APES Exam Review Questions and Answers Already Passed

APES Exam Review Questions and Answers Already Passed What is an ecosystem? a location on earth that includes interacting living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) components. What percentage of energy is lost as trophic level increases? only 10% of energy is transferred from one trophic level to another. What is the Tragedy of the Commons? The destruction of a natural habitat known as a common that was overgrazed by sheep The addition of a limiting nutrient to an ecosystem may lead to an algal bloom. What effect will this algal bloom have on the oxygen content of the water? The algae bloom will cause the oxygen content of the water to decrease, leading to hypoxic conditions What has the largest impact on the resilience of an ecosystem? The amount of genetic biodiversity of the ecosystem. What process of selection can be controlled most directly by humans? Artificial selection what are the primary air pollutants? Carbon Monoxide, Nitrogen Dioxide, Sulfur Dioxide, Lead What are the effects of acid deposition? Lowers PH of water, Decreases species diversity of aquatic organisms, damages statues and buildings, mobilizing metals that are found in the water Why do we have a seasonal fluctuation in carbon dioxide concentration? Photosynthesis Name the 6 primary pollutants regulated by the Clean Air Act sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, tropospheric ozone, lead Name two anthropogenic greenhouse gases burning fossil fuels leading to higher carbon dioxide concentrations, farming and forestry, cement manufacture, aerosols (CFCs) In which atmospheric region is Ozone (O3) harmful? troposphere Why are CFCs so harmful? thing out the stratospheric ozone layer which can increase the UV-B radiation and produce a major hole in the ozone layer When sunlight combines with NOx, Sox, and VOC what is the result? Ozone (O3) Name 3 consequences of warming temperatures to the environment? rising of sea levels, melting of polar ice caps, melting of permafrost, storm intensity increase, human health affected by heat, crop damage What is cited s the causative factor for acid deposition? Sulfur Dioxide What is a point source? pollution that comes from a distinct location What does the Clean Water Act say? Legislation that was created in 1948 and then hugely expanded in 1972. It sets maximum permissible amounts of water pollutants that can be discharged into waterways. Aim: to make surface waters swimmable and fishable what causes cultural eutrophication? phosphates, nitrates, and detergents What is BOD (biochemical oxygen demand)? amount of oxygen required for the bacterial decomposition of organic matter in water What types of water can acid drainage runoff pollute? surface and underground water What are the three major fossil fuels? Oil, coal and natural gas Which fossil fuel is most commonly used in the U.S.? Coal What are the disadvantages of using coal? Increase in SOx, carbon, and other air pollutants What is petroleum made of? fluid of hydrocarbons, water, and sulfer What is liquid petroleum that is removed from the ground called? Crude oil Name two oil spills? BP Deepwater Horizon and the Exxon Valdez What is Natural Gas? it is mostly methane, ethane and propane and butane What are the two largest uses of methane in the U.S.? Electricity generation and industrial processes Which is the cleanest fossil fuel? Natural Gas is the cleanest, but it has its disadvantages Why is natural gas sometimes dangerous? There is one instance in where people attempt to retrieve natual gas by a process called fracking which is very dangerous. What is a nonpoint source? Areas where the sources of the pollution cannot be identified and come from many sources. What is human wastewater? It is produced by human sewage from toilet or gray water. What causes a rise in algae bloom? Eutrophication What is one of the most common species of fecal coliform? E.Coli What is a septic tank Small and simple residential sewage treatment process What determines the carrying capacity of a habitat? limiting factors (i.e. scarcity of resources: food or water; or an increase in predators, parasites, or diseases) Name at least three main factors that influence human population growth life expectancy fertility/birth rates mortality rates migration what are the three major factors that influence environmental impact Population, Affluence, Technology What is the difference between crude birth rate and crude death rate? CBR - number of live births per 1,000 people in a pop., in a given year. CDR - number of deaths per 1,000 people in a pop., in a given year Doubling time equals ____ divided by percent growth rate 70 What kind of GDP do developing countries have and how does it correlate with its pollution levels? low per capita GDP (gross domestic product) → low industrial activity which means lower production of pollution and lower use of fossil fuel and less waste generated → lower pollution levels What characteristics are typical of developed countries? various answers: high technology use: sewage treatment and household waste collection, high consumption of energy resources (i.e. oil), higher affluence What does a an age structure diagram look like for a) the United States, b) India, and c) Germany and what do they indicate about the population growth? column-shaped → population stability pyramid with large base → rapidly growing population diamond-like / smaller base, wider center → declining population What are the four phases of demographic transition? slow pop growth → rapd pop growth → stable pop growth → declining pop growth What percentage of the world lives in developing countries? 82% What is the difference between ED50 and LD50 LD50 - A chemical dose lethal to 50 percent of a test population ED50 - the effective dose of a chemical that causes 50 percent of the individuals in a dose-response study to display a harmful, but nonlethal, effect Explain biomagnification the increase in chemical concentration in animal tissues as the chemical moves up the food chain What are retrospective and prospective studies? retrospective: studies conducted using data that have already been collected about events that have already happened. prospective: studies that monitor people who might become exposed to harmful chemicals in the future. What are the three steps of risk analysis? risk assessment → risk acceptance → risk management Name three emergent infectious diseases HIV/AIDS Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever Mad Cow Disease Bird Flu West Nile Virus The Stockholm convention: government agency in the Department of Labor to maintain a safe and healthy work environment EPA can track the chemicals being produced in the U.S. Identify an historically important infectious disease and give an identifying fact Plague (bubonic plague, black death)- carried by fleas, killed hundreds of millions of people throughout history Malaria- spread by mosquitos, most present/common in Africa and Central and South America, causes recurrent flulike symptoms Tuberculosis- highly contagious, primarily infects the lungs, each year 9 million develop the disease and 2 million of them die from it The innocent-until-proven-guilty principle is... a principle based on the philosophy that a potential hazard should not be considered an actual hazard until the scientific data definitively demonstrate that it actually causes harm As a nation becomes more developed over time and attains higher income levels, the risks of inadequate nutrition and sanitation decline, while the risks of tobacco use, obesity, and poor urban air quality rise. This is called... a Transition of risk Name the five types of substance groups that cause illnesses in humans: carcinogens, mutagens, neurotoxins, teratogens, allergens Define municipal solid waste (MSW) refuse collected by municipalities from households, small businesses, and institutions. The EPA estimates that approximately ___ percent of MSW comes from residence and ___ comes from commercial and institutional facilities 60%, 40% Describe the two types of recycling closed-loop recycling: the recycling of a product into the same product open-loop recycling: one product is recycled into another Describe the two main problems with food and yard waste in landfills takes up space they are chemically unstable; the absence of oxygen in landfills causes organic material to decompose anaerobically, which produces methane gas (more potent than carbon dioxide) What is the fate of the majority of the waste in the US? over half of it is discarded, only a third is recycled Describe a problem associated with landfills leachate will contaminate underlying or adjacent waterways generation of methane and carbon dioxide due to anaerobic respiration Describe a problem associated with incineration the release of air pollutants production of ash expensive to build The legislation that imposes a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries to generate funds to pay for the cleanup of hazardous substances is CERCLA (the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act) From an environmental waste perspective, which of the following is the most desirable: reduce, reuse, recycle, compost, incinerate. reduce What is a holistic approach to waste management? Integrated Waste Management: a technique that employs several waste reduction, management, and disposal strategies to reduce the environmental impact of MSW. 1. What happened at the Stockholm Convention? It produced a list of 12 chemicals ("dirty dozen") that were to be banned from use. 2. When was the Clean Air Act passed? 1963 3. What was the main purpose of the Clean Water Act (1972)? It issued water quality standards and supported the protection of wildlife. 4. What does anthropogenic mean? Derived from human activities 5. What was the Kyoto Protocol? International agreement to reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases from all industrialized countries to 5.2% below their 1990 levels by 2012. 1. What happened in Nairobi, Kenya? Mudslides damaged water pipes that led to a water treatment plant, which disrupted water supplies and the humans that drank it. 2. Where in California did an event occur that included an oil well explosion? Santa, Barbara, California (January 1969). 3. What happened on March 28, 1979? A reactor overheated which released radiation at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania. What happened in Chernobyl, Ukraine? The power plant overheated which led to an explosion and fire (April 26, 1986). 5. What Spanish flu did the H1N1 virus cause? The Bird Flu 1. What is transpiration? The release of water from leaves during photosynthesis. 2. What is evapotranspiration? The combined amount of evaporation and transpiration used to measure water moving through an ecosystem. 3. How can water move across the land surface and into rivers and streams? As a runoff 4. If evapotranspiration decreases, then what will happen to the runoff? It will increase 5. How does harvesting trees from a forest reduce evapotranspiration? It reduces plant biomass What is condensation? Conversion of the substance from thr vapor state to the liquid state Which layer of the atmosphere is closest to Earth? Troposphere What storage component has the longest residency time? Groundwater. 10, 000 years What type of energy drives the water cycle? Solar energy How can water transfer from the biosphere to the atmosphere? Evaporation, perspiration, transpiration Where is the ozone layer? Stratosphere Farther away from Earth, density (inreases/decreases)? Decreases Northern and southern lights are visible due to gases from where? Thermosphere What is the percentage of solar energy the Earth reflects? Albedo Four properties of air. Density, water vapor capacity, adiabatic heatingn/cooling, latent heat release. What is the maximum amount of water vapor in the air at a given time called? Saturation point Whar are the convection currents that cycle between 30 degrees N and S called? Hadley cells What area of Earth receives the most intense light? ITCZ What is the defelction of an object's path due to Earth's rotation? Coriolis effect