Enviornmental Science Lecture Exam 1 Study Guide

Detection of toxic chemicals depends on

the sensitivity of measuring technques and how many chemicals are present.

Most people do their own personal risk assessments based upon

personal biases and preferences as well as logic

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)?

All of these factors can lead to the relatively irrational behavior demonstrated by the father:

• 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 cangive a biased view of hazards

• People tend to have an irrational fear of certain technologies that are not as well understood

As a society, we usually focus attention on health risks that are

most well publicized and frightening

Historically, which of the following considerations in setting standards for toxic exposure has been emphasized the least?

including information about how toxins affect natural ecological systems.

True or False: The DALY combines premature deaths and loss of healthy lives resulting from illness or injury.

TRUE

True or False: Pathogenic organisms are those that cause disease

TRUE

True or False: Malaria is caused by a parasite that is transmitted by mosquitoes

TRUE

True or False: One positive aspect of the current state of world diseases is that domestic animals and wildlife are not experiencing epidemics

FALSE

True or False: Toxins can be dangerous in very small concentrations

TRUE

Radioactive materials have been successfully removed from the soil near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant using?

sunflowers

Using intense physical or chemical methods to clear and repair severely degraded or barren sites is called?

Reclamation

“Brown fields” is another name for

abandoned, contaminated industrial sites

Restoring coastal marshes has become a priority in protecting coastal cities from…

both hurricanes and flooding

The majority of coastal wetland loss in the United States is due to..?

levees that guide the Mississippi River out into the Gulf of Mexico

The former Berkeley mine pit in Butte, Montana, is now a 300-m-deep lake with a pH of?

2.5

True or False: to use a site to create a new and different kind of biological community rather than the existing one, is known as reallocation

TRUE

True or False: the most influential American forester was Aldo Leopold

FALSE

True or False: in Vermont, most of the land is currently being used for sheep farming.

FALSE

The pioneer of restoration ecology who restored a farm to test his theories is?

Aldo Leopold

An American forester who developed a system from sustainable forest management and harvest is?

Gifford Pinchot

Which of the following is not a common component of restoration projects?

restoring the ecosystem back to its original form

A fern was used to remove arsenic from the soil of a contaminated backyard. The arsenic accumulated in the plant tissue, which was then dug up and removed from the site. This is an example of?

bioremediation

Restoring a surface mine to its original contour and revegetating the land is an example of

reclamation

A city park brings in tools and people to remove an invasive plant growing in the park and try to replace it with native plants. This is an example of a/an?

intervention

The Nature Conservancy was gifted land that was a farm for many years. Records show that this area was once a longleaf pine savanna, but secondary succession results in much different ecosystem. The Conservancy plans to harvest the trees that are not native to longleaf pine savannas, do a series of prescribed burns, then plant longleaf pine seedlings and native grasses. This is an example of?

restoration in a strict sense.

A large area of wetland and salt marsh was drained many years ago to be used for agriculture. A non-profit organization has a grant to return parts of this large agricultural property back to salt marsh. A more natural hydrologic pattern was restored by restoring a tidal creek, and groups of volunteers are planting native marsh grasses in the area. This is an example of?

restoration in a strict sense

An area of a shallow sound was chosen as a site for a new oyster reef. Along the Atlantic coast, oyster reefs were historically very large, but through over-harvesting, there are a fraction of what there used to be. There is no evidence that this area of the sound was previously a site of a natural oyster reef, but it is a good place to create one that can be used to restore oyster populations along the coast. This is an example of?

reallocation

Arsenic contamination in a family’s backyard in a city was high enough that it required action to clean up. The family was reluctant to have anyone come in and remove the soil from their backyard because they heard of a different method to achieve the desired results. They read that there was a fern that could be planted in the contaminated soil. The fern would take up the arsenic into its tissues. Then, the plants could be pulled out of the ground and hauled away, leaving less polluted soil. This is an example of?

remediation

Which of the following exemplifies restoration ecology?

The National Park Service is working to recreate some of the historical hydrology patterns in the Everglades to improve the health of the ecosystem.

True or False: Existing U.S. mining law is based on legislation passed in 1872.

TRUE

True or False: Using recycled materials utilizes about as much energy as required to process virgin ore.

FALSE

True or False: Volcanoes move material from earth’s mantle to Earth’s crust.

TRUE

True or False: iron and aluminum are examples of minerals based on their unique crystal structure.

FALSE

True or False: underground coal mines have a high risk, which can burn for many years.

TRUE

Smelting is a major source of air pollution which involves?

heating ores to release metals

Recycling aluminum beverage cans

consumes 1/20 of the energy required to make new aluminum.

Which of the following statements is false?

Tsunamis are generally caused by volcanic eruptions

Landslides and mudslides are examples of?

mass wasting and geologic processes in which materials are moved downslope by force of gravity.

In the diagram, the mantle is labeled as

C

In the diagram, the semisolid part of the Earth is labeled as

D

In the diagram, the densest part of the Earth is labeled as

E

____ in the mantle and core make tectonic plates move.

Convection currents

Coal is derived from ___ compressed and hardened over millennia

plant material from swaps

Crude oil is derived from ____

phytoplankton and algae

Which of the following bodies of water is growing due to tectonic movement

Atlantic Ocean

Which of the following is NOT a major type of rock?

bituminious

A break or weakness in the continuity of the crust of the Earth is called ____

fault

The fundamental characteristic(s) that distinguish(es) a mineral is/are its _____

chemical composition and its crystal structure

Which of the following statements regarding tectonics is true?

When oceanic plates collide with continental plates, the continent usually rides up over the seafloor.