chapter 1

this partial image of north america represents:

the areas in yellow represent major metropolitan areas.
And the areas in yellow represent major human population centers.

According to the graph below, the world population reached 7 billion around what year?

2015CE

Poverty is associated with all of the following EXCEPT:

balanced nutrition

The global fertility rate is currently 1.2 children per woman and is expected to continue to decline.

False

Which of the following describes a highly developed country?

Countries with low rates of population growth and high per person incomes.

Approximately _________ percentage of the world's population lives in either moderately or less developed countries?

82

To improve their economic conditions, many LDCs borrow money from HDCs for capital investment.

true

Which of the following represents consumption overpopulation?

Family from Japan

How do moderately developed countries MOST differ from highly developed countries?

They have fewer opportunities for income, education, and healthcare.

The photograph below represents the average family living in Mali. Based on the photo, what do you think is Mali's most likely contribution to environmental problems?

overpopulation

People overpopulation is a situation:

in which there are too many people in a given geographical area.

Which of the following factors is as important as population in determining the environmental impact of humans?

affluence per person

If it is true that too many people living in an area causes degradation and a destruction of natural resources, then why is it that people who live in the large metropolitan areas in the United States able to have so many more material possessions than those living in the countries to the south of US?

We are using the natural resources of less developed countries to keep us supplied with goods and produce.

Why is a risk analysis usually performed in solving environmental problems?

To analyze the potential effect of an intervention versus doing nothing.

A state agency has contacted you to do a scientific assessment of kudzu in a nature preserve in southern Georgia. They are concerned about the effects of the non-native invasive vine on a small rare plant that grows on the forest floor in the preserve, but which is found nowhere else in the state. Kudzu is only growing in the east side of the preserve because it hasn't yet had time to invade further. In order to assess the effects of kudzu on the rare plant, you set up the following experiment:Site 1. On the east side of the park with the kudzu, you set up ten 1m x 1m plots on the forest floor. In each plot you count the number of individuals of the rare plant.Site 2. On the west side of the park without the kudzu, you set up ten 1m x 1m plots of the forest floor. In each plot you count the number of individuals of the rare plant.In this experiment, Site 2 is your:

control

Which of the following is a nonrenewable resource?

fossil fuels

Which of the following is NOT TRUE about the nature of natural resources and their use by people?

Poverty does not impose any pressures on natural resources as the poor use barely any resources at all and what they do use is used very carefully and wisely for long term survival.

What is the environmental significance of the process of "consumption"?

Consumption can outstrip the natural resources available and lead to overexploitation of the environment.

In the United States ecological footprint of each person is about 9.4 hectares. The Earth presently has 11.4 billion hectares of productive land and water. If everyone in the world lived at the same level of consumption as the average American about how many earths would we need to survive according to the ecological footprint analysis?

five earths

The ability to meet humanity's current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs is termed:

environmental sustainability

Sustainable development is economic growth that meets the needs of the present without compromising future generations.

True

The use of goods and services that satisfy basic human needs, improve the quality of life but minimize resource use is referred to as:

sustainable consumption

Which of the following is the BEST example of voluntary simplicity?

sharing ownership of a hybrid car with someone else

A type of sustainable consumption which recognizes that individual happiness and quality of life are not necessarily linked to the accumulation of material goods, but rather that a person's values and character define that individual more than how many things he or she owns is known as:

voluntary simplicity

In 1987 the U.N. World Commission on Environment and Development presented a report on sustainable development called?

Our Common Future

It has been argued that the United States has a serious consumption overpopulation problem. Why is this possibly true?

The United States population consumes too large a portion of the world's resources due to relatively affluent lifestyles.

Which of the following statements about sustainable development is TRUE?

Sustainable development can only support levels of consumption within the limits of the environment.

Which of the following interact to promote sustainable development?

1 Economically viable decisions
2 Socially equitable decisions
3 Environmentally sound decisions
4 High rate of resources use
5 Rapid population growth

1,2, and 3

Which of the following issues might an environmental ethicist study?

Whether NIMBY behavior is morally acceptable.

If economic decisions are to be sustainable they will have to consider which of the following?

environmental and societal costs must both be considered

Recommendations for achieving sustainable living include:

All these are recommendations for sustainable living.

Provide adequate food for all people.
Eliminate poverty.
Design sustainable cities.

Environmental justice is the right of every citizen and animal to adequate protection from environmental hazards.

False

All of the following statements regarding the need for environmental justice and the challenges in accomplishing its goals are true EXCEPT:

Research evidence suggests that minority communities tend to get more cooperation from government agencies that can help them.

A deep ecology worldview would support all of the following EXCEPT:

The inherent responsibility of individuals to implement changes in society so that humans can flourish.

The deep ecology world view most closely resembles the:

biocentric preservationist attitude

Why are both science and ethics necessary to solve environmental problems?

Science helps us understand the outcomes of particular actions and ethics are necessary to help us decide what we ought to do among a range of choices.

Sustainable human activities or behaviors include all of the following EXCEPT:

promoting consumption to improve quality of life.

The issue that racial and ethnic minorities face unusually high exposure to environmental hazards is a central argument to:

environmental justice

What rights does environmental justice seek to provide?

Adequate protection from environmental hazards.

Which of the following is an example of a biotic component of an ecosystem?

the community

Which of the following is an abiotic factor of the environment?

living spaces

What is entropy?

the disorder in a system.

What important process are producers involved with in the ecosystem?

photosynthesis

What is each level or "link" in a food chain or a food web called?

a trophic level

Gross primary productivity is the energy that is available as food for an ecosystem's consumers.

False

Approximately what percentage of the atmosphere is CO2?

0.04%

What is nitrogen fixation?

the conversion of gaseous nitrogen into an organism friendly form (ammonia (NH3).

What is the process that reduces nitrate (NO3-) to gaseous nitrogen (N2) called?

denitrification

What do we call an area of land that runoff drains into?

watershed

In the carbon cycle, carbon can be found in:

all of these choices

carbon dioxide and coal.
limestone, animals, and plants.
oil, bicarbonate, and sugar.

All of the following are example of resource partitioning EXCEPT:

nitrogen fixing bacteria live inside nodules on the roots of legumes

Which of the following statements is TRUE?

Predation exerts a selective force on the prey, favoring characteristics that reduce the probability of capture.

Being that grey wolves are a keystone species in North America, after their reintroduction into the Yellowstone ecosystem, which of the following events occurred?

All of the above occurred.

The number of prey in the ecosystem was reduced.
The number of predators in the ecosystem was increased.
The plant composition became more varied and lush.

Which of the following is an example of interspecific competition?

Mites and nematodes all feeding on the same decomposing plant.

Photosynthesis is:

The biological process that captures light energy and transforms it into the chemical energy of organic molecules, which are manufactured from carbon dioxide and water

Living space, temperature, sunlight, soil, wind, and precipitation make up the biotic components of the environment.

False

What type of chemical energy is stored in a plant?

potential

Which of the following statements about energy is TRUE?

It flows in only one direction through an ecosystem.

Herbivores are:

primary consumers

The moose shown here eating grass would MOST LIKELY be a member of what trophic level?

Second

Which of the following statements about biogeochemical cycles is true?

They describe the movement of water and other materials through an ecosystem.

Which of the following is the best definition of a biome?

A large distinct terrestrial region similar climate, soil, organisms, regardless of its global location.

Which of the following biomes is characterized by moist winters and hot, dry summers?

chaparral

What is the main difference between short and tall grass prairies?

Tall grass prairies receive more rainfall than short grass prairies.

Which biome is characterized by hot summers and cold winters, topsoil rich in organic material, annual precipitation of 75 to 125 cm (30-50 in), and many hardwood trees?

temperate deciduous forest

The biological community that characterizes the arctic tundra is:

1. migrating herbivores, small mammals, and predatory birds.
2. large trees.
3. mosses, lichens, and dwarf woody plants.

1 and 3

Which the following statements typifies tropical rain forests?

They occur in areas with ancient, highly weathered soil

What ecosystem service do meanders provide?

They slow down water flow

Which of the following arguments would be MOST compelling to an economist considering the development of a wetland?

Wetlands provide ecosystem services like water purification that would cost millions to replace.

Which of the following BEST illustrates the process of evolution?

A population of mosquitoes develops resistance to a pesticide.

Which of the following statements about natural selection is TRUE?

Individuals most adapted to their environments are most likely to survive and reproduce

The mechanism of natural selection involves all of the following EXCEPT:

a stable community structure

If each breeding pair of elephants produces 6 offspring during a 90-year life span, in 750 years, a single pair of elephants will have given rise to a population of 15 million elephants. Yet elephants have not overrun the planet. WHY?

Elephants produce more offspring than will survive to maturity

Which of the following is the BEST example of primary succession?

A forest develops on the edge of a retreating glacier

Which of the following was not understood when Darwin was developing his theory of evolution by natural selection?

Mutations (changes in DNA).

A coastal body of water partly surrounded by land with input from both sea and fresh water is called:

an estuary.

Deciduous forests:

have trees that shed their leaves seasonally

Which biome is mismatched with the statement that follows it?

Boreal forest: well suited for agriculture because of short growing season and mineral-poor soil

Which of the following is characteristic of desert animals?

They remain inactive during the driest months of the year.

Changes in vegetation with increasing elevation resemble changes observed in vegetation when going from warmer to colder climates.

True

What do population ecologists study?

How groups of animals of the same species respond to their environment

Which of the following is a factor that limits population growth?

Environmental resistance

Carrying capacity is the largest population a particular environment can support sustainably without environmental degradation.

True

A dieback or population crash often occurs after a species ________ its environmental carrying capacity.

overshoots

Who was the first scientist to sound the alarm about the growth of the human population and the ability of the earth to handle a large population of humans?

Thomas Malthus

World population is increasing due to an increase in the world birth rate

False

The current trends in human population growth suggest:

1. There has been a slight decline in global fertility rates.
2. The growth rate of human populations has increased from 1.2 in the 1960s to 2.2 today despite decreases in the fertility rate.
3. Population experts expect that the human population growth rate will attain zero population growth by the end of the 21st century.

1 and 3

Which of the following statements about human population growth and the Earth's carrying capacity for humans is TRUE?

The Earth's carrying capacity for humans is hard to estimate and depends on assumptions made about standard of living, resource consumption, technological innovations, and waste generation

What change in human population growth is predicted by the United Nation's population models?

Population will begin to level off by 2100

What can be concluded from the population figure below:

A quiz 7-1.png

All of these choices can be concluded from the figure

India and China being the world's two most populated nations appear as global giants
Russia has a very low population density
China's and India's combined populations are larger than the next eight countries combined

What is replacement-level fertility?

the number of children a couple must produce to replace themselves

What is probably the single most important factor affecting high total fertility rate in human populations?

The low status of women in many societies

What can be concluded from the graphs below?

Since lower fertility rates lead to an aging population, it explains why the population of Europe has more elderly than the population of North America

Increasing educational opportunities especially for women results in a decrease in total fertility because it:

delays the age at which women have their first child

Which of the following statements about urbanization and urban areas is CORRECT?

The population of urban areas tends to be younger and more diverse in terms of ethnicity, religion, and socioeconomic status as compared to the surrounding countryside.

Urbanization is the process by which people move from cities to rural areas.

False

Which of the following statements concerning the problems and challenges of urbanization in the United States is FALSE?

Due to the well-developed transportation infrastructure, most workers in cities in the United States have to commute only one or two miles from home to work

Compact development in urban areas benefits the environment in all of the following ways EXCEPT:

by reversing the trend towards urbanization

The process in which people increasingly move from rural areas to densely populated cities is termed:

urbanization

A city can be considered an ecosystem as shown in the figure below. What is not shown in the figure that would make the city more sustainable?

7-2-81.png

The internal cycling of materials and energy within the urban system, which would reduce both the inputs necessary as well as the wastes produced.