TOPICS TO REVIEW FOR THE FIRST 50 MC QUESTIONS on PRACTICE TEST
What does “per capita” mean?
What does “anthropogenic” mean?
Where is the world’s largest hydroelectric dam? On what river?
What is desalination? Where would this practice be profitable?
Name a greenhouse gas. Figure 19-3 p442
 Which one is a pollutant in the troposphere but a benefit in the stratosphere? How does this gas
form in the troposphere? What does the term “photochemical” mean?
 Most abundant greenhouse gas
 Name a greenhouse gas that is exclusively anthropogenic.
 Which is the better greenhouse gas: carbon dioxide or methane? CFC or methane?
What is the difference between a renewable energy source and a nonrenewable one?
What is a reserve?
How long are proven reserves of coal, natural gas, and oil expected to last?
Radon is a radioactive gas that comes from the breakdown of what material in bedrock?
Where is the atmosphere densest? least dense? warmest? greatest pressure? least pressure?
What is species richness? species evenness? biodiversity?
What does range of tolerance mean? Figure 3-11 p.58
What does the term “phylogenetic” mean?
Explain three types of coal mining? Name environmental impacts to adjacent environments by coal
mining.
What is the difference between active solar heating and passive solar heating. What would be the
energy storage element in this system. Figure 17-12 p.395 Also see Figure 17-15 p.397
What does the term “photovoltaic” mean?
What is BOD? DO? What is the oxygen sag curve? Where would the greatest diversity be? Where would
the least diversity be in this curve? Figure 21-4 p.497
Review zones of the ocean: intertidal, tidal, benthic, pelagic, abyssal, hadal, euphotic, aphotic, disphotic.
Figure 6-5 p.130
Review pH scale (review logarithmic scale) – normal rainfall? acid rainfall? pure water? battery acid?
ocean? How many more hydrogen ions in pH 5 than pH 8?
Correct order of soil particles in order of increasing size (clay-silt-sand) Figure 3-25 p.70
Types of tree harvesting – selective cutting, clear cutting, slash and burn clearing, gleaning (creaming),
Figure 10-19, p. 198
What is eutrophication? How can it be caused? How might it be remedied?
Name the steps of the scientific method. Emphasize repeatability.
Review exponents and how they can be used.
Calculate population density given population and land area.
Remember BxR = P
How does burning fossil fuels increase atmospheric carbon? Figure 20-6 p.469
What does prefix photo- mean versus phyto-?
Biogeochemical cycles – N,P,C,S,H2O – Figures 3-26, 3-27, 3-29, 3-31, 3-32 (pp.72-78)
What does “sustainable” mean? What single greatest thing if done would improve sustainability of just
about every action on our planet?
Natural gas versus gasoline as an alternative fuel source?
Environmental versus economic
Device used to remove air pollutants from industrial applications? Which substances are removed?
Figure 19-18 p.460
IR vs. UV radiation – Which is responsible for global warming due to increased greenhouse gases?
Demographic transition – Figure 9-14 p.183
hypoxia, anoxia, - their links to eutrophication – Figure 21-A p.506-507
Calculating a half-life. What is a half-life? p.40
Total fertility, replacement level fertility, life expectancy, infant mortality – Which is the greatest
indicator of a societies’ well-being? What are the differences? What impacts? p. 173-177
Positive correlation vs. negative correlation
positive feedback vs. negative feedback
How does a distillation (gas fractionation) tower work to refine crude oil into its components? Figure 165 p.359
What does “persistent” mean?
Risks of integrated pest management – especially biological controls (greatest risks of introducting
“beneficial bugs” for example?
Legislation – Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act, Comprehensive Environmental Responsibility Compensation and Liability Act P.534535
Population age structure diagrams – Figure 9-9 p.179
Mercury Pollution – Figure 22-26, p. 543