MIDTERM

Although all of you know there is no way to have 100% certainty (especially in the biological sciences), the statement made by scientists that has the highest degrees of certainty would be a:

law

In our culture, we use the saying "part of the rat race" to describe how hard people in our world have to work to live.  This is described or explained what key term?

 

the hedonic treadmill

If you have a friend who is that "shoe person" who has WAY too many shoes because they get a lot of enjoyment from owning them, they might say that getting them and owning them "brings them joy".  Which concept reminds us that getting more "stuff" rarely brings us more joy and, in fact, causes us to need to work more and/or struggle financially?

 

the Easterlin paradox

According to your definition and the notes you took in your Note Packet, which of the following is the BEST definition of __environmental biology__?

The study of the interactions between humans, other living creatures and the nonliving world they inhabit.

Things like public land and even your home (shared by many) can become polluted or trashed because:

tragedy of commons

Select ALL of the following that would be included in a comprehensive definition of __environmental literacy__ regarding Environmental Education (E.E).

* an understnafing of the issues
* a grasp og basic definition of EE
* the ability to hold a conversation about the topic
* being able to defend your stance on a topic related to EE
* being able to think critically about EE topics and sources of information

Which of the following terms refers to a dramatically different way to think about our lives, science, the world around us, etc?

 

paradigm shift

Which of the following could be considered a educated guess made by a scientists?

hypothesis

According to the text, the presence of which of the following is directly related to the presence of biodiversity?

 

indigenous people

Which of the following is an explanation for observations of the physical world and should be considered to have high __degrees of certainty__ due to the vast amount of research supporting it but not yet close to 100% certainty?

theory

Select all of the following that one might say if they suffered from the __tragedy of the commons__.

* What difference can I make- I am just one person?
* Its not my job or responsibility to clean up the mess others make.
* If I don't use it/do it, someone else will.
* The little bit I use/pollute won't matter in the grand scheme of things.

According to your definitions, which of the following refers to a harmful condition brought about by a living a lifestyle typical of many MDCs?

affluenza

This person wrote of the need to protect the environment not only as a means of preserving nature or conserving nature but also because, by poisoning it, we were poisoning ourselves also.

Carson

When one speaks of "externalizing" costs, this applies to situations when:

entities, like companies, exclude the costs of environmental degradation in price consumers pay for a product.

According to your definitions and what you learned in this course, which type of" value" refers to the value of being able to pass something on to future generations?

bequest

According to your definition and/or understanding of the concept, to __internalize__ costs means:

that a company producing a product will incorporate the costs of externalities into the final price of the product paid by the consumer.

According to your notes and definitions, which of the following worldviews is the one generally espoused by a people or culture who believes that although we may be in control or most intelligent, it is our duty to do our best to take care of the Earth?

stewardship

Which of the following eras was the one in which mankind thought of nature as a rich and expansive resource to be explored and/or conquered?

frontier

According to your definitions, which of the following terms refers change that is initiated by common, everyday people rather than influential, rich, politically-powerful people?

grassroots action

__Environmental economics__ refers to:

a field that sheds light on the fact that the field of economics does generally excludes environmental "costs".

It is very likely that someone holds a more ___ worldview such as the __ worldview if they believe in __techno-fixes__.

egocentric; planetary management

This famous person in environmental history was the leader of the Forest Service and strongly advocated for the conservation of forests as a vital resource upon which depended for lumber and fuel.

Pinchot

Which of the following BEST describes __potentially renewable resources__?

resources that have the inherent capacity to replace themselves but will only do so in situations were human interference does not limit this inherent capacity.

According to your definitions, which of the following are available in limited and fixed amounts?

 

nonrenewable resources

According to your definitions,______ refers to the processes that throughout history have resulted in a the formation a of new species.

 

speciation

According to your definitions, a ______  relationship is a very general term that refers to the fact that two or more species are living together in some sort of mutually beneficial interchange.

symbiotic

According to your definitions, the __law of conservation of matter__ states that:

 

matter cannot be created or destroyed

According to your definitions, any organism that occupies the fourth trophic level of an ecosystem would be considered a:

 

teritary consumer

According to your definitions, if a species is able to experience infinite reproductive success then it can be said to have reached:

 

biotic potential

By definition, ______ competition is that which occurs between individual of different species.

 

interspecific

According to your definitions, term __abiotic__ refers to:

 

the nonliving components of an ecosystem

By definition, a ______ is the physical location in which an organism lives.

habitat

According to your definitions, ______ are regions on Earth with particularly high biodiversity.

hotspots

According to the text, there are nine or ten, large biological communities known as:

biomes

According to your definitions, the term _______ is used to characterize species that have very specific needs or requirements and thus are quite limited in the niches that they can inhabit.

specialist

According to your definitions,species that regularly eat both producers and consumers are considered to be:

omnivores

According to your definitions, a ______ is the hypothetical, most "advanced" stage of ecological succession.

climax community

According to your definitions, those species that produce many offspring at one time but invest little no care in those offspring are termed:

 r- strategists

According to your definitions,______ refers to the collective forces that would very likely decrease the likelihood of population growth.

 limiting factors

According to your definitions and research, _______ refers to an environmental initiative that hopes to reduce global warming gas emissions by protecting forests.

REDD

According to your definitions and notes, the type of land management style that generally allows for only nonconsumptive activities would be:

 restricted use

According to your definitions, ______ species are those that are near extinction.

endangered

According to your definitions, the ______ value of something refers to a number of factors for which there really isn't any monetary(money) value.

intrinsic

According to your definitions, ______ refers to land that is owned by citizens of the USA.

public land

According to your definitions, _______ are those that have never been logged or otherwise disturbed by human activities.

 virgin forests

According to your definitions, _______ is a term used to describe most of the trees in the USA since they are generally no more than 100 years old.

 

second growth

According to your definitions, ______ species are those that are experiencing dramatic declines in population.

threatened

According to your definitions, ______ species are those whose numbers have always been very low historically.

vulnerable

According to your definitions, ______ is the term used to describe a forest that has never been disturbed by human activities such as road building, logging or development.

 

old growth

Each year, a number of species go extinct because of totally natural processes.  Such extinction is referred to as ______ extinction.

background

After years of research, long-standing scientific consensus and much debate, which might still be tough to officially state?

 

a scientific theory

The phenomenon which consists of people thinking that most others in the world think like they do and share similar ethics and morals is:

 the false-consensus effect

Based on what you wrote, which of the following are attributes or characteristics of __more developed nations__?  Select all that apply.

* high GNP


* high use of technology
* mostly urban lifestyles
* high literacy

Students, on occasion, make comments about how "everyone" thinks or, in other instances, will say things like "no one is going to want to do that".  This illustrates which key term from class?

 the false-consensus effect

According to your definitions and our discussions in class, __group think__ refers to:

the fact that many people in a peer group tend to think the same way as most others do because of peer pressure and anecdotal evidence.

It is suggested that people from wealthy nations may actually suffer both physically and mentally from their wealth and/or the struggle to attain wealth.  This is explained by:

 affluenza

Select THREE of the following that are reasonable definitions of __sustainability__.

* a search for ecological stability and human progress that can last over the long term.
* refers to whether or not a practice can continue indefinitely and without causing degradation.
* being able to meet the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future.

Essentially, the __scientific methods__ refers to:

the methodology used by scientists to find answers to the questions they have about the physical world.

Which of the following BEST describes the take-home message regarding __environmentally literacy__?

This concept describes a person who understands an issue well enough to be able to express themselves intelligently and thoughtfully.

Which of the following is in the correct order (scientific method)?

observation, question, hypothesis, experiment, analyze results, conclude

According to your notes and definitions, the __genuine progress indicator__ is:

a measure of economic growth that is designed to urge corporations, individuals, and culture to take fuller account of the health of a nation's economy by incorporating environmental and social factors which are not measured by GDP.

**T/F**

Junk science is a sort of messy concept in that it refers to two very different things depending on who is using it.  Like:

* **Real scientists**- they refer to the "science" referred to on commercials and magazines as junk science.  Its not real science but they put an actor in a white lab coat and refer to the value of their product as being proven by science.
* **People who don't like the results of science**- a politician who doesn't want to support action on global warming might refer to scientific results they don't like as "junk science" as a way of getting people to not trust science.

TRUE

According to your notes and the text, a __preservationalist__:

is one who earnestly wants to preserve nature in stop human degradation of the Earth.

This famous historic figure was the first leader of the Sierra Club and fought to protect the Grand Canyon.

 Brower

Which of the following is defined as: "a set of assumptions about how the earth works and what your role or purpose on Earth might be"?

 a worldview

This leader in the environmental movement is considered, today, to be poster child for global environmental grassroots action.

Mathaai

Many people fail to act wisely today because they are sure that, should we create any imminent danger to our existence, we will find a way to undo the damage.  This is referred to as:

 techno-fixes

One of the first steps of primary succession is the introduction of:

 pioneer species

According to your definitions, a ______ relationship is one in which one species benefits while the other is neither benefited nor harmed.

 commensalistic

According to your definitions, the __first law of thermodynamics__ states:

 energy cannot be created or destroyed

According to your definitions, a species that is considered to be a long-time and/or original inhabitant of the habitat in question would be a:

 native species

A ______ is a group of organisms that live in the same location and who also resemble each other in genetics, behaviors and appearance.

 population

According to your definitions, the name that everyday people in the various regions and cultures of the world give to a species is its:

 common name

According to your definitions, a ______ is any species that generally exclusively eats meat, breaking it down only into smaller, organic pieces.

 carnivore

According to your definitions, a ______ eats the tissue of autotrophs.

 

herbivores

According to your definitions,any species that can break *organic* tissue down into *inorganic* matter would be considered a(n):

 decomposer

According to your definitions, a ______ is also known as an eco-region and consists of regions with similar plant and animal communities created by specific climatic conditions.

 

biome

According to your definitions,a diagram that shows the movement of both energy and matter from one organism to another would be considered a:

 food chain

According to your definitions,______ refers to a behavioral, anatomical or genetic change that allows for increased survival in a nature.

 adaptation

According to your definitions, _______ is a program used by zoos to increase the number of animals in hopes of someday releasing those individuals to the wild.

 captive breeding

According to your definitions,  the ______ value of something refers to a number of factors such as recreational value and monetary value.

* instrumental
* extrinsic

According to your definitions, which of the following terms can be used to describe a species that was brought into a new habitat?

* alien
* exotic
* introduced

According to your definitions and notes, the ecosystem management style that allows for activities such as camping and hiking as well as mining and logging is known as:

 multiple use

According to your definitions, the value gained from the ability to pass something along to future generations is its:

 bequest value

According to your definitions,  ______ refers to the fact that toxins in our environment become more concentrated as they pass through a food chain or food wed.

* bioamplification
* biomagnification

According to your definitions,______ are strips of land that connect many smaller protected areas together to essentially turn them into one larger preserve.

 corridors

By definition, ______ is a forest management style that entails removing all of the trees in any one area all at the same time.

 

* even-aged management


* clearcutting

According to your definitions, ______ refers to the loss of large, in-tact tracts of undisturbed habitat.

 fragmentation

When forming an opinion on them as a group, if someone uses their own personal experience with the police or what is covered on TV about them, then they are using:

 anecdotal evidence

According to your definitions, __critical thinking__ refers to:

 none of the above since critical thinking is a rather complex concept that encompasses much more than any, single statement above.

The process of __peer review__ occurs when:

 a fellow "expert" in your field reads and reviews your research article before it is published to assure it is non-biased and accurate.

In this class, __ignorant bliss__ refers to:

 A state of mind wherein someone does not know the information they need to know in order to live sustainably and thus they are content with the world and their life.

Rural living, low GDP, high infant mortality rates and low literacy are common in:

 LDCs

Scientific laws are designed to _____ phenomena whereas scientific theories are designed to _____.

describe; explain

Which of the following is the BEST source of scientific understanding of the world around us and issues in the news?

 peer review

Who is this well-known historical figure who championed for environmental protection and preservation as a matter of ethical responsibility?

Muir

Which of the following are TRUE regarding Aldo Leopold's __land ethic__?

* It refers to the sense of ethic or responsibility that one has for the natural world around them.
* It urged environmental educators to incorporate ethics as a part of an environmental curriculum.

This famous historic person lead the way for the National Forest system that we all enjoy today- even if he did it for more extrinsic reasons than might be ideal.

Roosevelt

Of the three worldviews mentioned in the Ppts, which of them is the most ecologically sustainable?

 earth wisdom

According to your notes and research on the topic, which of the following worldviews is more "human centered"?

 egocentric