Name _____________________________________________ Date ____________ Period ____
Environmental Science Final Exam
Study Guide # 1: Nature of Science and Ecosystems
1. What is environmental science? What are the goals of environmental science?
2. List and describe the three main environmental problems.
3. What is the Tragedy of the Commons?
4. What are some values that influence environmental decision making?
5. What is a producer? How do they obtain energy?
6. What is a consumer? How do they obtain energy?
7. What is a predator? What is prey?
8. What is a food chain? Food web?
9. Describe the carbon cycle.
10. Explain the role of nitrogen fixing bacteria in the nitrogen cycle.
11. Describe the phosphorous cycle.
12. Compare and contrast a primary succession with a secondary succession.
13. What is the difference between a primary species and a climax community?
14. What is the relationship between fires and secondary succession?
15. Contrast abiotic and biotic factors. Give an example of each.
16. What is a biome? What are the two abiotic factors that classify biomes?
17. What type of conditions are found in a desert? Rain forest?
18. What is a niche? What is niche restriction?
19. What is symbiosis?
20. Describe competition. How can two species be in indirect competition with one another?
21. What is parasitism? Explain what a host is.
22. Contrast mutualism with commensalism.
Name _____________________________________________ Date ____________ Period ____
Environmental Science Final Exam
Study Guide # 2: Population and Radon
1. What is demography?
2. What is a population?
3. Describe the trend in population since the 1800s. What lead to this trend?
4. Populations can be described by their size, density and dispersion. Explain what density
and dispersion are.
5. What is reproductive potential?
6. Explain the relationship between generation time and the size of an organism.
7. Explain what population pyramids illustrate.
8. What is replacement rate and what is the current rate for the United States?
9. Declining death rates contribute to our population growth. What has caused the death
rate to decline?
10. What is life expectancy?
11. What is the demographic transition?
12. Explain the 4 stages of the demographic transition.
13. How does the education of women influence population growth?
14. What is infrastructure?
15. Explain how shortage of fuel wood is a problem of rapid growth.
16. Explain how rapid population growth affects water supplies.
17. How does population growth impact land?
18. Population growth is slowing. What is the predicted population for the year 2050?
19. What characteristics of radon make it dangerous?
20. How does radon enter into a home?
21. What health effects are associated with radon?
22. What level of radon does the EPA consider “action level”?
23. What are some mitigation techniques to get rid of radon?
Name _____________________________________________ Date ____________ Period ____
Environmental Science Final Exam
Study Guide # 3 Water, and Air
1. What percentage of the water on Earth is saltwater? Freshwater?
2. Where is most freshwater located?
3. What is surface water and where can it be found?
4. What is a watershed?
5. What is groundwater?
6. Describe the water table.
7. Explain what an aquifer is.
8. Contrast porosity and permeability.
9. What is a recharge zone?
10. What is a well?
11. List and describe the three main uses of water.
12. What are some ways that people can converse water in their everyday lives?
13. Describe three water diversion projects.
14. What are some disadvantages of building a dam?
15. What is desalination and why do some countries of the world use this process?
16. Explain how reverse osmosis works.
17. How does distillation desalinize water?
18. What is water pollution?
19. Describe the two types of water pollution.
20. What are pathogens? List 5 other types of pollutants that can enter water.
21. What is eutrophication?
22. What is thermal pollution?
23. What is waste water?
24. What caused the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill? Who was responsible?
25. Describe some ways that oil can be contained or cleaned up during an oil spill. (There
are 8 possible answers for this question, describe 4)
26. What environmental concerns are associated with an oil spill?
27. What is air pollution?
28. Contrast primary pollutants with secondary pollutants.
29. What are the two major sources of air pollution?
30. Describe the California Zero-Emission Vehicle Program.
31. What is smog?
32. Describe short term health effects of air pollution.
33. Describe long term health effects of air pollution.
34. What is sick building syndrome?
35. How does acid precipitation form?
36. What number range is acid precipitation on the pH scale?
37. What is the ozone layer?
38. What are chlorofluorocarbons and what relationship do they have with the ozone layer?
39. What are the effects of the ozone layer thinning?
40. What was the main goal of the Montreal Protocol?
41. List and describe the consequences of global warming.
42. Explain the main goal of the Kyoto Protocol.