Deck 22: Environmental Impacts of Industrial Activities and Human Populations

Question 1

An example of a point source is

A) Runoff from a watershed along a coastline
B) Precipitation
C) Flow into an estuary from an industrial wastewater pipe
D) None of the above

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Metals can be especially dangerous in the environment because

A) They are soluble in animal fat
B) They are cumulative toxins
C) They always have effects on the nervous system
D) They cause thinning of bird eggshells

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Gene expression at the genomic level can be studied using

A) PCR
B) Microarrays
C) Enzyme polymorphisms at single genetic loci
D) Phylogeography

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The concentration of PCBs in a fish's food is 1 ppb and the concentration in its fatty tissue is 100 ppb. This is an example of

A) Trophic transfer
B) Biomagnification
C) Bioconcentration
D) Increased gene expression

Question 5

Lead derives from

A) Urban run-off
B) Sewage wastewater
C) Atmospheric deposition
D) All of the above

Question 6

DDT

A) Has proven to have no effect on insects
B) Was the cause of major declines in many sea bird species
C) Affects insects but has no effect on marine crustaceans
D) Decomposes very rapidly in the environment to a harmless residue

Question 7

PCBs originate from

A) Acid rain
B) Degradation of pesticides such as DDT
C) The bottoms of ships
D) Industrial sources, such as machinery

Question 8

Oil is especially toxic when

A) It has a large fraction of aromatics
B) It is pure crude oil
C) It has stayed in the ocean for several years
D) None of the above

Question 9

PCBs and PAHs

A) Disrupt the endocrine cycles of marine organisms
B) Disrupt the primary feather structure of seabirds
C) Derive mainly from crude oil
D) Cause thinning of bird eggshells

Question 10

Which of the following is known to have effects on the human nervous system?

A) Copper
B) Argon
C) Mercury
D) Calcium

Question 11

Which of the following is the most counterproductive way to deal with an oil spill?

A) If seas are rough, let them break up the spill and disperse the oil
B) Contain the oil within a floating boom
C) Add lots of detergents to the sea surface to disperse the oil
D) Reduce tanker traffic near hazardous sites

Question 12

Plastics are

A) Ingested by sea turtles
B) Found in great abundance in the central north Pacific
C) Found in the sea bed
D) All of the above

Question 13

The two largest marine oil accidents from submarine wells occurred

A) In the Gulf of Mexico
B) In Alaskan waters
C) Off Cape Cod
D) From supertanker accidents

Question 14

Plastics

A) Enter the ocean as large particles such as bags and tend to remain intact
B) Tend to remain at the surface and are never found in deeper water
C) Often break down into very small particles that may be ingested
D) Are found randomly throughout the ocean and never concentrated in restricted areas

Question 15

A species population can respond to a pollutant by

A) Evolving resistance to that pollutant
B) Declining in individual growth rate and reproduction
C) Reducing individual uptake of the pollutant
D) All of the above

Question 16

Eutrophication often results in

A) Hypoxia
B) Reduced primary production
C) Decreased pH
D) All of the above

Question 17

Secondary treatment

A) Fails to remove dissolved nutrients
B) Removes dissolved nutrients by use of denitrifying bacteria
C) Can often remove metals such as copper
D) Is less effective than primary treatment in curtailing hypoxia

Question 18

Coliform bacteria counts are often used as a pollution indicator because they

A) Cause disease
B) Are a direct estimate of hypoxia
C) Harbor dangerous viruses
D) Are thought to be correlated in abundance with other microorganisms that cause disease

Question 19

Tertiary sewage treatment would involve

A) The removal of very fine particulate matter
B) Removal of dissolved nutrients
C) Removal of heavy metals
D) Removal of oxygen

Question 20

The greenhouse effect of the earth's atmosphere is caused

A) By industrial emissions only of methane
B) Only by carbon dioxide that is derived from industrial emissions
C) By natural sources only of carbon dioxide and other natural gases such as methane
D) By carbon dioxide and other gases from both natural and industrial sources