SCI 110 WEEK 2 QUIZ
__________ is defined as the number of protons plus the number of neutrons.
a. Atomic mass
b. Ionic number
c. Atomic number
d. Isotopic number
e. Nuclear number
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2. __________ are composed of amino acids.
a. Proteins
b. Nucleic acids
c. Carbohydrates
d. Lipids
e. Bases
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3. Which of the following represents an example of aerobic cellular respiration?
a. water + carbon dioxide + energy glucose + oxygen + water.
b. glucose + oxygen water + carbon dioxide + energy.
c. water + carbon dioxide glucose + oxygen + water + energy.
d. nitrogen + carbon dioxide + energy methane + oxygen.
e. nitrogen + oxygen + glucose methane + carbon dioxide.
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4. Water molecules adhere to one another because of:
a. Van der Waals attractions.
b. polar covalent bonds.
c. nonpolar covalent bonds.
d. acid-base attractions.
e. hydrogen bonds.
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5. Which of the following describes a property of water?
a. Changes temperature rapidly
b. Noncohesive
c. More dense as a solid
d. High pH
e. Dissolves many chemicals necessary for life
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6. Precipitation:
a. that is acidic has a low concentration of hydrogen ions.
b. that is acidic would have a pH higher than 7.
c. that is acidic would have a pH lower than pure water.
d. that measures pH 4 is twice as acidic as precipitation that measures pH 5.
e. has become increasing more basic in the last 100 years, due to industrial air pollution.
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7. Which of the following describes lipids?
a. Lipids dissolve in water.
b. Lipids are considered polymers.
c. Lipids include DNA.
d. Lipids are absent from most animal cells.
e. Lipids do not dissolve in water.
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8. River water held behind a dam is best described as a form of:
a. kinetic energy.
b. potential energy.
c. chemical energy.
d. entropy.
e. thermodynamics.
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9. During photosynthesis within plants:
a. the high-quality energy of the sun is converted to a lower quality.
b. entropy increases more rapidly.
c. entropy stays the same.
d. oxygen is consumed.
e. there is net consumption of water.
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10. Cellular respiration:
a. liberates carbon dioxide.
b. results in a net consumption of energy.
c. represents a decrease in entropy.
d. requires the green pigment chlorophyll.
e. involves a net consumption of water.
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11. For about the first three billion years that organisms lived on Earth:
a. there were more abundant and more complex life forms compared to today's Earth.
b. it was cold and there were many cold-adapted life forms.
c. all organisms lived in water.
d. there was a very similar atmosphere to today's Earth except that it lacked water.
e. the atmosphere had extremely high levels of oxygen.
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12. Coal, oil, and natural gas are:
a. renewable.
b. fossil fuels.
c. part of a sustainable energy future.
d. inorganic.
e. synthetic.
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13. Any network of relationships among a group of components, which interact with and influence one another through exchange of matter and/or information, is referred to as a(n):
a. interchange.
b. system.
c. ecosystem.
d. environmental collaboration.
e. hierarchy.
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14. The eutrophication that has taken place in the Gulf of Mexico and other locations appears to be due to:
a. global warming from human use of fossil fuels.
b. pesticide use along the waterways.
c. heavy metals dumped in the sewage.
d. weather alone, because it is only obvious in the summer.
e. excess nutrients from fertilizers.
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15. The swamplands of extreme southern Louisiana, which contain elements of both the forests and the coast, could be called a(n):
a. superbiome
b. ecotone
c. dead zone
d. closed ecosystem
e. abiotic system
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16. A small section of prairie grasses, over a year, produces enough biomass to feed insects, mice, rabbits, birds, deer, antelope, and a host of decomposers. The amount of food potentially available to the herbivores is the:
a. net primary production.
b. gross primary production.
c. secondary production.
d. productivity.
e. food chain.
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17. The rate at which biomass becomes available to consumers is termed:
a. gross primary production.
b. ecosystem productivity.
c. grossulosity factor.
d. net density.
e. net primary productivity.
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18. Plants conduct photosynthesis, making glucose and other carbohydrates. To do this they need:
a. water from the soil.
b. water from the humid atmosphere and carbon dioxide from the soil.
c. water from the soil and carbon dioxide from the soil.
d. carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
e. water from the soil and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
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19. The largest pools of carbon in the carbon cycle are:
a. freshwater systems and oceans.
b. plants and animals.
c. sedimentary rock and fossil fuels.
d. atmosphere.
e. hydrosphere.
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20. The origin of all nitrogen in biological tissues is:
a. earthquake activities.
b. atmospheric N2 gas.
c. nitrogen weathered from rock.
d. lightning.
e. volcanoes.
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21. Aquifers are:
a. natural ponds and lakes.
b. recharge lakes at water quality facilities.
c. underground water reservoirs.
d. the result of transpiration.
e. oceans.
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22. In a body of water becoming eutrophic, which of the following would be observed to decrease?
a. Phosphorus
b. Nitrogen
c. Dissolved oxygen
d. Carbon dioxide
e. Lipids and hydrocarbons
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23. Negatively charged particles surrounding an atomic nucleus are known as:
a. electrons.
b. protons.
c. neutrons.
d. ions.
e. isotopes.
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24. Endemic species:
a. are generalists.
b. cause disease.
c. are invasive species that cause extinction.
d. have high rates of mutations that lead to large numbers of offspring.
e. are only found in one place on the planet.
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25. The functional role of a species in its community is its:
a. habitat.
b. trophic level.
c. biotic potential.
d. niche.
e. carrying capacity.
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26. Population distribution describes the:
a. number of individuals within a population per unit area.
b. relative numbers of organisms of each age within a population.
c. spatial arrangement of individuals of a single species within a particular area.
d. spatial arrangement of multiple species within a particular area.
e. specific environment in which an organism lives.
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27. The carrying capacity is the:
a. maximum population size that a given environment can sustain.
b. greatest number of niches possible in a given area.
c. potential number of species in a given area.
d. maximum reproductive potential of an individual of a particular species.
e. average number of viable offspring produced within a population.
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28. Density-dependent factors:
a. include temperature extremes.
b. include floods, fires, and landslides.
c. cause the exponential growth of a population.
d. have a greater impact the higher the population density, like food and space.
e. cannot be identified for populations but only for ecosystems.
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29. Scientists hypothesize that the average time that a species spends on Earth is __________ years.
a. 1,000-5,000.
b. 100,000-400,000.
c. 500,000.
d. 1-10 million.
e. 100 million.
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30. Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace are best known for their ecological studies of:
a. wolves and derived dog breeds.
b. Brassica oleracea and crops such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts.
c. golden toads in the cloud forests of Monteverde.
d. exotic animals in the Galapagos Islands and Malay Archipelago.
e. passenger pigeons.
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31. Which of the following best describes Costa Rica?
a. Uniform habitat with low biodiversity
b. Ecologically diverse tropical nation estimated to contain 5-6% of all known species
c. Most of the species present in the country have been introduced into the area from elsewhere.
d. It is home to large expanses of dry savannah.
e. It is the only place left on Earth rich in biodiversity.
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32. Allopatric speciation describes:
a. speciation due to the spread of genetic mutations.
b. speciation due to physical separation of populations.
c. the global spread of human populations.
d. the convergence of two similar populations.
e. a rare type of natural selection.
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33. The spatial arrangement of organisms within an area is termed population:
a. density.
b. dispersion.
c. size.
d. ecology.
e. selection.
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34. Heavy rains and mudslides cause a river to change course, isolating two groups of lizards from one another. Over a long period of time:
a. one or both groups will become endemic species.
b. both groups will become invasive species.
c. the two groups will become different species because of genetic divergence.
d. one or both groups will emigrate.
e. both groups will become extinct.
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35. Which of the following are characteristics of K-selected species?
a. Long-lived, large size, small numbers of offspring
b. Reproduce early in life, short-lived, rapidly dispersing
c. No parental care, high mortality of juveniles
d. Chaotically fluctuating population size, close to carrying capacity
e. Small size, reproduce early in life
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36. A J-shaped population growth curve:
a. is evident in populations restrained by limiting environmental factors.
b. demonstrates growth by a fixed percentage over time.
c. is typical for populations that are large and dense.
d. was never predicted by early visionaries such as Thomas Malthus.
e. demonstrates logistic growth.
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37. Extinction is:
a. a natural process and the ultimate fate of all species.
b. caused exclusively by human disturbance.
c. the loss of communities from ecosystems.
d. proceeding more slowly in 2009 than at any time in the past.
e. most likely to affect wide-ranging generalist species.
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38. Rock that has undergone heat or pressure that causes it to change form is called:
a. conglomerate.
b. igneous.
c. sedimentary.
d. metamorphic.
e. deformative.
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39. The process of subduction:
a. causes the formation of deep ocean trenches.
b. occurs when denser ocean crusts slide beneath lighter continental crusts.
c. is caused by volcanoes.
d. occurs when plates pull apart.
e. is responsible for hurricanes.
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40. __________ is a type of sedimentary rock formed from physically eroded material.
a. Clastic
b. Chemical
c. Igneous
d. Oyroclastic
e. Placer
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41. __________ is the controversial name proposed in 2008 for the contemporary geological horizon that shows the effects of human impact on the surface of the planet.
a. Holocene
b. Mesozoic
c. Stratigraphic
d. Anthropocene
e. Quaternary
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42. __________ is a type of mining method used by the exploited coltan miners of Congo.
a. Strip mining
b. Mountaintop removal
c. Subsurface mining
d. Tectonic mining
e. Placer mining
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43. Which of the following is in correct order from shallowest to deepest regions of earth's structure?
a. Core-crust-mantle
b. Plate-core-crust-magma
c. Crust-mantle-core
d. Mantle A-core-mantle B-crust
e. Igneous-metamorphic-sedimentary-tectonic
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44. Earthquake-prone regions along transform tectonic plate boundaries are known as:
a. transduction zones.
b. faults.
c. mass wastings.
d. lahars.
e. tailings.
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45. Mineral resources are:
a. non-renewable and limited in supply.
b. renewable but only very slowly.
c. biodegradable and renewable.
d. evenly distributed over the earth's surface.
e. regulated internationally by the Global Resource Sharing Act of the United Nations (2009).
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