final Flashcards
GiffordPinchot believed that resources should be used for the greatest good for the greatest number for the longest time and thus he practiced…
utilitarian conservation
Which of the following is not one of the pillars of sustainability?
Political
Indicator species, such as lichens, generally have a ____ tolerance range for a _____.
narrow; critical factor
Producers rely on ___ to create energy and consumers rely on ___ to release chemical energy.
photosynthesis; cellular respiration
Energy enters a system as sunlight and a producer is able to produce 100 kilograms of tissue. If eaten, the producer would produce about ___ kilograms of primary consumer tissue that would provide about ___ kilograms of tissue for a secondary consumer.
10;1
Water flowing over a dam is known as ___ energy.
kinetic
Which of the following would be an example of intraspecific competition?
two male bluebirds fighting over a specific nesting site
The conservation of matter principle is that matter…
can neither be created nor destroyed but can change form
The incorporation of atmospheric nitrogen into nitrogen-containing compounds by bacteria living with plants in nodules or free-living is known as…
nitrogen fixation
If the pH of the water in a pond goes from 5.0 to 7.0, the hydrogen ion concentration of the pond has…
decreased 100 fold
Which of the following statements is true?
In a mutualistic relationship both partners benefit from the relationship.
Evolution occurs as a result of…
better survival or reproduction rates by individuals with a particular characteristic
The single factor in shortest supply relative to demand is the limiting factor and is known as…
Liebig’s Law
Interspecific competition is competition among ___ for resources.
members of different species
Which organisms usually feed on the producers in an ecosystem?
primary consumers
The preferred method for studying systems is…
in-situ studies
When glaciers break apart it is called?
calving
___ is considered the catalyst of modern awareness of the threat of toxic pollution and the notion of environmentalism related to human health.
Rachel Carson
When organic nitrogen such as protein is added to soil, denitrification of nitrogen in the protein will occur when conditions are…
aerobic followed by anaerobic
A biological community’s productivity is a measure of…
the amount of biomass produced in the community
Environment can be defined as…
complex of social or cultural conditions that affect an individual or community, all the biotic and abiotic external conditions that affect an organisms or group of organisms, circumstances or conditions that surround an organism or group of organisms.
A generalization formed after making many observations is known as…
inductive reasoning
A keystone species is a species whose presence…
influences the population size of many other species in its community
Which of the following biogeochemical cycles does not have an atmospheric phase?
phosphorous cycle
The acquisition of traits that allow a species to survive in its environment is referred to as…
adaptation
Following hurricane Harvey, soil scientists when to Houston, TX to study increased organic contaminants in the soil as the floodwaters receded. This is known as which type of experimentation?
natural experiments
Basic principles of science include..
we can learn through observation, simpler explanation are preferable, and nothing can be absolutely proven by science
The second law of thermodynamics states that as energy moves through different forms and systems if gradually…
dissipates and becomes less available
When a new species evolved due to geographic isolation it is referred to as…
allopatric speciation
Chasing Ice was shown to the class in an effort to raise awareness about?
increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, global climate change, the melting of the polar ice caps, and the intersection of art and science in communication
An example of primary productivity would be…
a prairie adding 1000kg of biomass per acre during 7 days of growth.
All the individuals of a species that inhibit a particular place at the same time is known as a…
population
Sustainable development, ideally, improves living conditions…
for generations in the future
Which of the following best defines an ecological niche?
the part of the environment into which species fit the role each species play in its environment, the food a species eats, and where a species reproduces
An ecosystem consists of…
a biological community and its physical environment
Cryoconite can be defined as…
wind blown materials that accumulate on the glaciers
One major difference affecting the scope of environmental issues of the past and present is the…
current ability to alter the natural world through technology
The conversion of organic sulfur to inorganic sulfur is defined as…
mineralization
The largest carbon sinks are found in…
soil and oceans
Networks of interactions among interdependent factors are known as…
systems
Carbon sequestration involves the capture and long-term storage of carbon dioxide in…
soil organic matter, oceans, terrestrial forests, and geologic formations
Mechanisms of evolution include which of the following?
natural selection, migration, and genetic drift
Resource partitioning leads species to…
feed at different times, utilize slightly different prey, develop different physiological adaptations, and live in slightly different regions.
Barnacles are a type of crustacean that attach to whales. Barnacles cannot move on their own, so they use the whale to move around and find locations with food. The whale does not benefit in any way from the barnacles. This is an example of which of the following symbiotic relationship?
commensalism
The competitive exclusion principle states that…
no two species can occupy the same niche
Natural selection will ultimately make a species…
better adapted to its environment
A species can withstand a narrow range of temperature Above 100degrees F there are no species present. In the range from 97degrees F to 100degrees F and 87degrees F to 90degrees F there area few species present. Below 87degrees F there are no species present. What would you label the range of temperature from 87degrees to 90degrees F for this particular species?
zone of physiological stress
Complexity in an ecological community has to do with the number of…
species at each trophic level and trophic levels represented
Which of the following is not a step in the global nitrogen cycle?
photosynthesis
A viceroy butterfly that closely resembles the bad tasting monarch is an example of ___ and the example of beetles that look like stinging wasps is an example of ___.
bayesian mimicry; bayesian mimicry.
In the real world, population explosion is usually followed by…
a population crash
The demographic transition refers to a country’s change from…
high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates
Tree growth in the taiga is limited by…
extreme cold and short summers
An organism’s biotic potential is the maximum number of offspring…
that could be born without any constraints on growth and reproduction
You are studying an organisms that is a pioneer species is an opportunists and does not care for its offspring. This offspring probably has a ____ population growth strategy.
r-adapted
he average age that a newborn can expect to attain in a given society is referred to as…
life expectancy
A biome is described by…
broadly similar environmental conditions
Mangrove trees are found along ____ shorelines.
tropical saltwater
The thermocline is the layer in a lake at which…
the warm upper zone meets the cold lower zone.
Logistic growth would be represented by a ____ curve
s shaped
Carrying capacity is the population or biomass…
of a species that an environment can support on a long-term basis.
Individuals represented by the middle of the dose/response curve (responding to doses of 20 ppm) are ___ for that population.
about average in sensitivity
In the graph of precipitation and temperature, desert biomes would fall in the area marked by..
high temperature and low precipitation
An LD50 is a does of a toxic chemical that…
kills half of the population
Morbidity is another word for…
illness
The doubling time for a population with an annual percentage growth rate of 3.0% is…
23 years
Boreal forests are generally…
slow-growing because of the cold temperatures
Which of the following is a biotic population control mechanism?
pathogens
Which of the following demographic categories best identifies Country “C”? (high fertility, high infant mortality, low life expectancy, low per-capita income, low doubling time)
less developed
The most industrialized country listed is…
country A (low fertility per female, low infant mortality, high life expectancy, high per-capita income, high doubling time)
Which of the following factors would explain the seemingly irrational behavior of a father who smokes (high risk factor for baby), but throws away his baby’s teething rings that may contain phthalates (seemingly low risk factor for baby)?
people tend to downplay risks that are associated with activities they are committed to or enjoy, most people do not understand the concepts of probability, news media can give a biased view of hazards, and people tends to have an irrational fear of certain technologies that are not as well understood.
Hazardous substances ____ while toxins are _____.
are dangerous substances; poisonous substances
Which of the following is an intraspecific interaction?
territoriality
Allergens are substances that…
activate the immune system
What aquatic ecosystem phenomenon is illustrated in the diagram below?
vertical stratification (water level, epilimnion, thermocline, hypolimnion, benthos)
What environmental factor does not change between “b” (epilimnion) and “e” (benthos” in the diagram above?
light penetration, temperature, nutrient availability, and oxygen content all change
Oxygen levels are lowest in what section in the diagram above?
“E” (benthos)
Endocrine disruptors…
disrupt normal hormone functions
Density-independent population control factors cause mortality…
regardless of population size
An organisms with ___ “strategies” would be considered to have ____ natality.
r-adapted; high
The term “fecundity” refers to an organism’s ___ while fertility is ___.
physical ability to reproduce; actual number of offspring produced.
Historically, the greatest threats to human health came from…
pathogenic organisms
Genetic diversity is lost in a small population when…
only a few individuals survive a catastrophe
Malthus argues that ____ is the ultimate cause of social and environmental problems and Marx argued that population growth ___ social and environmental problems.
excess population growth’ results from.
The longest period of life that a given type of organism can reach is known as…
life span
Which of the following is not a density-dependent control factor?
drought
Coral reefs form in…
warm, clear, tropical seas
If solubility is an important characteristic in toxic material movement in the environment and body, which of the following statements is true?
oil-soluble compounds accumulate in the body
Health organizations now use the ___, a tool to ____.
DALY; judge the total impact of the disease rather than only measuring how many people die
Bioaccumulation is a term that describes the way cells…
selectively absorb and store molecules
The histogram on the left small top, wide middle, small bottom) represents a population whose birth rates…
have recently decreased
The population represented by the age class histogram on the right(pyramid shape) will…
grow substantially in the future
Highly persistent toxic chemicals…
retain their toxicity as they cycle through the food chain and environment
In the real world, many factors determine the numbers of organisms in any one population. Yet, a “superfly” with unlimited food and no mortality would show what type of growth?
exponential growth
Survivorship is determined by…
the percentage of a cohort to a certain age
Island biogeography explains the phenomenon of ___ terrestrial species on islands mall and far from the mainland when compared to larger islands that are closest to the mainland and have ____ terrestrial species.
fewer; more
A chemical interaction in which one substance exacerbates the effects of another is termed…
synergism
Predation is considered to be a(n) ____ factor.
extrinsic and biotic
Barrier islands are formed of…
wind- and wave-deposited sand
Tundra biomes occur….
at high latitudes and altitudes, where the growing season is short
When Aldo Leopold said, “The first rule to intelligent tinkering is to save all the pieces” in terms of biodiversity he meant that we should…
not cause species to disappear
Approximately how many species have been identified on Earth?
a little more than 1.5 million
Which of the following is not a benefit of biodiversity for humans?
aesthetics, ecological services, food, and drugs and medicines are all benefits
Habitat fragmentation usually leads to a…
decreased in biodiversity
A species that is naturally rare or that has been depleted to dangerous levels is known, according to the Endangered Species Act, as a ___ species.
vulnerable
The stratified horizontal layers of soils are called soil…
horizons
DDT accumulation in North American eagles, pelicans, and other birds disrupted birds’ calcium metabolism, causing…
thin eggshells
Which of the following are inorganic pesticides?
arsenic, copper, and mercury
Developed countries produce ____ of all industrial wood and account for ___ of its consumption.
less than half; about 80%
Monoculture forestry involves…
single-species tree plantations that are efficient but offer little biodiversity.
Undernourished parents often raise children who are undernourished because the parents…
cannot afford to fee their children properly
Food security has to do with…
the ability of a population to obtain food on a day-to-day basis
Which of the following is the most correct definition of soil?
a complex mixture of organic matter, minerals, and living organisms.
In this scenario, which community has the highest species richness?
community a (21 species, 50 individuals of one species and 3 each other the other 20 species)
In this scenario, which communities have the same species evenness?
none of the communities has the same species evenness
If you have an aquarium with saltwater fish, 75% of your fish probably came from…
wild fish populations caught with cyanide or nets
Why is it useful to classify pesticides by their chemical structure?
similar chemical structures often relate to similar toxicological characteristics
The process that happens when pesticide residues evaporate from soil and water in warm areas and then condense in and precipitate in colder regions is called…
the grasshopper effect
The richest farming soils that form under the grasslands of central North America and under moist deciduous forests are the…
mollisols and alfisols
Economically, monoculture forestry is advantageous because…
it produces large quantities of a single type of tree for a particular use, such as building timber or paper pulp
Corridors have the potential to effectively enlarge which of the following?
preserve areas, genetic pools, feeding ranges, and areas of refuge against natural disasters
People can suffer malnourishment if they consume large amounts of ___ instead of ___.
fat and sugar; vitamins and protein
Ecological diversity is a measure of the number of…
niches, trophic levels, and ecological processes of a biological community.
The main reason for the current high rate of animal extinctions is…
habitat destruction worldwide
About what portion of world freshwater withdrawals is used for agriculture?
2/3
One of the drawbacks of leaving crop residues on a field after harvest is increased…
pest and disease problems
Poor people in developing countries often threaten wildlife preserves because…
they need the resources to survive
Anemia is a common disease resulting from a shortage of dietary…
iron
People who subsist on starchy foods such as cassava, potatoes, and white rice…
often receive insufficient protein.
Conservationists and wildlife managers use gap analysis to…
find unprotected landscapes that are rich in species
In developed countries, the most recent increases in agricultural productivity have come from…
irrigation, increased fertilization, and new crop varieties
A broad-spectrum biocide is designed to kill…
a wide range of living organisms
The pesticide treadmill occurs when…
constantly increasing doses of pesticides are needed to control pests.
One possible solution to the problem of insufficient land area for preserves is to use ___ to link smaller habitat areas.
corridors
What are two common diseases that result from protein deficiencies?
marasmus and kwashiorkor
The three crops that humans rely on for the majority of nutrients and calories are…
wheat, rice and maize (corn)
Most humans rely on just a few of the world’s animal and plant species for food because only a few…
food type are what we are accustomed to eating
Most of the livestock grown in North America are…
confined in CAFOs
Introduced (exotic) species tend to___ the balance of ecosystems and ___ biodiversity
upset; decrease
The objective of a species recovery plan is to…
increase an endangered species population until it is no longer endangered
Which of the following cannot be found in soil?
fungus, algae, bacteria, and insects are all found in soil.
Which of the following pesticide types is extremely toxic to workers who apply them?
fumigants
An important role of the CRP is to…
pay farmers to take highly erodible land out of production
Which of the following statements is true?
humans may have been causing extinction thousands of years ago, but our impact has recently increased
Legumes are plants whose roots contain bacteria that can fix ___ and naturally fertilize the plant.
nitrogen
Pesticide resistance occurs when a population of pests…
genetically changes (through natural selection) and is no longer affected by the chemicals
Extinction is the term used when all members of a species…
die
The main reason that there are relatively few invertebrates categorized as endangered species is because…
we consider other groups, such as mammals, to be more interesting and desirable
Rill erosion can lead to…
gully erosion
Annual row crops such as ____ cause the highest erosion rates because ___
corn and beans; soil is left bare for the majority of the year.
