SUMMER ASSIGNMENT FOR AP ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

Dear Students, welcome to Advanced Placement Environmental Science (APES).

Download and read the APES course and exam description (CED),
https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-environmental-science

For summer work, please complete the document by answering questions and send it to
sdogru@tmsacademy.org.

Part 1: Experimental Design

Answer the following questions using the following statement, your knowledge of
experimental design and the graph below. Need a refresh on experimental design?
Watch this video or this one.

A clam farmer has been keeping records concerning the water temperature and the number of
clams developing from fertilized eggs. The data is recorded below.
Water Temperature in oC Number of developing clams
15 75
20 90
25 120
30 140
35 75
40 40
45 15
50 0

a) What is the dependent variable?

Water temperature

b) What is the independent variable?

Number of developing clams

c) What is the optimum (best) temperature for clam development?

The optimal temperature for clam development is 30 degrees celsius.
d) What is the average temperature in this experiment?
The average temperature in this experiment is 32.5 degrees celsius.
e) What are some constants the scientists should consider?
Perhaps numbers around 30. Other numbers wouldn't be necessary because we already
know the highest amount of developing clams is somewhere around 30 degrees celsius.

Part 2: Math Skills

Reminders

1. Write out all your work, even if it’s something really simple. This is required on the AP
ENVS exam so it will be required on all your assignments, labs, quizzes, and tests as well.
2. Include units in each step. Your answers always need units and it’s easier to keep track
of them if you write them in every step.
3. Check your work. Go back through each step to make sure you didn’t make any mistakes
in your calculations. Also check to see if your answer makes sense. For example, a
person probably will not eat 13 million pounds of meat in a year. If you get an answer
that seems unlikely, it probably is. Go back and check your work.
4. You may use a calculator but will not be provided with a formula sheet.

Metric Units: YOU MUST MEMORIZE THE METRIC CONVERSION CHART

1. How many mm are in a centimeter?

100 mm

2. How many centimeters are in a meter?

(The prefix centi- means 100. How many cents (pennies) are in a dollar?)
100 centimeters

3. The prefix milli- means a thousand. How many millimeters are in a meter?
Percent Change = ( New – Original ) X 100
Original
1000 millimeters

4. If you scored a 1090 on your first PSAT and 1210 on your second PSAT. What was your
percent improvement?

((1210-1090)/1090) * 100 = 11.009%

5. If one termite can destroy 1.2mg of wood per day, how many kilograms of wood can 10
termites destroy in 1 week?

one termite = 1.2mg per day

one termite = 8.4mg per week
ten termites = 84mg per week
ten termites = 0.000084kg per week

6. What is 70% of 640?

448

7. 400 kilograms = 400000000 milligrams

8. 600 mm = 6000 cm

9. 25 MW = 0.025 W

Write the following in scientific notation

10. 394 billion = 3.94 x 10^11 11. 0.000070202 = 7.0202 x 10-5

12. If I can run 6 km in 24 minutes, how many cm can I run in 5 hours?

5 hr = 300 minutes. 300/24 = 12.5. 12.5 * 6 = 75 km in 5 hours. 7500000 cm in 5 hours.

13. Fourteen percent of a 55,000 acre forest is destroyed by the invasive pine weevil. How
many acres of the forest were not destroyed?

14 percent destroyed = 86 percent not destroyed. Therefore the answer is 86% of 55000
acres which is 47300

14. A pesticide was sprayed on a portion of a forest. The pesticide killed 25,000 termites. This
is 71% of the local termite population. What is the total termite population?

71% of x = 25000
71/100 * x = 25000
solve for x
x = 25000 * 100 / 71
x = 35211.2676056
So there are 35211.

Part 3. Laws to know; explain each of the following laws.

• Clean Air Act - This legislation authorized the development of comprehensive federal
and state regulations to limit emissions from both stationary (industrial) sources and
mobile sources.
• Clean Water Act - Made it unlawful for any person to discharge any pollutant from a
point source into waters of the United States
• Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) - Protect public health by regulating the nation's public
drinking water supply.
• Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERLA aka
Superfund Act) - clean up hazardous waste sites and respond to environmental releases
of pollutants and contaminants.
• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) - Gives EPA the authority to control
hazardous waste from cradle to grave
 • Montreal Protocol - a global agreement to protect the stratospheric ozone layer by
phasing out the production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances
• Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
(CITES)* - a global treaty to ensure international trade in wild plants and animals is legal,
traceable, and biologically sustainable
• Kyoto Protocol* - extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the
scientific consensus that global warming is occurring and that human-made CO₂
emissions are driving it.
• Endangered Species Act (ESA)* - establishes protections for fish, wildlife, and plants that
are listed as threatened or endangered
• Delaney Clause Of Food, Drug, And Cosmetic Act* - requires the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) to ban food additives which are found to cause or induce cancer in
humans or animals as indicated by testing.

Part 4. Listen to the following TedTalk by environmentalist Stewart Brand and answer the
questions below:

https://www.ted.com/talks/stewart_brand_the_dawn_of_de_extinction_are_you_ready

a. Describe the main difficulties (e.g., technologically, biologically, ethically) with

“resurrecting” an extinct species.

The main difficulties with resurrecting an extinct species include technological challenges in
obtaining and sequencing degraded DNA, biological hurdles in developing viable embryos and
ensuring proper gestation, and ethical concerns about animal welfare, ecological impacts, and
unintended consequences.

b. Explain why the genomes of older extinct species (i.e., ones that have been extinct longer)
are more difficult to reconstruct than those of more recent extinctions.

The genomes of older extinct species are more difficult to reconstruct because DNA degrades
over time, leading to fragmentation and contamination, which complicates accurate
sequencing and assembly.

c. What would be the benefit of bringing back an extinct species? What could be some
drawbacks or detriments?
Benefits of bringing back an extinct species might include restoring lost ecosystems and
advancing scientific knowledge; drawbacks could involve ecological disruption, high costs, and
ethical concerns about playing with nature.

d. Discuss your opinions on this technology. If it can be done, should it be done?

(Note: opinions are not just okay here, but encouraged; but base them on your current
understanding of the science/technology)?

While the technology is fascinating and has potential ecological and scientific benefits, it
should be approached cautiously, considering ethical implications, ecological risks, and
prioritizing conservation of endangered species.

e. If you could “de-extinct” any one species from Earth’s history (ignoring all technological
challenges), which would you choose? Why?

Ignoring all technological challenges, I would choose to de-extinct the woolly mammoth due
to its potential role in restoring tundra ecosystems and its iconic status as a symbol of extinct
megafauna.

Part 5 – Calculate your ecological footprint and note how many planets do we need if
everybody lives like you?
https://www.footprintcalculator.org/home/en

3.3 planets…