APES Final

51. Coal was surface mined from five sites, labeled 1 through 5, that had originally been covered by forest. Each site was planted with a mix of tree seedlings to reclaim the area to forest. Grass was also seeded over each site to prevent initial erosion and to provide forage. Ten years after planting, information was collected at the five sites and is given in the table below. Select the letter of the row that indicates the site with the most successful forest reclamation

(E) 5 35 3 65 20

52. Which of the following will be the greatest impact of the development on the local water supply?

(A) There will be less recharge of groundwater

53. Stormwater runoff from the new development into nearby Samel Creek will likely lead to which of the following?

(C) Destruction of fish habitats by high levels of suspended solids and sediments

54. One important step that homeowners in the new development can take to protect water quality in Samel Creek would be to….

(E) use rain barrels to reduce the flow of storm water into the creek

55. The table below shows measurements of the beak size of a sample of ten ground finches on each of two islands in the Galápagos archipelago. The two islands are about ten kilometers apart, and all the birds are the same species. Given that beak size is genetically determined, which of the following hypotheses is the most likely explanation for the differences in data between the islands?

(E) The types of food found on the two islands exert selective pressure on beak size.

56. A family of five recently replaced its

5-gallon-per-minute showerheads with

water-saving 2-gallon-per-minute showerheads.

Each member of the family averages 8 minutes in

the shower per day. In a 30-day period, how many

fewer gallons of water will the family use with the

new showerheads?

(E) 7,200

57. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the pumping

of highly pressurized water with a mixture of sand

and chemicals into boreholes to

(A) create cracks within the rock in order to

provide pathways for the release of gas

and oil

58. Which of the following describes the changes in a

country's demographics as it begins its transition

from a preindustrial state to an industrial state?

(E) Population increases rapidly, birth rate

remains high, death rate decreases

59. All of the following are negative externalities

EXCEPT

(D) bees pollinating vegetables in addition to

creating honey

60. Based on the information shown in the graph, which of the following statements is

most likely to be true?

(E) Low dissolved oxygen is a severe problem in the streams in watershed I because of the inability of light to penetrate the forest canopy.

61. A vegetable farmer wishes to switch to a combination of trees and vegetables on several hectares of her land to reduce erosion and to diversify what she grows. She needs to assess whether her land can produce as much income by growing two crops instead of one. The farmer estimates that the new tree crop would cover 40% of her field with the vegetable crop covering the other 60%. Which equation should she use to calculate how much total income she would get from using the new two crop plan

(D) ($ income trees / ha x total ha x 0.4) + ( income veg/ ha x total ha x o.6) \= agroforestry income

62. Surface oceanic circulation results most directly in the

(A) Distribution of heat from tropical to temperate and polar regions

63. The half-life of a radioactive substance with the decay rate shown in the graph above is closest to

(B) 7 seconds

64. In August of 2014, residents of several Ohio cities that use Lake Erie as a drinking water source were warned not to drink tap water because of the presence of toxins released by blue-green algae (cyanobacteria). Which of the following is the most likely cause of recent blooms of blue-green algae in Lake Erie?

(C) Phosphorus contained in agricultural runoff

65. Researchers have found that over the last

twenty years there are fewer native plants in

the alpine meadows of the Rocky Mountains east

of Salt Lake City and that the abundance of two

species of invasive grasses has increased. Which

of the following questions is most appropriate to

ask when investigating the cause of the change in

the alpine meadows?

(A) Has an increase in soil nitrates from air

pollution allowed the invasive grasses to

outcompete the native plants?

66. An experiment was carried out to determine the lethal dose of ammonium sulfate on mung bean germination. True statements about the experiment design Include which of the following?

(D) II. the independent variable is the concentration of the ammonium sulfate III. the dependent variable is the number of seeds that failed to germinate

67. A major limitation of using photovoltaic cells to generate electricity is that they

(B) Don't produce as much electricity on cloudy days

68. Major Anthropogenic sources of nitrogen pollution commercial fertilizers, vehicle exhaust, Industrial air pollution, and

(A) Disposal of refrigeration units

69. Burning one gallon of gasoline in a car releases approximately 20 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere. One person drives 60,000 miles in a car that averages 30 miles per gallon (mpg), while another person drives 60,000 miles in a car that averages 20 mpg. Over the course of the 60,000 miles, how many fewer pounds of CO2 are released by the 30 mpg car than by the 20 mpg car?

(C) 20,000

70. Which of the following measures would be most likely to promote fertility above replacement level

(E) Public housing priority for families with more than two children.

71. Which of the following is true about the clean air act amendments of 1990?

(A) They allowed power plants to buy and sell S02 pollution allowances.

72. Until 2005 the entire Postawko Creek Watershed in Fremont County consisted of a national forest interspersed with hay meadows and houses on lots with a minimum size of five acres. In 2005 Farmer Cobb opened a dairy farm in the watershed, and the citizens of Fremont County became concerned that the runoff from the dairy farm would negatively impact the water quality of the watershed. Scientists employed by the county collected water quality data at five sites in the watershed; some of the data are compiled in the table above. Based on these data, which site is most likely immediately downstream from the dairy farm?

(B) Site B

73. Which of the following is the most likely route for mercury to enter the food web

(B) coal burning emissions —\> deposition —\> ocean —\> plankton —\> fishes

74. A student group is involved in a restoration study of a nearby disturbed area. They decide to collect six soil samples and analyze them for carbon (C) and nitrogen (N). Two of the samples are found to be very high in C and N, but the other four samples are low in both. The students also notice that the color of the two soil samples that are high in C and N is very dark. Which of the following is the most likely explanation of the data?

(D) Four of the samples were collected from an area that had been mulched.

75. Eutrophication results in the death of trout and other fish as a result of

(B) asphyxiation from lack of oxygen

76. Consumers who get their electricity from coal-fired power plants are not paying the true cost of energy production in their monthly utility bills. Which of the following is true about utility bills for these consumers?

(A) The bills do not include public health costs, such as those associated with air pollution.

77. Which of the following is an example of a carbon sink?

(A) Deposition of organic matter on the deep ocean floor

78. Which of the following statements is best supported by the population doubling times indicated on the map?

(B) India has a higher population growth rate than China and Australia have.

79. Extraction of natural gas by the process of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is most likely to result in which of the following environmental problems?

(A) Groundwater contamination

80. An alpine area of a national park near a trail is normally covered by plants, but much of the area is now bare soil. Park rangers suspect that trampling by hikers has killed the plants. Which of the following will best test the hypothesis?

(B) Counting the number of plants along the trail in comparison with the number of plants along other trails

81. The K-selection reproductive strategy maximizes survival of offspring by producing

(A) few offspring with high levels of parental care

82. Approximately 60 percent of municipal solid waste in the United States is composed of some form of organic matter that could be composted. Every American generates approximately 2 kg of waste every day. The amount of compostable waste that could be generated by one individual in a week would be closest to

(E) 8.4 kg

83. Which of the following scenarios is NOT likely to result from increased temperatures in the Arctic?

(E) Increased melting of sea ice decreases the sea level and leads to more arable land area that can be farmed.

84. The terrestrial biomes shown in the diagram above vary in net primary productivity. The explanation for the variation includes which of the following?

(D) I and II only

85. Which of the following would most likely

reduce the concentration of ground-level ozone

in the air of a city?

(D) Decrease in the emissions of nitrogen oxides

86. Which latitude shown on the diagram

above experiences 24 hours of daylight on

December 21 ?

(E) Antartica

87. Which of the following is the best description of

bioaccumulation?

(C) The transfer of persistent pollutants like

PCBs from one generation to the next

88. Which of the following is the human health

impact most closely associated with atmospheric

particulates?

(D) Asthma

89. A North Carolina timber company proposes

to clear-cut 45 hectares of oak-hickory deciduous forest in the Appalachian Mountains. The company has said that the forest will regrow naturally, and 50 years after the clear-cutting the company plans to harvest again, cutting all the oaks and hickories that have at least a 40-centimeter diameter. A local citizens' group claims that this is not a realistic plan. Which of the following, if true, best supports the claim of the citizens' group?

(B) Oak and hickory are late-successional species; pioneer species will dominate for many decades before the oaks and hickories are reestablished.

90. Which of the following is the best example of the

tragedy of the commons?

(E) The overharvesting of fish from privately

owned lakes

91. Carbon dioxide and particulates are emitted by

volcanoes. Particulates form stratospheric aerosols

that reflect sunlight. Which of the following best

describes the impact of atmospheric carbon

dioxide and stratospheric aerosols?

(A) Carbon dioxide contributes to global warming, and aerosols cause cooling.

92. Recent studies have found that fine particulate

matter with a diameter of 2.5 μm or less can have

negative human health effects. Which of the

following correctly links a negative human health

effect to an anthropogenic source of fine

particulate matter?

(A) High rates of respiratory disease from power

plant emissions

93. Water vapor is a greenhouse gas and is produced

by burning fossil fuels. However, anthropogenic

water vapor does not contribute significantly to

global warming because water vapor

(C) has a short residence time in the atmosphere

94. The spread of infectious diseases is expected to

increase with climate change, mainly because

(B) warmer temperatures allow disease-carrying

insects to survive in areas that were once

too cold

95. As part of a school project, a group of high school students will attempt to determine whether increasing the species diversity of the edible plants in pastures used for grazing livestock will provide an economic benefit to ranchers. Which of the following hypotheses, if supported by experimental results, best demonstrates an economic benefit to the ranchers?

(A) Pastures with the highest diversity of plant species will have the highest net primary productivity.

96. Which of the following statements best explains the graphs above?

(B) Fruits and vegetables give the greatest monetary return per water usage.

97. Increased atmospheric CO2 concentration over the

next 50 years is expected to cause which of the