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Miller Multiple Choice Questions
Miller Multiple Choice Questions
Contents.............................................................................................................................1
Chapter 1: Environmental Problems, Their Causes and Sustainability............................2
Chapter 2: Science, Systems, Matter, and Energy..........................................................6
Chapter 3: Ecosystems: What are They and How do They Work?...................................9
Chapter 4: Evolution and Biodiversity..............................................................................13
Chapter 5: Climate and Terrestrial Biodiversity...............................................................17
Chapter 6: Aquatic Biodiversity.......................................................................................20
Chapter 7: Community Ecology.......................................................................................24
Chapter 8: Population Ecology........................................................................................28
Chapter 9: Applying Population Ecology: The Human Population and Its Impact..........32
Chapter 10: Sustaining Terrestrial Biodiversity: The Ecosystem Approach....................36
Chapter 11: Sustaining Biodiversity: The Species Approach..........................................40
Chapter 12: Sustaining Aquatic Biodiversity....................................................................44
Chapter 13: Food, Soil Conservation, and Pest Management........................................48
Chapter 14: Water............................................................................................................52
Chapter 15: Geology and Nonrenewable Mineral Resources.........................................56
Chapter 16: Nonrenewable Energy.................................................................................59
Chapter 17: Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy..................................................62
Chapter 18: Environmental Hazards and Human Health................................................65
Chapter 19: Air Pollution..................................................................................................69
Chapter 20: Climate Change and Ozone Depletion........................................................72
Chapter 21: Water Pollution.............................................................................................75
Chapter 22: Solid and Hazardous Waste........................................................................78
Chapter 23: Sustainable Cities........................................................................................81
Chapter 24: Economics, Environment, and Sustainability...............................................84
Chapter 25: Politics, Environment, and Sustainability.....................................................87
Chapter 26: Environmental Worldviews, Ethics, and Sustainability................................90
Miller Multiple Choice
From: G. Tyler Miller Jr.; Living in the Environment: Principles,
Connections, and Solutions; 15th Edition 2007
7. ______On which of the following factors does the United Nations not classify a nation
as developed or developing?
a. population size
b. degree of industrialization
c. per capita GNI (GNP)
8. ______Economic development is
a. the same as economic growth.
b. improvement of living standards by economic growth.
c. a measure of income per capita.
d. none of the choices.
12. ______ The total ecological footprint of the United States is ______ times that of
India.
a. about 2
b. more than 3
c. more than 4
d. about 5
15. ______ Which of the following is not one of the five basic causes of environmental
problems?
a. public policy
b. population growth
c. poverty
d. unsustainable resource use
1. ______ The three factors affecting the environmental impact of the population in
developing and developed countries are:
e. population plus consumption minus technology impact.
f. population times consumption times technology impact.
g. population times technology impact minus consumption.
h. population plus consumption plus technology impact.
16. ______ Which of the following characterized the frontier environmental worldview?
a. A high level of federal regulation
b. Moving as needed to find food for survival
c. Alarm at the squandering of resources and wilderness
d. Vast resources available for human use
3. ______ Science is
a. based on the fundamental assumption that events in the natural world
follow orderly patterns.
b. an attempt to discover order in the natural world.
c. an effort to describe what is likely to happen in nature.
d. all of the choices.
6. ______ An ion is
a. the smallest unit of matter.
b. a combination of two or more atoms held together by chemical bonds.
c. an electrically charged atom or combination of atoms.
d. a radioactive element.
7. ______ Matter is
a. anything that has mass and takes up space.
b. anything solid.
c. anything that gives off energy.
d. all of the choices.
13. ______ Which term describes the capacity to do work and transfer heat?
a. temperature
b. entropy
c. energy
d. radiation
14. ______ Still water stored behind a dam has a large amount of
a. kinetic energy.
b. potential energy.
c. chemical energy.
d. heat energy.
15. ______ Which law of thermodynamics states that energy can be neither
created nor destroyed?
a. The first law of thermodynamics
b. The second law of thermodynamics
16. ______ The best long-term solution to the constraints imposed by the laws
of conservation of matter and energy is a ______ society.
a. high consumption
b. high-throughput
c. matter-recycling
d. low-throughput
Chapter 3: Ecosystems: What are They and How do They
Work?
1. ______ A(n) ______ consists of species interacting with each other and their
environment.
a. habitat
b. population
c. community
d. ecosystem
5. ______ Which of the following is not one of the three interconnected factors upon
which life on earth depends?
a. matter cycling
b. the one-way flow of energy from the sun
c. entropy
d. gravity
6. ______ Most of the solar energy that passes through the atmosphere is
a. captured by green plants.
b. reflected back into space.
c. degraded into infrared radiation.
d. used to generate wind.
7. ______ According to the ______, there is a range for physical conditions and
concentrations of substances beyond which no members of a particular
species can survive.
a. limiting factor principle
b. law of tolerance
c. law of conservation of mass
d. first law of thermodynamics
8. ______ Which of the following is a limiting factor for an aquatic life zone?
a. depth of water
b. number of species
c. size of population
d. dissolved oxygen content
12. ______ The percentage of usable energy transferred as biomass from one trophic
level to another is called
a. energy flow.
b. the limiting factor.
c. biomass.
d. ecological efficiency.
13. ______ Which of the following is not one of the most productive ecosystems?
a. swamp
b. temperate grassland
c. tropical rain forest
d. estuary
17. ______ Which of the following is often the limiting factor for plant growth on land?
a. phosphorus
b. sulfur
c. nitrogen
d. carbon
19. ______ What does the "H" stand for in the scientific acronym "HIPPO," which
describes the five major causes of species decline and premature
extinction?
a. Health concerns
b. Habitat destruction and degradation
c. Human intervention
d. Hunting and exploitation
Chapter 4: Evolution and Biodiversity
1. ______ Which of the following is not an evolutionary trait that helped humans to
survive and flourish?
a. opposable thumbs
b. exceptional sensory powers
c. complex brains
d. the ability to walk upright
2. ______ Most of what we know of the earth's life history comes from
a. fossils.
b. DNA analysis.
c. ice cores.
d. chemical analysis.
4. ______ ______ is the term used to describe the small genetic changes that occur
in a population.
a. The theory of evolution
b. Macroevolution
c. Chemical evolution
d. Microevolution
7. ______ Which of the following processes involves changes in the gene pool of
more than one species?
a. convergent evolution
b. diversifying selection
c. coevolution
d. mutation
8. ______ Ecologists say that a niche is like a species' ______, while habitat is like
its ______.
a. appearance; physiology
b. occupation; address
c. family history; occupation
d. education; occupation
13. ______ Biologists estimate that ______ of the species that ever existed are now
extinct.
a. 10 percent
b. 30 percent
c. 50 percent
d. 99 percent
14. ______ How does a mass depletion differ from a mass extinction?
a. During a mass depletion, populations are reduced but species do not
become extinct.
b. Mass depletions involve fewer species extinctions than do mass
extinctions.
c. Mass depletions involve more species extinctions than mass
extinctions.
d. Mass depletions are local, whereas mass extinctions are global.
16. ______ Which of the following is not a concern about genetic engineering?
a. It is too expensive to apply genetic engineering to agriculture.
b. It is unpredictable.
c. It raises privacy and ethical issues.
d. It may harm the environment in ways we cannot foresee.
18. ______ The ability to apply genetic engineering to extending the human lifespan
raises questions about
a. human population control.
b. costs.
c. health insurance coverage.
d. safety.
Chapter 5: Climate and Terrestrial Biodiversity.
2. ______ Which of the following is not a factor in how air circulates over the earth's
surface?
a. uneven heating of the earth's surface
b. the jet stream
c. the rotation of the earth on its axis
d. properties of air, water, and land
6. ______ Deserts take a long time to recover from disturbance because of their
a. slow plant growth.
b. high species diversity.
c. fast nutrient cycling.
d. permafrost.
9. ______ Which type of forest contains the largest diversity of plant species?
a. boreal forest
b. temperate forest
c. tropical rain forest
d. chaparral
12. ______ Which of the following is a type of tropical grassland often dotted with
widely scattered clumps of trees?
a. temperate grassland
b. taiga
c. tundra
d. savanna
13. ______ Temperate shrublands, or chaparral, are often located near what
geographic feature?
a. arctic regions
b. interior plateaus with high precipitation
c. coastal areas that border deserts
d. tropical forests
15. ______ Which of the following is not a type of natural capital degradation to
grassland biomes?
a. conversion to tree plantations
b. overgrazing by livestock
c. conversion to cropland
d. oil production in artic tundra
Chapter 6: Aquatic Biodiversity.
4. ______ Which of the following covers the greatest percentage of the earth's
surface?
a. ocean
b. desert
c. tropical forest
d. grassland
8. ______ How many of the world's coral reefs are protected as reserves or parks?
a. 75
b. 300
c. 150
d. 600
10. ______ Freshwater is defined as having less than ______% dissolved salt
concentration by volume.
a. 1
b. 2
c. 5
d. 10
11. ______ Which of the following is not likely to create a depression that may later
become a lake?
a. glaciation
b. runoff
c. crustal displacement
d. volcanic activity
12. ______ Which of the following lake zones is comparable to the coastal zone of the
ocean?
a. the profundal zone
b. the limnetic zone
c. the littoral zone
d. the benthic zone
15. ______ Which part of a river would have the least sediment load and coldest
water?
a. source zone
b. transition zone
c. the flood plain zone
d. the wetland zone
2. ______ Which of the following factors most affects terrestrial species diversity?
a. latitude
b. longitude
c. elevation
d. depth
3. ______ According to the theory of island biogeography, a ______ will have the
greatest number of species.
a. small island, distant from the mainland
b. large island, close to the mainland
c. small island, close to the mainland
d. large island, distant from the mainland
4. ______ Without the presence of sea otters, sea urchins would otherwise
overgraze kelp beds, dramatically changing the marine community of
which the urchins and otters are a part. For this reason, sea otters are
considered
a. generalist species.
b. keystone species.
c. indicator species.
d. alien species.
5. ______ Trout are an excellent ______ because they are very sensitive to water
quality.
a. keystone species
b. generalist species
c. indicator species
d. alien species
6. ______ Which of the following are indicator species of particular current interest to
biologists?
a. amphibians
b. insects
c. birds
d. reptiles
7. ______ Skimmers, flamingos, diving duck, and heron can coexist in a coastal
wetland as a result of
a. exploitation competition.
b. symbiosis.
c. interference competition.
d. resource-partitioning.
13. ______ The ability of a living system to bounce back after a disturbance that is not
too drastic is called
a. primary succession.
b. inertia.
c. constancy.
d. resilience.
14. ______ Which of the following is not an example of an aspect of stability in living
systems?
a. extinction
b. inertia
c. constancy
d. resilience
3. ______ With ______ the growth rate decreases, as the population gets larger.
a. exponential growth
b. logistic growth
c. zero population growth
d. dynamic growth
7. ______ Which of the following is not one of the four types of population
fluctuations?
a. irruptive
b. stable
c. regular
d. cyclic
10. ______ Generally, a species with a high intrinsic rate of increase will
a. be a K-selected species.
b. reproduce late in life.
c. be a specialist.
d. produce many small offspring.
12. ______ Annual plants and most invertebrates have ______ survivorship curves.
a. early loss
b. late loss
c. constant loss
d. no loss
13. ______ Population change equals births plus immigration minus which of the
following?
a. deaths + immigration
b. deaths + emigration
c. deaths only
d. emigration only
15. ______ ______ reproduction is where the offspring are exact copies of a single
parent.
a. Sexual
b. Asexual
c. K-selected species
d. Stable
16. ______ A ______ shows the projected life expectancy and probability of death for
individuals at each age in a survivorship curve (insurance companies often
use these to determine policy costs for customers).
a. survivorship curve
b. life expectancy curve
c. life table
d. benefits table
Chapter 9: Applying Population Ecology: The Human
Population and Its Impact
1. ______ Which of the following shows the ranking of regions by crude birth rate,
from highest to lowest?
a. Europe, Africa, Latin America, Asia
b. Latin America, Asia, Europe, Africa
c. Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe
d. Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe
2. ______ Human populations grow or decline through the interplay of births, deaths,
and
a. family planning.
b. illness.
c. migration.
d. level of economic development.
3. ______ Since 1963, the rate of the world's annual population growth rate has
a. dropped by almost one-third.
b. dropped by almost one-half.
c. doubled.
d. tripled.
9. ______ Factors that affect birth rates and fertility rates include all except which of
the following factors?
a. cost of raising children
b. immigration rate
c. infant mortality rate
d. availability of private and public pension systems
10. ______ If age structure diagrams were drawn for the following countries, which
would have the broadest base?
a. Nigeria
b. Austria
c. Sweden
d. United States
11. ______ Labor shortages and increased per capita health care costs are
associated with
a. slow population decline.
b. rapid population growth.
c. slow population growth.
d. rapid population decline.
12. ______ As countries become more industrialized, first their ______ rates decline
and then their ______ rates decline.
a. birth, immigration
b. immigration, death
c. death, birth
d. birth, death
14. ______ Family planning programs have increased the proportion of married
women of reproductive years using modern contraception to
a. 15%.
b. 26%.
c. 51%.
d. 82%.
15. ______ Population experts anticipate that China's population will peak around
a. 2010.
b. 2040.
c. 2070.
d. 2090.
16. ______ Which of the following is cited as a reason why India's family planning
program has not been as successful as it could be?
a. The low status of women in India
b. The preference in India for girl children
c. The lack of widespread knowledge of contraceptive methods
d. All of the choices
17. ______ At the 1994 United Nations Conference on Population and Development,
a major goal was to stabilize the world's population at ______ billion by
2050.
a. 6.8
b. 7.8
c. 8.8
d. 9.8
Chapter 10: Sustaining Terrestrial Biodiversity: The
Ecosystem Approach
4. ______ Which type of forest would probably contain stands of trees that grew
following a fire?
a. tree farm
b. old-growth forest
c. second-growth forest
d. none of the choices
10. ______ Which of the following is a major problem of U.S. national parks?
a. too much land area to manage
b. lack of management plans
c. wildfires
d. popularity
11. ______ According to conservation biologists, how much of the Earth's land surface
should be strictly protected?
a. 5%
b. 20%
c. 25%
d. 40%
12. ______ We can best protect a biosphere reserve by surrounding it with ______.
a. human settlement
b. buffer zones
c. resource extraction
d. another biosphere reserve
13. ______ Which country has created megareserves to sustain 80% of its
biodiversity?
a. United States
b. Brazil
c. Costa Rica
d. China
14. ______ Where is most of the protected wilderness in the United States?
a. Hawaii
b. California
c. Florida
d. Alaska
15. ______ According to E.O. Wilson, which of the following is not a strategy we
should employ to protect ecosystems and species?
a. Stop logging of all second-growth forests
b. Preserve biological hot spots
c. Map the world's biodiversity
d. Protect and restore rivers and lakes
16. ______ ______ are managed grasslands or enclosed meadows usually planted
with domesticated grasses or other forage, and are sustainable if
managed properly.
a. Rangelands
b. Pastures
c. Cropland
d. Taiga
17. ______ Which of the following is not a problem associated with overgrazing of
grasslands?
a. Increased soil erosion
b. Increased soil compaction (holds less water)
c. Increases net primary productivity
d. Increases invading species that can't be eaten by grazers
18. ______ One solution to overgrazing is to confine cattle to one area for a short time
and then move them to another before overgrazing take place. This
method is called
a. rotational grazing.
b. no-till agriculture.
c. rangeland control.
d. riparian zones.
Chapter 11: Sustaining Biodiversity: The Species Approach
1. ______ Which of the following did not contribute to the extinction of the passenger
pigeon?
a. uncontrolled hunting
b. DDT-induced weakening of egg shells
c. habitat loss
d. a natural instinct for flocking
2. ______ Which term describes the situation where a species no longer exists in a
given area, but still occurs in other areas?
a. biological extinction
b. ecological extinction
c. local extinction
d. background extinction
9. ______ The ______ has been almost eliminated because ranchers have poisoned
them.
a. coyote
b. prairie dog
c. kudzu vine
d. feral boar
10. ______ Which of the following restricts the international trade in endangered
species?
a. The Lacey Act
b. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
c. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
d. The Endangered Species Act (ESA)
12. ______ Which of the following was not a recommendation by the National
Academy of Sciences to make the Endangered Species Act more
effective?
a. Increase funding for the ESA
b. Develop recovery plans more quickly
c. Eliminate habitat conservation subsidies to private landowners
d. Create a core emergency habitat when species are first listed
13. ______ The world's botanical gardens and arboreta contain what percentage of
the world's rare and threatened plant species?
a. 3%
b. 10%
c. 33%
d. 50%
3. ______ When overfishing takes place, which of the following happens first?
a. commercial extinction
b. local extinction
c. biological extinction
d. population rebound
4. ______ As large fish become less available and the fishing industry turns to fishing
smaller fish, what will happen?
a. Food webs will begin to unravel as the smaller fish, which are food for
larger fish, become unavailable.
b. Jellyfish and barnacles will become extinct.
c. Food webs will begin to unravel.
d. Bycatch will become less of a problem.
9. ______ Which of the following countries is working to reverse the IWC ban on
commercial whaling?
a. The United States
b. China
c. Japan
d. Australia
12. ______ How far offshore does a country's exclusive economic zone extend?
a. 12 miles
b. 60 miles
c. 200 miles
d. 100 miles
14. ______ In the U.S., a federal permit is required to dredge or fill wetlands
occupying more than ______ acres.
a. 1
b. 3
c. 10
d. 25
15. ______ Why are zebra mussels a problem in the Great Lakes?
a. They secrete a neurotoxin that kills fish and sickens humans.
b. Their unchecked growth clogs pipes.
c. Their excrement causes eutrophication in the lakes.
d. They prevent the growth of native water plants.
16. ______ Which of the following strategies has not been tried to restore wild salmon
populations?
a. Building more dams to control water flow and release it steadily
b. Releasing extra water to wash juvenile salmon downstream
c. Transporting salmon by truck
d. Add hatchery salmon to under-populated streams
Chapter 13: Food, Soil Conservation, and Pest Management
1. ______ Which of the following is not one of the three primary crops that feed the
world?
a. soybeans
b. rice
c. corn
d. wheat
9. ______ A person who receives an adequate number of calories but whose diet is
deficient in protein and other essential nutrients suffers from
a. undernutrition.
b. malnutrition.
c. overnutrition.
d. macronutrition.
10. ______ Which of the following is not a way in which food production impacts the
environment?
a. It increases salt buildup in soils.
b. It increases soil erosion.
c. It decreases biodiversity.
d. It increases surface water quality.
11. ______ Which of the following is the most controversial method of increasing food
production?
a. Crossbreeding
b. Genetic engineering
c. Putting more land into production
d. Introducing new foods
12. ______ Which of the following is not a method of maintaining the availability of fish
and seafood?
a. Fish ranching
b. Harvesting at sustainable yield
c. Increasing the use of drift nets
d. Decreasing allowable bycatch levels
13. ______ Environmentalists believe that agricultural subsidies should be used for
a. elimination of agricultural pests and predators.
b. draining wetlands to increase productive land.
c. keeping water prices artificially low so farmers can irrigate more land.
d. protecting soil quality.
15. ______ Which of the following is not considered to be a problem with pesticides?
a. They are especially damaging to genetically-engineered crops.
b. They kill beneficial insects.
c. They threaten human health.
d. They are more likely to end up in our air, water, and soil than on the
pests.
19. ______ According to the FAO, as much as ______ of the food produced
worldwide is lost through spoilage, inefficient processing and preparation,
and plate waste.
a. 10%
b. 25%
c. 50%
d. 70%
Chapter 14: Water
3. ______ About 2/3 of the world's annual runoff is lost by ______ and is not
available for human use.
a. evaporation
b. percolation into the ground
c. pollution of the water supply
d. seasonal floods
4. ______ Most water is withdrawn from surface waters and aquifers for
a. drinking water.
b. industrial manufacturing.
c. irrigation of crops.
d. cooling power plants.
10. ______ ______ is reclaimed water from sinks, tubs, and washers.
a. Sludge
b. Brown water
c. Gray water
d. Treated water
11. ______ The removal of vegetation, especially on hillsides increases the risk of
a. salinization.
b. groundwater overdrafts.
c. saltwater intrusion.
d. flooding.
12. ______ From an environmental viewpoint, the best approach to reducing flood
risks is
a. floodplain management.
b. channelization.
c. artificial levees.
d. flood control dams.
13. ______ Which of the following is not one of the causes of water scarcity?
a. dry climate
b. erosion
c. desiccation
d. drought
14. ______ Which of the following is not a stated concern about China's Three Gorges
Dam?
a. The reservoir will force the displacement of over a million people.
b. The reservoir will flood important archaeological sites.
c. The dam may not be able to withstand the impact of an earthquake.
d. The dam will increase China's dependence on coal.
15. ______ Which of the following is not a main factor in water scarcity?
a. dry climate
b. increased damming of rivers and building of reservoirs
c. drought
d. too many people using reliable water source
16. ______ Which of the following is a strategy to use water more sustainably?
a. Build more dams and levees
b. Regulate withdrawals to prevent depletion of renewable aquifers
c. Slow the rate of ozone depletion
d. Increase efficiency and productivity in livestock production
Chapter 15: Geology and Nonrenewable Mineral Resources
1. ______ The Earth's innermost zone is the ______, surrounded by the ______.
a. core, mantle
b. mantle, core
c. core, crust
d. mantle, crust
2. ______ At a ______, plates slide past one another as they move in opposite
directions.
a. divergent plate boundary
b. convergent plate boundary
c. transform fault
d. subduction zone
8. ______ In the United States, about 90% of the mineral resources are extracted by
a. surface mining.
b. subsurface mining.
c. mountaintop removal.
d. open-pit mining.
10. ______ Which of the following is not a result of extracting, processing, and using
mineral resources?
a. large amounts of solid waste
b. soil buildup
c. increase in water pollution
d. disturbance of land
11. ______ The ______ depletion time assumes no recycling or reuse of a mineral
and no increase in reserves.
a. shortest
b. longest
14. ______ Some analysts believe that even if supplies of key minerals become too
expensive or scarce from unsustainable use, human ingenuity will find
a. new technologies for mining and extraction.
b. better methods of recycling minerals.
c. substitutes for scarce minerals.
d. new deposits of scarce minerals.
Chapter 16: Nonrenewable Energy
2. ______ The United States uses less ______ energy than the world average.
a. coal
b. biomass
c. natural gas
d. nuclear power
3. ______ Which of the following energy sources is the United States not expected to
increase its dependence on in the next 15 years?
a. natural gas
b. oil
c. coal
d. solar
4. ______ Which of the following questions should we not ask when deciding which
energy alternative to use?
a. How much of the energy resource is likely to be available in the near
future and the long term?
b. What government research and development subsidies will be
available?
c. How vulnerable is the resource to terrorism?
d. How much will it cost the consumer to purchase this energy resource?
5. ______ At current consumption rates, Saudi Arabia, with the world's largest crude
oil reserves, could supply world oil needs for ______ years.
a. 20
b. 50
c. 75
d. 10
9. ______ Which of the following is not a pollutant released by the burning of coal?
a. arsenic
b. mercury
c. iron
d. sulfur dioxide
13. ______ Which of the following is not a proposed method of storing or disposing of
nuclear wastes?
a. Bury it under the Antarctic ice sheet
b. Bury it into descending subduction zones in the deep ocean
c. Shoot it into space or into the sun using rocket ships
d. Burn it at very high temperatures in specialized reactors
15. ______ If nuclear fusion reactors could be built successfully, which of the following
would not be one of their advantages?
a. little risk from terrorism
b. no carbon dioxide emissions
c. low cost of operations
d. lower levels of radioactive waste
Chapter 17: Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
2. ______ Which of the following would not be a result of reducing energy waste?
a. Prolonging fossil fuel supplies
b. Keeping more money in local economies
c. Higher net energy
d. Prolonging development of technological advancements in renewable
energy
3. ______ Which of the following space heating energy systems has the highest net
energy ratio over its estimated lifetime?
a. a passive solar system
b. an oil system
c. a natural gas system
d. electric resistance heating
4. ______ ______ is the name for a system that produces two useful forms of energy
from one fuel source.
a. Regeneration
b. Cogeneration
c. Degeneration
d. Post-generation
5. ______ Which of the following is not a method for saving significant amounts of
energy?
a. Use cogeneration
b. Replace electric motors with adjustable-speed drive motors
c. Lower CAFE standards
d. Replace incandescent bulbs with fluorescent bulbs
7. ______ A(n) ______ absorbs and stores heat from the sun directly within a
structure.
a. active solar heating system
b. passive solar heating system
9. ______ What form of energy has high cost of construction, high environmental
impact, and the potential to force the displacement of people and wildlife?
a. nuclear power
b. wind power
c. solar power
d. hydropower
10. ______ Which form of power has more advantages and fewer disadvantages than
any other energy source?
a. wind power
b. solar power
c. fuel cell power
d. hydroelectric power
12. ______ Which of the following is not a possible disadvantage of using biomass as
a form of energy?
a. possibly nonrenewable
b. soil erosion
c. low potential supply
d. low photosynthetic efficiency
2. ______ Which of the following is responsible for the greatest number of deaths per
year worldwide?
a. tuberculosis
b. AIDS
c. pneumonia and flu
d. malaria
8. ______ A water-soluble toxic chemical can accumulate in the body ______ readily
than a fat-soluble toxin.
a. more
b. less
10. ______ According to the EPA, children have ______ times the exposure risk of
adults to cancer-causing chemicals.
a. 10
b. 25
c. 50
d. 100
11. ______ What one factor has the greatest adverse effect on the average lifespan of
people in the United States?
a. smoking
b. poverty
c. drug abuse
d. being born male
12. ______ A(n) ______ is a large-scale outbreak of an infectious disease in an area
or country.
a. epidemic
b. pandemic
c. bioaccumulation
d. pathogenic
13. ______ The new interdisciplinary field of ______ is devoted to tracking down the
connections between wildlife and humans, and looks for ways to slow or
prevent the spread diseases such as avian flu.
a. genetic engineering
b. gene therapy
c. ecological or conservation medicine
d. holistic medicine
14. ______ ______ is a widely used chemical building block in certain plastics used in
a variety of products including water bottles, baby bottles, food storage
containers, and dental fillings that acts as an estrogen mimic that may
cause adverse effects in humans.
a. Bisphenol-A (BPA)
b. DDT
c. Dioxin
d. Lead
15. ______ ______ is the science that examines the effects of harmful chemicals on
humans, wildlife, and ecosystems.
a. Risk assessment
b. Toxicology
c. Ecological or conservation medicine
d. Ecology
16. ______ Exposure to low levels of air pollution from an industrial site would be an
example of what type of risk?
a. chronic
b. exposure
c. catastrophic
d. minimal
Chapter 19: Air Pollution
1. ______ The temperature changes that occur from one layer of the atmosphere to
another are caused by differences in
a. atmospheric pressure.
b. absorption of incoming solar energy.
c. density of the air.
d. gravitational pull.
5. ______ Which chemical do most scientists think should be added to the EPA lists
of six criteria air pollutants?
a. mercury
b. carbon dioxide
c. radon
d. formaldehyde
6. ______ What compound gives photochemical smog its brownish yellow color?
a. sulfur dioxide
b. argon
c. carbon dioxide
d. nitrogen dioxide
8. ______ Which of the following countries currently has the worst problem with
industrial smog?
a. The United States
b. China
c. England
d. Canada
9. ______ A(n) ______ can cause air pollutants at ground level to rise to harmful
levels.
a. offshore wind
b. onshore wind
c. temperature inversion
d. rain shadow
12. ______ The single best way to reduce acid deposition would be to
a. reduce the use of coal.
b. decrease emissions from automobiles.
c. prohibit the construction of nuclear power plants.
d. add limestone or lime to lakes and soil.
13. ______ Which of the following is not considered one of the four most dangerous
indoor air pollutants by the EPA?
a. formaldehyde
b. cigarette smoke
c. radon
d. carbon monoxide
14. ______ In the U.S., the estimated number of deaths related to indoor and outdoor
air pollutants is at least
a. 60,000.
b. 100,000.
c. 150,000.
d. 350,000.
15. ______ The Clean Air Acts of the United States required
a. coal-burning power plants to trade emissions of sulfur dioxide.
b. the use of unleaded gasoline in cities with high ozone levels.
c. the EPA to set national ambient air quality standards for air pollutants.
d. the abatement of radon in all public buildings.
Chapter 20: Climate Change and Ozone Depletion
1. ______ Scientists study climate change using all but which one of the following
techniques?
a. Analyzing ice cores from ancient glaciers
b. Dissecting the leaves of tropical rain forest trees
c. Studying historical records
d. Analyzing pollen from the bottoms of lakes
2. ______ Global warming occurs in the ______ and ozone depletion occurs in the
______.
a. troposphere, stratosphere
b. stratosphere, lithosphere
c. troposphere, lithosphere
d. stratosphere, troposphere
3. ______ If the loop of water constantly moving through the oceans as a result of
temperature differences were to slow or stop, what would happen?
a. Europe would become much hotter.
b. Europe would become much colder.
c. Northeastern North America would become much hotter.
d. North America would suffer floods and severe storms.
6. ______ The single most important step we can take to slow global warming is to
decrease ______ emissions.
a. carbon dioxide
b. nitrous oxide
c. methane
d. sulfur dioxide
10. ______ CFCs break down in the stratosphere under the influence of
a. UV radiation.
b. fluorine atoms.
c. low air pressure.
d. higher levels of oxygen.
1. ______ In the United States, the majority of water pollution of streams and lakes is
from
a. point pollution from sewage treatment plants.
b. point pollution from abandoned mines.
c. point pollution from factories.
d. nonpoint pollution from agriculture.
2. ______ Which of the following is not listed as a major category of water pollution?
a. plastics
b. erosion
c. acid deposition
d. heat
7. ______ By weight, the bulk of the phosphates in Chesapeake Bay come from
a. air pollution.
b. shellfish farms.
c. pesticide runoff.
d. sewage treatment plants.
10. ______ Using ______ would reduce the amount of sewage output from homes
and businesses.
a. tertiary sewage treatment
b. composting toilet systems
c. sludge digesters
d. anaerobic digesters
11. ______ Scientists call for a ban on ______ in all new plumbing.
a. copper
b. selenium
c. PVC
d. lead
12. ______ ______ is/are bacteria that live in the colons and digestive tracts of
humans and other animals and are often present in unsafe amounts in
freshwaters.
a. Viruses
b. Shistosomiasis
c. Fecal coliform
d. Cholera
Chapter 22: Solid and Hazardous Waste
1. ______ Which country is the world's biggest per capita producer of solid waste?
a. Germany
b. The U.S.
c. Australia
d. Mexico
2. ______ The amount of solid waste generated per person in the U.S. is
a. increasing.
b. declining.
c. the same as it has been since 1990.
3. ______ What makes up the largest share of solid waste in the U.S.?
a. municipal solid waste
b. agricultural solid waste
c. mining and oil and gas production waste
d. sewage sludge
4. ______ Paper makes up the largest share of waste in municipal landfills. What has
the second largest share?
a. food waste
b. yard waste
c. electronics
d. plastics
8. ______ Which of the following is not one of the six principles for reducing solid
waste?
a. Consume less
b. Treat waste to reduce toxicity
c. Redesign manufacturing to reduce waste and pollution
d. Design products to last longer
10. ______ Where are you most likely to find an open dump?
a. in developed countries
b. in developing countries
15. ______ There are three priorities in integrated hazardous waste management:
Produce less waste, convert to less hazardous waste, and ______.
a. put in perpetual storage
b. use in chemical weapons
c. sell to other countries
d. reuse in industrial processes
Chapter 23: Sustainable Cities
2. ______ The world's 18 megacities have populations of more than ______ million
people.
a. 5
b. 10
c. 15
d. 20
4. ______ Between 1850 and 2006, the percentage of people living in urban areas
increased from 2% to ______.
a. 16%
b. 26%
c. 34%
d. 49%
6. ______ Cities are generally ______ than suburbs and nearby rural areas.
a. warmer
b. dryer
c. wealthier
d. cooler
9. ______ Which country has taken the strongest stand against urban sprawl?
a. China
b. The United States
c. Denmark
d. Japan
14. ______ According to the ecocity concept, cities should be ______ oriented, not
______ oriented.
a. retail, industrial
b. people, car
c. car, people
d. nature, human
Chapter 24: Economics, Environment, and Sustainability
4. ______ Which of the following is not one of the strategies ecological economists
think will help make the shift to an eco-economy?
a. Monitor economic and environmental health with indicators
b. Phase out subsidies and tax breaks to environmentally harmful
industries
c. Raise taxes on income and wealth
d. Use eco-labeling
5. ______ In the United States, the GPI (genuine progress indicator) per person has
steadily ______ since 1975.
a. increased
b. declined
c. remained the same
7. ______ With full-cost pricing, the cost of most goods and services would
a. rise.
b. decline.
8. ______ The goal of full-cost pricing is to have people and businesses pay
a. the costs of harm they do to others and the environment.
b. prices high enough to discourage further environmental abuses.
c. only costs directly related to the production of goods and services.
d. the minimum price possible for goods and services.
10. ______ According to the ______ theory, a growing economy helps the poor by
creating jobs, enabling more wealth to reach workers, and providing
greater tax revenues that can be used to help the poor.
a. wealth gap
b. sustainable economic
c. trickle-down
d. ecological economics
11. ______ Which of the following is not a method for creating more environmentally
sustainable economies?
a. Reward environmentally-friendly behavior
b. Subsidize the use of nonrenewable resources
c. Use full-cost pricing
d. Slow population growth
1. ______ Which of the following does not represent a shift in the type and focus of
the environmental problems we face?
a. Shift from global to regional concerns
b. Increasing concern about the effects of humans on biodiversity
c. Growing concern over climate change
d. Relying more on the international community to deal with problems
10. ______ Biodiversity protection is currently in the ______ stage of the policy life
cycle.
a. recognition
b. formulation
c. implementation
d. control
12. ______ Without grassroots citizen groups that work to improve environmental
quality
a. world economies would be less efficient.
b. governments would not do anything about environmental issues.
c. HIV/AIDS would be a more severe problem globally.
d. environmental laws would have been enacted anyway.
13. ______ Polls show that less than ______ of the U.S. public view the environment
as one of the nation's most pressing problems.
a. 10%
b. 20%
c. 50%
d. 75%
14. ______ Which of the following is not a problem with international environmental
treaties?
a. Poorly monitored and enforced
b. Lack of funding
c. Treaties are not integrated
d. Do not require full consensus
Chapter 26: Environmental Worldviews, Ethics, and
Sustainability
2. ______ Because of their differing ______, people can look at the same data and
arrive at different conclusions.
a. approaches
b. worldviews
c. systems
d. methods
3. ______ Which of the following views are consistent with a planetary management
worldview?
a. Nature exists for all of the Earth's species.
b. The Earth's limited resources should be used sustainably.
c. We are the planet's most important species.
d. We must learn to cooperate with nature.
8. ______ The environmental revolution that many environmentalists call for requires
a. using economic systems to reward earth-sustaining behavior.
b. increasing research into technologies for controlling natural processes.
c. encouraging free market economies in the developing world.
d. encouraging development of pollution cleanup technologies.