Environmental science Optional practice for exam 1

Supporting services

Water purification, soil fertility is important for the production of food, Atmospheric oxygen is produced by plants, and Decomposition of waste by fungi and bacteria.

Regulation services

Maintenance of temperatures suitable for life by atmosphere, carbon capture by green plants to maintain atmospheric gas levels.

Cultural services

Recreational benefits, aesthetic benefits

The earliest document recognition that misuse of the natural environment can have nasty consequences was

Plato’s writings 2500 years ago

The first Nobel Prize for environmental action was rewarded

in 2004 to Wangari Maathai

Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean, is a model for balancing nature and human needs because in the eighteenth century a French governor

ordered sensitive areas such as steep slopes to be preserved in forests

Supplies of fossil fuel are

being steadily depleted

Evidence of progress in reducing overpopulation and the increased strain on the environment it causes is best illustrated by

a decrease in the average number of children born to each woman

Which of the following does not apply to manipulative experiments?

They are useful for studying large scale geologic forces

Statistical tests

focus on determining the probably that observed phenomena occurred by change

Which of the following is not an important feature of science?

Positive proof

The ability of an ecosystem to recover from a disturbance is known as

resilience

Science as a method relies on

a process of evaluating evidence to understand the natural world

Natural experiment is

a study of events that have already happened

Manipulative experiment

An experiment in which some conditions are deliberately altered while others are held constant to study cause-and-effect relationships

Double-Blind experiment

An experiment in which neither the experimenter nor the subjects know, until after the gathering and analysis of the data, which was the experimental treatment and which was the control

Blind experiment

An experiment in which those carrying out the experiment don't know, until after gathering and analysis of data, which was the experimental treatment and which was the control

Which of the following terms is defined as the characteristic of whole, functioning systems that are quantitatively or qualitatively greater than the sum of the systems’ parts?

Emergent Properties

Plant fertilizers

nitrogen (N) phosphorus (P) potassium (K)

The smallest particle exhibiting the characteristics of an element is a/an

atom

Cellular respiration is the process by which organisms

release energy from sugar for metabolic use

A population

consists of all individuals of a given species living in the same area

Which of the following is NOT an important carbon sink?

A smokestack at a coal-fired power plant

A fat or oil is to a what? As an enzyme is to a what?

lipid; protein

What implication(s) does the second law of thermodynamics have for biological systems regarding entropy?

A constant supply of energy is necessary for maintenance of biological systems

What implication (s) does the second law of thermodynamics have for biological systems regarding entropy?

A constant supply of energy is necessary for maintenance of biological systems

place the labels in the proper order to illustrate the scientific process

Identity question to Form testable hypothesis to Develop a test of hypothesis to Collect data to Interpret results to Report for peer review

Climate Change

Increased commitment from governments to reduce carbon emissions and increase reliance renewable energy.

Biodiversity loss

Increases in numbers of preserves and parks decreases rates of deforestation

Overpopulation

Sociological changes such as increased educational opportunities for woman have helped decrease fertilities rates

The assimilation process is where plants absorb

ammonia, ammonium, or nitrate to make organic compounds

Within the nitrogen cycle, the process of nitrogen fixation is where bacteria remove

nitrogen gas from the atmosphere and convert it to ammonia or ammonium

Nitrification refers to the process where bacteria oxidize

ammonia and convert it to nitrate

During ammonification, decomposers convert

organic compounds into ammonia or ammonium

Denitrification refers to the process where bacteria convert

nitrate to nitrogen gas

The carbon cycle describes how the element carbon moves through the Earth System. During the process known as

photosynthesis

Plants remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and create organic matter. Eventually, most of the organic matter will undergo

decomposition

Releasing carbon dioxide and methane gas to the atmosphere in the process called

respiration

Large quantities of carbon are transferred between the atmosphere and ocean through

biological and chemical reactions

Large quantities of carbon are also sequestered from the atmosphere and oceans over long periods of geologic time through the process of

sedimentation