2. Some abuse of natural resources is explained by the fact that short-term profits from use of the
resource go to individuals, but long-term costs of abuse are borne by society as a whole. As a result,
individuals are encouraged to utilize the resource until it is degraded or gone. This principle is called:
a) Uniformitarianism
b) environmental unity
c) tragedy of the commons
d) externality
e) environmental ethics
Ans: c) Tragedy of the commons
3. In an analysis of the total costs of developing a new coal mine, which of the following would be
considered an externality?
a) the market price of coal
b) cost of diesel fuel to run the mining machinery
c) cost of operating a public relations center at the mine
d) damage from acid rain downwind of coal-fired utilities
e) cost of treating and disposing of mine tailings
Ans: d) damage from acid rain downwind of coal-fired utilities
4. In a town with a common grazing area (a ‘commons’), who most profits by adding more cattle to the
commons?
a) The mayor
b) individual cattle owners
c) residents of the nearest neighboring town
d) the community as a whole
e) the cows
Ans: b) individual cattle owners
5. The field of environmental economics seeks to:
a) find the most effective way to achieve rational solutions for environmental problems
b) treat environmental problems no matter how expensive they might be
c) solve environmental problems by government fiscal policies
d) understand the purpose of scientific and technical solutions to environmental problems
e) bear the burden and the cost of environmental catastrophes
Ans: a) find the most effective way to achieve rational solutions for environmental problems
Chapter 28
6. The phenomenon in which city centers are hotter on average than surrounding areas is called:
a) green belt
b) heat island
c) situation
d) fall line
e) site
Ans :b) heat island
7. Washington D.C. was built upon swampy ground, but at a crucial political boundary between the
northern and the southern states. Now, however, the city's location is criticized because it is far from
the geographical center of the U.S. In these terms, modern Washington D.C. has a:
a) good site and a bad situation
b) good site and a good situation
c) bad site and a good situation
d) bad site and a bad situation
e) none of these
Ans: d) bad site and a bad situation
8. All of the following are ways in which cities exchange energy with their environment except:
a) Transport into the city and burning of fuels
b) absorption and reflection of solar energy
c) alpha, beta, and gamma radiation
d) evaporation of water
e) conduction and convection of air
Ans: c) alpha, beta, and gamma radiation
9. Paving of large areas of the surface in urban centers affects the natural hydrologic cycle (water
budget) by:
a) increasing runoff and delaying the time it takes to reach streams
b) increasing infiltration into groundwater
c) trapping natural nutrients that would otherwise feed streams
d) intercepting storm runoff before it reaches streams
e) increasing and speeding storm runoff
Ans :e) increasing and speeding storm runoff
10. The main characteristic(s) of urban pest animals is (are):
I. high rates of reproduction
II. Long average lifetime
III. generalists in their food choices
a) I only
b) II only
c) I and III
d) II and III
e) I, II, and III
Ans :c) I and III
11. The term "design with nature" fits best with which of the following descriptions?
a) a recreational park area in the middle of a city
b) a city built on a river floodplain
c) a sewage treatment plant hidden behind hills
d) the construction of an asphalt jogging track in a recreational park area
e) using the floodplain area within a city for parks and open land
Ans: e) using the floodplain area within a city for parks and open land
Chapter 29
12. Disposal of vegetable and animal waste by natural decomposition is called:
A) Composting
B) surface impoundment
C) land application
D) integrated waste management
E) Sludge disposal
Ans: A) Composting
13. The treatment of sewage (including waste water and human waste) involves particular challenges in
a concentrated, industrialized society like the U.S. and Canada. Which of the following, according to the
textbook, complicates safe treatment and recycling of this waste:
A) infectious agents that resist treatment
B) sewage water can never be reintroduced into the environment
C) the large volumes of sewage
D) toxic substances that may be present in the waste water
E) hydrocarbons in the waste water
Ans: D) toxic substances that may be present in the waste water
14. The figure below indicates the types of material that went into landfills in 2001. Which piece of the
landfill pie (a, b, c, d, or e) represents paper and paper products?
A) a B) b C) c D) d E) e
Ans: A) a
15. The study of the relationships among industrial systems and their links to natural systems is called:
A) ecological engineering
B) Integrated waste management
C) Green manufacturing
D) Materials management
E) industrial ecology
Ans: E) Industrial ecology
16. Leachate is a major environmental hazard associated with solid waste disposal sites. How is leachate
most commonly produced?
A) leachate is gas that leaks from a hazardous waste disposal site
B) nuclear decay of otherwise harmless material in a dump site
C) leakage from deep-well disposal sites
D) chemical reaction between waste material and the bedrock
E) chemical reaction between wastes and water percolating through the dump
Ans: E) chemical reaction between wastes and water percolating through the dump
17. Justification that is based on the value of some factor that is essential to larger life support functions,
even though it might not benefit an individual directly:
a) utilitarian
b) ecological
c) moral
d) aesthetic
e) economical
Ans: a) utilitarian
Chap 2
18. A scientific statement that can be proven or disproven is called
a) hypothesis
b) controlled experiment
c) technology
d) theory
e) fact
Ans :a) hypothesis
Chap 3
19. Change that tends to stabilize a system is called
a) linear growth
b) negative feedback
c) exponential growth
d) positive feedback
e) equilibrium
Ans :b) negative feedback
Chap 4
20. Which of the following examples describes the maximum number of a particular species that an
environment can support without degrading the environment?
a) demographic transition
b) replacement fertility curve
c) logistic growth curve
d) sustainability
e) carrying capacity
Ans :e) carrying capacity
Chap 5
21. The pathway by which carbon is transferred from living biota to the atmosphere is called:
a) Photosynthesis
b) transpiration
c) evaporation
d) respiration
e) transportation
Ans: d) respiration
Chap 6
22. A set of interacting species that live in the same area is called a(n):
a) ecological community
b) community level effect
c) keystone species
d) ecosystem
e) individual species
Ans: a) ecological community
Chap 9
23. These organisms cannot make their own organic compounds from inorganic ones and must feed on
other living things:
a) autotrophs
b) chemautotrophs
c) biotrophs
d) heterotrophs
e) homotrophs
Ans: d) heterotrophs
Chap 10
24. Gradual, sequential changes in the composition of an ecosystem, particularly following an initial
disturbance is called:
a) tolerance
b) succession
c) facilitation
d) interference
e) reforestation
Ans: b) succession
Chap 11
25. What is the relationship between farming and ecological succession:
a) farming keeps the land in a late successional stage
b) farming abbreviates succession, skipping the middle stage
c) farming promotes the premature change to late successional stage
d) farming keeps the land in an early successional stage
e) land succession is a process in natural ecosystems, and crop land cannot be discussed in the same
terms
Ans: d) farming keeps the land in an early successional stage
Chap 12
26. Which of the following terms refers to a set of methods to control pest organisms by using natural
ecological interactions?
a) biomagnification
b) traditional ranching
c) no-till agriculture
d) contour plowing
e) biological control
Ans :e) biological control
Chap 13
27. Tree diseases are primarily:
a) Viral
b) bacterial
c) fungal
d) insect-related
e) all of these
Ans :c) fungal
Chap 14
28. Some introduced species become abundant pests because they are:
a) Parasites
b) superior competitors
c) predators
d) a density-independent population
e) a minimum viable population
Ans: b) superior competitors
Chap 17
29. Which of the following terms refers to energy that is stored; for example the gravitational energy of
water behind a dam?
a) potential energy
b) kinetic energy
c) cogeneration
d) soft path energy
e) first-law efficiency
Ans :a) potential energy
Chap 18
30. All of the following correctly describe fossil fuels except:
a) a form of stored solar energy
b) created from incomplete biological decomposition of dead organic matter
c) long-term energy reserves
d) a renewable energy resource
e) organic material, dead and buried
Ans :d) a renewable energy resource
Chap 19
31. Which of the following statements describe “pump storage” in generating electricity?
a) off-peak energy is used to store water in an elevated reservoir, and that water is used to generate
hydroelectricity during peak hours
b) generating electricity by impounding ocean water during different tides
c) hydroelectricity from many small reservoirs
d) taking advantage of temperature contrasts between shallow groundwater and the surface
e) storing pumps until they are needed later
Ans :a) off-peak energy is used to store water in an elevated reservoir, and that water is used to
generate hydroelectricity during peak hours
Chap 20
32. The worst accident in the history of commercial nuclear power happened in 1986 at Chernobyl,
where a uranium fuel meltdown occurred. According to the Environmental Science text, in the next 20
to 30 years, there will be an increase in cancer:
a) Worldwide
b) in the northern hemisphere
c) in northern Europe
d) within 100-200 km of the reactor side
e) in workers at the plant the day of the accident
Ans: d) within 100-200 km of the reactor side
Chap 21
33. Use of groundwater at a rate faster than it is naturally re-supplied:
a) overdraft
b) water budget
c) influent streams
d) variable-source approach
e) wetlands
Ans :a) overdraft
Chap 22
34. Step in wastewater purification in which organic material is consumed by bacteria:
a) acid mine drainage
b) point source
c) secondary treatment
d) cryptosporidium
e) fecal coliform bacteria
Ans: c) secondary treatment
Chap 23
35. Constant energy input to a physical object will heat it up. Eventually it will reach a temperature that
will cause it to:
a) radiate heat energy all the time
b) radiate heat energy at the same rate it receives energy
c) absorb heat energy all the time
d) stop absorbing energy from the source
e) radiate heat energy at a rate greater than its energy input
Ans :b) radiate heat energy at the same rate it receives energy
Chap 24
36. What is meant by a fugitive pollution source?
a) air pollutants picked up from open areas exposed to wind
b) minimum mileage (MPG) requirements for new cars in the U.S.
c) pollutants from one or more controllable sites
d) maximum levels of carbon monoxide in the air of major cities
e) a well-defined area within which are several sources of air pollutants
Ans :c) Pollutants from one or more controllable sites
Chap 25
37. Formaldehyde, a common and harmful indoor air pollutant, comes from:
a) Decay of radioisotopes in bedrock and soil
b) out-gassing from particle board and other construction materials
c) combustion of fossil fuels
d) household insulation
e) household solvents and cleaning fluids
Ans: b) out-gassing from particle board and other construction materials