, and kill all life on earth?

A

Mr. Sun

78
Q

How long does it take for 1 inch (2.54 cm) of topsoil to naturally develop after being washed off?

A

100–1000 years

79
Q

Where does phosphate go?

A

Into sediments

80
Q

Nitrogen moving from the air to the soil, from the soil to living organisms, and from decomposing living organisms back into the air is called?

A

Nitrogen Cycle

81
Q

A water table describes the boundary between water-saturated ground and unsaturated ground. Below the water table, rocks, and soil are full of water. Pockets of water existing below the water table are called aquifers. What is this called?

A

A water table aquifer

82
Q

What do you call an underground layer which holds groundwater under pressure, causing the water level in the well to rise to a point where the pressure is equal to the weight of water putting it under pressure?

A

Artesian aquifer

83
Q

Pumping water too fast from an aquifer can cause?

A

Salt water to leak into the fresh water

84
Q

Benefits of reusing waste water?

A

Expanding habitats for wildlife or recreational landscapes, e.g. Incline village Nevada, or Golf course Lanai Hawaii, educational experiences, & used for vineyards to make wine e.g. California.

85
Q

Ecosystems should be considered when considering land use changes. What is the conservative estimate of the value of ecosystems?

A

$40 trillion

86
Q

How many species have been discovered and described, rounded?

A

14 million

87
Q

What does HIPPO, an acronym for reasons why species are going extinct, stand for?

A

Habitat destruction, Invasive species, Pollution, Population(human), and over exploitation

88
Q

Is it normal for species to go extinct?

A

Yes

89
Q

Has species going extinct been accelerated recently?

A

Yes

90
Q

Why do we care that species are going extinct?

A

Because they can cure disease.

91
Q

How many species of birds went extinct in North America between 1642 and 2001?

A

631

92
Q

Passengers pigeons went nearly extinct in the early 20th century, though they used to be 3-5 billion because of?

A

Humans hunting them, e.g., overexploitation

93
Q

There were 60 million buffalo in 1492, but only 750 by 1890, through habitat restoration and saving them the population became?

A

360,000

94
Q

Whooping crane, birds in 1870 had a population of merely 1,300-1400, but were restored to a population of roughly 800 today. How many were there before 1492?

A

10,000

95
Q

An attempt is being made to establish a non-migratory colony of Whooping Cranes in Louisiana’s White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area has how many birds?

A

70

96
Q

Of the released whooping cranes, how many were hunted?

A

10% of 147

97
Q

How much was a man fined for killing a whopping crane, in addition to a 5-year ban on possessing firearms?

A

25,000

98
Q

Are whooping cranes still endangered?

A

Yes

99
Q

Lake Erie water snake, was endangered and limited to 1000 individuals because of intense human killing and loss of habitat now

A

12,000 no longer threatened

100
Q

Sources of food and raw materials, sources of medicines and pharmaceuticals, recreational, aesthetic, and scientific value are what type of value of biodiversity

A

Instrumental

101
Q

Intrinsic value of biodiversity is defined?

A

Value for its own sake

102
Q

What does it mean that agricultural crops are cultivars?

A

That they have been fine-tuned to have little genetic variation

103
Q

Sap sucking aphids attack root of what and nearly wiped it out in the late 19th century?

A

European Vineyards

104
Q

If they failed to use American rootstock to solve the issue, what would have been the outcome?

A

No wine industry in Europe and most places

105
Q

Plan A: bury a live toad under each vine to draw out the “poison” was the failed solution to?

A

Sap-sucking aphids (Phylloxera vastatrix)

106
Q

Plan B the successful solution was to graft a Vitis vinifera (European wine grape) shoot onto the roots of what?

A

A resistant Vitis aestivalis or other American native species

107
Q

Modern agricultural relies on 30 crops, but what are the three that account for 50% of food production?

A

Wheat, Maize, and rice

108
Q

How many plants could potentially be used for food, e.g., winged bean?

A

30,000

109
Q
A

Slide 16 cries

110
Q

True or false: Virtually all drugs derived from natural products have come from terrestrial plants.

A

true

111
Q

How many plants have been identified as having anticancer properties?

A

Over 3,000

112
Q

What microorganisms are largely unexplored and unclassified.

A

Marine

113
Q

What percent of the earth’s surface is ocean?

A

70%-80%

114
Q

Can the earth sustain 10 billion?

A

Unknown

115
Q

What type of species are at the greatest risk in the U.S.?

A

Mussels, crayfish, fish, and amphibians are all species that depend on freshwater habitats.

116
Q

Virtually all species that ever existed have gone extinct. The current rate of species extinction is blank to blank times higher than past rates?

A

100 to 1000 times

117
Q

What causes 36% of known extinctions?

A

Habitat change e.g., stream hardening

118
Q

The number of animals killed on roadways now far exceeds the number killed by what. More than blank animals per day become roadkill in the United States.

A

More are killed on roadways then by hunters and over 1 million are killed every day.

119
Q

Why do animals get killed on roads?

A

Because they aren’t used to roads and don’t know how to cross them.

120
Q

Between 100 million and 1 billion birds die every year, and a separate estimated 5–50 million birds die each year from what respectively?

A

From crashing into glass windows for the former and by colliding with telecommunications towers for the latter.

121
Q

By what percent has global forest cover been reduced?

A

By 40%

122
Q

The permanent reduction in the productivity of arid, semiarid, and seasonally dry areas is called? Also name a potential thing that could cause it?

A

Desertification and overgrazing

123
Q

Fragmentation leaves not enough forest for?

A

Bears & the like.

124
Q

What do you call it when parts of a habitat are destroyed, leaving behind small, unconnected areas?

A

Fragmentation

125
Q

Chinese green Gooseberries were marketed as what?

A

Kiwifruit in 1962

126
Q

Fire ants attack birds, rodents, and larger mammals in swarms. What is their projected range?

A

From California to Florida e.g., south of U.S.A.

127
Q

The invasive species Water hyacinth, which
ruins, freshwater lakes, were first brought to the U.S. in 1884 – Cotton Exposition in New Orleans. What defeats it?

A

Mottled water hyacinth weevil

128
Q

Name a mostly harmless worldwide invasive species that first appeared in Louisiana in 1955?

A

The cattle egret

129
Q

Where are cattle egrets mostly found?

A

Africa, South America, & North America

130
Q

What are some of the worst invasive species in North America? What is the most invasive globally?

A

Rats are the most invasive globally. In North America, fire ants, house mouse, Norway rat, wild boar, starling, house cat, kudzu, and water hyacinths.

131
Q

Cats kill as many as 2.4 billion native birds annually in the US. What type of cats do this?

A

Unowned/stray cats cause most of the mortality

132
Q

What country still uses mercury (beyond tooth, fillings) and what for?

A

China uses it as a catalyst for plastics

133
Q

What are the four truly sustainable energies?

A

Wind energy, solar energy, hydraulic energy, and nuclear fusion.

134
Q

What six countries use the most energy per capita from highest to lowest?

A

Qatar, Canada, U.S.A., Finland, Norway, and Sweden.

135
Q

Does Germany, china, or USA have higher co2? Who has the lowest?

A

USA has highest and China has lowest despite having 4x or 5x USA population.

136
Q

Why is USA the only country lowering C02 usage?

A

Because we build less coal burning power plants as other more sustainable methods are more cost-effective.

137
Q

Annual CO2 from highest to lowest out of china, USA, Russia, India, Japan, and Germany?

A

China, USA, (recently surpassed Russia roughly 2009) India, Russia, Japan, and Germany

138
Q

The black rhino is often killed by poachers for its horn, as it is prized in traditional Asian medicine and as ornamentation. Is this illegal?

A

Yes, it is illegal

139
Q

What is the name of the USA act that forbids interstate commerce in illegally harvested plants and animals, and when was it enacted?

A

Lacey Act was passed in 1900

140
Q

What does the USA’s endangered species act of 1973 do?

A

Provides for protection of species considered to be threatened or endangered

141
Q

What is the name of the act that prohibits the taking of marine mammals and enacts a moratorium on the import, export, and sale of any marine mammal, along with any marine mammal part or product within the United States?

A

Marine Mammal Protection Act - 1972

142
Q

Japan and Norway, longyearbyen, svalbard, hunt and eat what?

A

Whales legally and the current species they hunt is not in danger of going extinct.

143
Q

CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) – international agreement, early 1970s, meant?

A

Don’t trade endangered species internationally

144
Q

When was international trade of ivory banned?

A

1989

145
Q

Who refused to ratify the law of sea trade and the convention on biological diversity in 1992?

A

USA Senate

146
Q

Convention on Biological Diversity – 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro did what?

A

Assures that wealthy nations cannot mine the genetic resources of other countries or patent products that indigenous people use.

147
Q

In the United States today, the principal use of mercury is what?

A

Dental fillings

148
Q

The barrier holding the wastewater from a pulp mill in a treatment lagoon breaks, and the wastewater runs into the Pearl River. The next day, there are thousands of dead fish in the Pearl River. What is the likely cause of the deaths of the fish?

A

Suffocation as algae blooms suffocate fish and other marine life.

149
Q

Which of the following kinds of property rights is associated with the Tragedy of the Commons?

A

Open access

150
Q

Rice, wheat, and corn are three crops that account for what percent of global food demands?

A

50%

Environmental Science (5 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions