Exam 4 (look over exams 1-3) Flashcards
- What causes the sad fisherman we discussed in the water pollution lecture?
a. He can’t fish because he has hypoxia
- You have established a new aquarium in your apartment. Why is it important to have a biofilter in the tank?
a. The biofilter is embedded with bacteria that get rid of ammonia and nitrite, which are harmful wastes.
- The higher the BOD:
a. The greater the likelihood DO will be depleted
- Which one of the following is most likely a source of point source pollution?
a. Factories
- The dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is primarily the result of
a. nonpoint sources of pollutants.
- This a characteristic of a eutrophic system:
a. Accumulation of detritus of dead algae
- Which one of the following statements is NOT true?
a. The BOD for raw sewage is 2 parts per million (ppm)
- (1)___ water pollution is easy to track (and assign blame to its perpetrators), whereas (2)___ water pollution is difficult to track and often caused by large numbers of people.
a. (1) point source, (2) non-point source
- Which statement regarding non-point source water pollution is NOT true?
a. The best way to reduce nonpoint pollution is by treating the pollution at its source
- Which one of the following best describes the process of eutrophication?
a. Nutrients pollute a body of water –> photosynthetic organisms increase –> photosynthetic organisms overgrow and die –> bacteria degrade dead and dying plants –> bacteria consume oxygen via cellular respiration –> hypoxic conditions result –> there is no dissolved oxygen in the body of water.
- The process where nutrient enrichment allows rapid growth of phytoplankton is called:
b. Eutrophication
- In 2007, heavy rains accompanied an outbreak of cholera in children living in war-torn Iraq. What was the likely cause of the spread of this disease?
c. Pollution of waterways by raw sewage
- A measure of the amount of organic material in water, stated in terms of how much oxygen will be required to break it down is called:
B. Biological oxygen demand (BOD)
- Anaerobic conditions will most likely be generated in a natural water system with
C. low levels of DO that is contaminated by pollutants with high BOD values.
- Why is leachate in landfills a problem?
a. It can carry contaminants from the trash into the surrounding environment
- With respect to the plastic identification code on plastic bottles, which one of the following statements is true?
a. In general, the higher the number, the longer it takes to break down and the more times the material can be reused
- In the U.S., the two top components of municipal solid waste are:
a. Paper and food waste
- The liquid that drains from a landfill that contains dissolved and suspended materials is called:
a. Leachate
- What percentage of the waste generated in the U.S. is recycled?
a. Only 30%
- Which one of the following is NOT a major environmental problem associated with landfills?
a. CO2 production
- We know that paper products make up the largest proportion of municipal solid waste. What comes in 2nd, and how might we decrease this proportion?
a. Food wastes; most of our food wastes, such as banana peels, can be easily composted instead of filling landfills.
- Municipal solid waste is predominantly ___.
a. Paper
- ‘Midnight dumping of hazardous wastes and abandoning properties where wastes are stored once led to locations called ___.
a. Orphan sites
- In 2016, the average person in the U.S. produced ____ pounds of municipal solid waste per day.
a. 4.5
- With respect to the length of time it takes various things to naturally biodegrade in the ocean, which one of the following is the best single-use option if you suspect the waste is going to end up in the ocean?
a. Paper towel
- What are problems related to landfills as discussed in class?
a. Leachate, methane production, incomplete decomposition, settling
13.Which one of the following does municipal solid waste NOT include
a. human solid waste
- Municipal solid waste and Recycling: PETE (code 1) and HDPE (code 2) plastics
a. Can be recycled and made into many useful products.
- Your Uncle Boudreaux has been diagnosed with lung cancer, but he never smoked and never spent much time around secondhand smoke. He used to work for the Wheeze Construction Company for about 20 years. What xenobiotic has he most likely been exposed to?
. Asbestos
- Your friend Jamie, who grew up in a very old white house that was last painted when Harry Truman was president, in 1950, has just found out she is 6 months pregnant. And lately she has started complaining about being cold all the time. What toxin has she most likely been exposed to, and how do you know?
a. Lead because old houses used lead paint, and lead causes anemia when a woman gets pregnant.
- Which one of the following is NOT an acute result of exposure to air pollutants?
a. Lung cancer
- What is NOT true about Superfund sites?
a. There are no Superfund sites in Louisiana
- Why did the Cuyahoga River catch fire in the 1960s?
a. It contained large amounts of flammable waste
- Bisphenol A (BPA), a common component of plastics in bottles and can liners
a. mimics estrogen and can potentially cause disruption of human reproduction and development
- The buildup of certain substances in the bodies of organisms at higher trophic levels is called:
a. Biomagnification
- Which of the following is false about PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls)?
a. Since PCBs were banned in the U.S. in 1979, you cannot get exposed to PCBs unless you eat fish
- Decades ago, in the 1960s and 1970s, sites where companies that were paid to dispose of hazardous waste sometimes went out of business and left the location behind were called ___.
a. Superfund sites
- Developing skin cancer on one’s face after a 20-second exposure to radioactivity 20 years ago is an example of ___.
a. Chronic effects from an acute exposure
- Which of the following is NOT a factor used to describe a hazardous material?
a. Transportability
- When exposure to a substance is below the threshold level, we expect to see
a. No ill effects
- You have a classmate named Takahashi 69 who attended a shrimp boil during Mardi Gras year. Lately, over the past few weeks or so, he has developed a numb tongue and difficulty swallowing, and he keeps stubbing his toes against the furniture and falling. His cat has also begun to act strangely. What toxin was your classmate most likely exposed to?
a. Methyl mercury
- Your 55-year-old Granny Bertha has worked at the Chevron gas station for 30 years. In the last few years, she has begun to shrink (she used to be 5’ 5’’’’ and is now 4’ 11’’’’), and now she thinks she is pregnant. You are going to have an aunt or uncle who is younger than you are. Unfortunately, she will have complications with her pregnancy (specifically difficulty generating new blood) because she has most likely been exposed to ___.
D. lead
- What is not true about lead?
D. The decrease in lead emissions in the U.S. cannot be attributed to Clean Air Act policies
- The level below which there are no ill effects, but above which there are ill effects is called:
a. Threshold-middle spot
- How does tributyltin impact the animals described in the Kannan paper?
a. It reduces their immune system functions.
- The beached dolphins and whales mapped in Figure 1 of the Kannan paper most likely died of ___.
a. Microbial infections
- What is NOT a conclusion from the Kannan’s paper?
a. BT compounds have contributed to improve the immune system of bottlenose dolphins
- Between 1989 and 1994, there was a decrease in butyltin concentrations in bottlenose dolphins. What was the most likely reason for this?
a. The Organotin Paint Control Act limited the use of TBT in antifouling paints in 1988.
- With respect to the health of the environment, which one of the following would be an advantage of using antifouling agents?
a. Less fossil fuel use resulting from less drag and more efficient transit of ships through water
- With respect to the Kannan paper, what was the difference between biomagnification and bioaccumulation?
a. Biomagnification would be the result of the dolphins eating shrimp that had eaten TBT-contaminated plankton, and bioaccumulation would be the result of a build-up of TBT in the fatty tissues of the dolphins.
- What concepts were discussed in Kannan’s paper on the effects tributyltin and its breakdown products on bottlenose dolphins?
a. Biofouling, bioaccumulation, and biomagnification
- Rivers (or tributaries) from ___ of the 48 contiguous United States contribute water to
the Mississippi River?
a. 31
- What is not true about wetlands?
a. Wetlands contribute to pollution by releasing nitrogen and phosphorus
- The Mississippi River, as it flows past downtown Baton Rouge, is fed by ___.
D. tributaries in 31 of the 48 contiguous states
- What is not true about sediments?
a. Dams do not affect the flow of sediments
- Let’s say a creek is on average 4’ 7’’ (4 ft. 7 in.) wide and 16’ 3’’ deep. You drop a leaf in it, and it travels 25 feet in 16 seconds. The cross-sectional area of the stream is (1)___. The velocity of the leaf (and by association, the velocity of the water) is (2)___. The stream flow rate of the creek is (3)___.
(1) 74.4 ft^2, (2) 1.56 ft per sec, (3) 116 CFS