Environmental Systems and Sustainability Question
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Course Introduction
This course explores the dynamic interactions between natural and human systems, emphasizing the principles of environmental sustainability. Students will examine ecological processes, resource management, and the impact of human activities on land, water, and atmospheric systems. Through case studies, theoretical frameworks, and practical projects, the course highlights strategies for sustainable development, environmental policy, and stewardship. By integrating scientific, social, and economic perspectives, students gain a comprehensive understanding of how to analyze and address contemporary environmental challenges while promoting resilience and sustainability in global and local contexts.
Recommended Textbook
Principles of Environmental Science Inquiry and Applications 7th Edition by William P Cunningham
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16 Chapters
511 Verified Questions
511 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Understanding Our Environment
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34 Verified Questions
34 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Evidence of progress in dealing with increasing population problems is best illustrated by
A) current evidence of a stable population in the developing and developed world.
B) a decrease in the average number of children born to each woman.
C) current evidence of a globally stable population growth.
D) the decreasing population growth rate in the United States.
E) current evidence of a stable population in the developing world.
Answer: B
Q2) Places in the world where indigenous people live tend to have high biodiversity.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) What would be considered to be an area in environmental science where we are seeing progress toward sustainability?
A) Biodiversity loss
B) World hunger
C) Climate change
D) Renewable energy
Answer: D
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Environmental Systems: Matter and Energy of Life
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38 Verified Questions
38 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Energy enters a system as sunlight and a producer is able to produce 10 kilograms of tissue. If eaten, the producer would produce about ______ kilograms of consumer tissue that would provide about __________ kilograms of tissue for a secondary consumer.
A) 100; 10
B) 10; 1
C) 100; 1
D) 1; 0.1
E) 10; 0.1
Answer: D
Q2) Water supplies contaminated with algae that produce toxins making the water unfit to drink is a result of the human impact to the
A) hydrologic cycle.
B) carbon cycle.
C) nitrogen cycle.
D) sulfur cycle.
Answer: C
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Evolution, Species Interactions, and Biological Communities
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30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A titmouse and a chickadee are living in the same territory and are using some of the same resources. The best way to classify this interaction is as A) mutualism.
B) intraspecific competition.
C) interspecific competition.
D) symbiosis.
E) commensalism.
Answer: C
Q2) What would you label the range of temperature from 90°F to 94°F for this particular species?
A) zone of intolerance
B) zone of physiological stress
C) tolerance limit range
D) optimal range
E) range of tolerance
Answer: B
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Chapter 4: Human Populations
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33 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A demographic transition is expected to accompany
A) colonization, as in Africa and Asia.
B) economic development and stabilization.
C) the development of capitalism.
D) the introduction of modern medicine.
E) All of these.
Q2) Generally speaking wealthy, developed nations have a smaller human ecological footprint than poorer, less developed nations.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Historically, up until the Middle Ages, populations were mostly limited by A) low fertility rates.
B) culturally imposed family planning practices.
C) disease, famine, and war.
D) religious restrictions on marriage.
E) infanticide.
Q4) Human population growth most closely resembles the S-shaped growth curve. A)True
B)False
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Chapter 5: Biomes and Biodiversity
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36 Verified Questions
36 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Approximately how many species have been identified on Earth?
A) about 500,000
B) a little less than 1 million
C) about 1.7 million
D) a little more than 10 million
E) about 30 million
Q2) The main reason that there are relatively few invertebrates categorized as endangered species is because
A) we consider other groups, such as mammals, to be more interesting and desirable.
B) worldwide there are relatively few invertebrates when compared to plants.
C) it is extremely difficult to identify and count invertebrates.
D) Since there are 532 invertebrates considered endangered, none of these are true.
E) invertebrates are more numerous and the relative percentages are similar.
Q3) Tropical moist forests have high species diversity because they have highly developed, diverse niche opportunities and habitats.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 6: Environmental Conservation: Forests,
Grasslands, Parks, and Nature Preserves
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Sample Questions
Q1) Old-growth forests are notable for containing species that A) are exotic in North America.
B) have an unusually high market value.
C) are highly adapted to their special environment.
D) are found in other North American forests, in very different environmental conditions.
E) migrate long distances to feed in the old-growth forests.
Q2) Which nation listed below has the highest deforestation rate?
A) Brazil
B) Russia
C) Japan
D) India
E) Canada
Q3) Most public rangelands are in poor condition due to
A) excessive populations of wild ungulates.
B) overcrowding of private livestock.
C) too many publicly owned animals on public lands.
D) excessive urban settlement in the West.
E) the lack of water.
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Chapter 7: Food and Agriculture
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30 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The USDA estimates ______ percent of conventionally grown foods are contaminated with pesticide residue.
A) 11
B) 23
C) 34
D) 58
E) 73
Q2) Contour plowing and strip farming are methods designed to
A) prevent weed spreading.
B) improve plowing efficiency.
C) improve harvesting efficiency.
D) prevent water and soil loss.
E) make farms more attractive.
Q3) More than 70% of all soybeans, corn, and cotton grown in the United States are genetically modified.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 8: Environmental Health and Toxicology
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33 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Organisms are physiologically able to minimize some of the effects of toxins if A) a minimal amount is taken into the body.
B) there is no exposure.
C) chemists develop vaccines and antibodies
D) DNA technology is used to change the individual's susceptibility.
Q2) Toxic substances are dangerous because they
A) react or interfere with specific cell functions.
B) can physically remove or tear tissues.
C) are usually synthetic.
D) cause debilitating, parasitic diseases.
E) cause excessive water accumulation in tissues.
Q3) As a society, we usually focus money and attention on health risks that are
A) most serious.
B) easiest to clean up.
C) most well publicized and frightening.
D) easiest to research.
Q4) In 1918 a flu pandemic killed more than 50 million people.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 9: Climate
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21 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The atmospheric zone where most weather events occur is the
A) stratosphere.
B) thermosphere.
C) troposphere.
D) mesosphere.
E) stratopause.
Q2) When El Niño occurs every three to seven years, a mass of warm Pacific water that is usually pushed westward by trade winds
A) surges back eastward toward South America.
B) becomes much warmer than usual, strengthening trade winds.
C) cools dramatically.
D) sinks and therefore cools substantially.
E) surges northward toward Japan.
Q3) Which of these is NOT among our most important greenhouse gases?
A) sulfur dioxide
B) methane (CH<sub>4</sub>)
C) nitrous oxide (N<sub>2</sub>O)
D) fluorine gases (such as CFCs)
E) carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>)
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Page 11
Chapter 10: Air Pollution
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Sample Questions
Q1) There are serious signs that ozone depletion may lead to
A) UV-caused skin cancers.
B) UV-caused blindness.
C) IR-caused sunburn.
D) UV-caused skin cancers and UV-caused blindness only.
Q2) What type of buildings and monuments are most susceptible to acid damage?
A) granite and basalt
B) wood
C) limestone and marble
D) concrete and brick
E) brick and bronze
Q3) The amount of CO<sub>2</sub> released by human activities per year is approximately ___________.
A) 30 million tons
B) 300 million tons
C) 3 billion tons
D) 30 billion tons
E) 300 billion tons
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Chapter 11: Water: Resources and Pollution
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Sample Questions
Q1) The main reason that surface water pollution has largely decreased in the United States since 1950 is
A) the Clean Water Act.
B) a series of epidemics that inspired action.
C) the discovery of newer technology that makes it cheaper not to pollute.
D) decreases in water withdrawal for industrial uses.
E) the emphasis in 1950 of watershed management.
Q2) A method of increasing water supplies that has been successful, if expensive, is
A) desalination by reverse osmosis.
B) cloud seeding.
C) towing icebergs by ship from polar regions.
D) altering the climate's convection currents.
Q3) Application of fertilizer to farm fields is an example of cultural eutrophication.
A)True
B)False
Q4) An oligotrophic lake would be very productive.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 12: Environmental Geology and Earth Resources
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33 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following factors were not in your explanation?
A) Technological inventions can increase the efficiency of gold extraction from the ore.
B) New sources of the gold ore are found through better exploration techniques.
C) Technological inventions can increase efficiency of gold processing out of the ore.
D) As supplies decrease and prices rise it is less rewarding to explore for new sources of the gold.
Q2) Which of the following statements regarding tectonic plate movement is true?
A) Because of tectonic movements, Europe and Africa are drifting slowly toward the Americas.
B) When continental plates collide with continental plates, both plates usually subside.
C) When oceanic plates collide with continental plates, the continent usually rides up over the seafloor.
D) Because of tectonic movements, India is moving away from China.
E) When oceanic plates collide with continental plates, the oceanic plate usually rides up over the continental plate.
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14
Chapter 13: Energy
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Sample Questions
Q1) The United States, making up less than 5 percent of the world's population, uses more than ___ of the world's commercial energy production.
A) 9/10
B) 2/3
C) 1/2
D) 1/4
E) 1/3
Q2) In the poorest countries like Ethiopia and Bangladesh, biomass represents ______ percent of their energy consumption.
A) 10
B) 30
C) 45
D) 70
E) 90
Q3) The world's largest wind power producers are the United States and Canada.
A)True
B)False
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Page 15
Chapter 14: Solid and Hazardous Waste
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33 Verified Questions
33 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Biological treatments of hazardous waste involve ___________ hazardous substances.
A) using plants, bacteria or fungi to absorb and detoxify
B) the genetic alteration of species suffering from C) using microorganisms to disperse
D) special organic chemical processing of
E) None of these are correct.
Q2) According to the EPA, the US produces _____ tons of solid waste per year.
A) 9 million
B) 70 million
C) 800 million
D) 11 billion
E) 123 billion
Q3) Chemical processing is a way of __________ hazardous waste for safe disposal.
A) reducing the volume of
B) neutralizing
C) incinerating
D) filtering and precipitating
E) acidifying
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Page 16
Chapter 15: Economics and Urbanization
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35 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A megacity is defined as having more than 50 million residents.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Traditional suburban development does not
A) consist of only house lots and streets.
B) typically consist of identical parcels of land without open space.
C) facilitate social interactions among neighbors.
D) consume agricultural land and wildlife habitat.
E) All of these are characteristics of traditional suburban development.
Q3) Cap-and-trade is a system where market forces help drive sustainability.
A)True
B)False
Q4) International trade of goods internalizes costs.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Suburbs are known for the presence of artistic and cultural opportunities.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 16: Environmental Policy and Sustainability
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33 Verified Questions
33 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) In carrying out the policy cycle, which of the following groups would probably use intensive media campaigns or even stage a protest?
A) Industry associations.
B) Labor unions.
C) Wealthy or powerful individuals.
D) Public interest groups.
E) All of these would want as much publicity as possible.
Q2) An environmental impact statement (EIS) is required for any significant federal action as a part of ______________________.
A) the Clean Water Act
B) the Clean Air Act
C) the Endangered Species Act
D) the National Environmental Policy Act
E) none of these are correct
Q3) The Student Environmental Acting Coalition is the largest student environmental group in North America.
A)True
B)False
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