Environmental Science midterm exam

Chapter 1
1. What is environmental science?
2. What is ecology?
3. What are the major fields of study that
contribute to environmental science?
4. Describe the following periods: hunter
gatherer, agricultural, industrial.
5. What is agriculture?
6. When did most environmental problems
begin?
7. What is a natural resource?
a. What is a renewable resource? Give
2 examples
b. What is a nonrenewable resource?
Give 2 examples
8. What is pollution?
9. What are the two types of pollution? Give an
example of each.
10. What is biodiversity?
11. What is extinction?
12. Describe the tragedy of commons.
13. What is the law of supply and demand?
14. How does supply and demand relate to the
cost of materials?
15. What is sustainability?
Chapter 3
1. Describe the earths structure and
composition
2. What are plate tectonics?
3. What is the main cause of earthquakes?
4. How are mountains formed?
5. What are the 3 types of rocks?
Chapter 4
1. What is an ecosystem?
2. What is a biotic factor?
3. What is an abiotic factor?
4. What is an organism?
5. What is a species?
6. What is a population?
7. What is a community?
8. What is a habitat?
9. How many kingdoms are used to classify
organisms?
Chapter 5
1. Define photosynthesis.
2. What is the word equation for
photosynthesis?
3. Where does most of the energy in an
ecosystem come from?
4. What is a producer?
5. What is an autotroph?

6. What is a consumer?
7. What is a heterotroph?
8. What is a decomposer?
9. What is a herbivore?
10. What is a carnivore?
11. What is an omnivore?
12. What is a food chain?
13. What is a food chain?
14. What is a tropic level?
15. How much energy is passed to each tropic
level? What happens to the rest of energy?
16. What is ecological succession?
a. What is primary succession? What is
a cause of primary succession?
b. What is secondary succession? What
is a cause of secondary succession?
17. What is a pioneer species?
18. What is a climax community?
19. Describe old-field succession.
Chapter 8
1. What is population density?
2. What is dispersion?
3. What is growth rate?
4. How does exponential growth occur?
5. What is carrying capacity?
6. What is a limiting resource?
7. What is density dependent?
8. What is density independent?
9. What is a niche? What is the difference
between a habitat and a niche?
10. What is competition?
11. What is predation?
12. What is parasitism?
13. What is mutualism?
14. What is commensalism?
15. What is symbiosis?
Biodiversity ch. 10
1. Define:
Biodiversity, poaching, Keystone
species, ecotourism, threatened species
endangered species, germ-plasm bank
exotic species, captive-breeding (give an
example)
2. Why is biodiversity important to
ecosystems?
3. What are the major human causes of
extinction today are
4. How can zoos, botanic gardens, and wildlife
parks help save species? (hint: 2 answers)
5. What groups of organisms are most in
danger of extinction?