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HUMANS’ IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT PRACTICE QUESTIONS
1) A city is conducting an environmental study to determine if building a factory near the city park will have any
negative effects on the park. Who should examine the results of the study in order to make an unbiased
decision?
A. Representatives from the factory and the
C. All the volunteers and participants in the park’s
park.
recreation area.
B. All board members from the company
D. Every member of the city council and all of the
building the factory.
company’s board members.
2) Anna observed the behavior of birds prey at the zoo. Her data led her to conclude that most birds of prey mate
for life, but in her research paper, Anna said the study should be expanded to include wild birds of prey. Which
part of the scientific inquiry process is modeled?
A. Repeating experiments
C. Revising experimental procedures
B. Analyzing observations
D. Identifying possible sources of bias.
3) Which of the following illustrates how technology can advance scientific knowledge?
A. New lasers are used for cosmetic surgery
C. New seatbelt designs provide protection to all sizes
B. Robots are used to speed up the food
of people.
production
D. Microscopes are used to observe the structures of
cancer cells.
4) A chemist found some properties of carbon that he believed would revolutionize the computer industry, and he
summarized his work in a paper for a scientific journal. Why is it prudent for the editors of the journal to ask
other chemists to review the article before publication?
A. To show other scientists the chemist’s poor
C. To let the other scientists to know what is
technical skills
happening before the public is told.
B. To ensure the publication of research is
D. To be sure that the paper is written with proper
scientifically valid.
grammar, spelling, and graphs.
5) In Indonesia, a volcanic eruption destroyed a large island, but also creates a smaller one from the cooled lava
rock. A century later, this island is now a tropical rain forest. Which of the following explains how the process
occurred?
A. The lava rock provided the perfect amount of nutrients for tropical forest plants to grow.
B. The people of Indonesia wanted to rebuild the island, so they planted the ecosystem over a period of years.
C. The plants that grew on the rock were not blocked from the sunlight, and therefore grew quickly from the
Sun’s energy.
D. Through ecological succession, organisms that survived the eruption reproduced offspring and thus created
the rain forest ecosystem.
6) George is fisheries biologist who has been asked to develop a computer model for studying a population of fish
in a local lake. His boss wants to know the long-term effect of a chemical spill on the fish in the lake. Which of
the following would be a reason for using actual counts of fish instead of a computer model?
A. Physical abnormalities that develop can be
C. The number of a population constantly changes.
observed.
D. Results can be predicted far into the future instead
B. Catching the fish to count them can cause
of waiting for them.
them harm.
7) Plants use carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to aid in the production of food. Plants then release oxygen into
the atmosphere. What might be a long-term result of clearing large areas of forestland?
A. An increase in global levels of oxygen.
B. A decrease in global levels of carbon dioxide
C. An increase in global levels of carbon dioxide
Aventura Waterways K-8 Center
Gisela Dumm
FCAT Science Camp 2010-2011
2
D. N increase in the number of trees in another forest
8) In the 1940s, rabbits were introduced to Australia. Prior to this, there were no rabbits and no natural rabbit
predators in Australia. The rabbit population increased rapidly and devastated food crops. How would the
introduction of a rabbit predator affect the Australian ecosystem?
A. Rabbits would be the predator’s only food source.
B. Both rabbits and native species would be the predator’s food.
C. The predator would reproduce until it was as abundant as the rabbits.
D. The predator would become extinct and the rabbits would still be reproducing.
9) In 1986, a power station in Chernobyl, Ukraine, had a catastrophic meltdown that released large amounts of
nuclear material, killing many people and leaving long-lasting effects on health and the environment. Briefly
discuss the possible benefits and dangers and dangers of a nuclear power station.
10) Darwin’s theory of evolution represented a major change in the scientific view of the origin of species. Which of
the following helped the theory of evolution gain the acceptance of the vast majority of practicing biologists?
A. Most people supported Darwin’s ideas.
B. Scientists saw that Darwin had proved the theory
C. The theory explains a wide variety of observations
D. Scientific organizations required scientists to accept the theory.
11) Roberto is studying bird species in the Everglades. His studying is over a five-year period, but every year the
amount of bird species declines. He also notices the swamp water level has declined. Which abiotic factor might
contribute to these declines?
A. An increase in human population of the area
B. A decrease in amount of food available to the birds
C. An increase in the bacteria population in the swamp water
D. A decrease in the average humidity and rainfall over the swamp
12) Many abiotic and biotic factors in an ecosystem affect one another constantly. Which of the following
represents a chain of events from biotic factor affecting an abiotic one?
A. The soil provides nutrients to the plants in the ecosystems
B. The mosquito population declines, affecting bird population
C. The trees provide materials from their leaves and stems for the soil
D. An increase in sunlight provides energy for the plants to increase in population.
13) A high-pressure system moves over a city that has poor air quality due to pollution. The weather reporter states
that the high-pressure system will stay in the city for at least one week. How will this system affect the pollution
in the city?
A. It will not affect the pollution at all
C. It will reproduce the pollution, then increase it
B. It will trap the pollution over the city
D. It will blow the pollution away from the city.
14) Which of the following is an example of natural selection that increases offspring’s chance of survival?
A. Female fish release large number of eggs for fertilization.
B. Bird offspring compete for food delivered by their mother.
C. Mothers of gazelle offspring eat the afterbirth of infants to detract predators.
D. Brown field mice make it to adulthood while white-colored siblings do not.
15) Based on the five major characteristics that classify organisms, which of the following kingdoms do NOT have a
nucleus in their cell structure?
A. Eubacteria, Fungi
C. Archaebacteria, Protista
B. Eubacteria, Protista
D. Archaebacteria, Eubacteria
Aventura Waterways K-8 Center
Gisela Dumm
FCAT Science Camp 2010-2011
3
HUMANS’ IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT PRACTICE QUESTIONS
Answer Key
1. (A) To make a decision on impact, randomly selected individuals must participate in evaluating the study to
make a recommendation. Once this occurs, then the city council and the factory bosses (Answer D) are welcome
to fight it out for the final decision. Answers B and C represent one-sided bias.
2. (A) Anna’s research was performed essentially in a laboratory (the zoo). For her conclusion to be valid, the same
investigation must be done outside of the laboratory, in the wild with predators, many members of the same
species (as possible mating partners), and food source competition. She is acknowledging the observations she
made was under a very specific environment and needs to be replicated in different situations.
3. (D) The clue here is in the question: “advancing scientific knowledge”. Answers A-C address application of
knowledge to technology (tools). Only D addresses using technology to learn more to increase knowledge.
4. (B) This question is about peer review. Having other scientists inspect another scientist’s work serves as a
double- and triple-check on that scientist’s work. If there is anything in the research that was performed
incorrectly or assumptions mad e without proof, the other scientist ensure that that paper will not be published,
which average people (non-scientists) may not recognize.
5. (D) Ecological succession is the process by which an ecosystem changes over time. There is always some biotic
life form left behind, whether it is a fungus or a bacterium. Once it is allowed to grow, other biotic creatures will
come to feed on them. After time, you will have a new lush island; from life comes more life.
6. (A) Using real counts of the fish population also allows the researcher to examine the fish for changes over time.
(Chemicals make physical changes as well as population changes, and the chemical spill could result in both.)
7. (C) Clearing the forest kills the photosynthesizing life, therefore, one would expect in increase in CO2. Answer A
would be the result of planting more trees. Answer B would correspond with a decrease in global CO2
concentrations. And answer D is ridiculous.
8. (B) What is a rabbit predator? A dog? A fox? An eagle? What other things do these animals eat? Only rabbits?
No. Therefore, they would affect not only the rabbit population (the desired population) but also other native
animals.
9. Benefits of Nuclear Energy: does not release CO2 into the atmosphere, long-lasting resource, relatively cheap,
high energy output; Drawbacks of Nuclear Energy: possibility of catastrophe scary, waste produced under
normal energy production radioactive for ages, requires close monitoring of fuel due to dual purpose (energy for
the population and nuclear weapons).
10. (C) In science, it doesn’t matter if people agree with you (Answer A), or that Darwin is a good scientist because
explaining life is not the same as explaining why a2 + b2 = c2 (Answer B), and nor is it good enough for other
scientists to agree with you (Answer D). A scientific theory consistently provides the same answer to many types
of observations.
11. (D) Here, the answer is in the question as well: What abiotic factors might contribute to these declines (in
birds)? So when you are looking for the answer, look for something that starts with an abiotic (nonliving) reason:
the water cycle (rainfall) affects the bird population. Answer A is biotic: humans; Answer B is biotic: food;
Answer C is biotic: bacteria.
12. (C) This is almost the same as No. 11, except backwards: seek the answer with a biotic factor leading to an effect
in the abiotic one. The only possible answer is C. Answer A is abiotic (soil) to biotic (plants); Answer B is biotic
(mosquito) to biotic (bird); Answer D is abiotic (sunlight) to biotic (plants); Only Answer C is biotic (trees) to
abiotic (soil).
13. (B) A high pressure system pushes down on the earth’s surface more than a low pressure system. A high
pressure system, if it sits around an area for a while, will trap all of the pollution around the town.
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Gisela Dumm
FCAT Science Camp 2010-2011
4
14. (D) Natural selection is about adaption to a given environment, whether or not the traits the individual has
allows that individual to survive and reproduce, and if they reproduce, they will pass on their “favorable” genes
to the next generation.
15. (D) Only Kingdom Monera is prokaryotic (lacking a nucleus). Every other answer has another kingdom other than
Monera. Remember, Monera are the bacteria, whether archaebacteria or eubacteria, they are both bacteria.
Aventura Waterways K-8 Center
Gisela Dumm
FCAT Science Camp 2010-2011
5
HUMANS’ IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT PRACTICE
QUESTIONS
Aventura Waterways K-8 Center
Gisela Dumm
FCAT Science Camp 2010-2011