ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE COMPREHENSIVE
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SET A+
✔✔malnourished - ✔✔Having a diet that lacks the correct balance of proteins,
carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals.
✔✔undernourished - ✔✔having insufficient food or other substances for good health
and condition
✔✔Green Revolution - ✔✔a large increase in crop production in developing countries
achieved by the use of fertilizers, machines, pesticides, and high-yield crop varieties.
✔✔genetic engineering - ✔✔Process of making changes in the DNA code of living
organisms
✔✔Irrigation methods - ✔✔Aquifer/well withdrawal, ditches and canals, drip, spray,
flooding
✔✔IPM - ✔✔Pest management using a variety of techniques, agricultural, biological
and use of minimal amount of pesticides when necessary to limit pest damage to
economically tolerable level
✔✔old growth/primary forest - ✔✔an uncut or regenerated forest that has not been
seriously disturbed by human activities or natural disasters for 200 years or more
✔✔tree plantation (aka tree farm or commercial forest) - ✔✔a large area typically
planted with a single rapidly growing tree species
✔✔crown fire - ✔✔Extremely hot fire that leaps from treetop to treetop - occurs in
forests with no surface fires for several decades (an excessive amount of deadwood
has built up) - this kills most vegetation, wildlife, buildings and contributes to soil erosion
, ✔✔surface fires - ✔✔fires that typically burn only the forest's underbrush and do little
damage to mature trees. May actually serve to protect the forest from more harmful fires
by removing underbrush and dead materials that would burn quickly and at high
temperatures.
✔✔Overgrazing - ✔✔Destruction of vegetation caused by too many animals consuming
the plants in a particular area so they cannot recover
✔✔Desertification - ✔✔Degradation of land, especially in semiarid areas, primarily
because of human actions like excessive crop planting, animal grazing, and tree cutting.
✔✔suburban sprawl - ✔✔low-population-density developments that are built outside of
a city. Think strip malls, parking lots, spread out houses, lots of roads/highways
✔✔urban heat island - ✔✔Is a metropolitan area which is significantly warmer than its
surrounding rural areas. Tall buildings block air flow, machines release heat, abundant
dark surfaces
✔✔National Parks System - ✔✔established by the United States to preserve historic
sites & habitats of many plants & animals
✔✔wildlife refuge - ✔✔an area designated for the protection of wild animals, within
which hunting and fishing are either prohibited or strictly regulated
✔✔wilderness - ✔✔An area where there are few people living; an area still in its natural
state
✔✔Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA) - ✔✔this law
requires mining companies to restore most surface-mined land by grading and
replanting it
✔✔TSCA (Toxic Substances Control Act) - ✔✔act that regulates existing chemicals that
pose an unreasonable health risk. Its objective is to allow EPA to regulate new
commercial chemicals
✔✔RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) - ✔✔developed a comprehensive
program to ensure that hazardous waste is managed safely from the moment it is
generated to its final disposal (cradle-to-grave)
✔✔purse-seine fishing - ✔✔an effective fishing method for species that school near the
surface; a large net is encircled around the targeted catch, after which the bottom of the
net is drawn tight, thus confining the catch in the net.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SET A+
✔✔malnourished - ✔✔Having a diet that lacks the correct balance of proteins,
carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals.
✔✔undernourished - ✔✔having insufficient food or other substances for good health
and condition
✔✔Green Revolution - ✔✔a large increase in crop production in developing countries
achieved by the use of fertilizers, machines, pesticides, and high-yield crop varieties.
✔✔genetic engineering - ✔✔Process of making changes in the DNA code of living
organisms
✔✔Irrigation methods - ✔✔Aquifer/well withdrawal, ditches and canals, drip, spray,
flooding
✔✔IPM - ✔✔Pest management using a variety of techniques, agricultural, biological
and use of minimal amount of pesticides when necessary to limit pest damage to
economically tolerable level
✔✔old growth/primary forest - ✔✔an uncut or regenerated forest that has not been
seriously disturbed by human activities or natural disasters for 200 years or more
✔✔tree plantation (aka tree farm or commercial forest) - ✔✔a large area typically
planted with a single rapidly growing tree species
✔✔crown fire - ✔✔Extremely hot fire that leaps from treetop to treetop - occurs in
forests with no surface fires for several decades (an excessive amount of deadwood
has built up) - this kills most vegetation, wildlife, buildings and contributes to soil erosion
, ✔✔surface fires - ✔✔fires that typically burn only the forest's underbrush and do little
damage to mature trees. May actually serve to protect the forest from more harmful fires
by removing underbrush and dead materials that would burn quickly and at high
temperatures.
✔✔Overgrazing - ✔✔Destruction of vegetation caused by too many animals consuming
the plants in a particular area so they cannot recover
✔✔Desertification - ✔✔Degradation of land, especially in semiarid areas, primarily
because of human actions like excessive crop planting, animal grazing, and tree cutting.
✔✔suburban sprawl - ✔✔low-population-density developments that are built outside of
a city. Think strip malls, parking lots, spread out houses, lots of roads/highways
✔✔urban heat island - ✔✔Is a metropolitan area which is significantly warmer than its
surrounding rural areas. Tall buildings block air flow, machines release heat, abundant
dark surfaces
✔✔National Parks System - ✔✔established by the United States to preserve historic
sites & habitats of many plants & animals
✔✔wildlife refuge - ✔✔an area designated for the protection of wild animals, within
which hunting and fishing are either prohibited or strictly regulated
✔✔wilderness - ✔✔An area where there are few people living; an area still in its natural
state
✔✔Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA) - ✔✔this law
requires mining companies to restore most surface-mined land by grading and
replanting it
✔✔TSCA (Toxic Substances Control Act) - ✔✔act that regulates existing chemicals that
pose an unreasonable health risk. Its objective is to allow EPA to regulate new
commercial chemicals
✔✔RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) - ✔✔developed a comprehensive
program to ensure that hazardous waste is managed safely from the moment it is
generated to its final disposal (cradle-to-grave)
✔✔purse-seine fishing - ✔✔an effective fishing method for species that school near the
surface; a large net is encircled around the targeted catch, after which the bottom of the
net is drawn tight, thus confining the catch in the net.
