Full Poll Everywhere Q's

Confined aquifers:

* May be under pressure generating artesian wells

The upper limit of an unconfined underground reservoir of water is termed the:

Water table

The greatest use of freshwater is for:

* Irrigation

Water problems are particularly severe in the:

* High Plains

Saltwater intrusion can occur in coastal areas due to:

* Excessive groundwater pumping

Climate change science is:

* Settled. Human activities are warming Earth by increasing the concentration of greenhouse gasses

The uppermost layer of soil that is rich in plant litter and other organic material is the:

* O horizon

In soil, the smallest particles (less than 0.002mm) are called:

* Clay

An important plant to use in crop rotation because of its association with nitrogen-fixing bacteria is:

* Alfalfa

What is the difference between an ore and a rock?

* ores contain a large concentration of a particular mineral; a rock may or may not be an ore

_______ is an impurity in many mineral ores and can cause acid rain when it escapes during the smelting process.

Sulfur

The continuous, low-level extinction of species that has occurred throughout the history of life on Earth is known as:

* Background extinction

The single greatest threat to biological diversity is:

* Habitat loss

An example of an invasive species is:

* The quagga mussel

What is the current percentage of land used by humans for agriculture?

38

Boreal forests:

1. comprise the world's largest biome
2. are currently the primary source of the world's industrial wood and wood fiber
3. are harvested primarily by clearcut logging
4. are comprised of evergreen trees, such as spruce, fir, cedar, and hemlock

Cities make up what percentage of the world’s total land area?

3%

What was the price of a giant bluefin tuna (612 lbs) sold at the 2018 new year's auction in Tokyo?

* $3.1 million

Approximately what percentage of marine organisms captured in commercial fisheries is undesirable, and returned to the water as bycatch?

25%

Aquaculture is:

Fish farming

The difference between primary and secondary air pollutants is that primary air pollutants:

* enter the atmosphere directly, whereas secondary pollutants form from other substances released into the atmosphere

The two atmospheric gasses most important to humans and other organisms are?

* Carbon dioxide and oxygen

The greenhouse effect occurs because

* carbon dioxide and other trace gasses trap infrared radiation in the Earth's atmosphere

Chlorofluorocarbons such as CFC-12 are released into the atmosphere by:

* Leaking air conditioners and old refrigerators

Which of the following is responsible for the largest percentage of human-made carbon dioxide emissions?

* Burning fossil fuels

Which of the following are two ways to attempt to manage global climate change?

Mitigation & Adaptation

All of the following represent categories of water pollution:

1. thermal pollution
2. organic compounds
3. disease-causing agents
4. sediment pollution

Escherichia coli (E-coli)

* is a good indicator of the amount of sewage present in water 

Sediment pollution is caused by: 

Erosion

One major problem with sewage is that it adds which of the following to water?

* nitrogen and phosphorus

72% of the water pollution in rivers attributed to: 

* agriculture

A large amount of sewage: 

* generates a high BOD, which lowers the level of dissolved oxygen in the water 

A pesticide used to kill plants is: 

* Herbicide 

DDT is a 

* Chlorinated hydrocarbon 

Which type of insecticide is the most poisonous and is highly toxic to birds, bees, and aquatic organisms? 

Organophosphates

Over half of the solid waste produced in the United States is disposed of:

* in sanitary landfills 

One reason that only a small percentage of plastic is recycled is that:

* it is more expensive to recycle plastics than to make the products from raw materials

The three largest producer of solid waste in the United States are:

* Agriculture, industry, and mining

The Ecological Footprint:

Shows global consumption of earth’s resources is higher than the renewal rate

Which of the following statements about soils is True

a) Soil texture can affect oxygen availability and nutrient availability.
b) The A-horizon is enriched in organic matter and usually darker in color.
c) One of the five main factors of soil formation is climate.

Which of the following statements about soils is FALSE?

Wind erosion is particularly strong in forested areas.

Which of the following statements about the current mass extinction of biological species is TRUE?

Restoration of damaged habitats is a way of preserving biodiversity.

Industrialized agriculture:

can cause land degradation

Which of the following statements about the Ozone Hole is TRUE?

The ozone layer is recovering after an international agreement led to regulatory actions.

Which of the following statements about global warming is FALSE?

Agriculture is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.

Which of these in not a renewable natural resource?

natural gas

The IPAT model is used to estimate:

The impact of human population, wealth per person, and technology on the environment

An aquifer is:

Porous layers of sand, gravel and rock in which groundwater is stored

Biological diversity encompasses three different aspects of organism variety:

Species richness, genetic diversity, and ecosystem diversity

A Secondary Air Pollutant is:

Formed when a primary air pollutant reacts with other substances in the atmosphere

Which of these is NOT a soil forming factor?

The inversion layer

Some characteristics of an old soil are:

Deep soil profile and lots of clay

which is FALSE about the properties of water:

Oxygen atoms in water are positively charged

A watershed can be described as:

Land area that delivers water into a stream or river system

Which of these have the slowest turnover times?

groundwater

Waste Disposal methods in order from most to least common:

Landfills, Recycling, Incineration

Soil organisms provide:

ecosystem services

The Ozone thinning/hole is caused by:

human produced bromine and chlorine containing chemicals(CFCs)

Environmental sustainability is:

the ability to meet humanity’s current needs without compromising the needs of future generations

Which is not an problem of sanitary landfills:

full landfills cannot be closed

Which of the following statements is correct?

Groundwater is mostly nonrenewable

What are the causes of soil erosion?

* Deforestation
* Poor agriculture practices
* wind and water erosion

Which of the following is an example of sustainable agriculture

conservation tillage and crop rotation

Which of the following shows an accumulation of clay and nutrient material?

B horizon

In which of the following horizons is there an accumulation of plant litter?

O horizon

Which of these materials could bioaccumulate?

heavy metals

A common indicator of raw sewage in water is:

Escherichia Coli

What is NOT of eutrophication?

Lower BOD

 Common-pool resources 

* a hybrid between a public and private good that is shared (non-rivalrous) but also scarce, having a finite supply 

Negative Feedback: 

* Change triggers a response that counteracts the changed condition 
* Balance between population and food supply → population increase → food supply inadequate → population decrease (increased mortality) (response to change: negative feedback) 
* Negative feedback is good because it puts things into balance

Positive feedback: 

* Change triggers a response that intensifies the changing condition 
* Climate stability→ increased atmospheric CO2 → climate warming → melting at poles → increased absorption of solar heat

Scientific Method Steps: 

* Make an observation.
* Ask a question.
* Form a hypothesis, or testable explanation.
* Make a prediction based on the hypothesis.
* Test the prediction.

Water

* O atoms negatively charged (1 O)
* H atoms positively charged (2 H)

Residence time (T) is the measure of how?

how long molecule of water spends in a reservoir before moving onto another reservoir 

* T=V/I 
* V=volume(liters) and I=inflow- outflow rate 
* The hydrologic cycle is a conceptual model that describes the fluxes of water between the oceans, surface bodies of water, etc

Distillation:

* salt water is evaporated and water vapor is condensed into freshwater 

What are some solutions to deal with water scarcity? 

* Micro Irrigation of crops 
* Xeriscape: low water use landscaping 

What is soil

* Mineral particles (45%), Organic material (5%), Water (25%), Air (25%)
* Old soil is deeper and tends to have more clay, tends to have low fertility because most of the weatherable minerals are gone due to leaching 


* Soil Composition: pore space 
* Soil air-good for aeration 
* Soil water-provides water to roots

Biota:

* kinds of plants, worms, rodents, insects, fungi, microorganisms 

Topography:

* slope steepness, position, orientation

Spodosols

(cold climate, forests)

* Alfisols

* (humid climate) (Al = aluminum and F= iron rich soils)

Mollisols

* (grasslands, ex: north dakota) (Molly lives in North Dakota, which has grasslands)

Aridisols

(dry, ex: nevada) (Arid means dry)

Oxisols

* ( subtropical, ex: hawaii) (soil is **o**range in hawaii so associate it with **o**xisols)

What is a mineral?  

* An inorganic solid, occurring naturally in or on the Earth's crust with a precise chemical composition  

What is the difference between rocks and minerals?

* A rock is naturally formed aggregate of minerals

Smelting:

* process in which ore is melted at high to separate impurities from the molten metal 

Overburden is

* the rock or soil layer that needs to be removed in order to access the ore being mined (was there **before** stuff is mined)

Spoil bank is a

* bank of excavated refuse or waste earth, as of shale from surface coal mining (**after** stuff is mined, the trash)

Tailings are

* materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction of an ore (the rock leftover after the mining)

Why would it be more environmentally damaging to extract minerals from low-grade \n ores vs. high-grade ores? 

* Low grade ores are less valuable, therefore more needs to be extracted, harming the environment

How much processing is required to refine minerals? 

* The first step is to obtain them. The second is to process (smelting) and refine. The third is to manufacture. The fourth is finished products are used

What can be done to make mineral supplies last longer?  

* Reuse and recycle of existing mineral supplies 
* Use sustainable ways

What is biological diversity? 

* Number and variety of earth's organism
* Consists of these three: 
* Species richness 
* Genetic diversity 
* Ecosystem diversity 

Is biological diversity a renewable or nonrenewable resource?

* Renewable resources because they are living things

Species richness is

* the number of species within a defined region

Mass extinction:

* numerous species disappear in a relatively short period of time 
* There has been 5 to 6 mass extinctions

Why do species go extinct? 

* Climate
* disruption of habitat

What are indicator species? 

* An indicator species is an organism whose presence, absence or abundance reflects a specific environmental condition. (ex: frogs because they are delicate and cant handle change well) 

A biodiversity hotspot is a

biogeographic region with significant levels of biodiversity that is threatened by human habitation but protected.