Study of Ecology

Question 1

What is a natural resource?

Answer 1

Substance from the environment that is useful to an organism.

Question 2

How can humans alter their environment?

Answer 2

Humans can remove organisms, replace existing organisms with new, and pollute environments, making them unusable for certain uses.

Question 3

How can the economic principle of supply and demand apply to the environment?

Answer 3

Environments can supply natural resources; their availability and cost depends on demand.

Question 4

What is cost-benefit analysis?

Answer 4

A decision-making tool that weighs the cost of an action with the benefit of taking that action.

Question 5

What is risk assessment?

Answer 5

A decision-making process that predicts all possible outcomes from taking an action.

Question 6

What is sustainability?

Answer 6

Actions that allow an environment to remain diverse and supply natural resources.

Question 7

How does the environment affect human sustainability?

Answer 7

Natural Resources meet the needs and wants of humans in order for the species to continue to reproduce.

Question 8

In a scientific experiment, what is a hypothesis?

Answer 8

The anticipated answer to a problem based on background research and written as a cause and effect statement.

Question 9

In a scientific experiment, what is the experimental group?

Answer 9

A set-up of conditions in which one variable is changed to study the effects of the change.

Question 10

In a scientific experiment, what is the control group?

Answer 10

A set-up of conditions in which none of the variables are manipulated and which acts as a standard of comparison to the experimental group.

Question 11

What is a variable?

Answer 11

A measured condition that can have more than one value.

Question 12

What societal value considers the artistic enjoyment and affect on personal mood of the environment?

Answer 12

Aesthetic value

Question 13

What societal value considers the monetary cost or benefit of the environment?

Answer 13

Economic value

Question 14

What societal value considers the wise use of resources?

Answer 14

Conservation value

Question 15

What societal value considers knowledge gained from the study of the environment?

Answer 15

Education value

Question 16

What societal value uses a universal concept to justify actions?

Answer 16

Ethical or Moral value

Question 17

What societal value evaluates an action based on its effect on the human body?

Answer 17

Health value

Question 18

What societal value uses human activities for enjoyment to evaluate an action?

Answer 18

Recreational value

Question 19

What societal value uses interactions between individuals to evaluate an action?

Answer 19

Societal, Cultural, or Religious values

Question 20

In statistics, how is the mean calculated?

Answer 20

All of the measured values are added together, then the total of the values is divided by the number of values.

Question 21

In statistics, how is the median determined?

Answer 21

All the measured values are placed in order from smallest to largest; the median value is the middle value.

Question 22

What is the null hypothesis in an experiment?

Answer 22

The prediction that a manipulated variable has no effect.

Question 23

What is an alternative hypothesis?

Answer 23

A prediction that a manipulated variable will produce an anticipated result.

Question 24

What are the steps in a typical decision-making model?

Answer 24

1. Gather information 2. Consider values affected by action 3. Explore consequences of action 4. Make a decision

Question 25

Why is cost-benefit analysis difficult to apply to environmental issues?

Answer 25

The benefits of an action may be hard to quantify. The people who benefit from an action may not be the same as those who pay the cost of the action.

Question 26

How does government regulation affect environmental decisions?

Answer 26

Government regulation may limit the possible actions or influence the costs of an action.

Question 27

What is a need?

Answer 27

Resources necessary for an individual to exist.

Question 28

What is a want?

Answer 28

Something that an individual desires.

Question 29

What is the Tragedy of the Commons?

Answer 29

Theory that unregulated use of common resources will result in irreparable damage or extinction of the resource.

Question 30

What are three ways to possibly avoid the Tragedy of the Commons?

Answer 30

Private ownership of resources, cooperation between all common owners of the resource, or government regulation.