ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE CORRECT EXAMS
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SET A+
✔✔Biome - ✔✔large distinct terrestrial region having similar climate, soil, plants &
animals.
✔✔Tropical Rain Forests - ✔✔characterized by the greatest diversity of species,
believed to include many undiscovered species. Occur near the equator. Soils tend to
be low in nutrients. Distinct seasonality: winter is absent, and only two seasons are
present (rainy and dry).
✔✔Temperate Forests - ✔✔occur in eastern North America, Japan, northeastern Asia,
and western and central Europe. Dominated by tall deciduous trees. Well-defined
seasons include a distinct winter. Logged extensively, only scattered remnants of
original temperate forests remain.
✔✔Boreal Forests or Taiga - ✔✔represent the largest terrestrial biome. Dominated by
needleleaf, coniferous trees. Found in the cold climates of Eurasia and North America:
two-thirds in Siberia with the rest in Scandinavia, Alaska, and Canada. Seasons are
divided into short, moist, and moderately warm summers and long, cold, and dry
winters. Extensive logging may soon cause their disappearance.
✔✔Temperate Shrub Lands - ✔✔occurs along the coast of Southern California and the
Mediterranean region. Characterized by areas of Chaparral-miniature woodlands
dominated by dense stands of shrubs.
✔✔Savannas - ✔✔grassland with scattered individual trees. Cover almost half the
surface of Africa and large areas of Australia, South America, and India. Warm or hot
climates where the annual rainfall is 20-50 inches per year. The rainfall is concentrated
in six or eight months of the year, followed by a long period of drought when fires can
occur.
, ✔✔Temperate Grasslands - ✔✔dominated by grasses, trees and large shrubs are
absent. Temperatures vary more from summer to winter, and the amount of rainfall is
less than in savannas. Temperate grasslands have hot summers and cold winters.
Occur in South Africa, Hungary, Argentina, the steppes of the former Soviet Union, and
the plains and prairies of central North America.
✔✔Deserts - ✔✔covers about one fifth of the Earth's surface and occur where rainfall is
less than 50 cm/year. Soils may have abundant nutrients, need only water to become
productive, and have little or no organic matter. Common disturbances include
occasional fires or cold weather, and sudden, infrequent, but intense rains that cause
flooding.
✔✔Tundra - ✔✔treeless plains that are the coldest of all the biomes. Occur in the arctic
and Antarctica. Dominated by lichens, mosses, sedges, and dwarfed shrubs
Characterized by extremely cold climate, permanently frozen ground (permafrost) low
biotic diversity, simple vegetation structure, limitation of drainage, short season of
growth and reproduction.
✔✔Wetlands - ✔✔areas of standing water that support aquatic plants including
marshes, swamps, and bogs. Reduce flooding. Species diversity is very high.
✔✔Fresh Water - ✔✔defined as having a low salt concentration (less than 1%). Plants
and animals are adjusted to the low salt content and would not be able to survive in
areas of high salt concentration (i.e., ocean). There are different types of regions: ponds
and lakes, streams and rivers, and estuaries.
✔✔Oceans - ✔✔the largest of all the ecosystems. Regions are separated into separate
zones: intertidal, pelagic, abyssal, and benthic.
✔✔Safe Drinking Water Act - ✔✔set maximum contaminant levels for pollutants that
may have adverse effects on human health.
✔✔Clean Water Act - ✔✔Aim: to make all US waterways safe for fishing and swimming.
set maximum permissible amounts of water pollutants that can be discharged into
waterways. Require the repairment of damaged wetlands.
✔✔Clean Air Act - ✔✔NAAQS for 6 criteria pollutants. Set emission standards for
mobile and stationary sources, and limits release of air pollutants. Multiple
amendments, most influential modern env. law
✔✔Montreal Protocol - ✔✔global agreement to phase out of ozone depleting
substances.
✔✔Endangered Species Act - ✔✔identifies threatened and endangered species in the
US, and puts their protection ahead of economic considerations.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SET A+
✔✔Biome - ✔✔large distinct terrestrial region having similar climate, soil, plants &
animals.
✔✔Tropical Rain Forests - ✔✔characterized by the greatest diversity of species,
believed to include many undiscovered species. Occur near the equator. Soils tend to
be low in nutrients. Distinct seasonality: winter is absent, and only two seasons are
present (rainy and dry).
✔✔Temperate Forests - ✔✔occur in eastern North America, Japan, northeastern Asia,
and western and central Europe. Dominated by tall deciduous trees. Well-defined
seasons include a distinct winter. Logged extensively, only scattered remnants of
original temperate forests remain.
✔✔Boreal Forests or Taiga - ✔✔represent the largest terrestrial biome. Dominated by
needleleaf, coniferous trees. Found in the cold climates of Eurasia and North America:
two-thirds in Siberia with the rest in Scandinavia, Alaska, and Canada. Seasons are
divided into short, moist, and moderately warm summers and long, cold, and dry
winters. Extensive logging may soon cause their disappearance.
✔✔Temperate Shrub Lands - ✔✔occurs along the coast of Southern California and the
Mediterranean region. Characterized by areas of Chaparral-miniature woodlands
dominated by dense stands of shrubs.
✔✔Savannas - ✔✔grassland with scattered individual trees. Cover almost half the
surface of Africa and large areas of Australia, South America, and India. Warm or hot
climates where the annual rainfall is 20-50 inches per year. The rainfall is concentrated
in six or eight months of the year, followed by a long period of drought when fires can
occur.
, ✔✔Temperate Grasslands - ✔✔dominated by grasses, trees and large shrubs are
absent. Temperatures vary more from summer to winter, and the amount of rainfall is
less than in savannas. Temperate grasslands have hot summers and cold winters.
Occur in South Africa, Hungary, Argentina, the steppes of the former Soviet Union, and
the plains and prairies of central North America.
✔✔Deserts - ✔✔covers about one fifth of the Earth's surface and occur where rainfall is
less than 50 cm/year. Soils may have abundant nutrients, need only water to become
productive, and have little or no organic matter. Common disturbances include
occasional fires or cold weather, and sudden, infrequent, but intense rains that cause
flooding.
✔✔Tundra - ✔✔treeless plains that are the coldest of all the biomes. Occur in the arctic
and Antarctica. Dominated by lichens, mosses, sedges, and dwarfed shrubs
Characterized by extremely cold climate, permanently frozen ground (permafrost) low
biotic diversity, simple vegetation structure, limitation of drainage, short season of
growth and reproduction.
✔✔Wetlands - ✔✔areas of standing water that support aquatic plants including
marshes, swamps, and bogs. Reduce flooding. Species diversity is very high.
✔✔Fresh Water - ✔✔defined as having a low salt concentration (less than 1%). Plants
and animals are adjusted to the low salt content and would not be able to survive in
areas of high salt concentration (i.e., ocean). There are different types of regions: ponds
and lakes, streams and rivers, and estuaries.
✔✔Oceans - ✔✔the largest of all the ecosystems. Regions are separated into separate
zones: intertidal, pelagic, abyssal, and benthic.
✔✔Safe Drinking Water Act - ✔✔set maximum contaminant levels for pollutants that
may have adverse effects on human health.
✔✔Clean Water Act - ✔✔Aim: to make all US waterways safe for fishing and swimming.
set maximum permissible amounts of water pollutants that can be discharged into
waterways. Require the repairment of damaged wetlands.
✔✔Clean Air Act - ✔✔NAAQS for 6 criteria pollutants. Set emission standards for
mobile and stationary sources, and limits release of air pollutants. Multiple
amendments, most influential modern env. law
✔✔Montreal Protocol - ✔✔global agreement to phase out of ozone depleting
substances.
✔✔Endangered Species Act - ✔✔identifies threatened and endangered species in the
US, and puts their protection ahead of economic considerations.
