AP Environmental Science › AP Environmental Sciences
Which of the following is NOT a drawback of utilizing hydrogen as a fuel source?
Hydrogen has a low energy density by weight.
Hydrogen has a low energy density by volume.
Hydrogen is very challenging and dangerous to transport.
The input of energy to produce hydrogen is often greater than the energy of the resulting hydrogen.
Existing infrastructure for manufacturing and transporting hydrogen is minimal to nonexistent.
Hydrogen is very challenging to transport and it requires a large energy investment to produce it. While hydrogen has a low energy density by volume, it actually has a very high energy density by weight. This has to do with the fact that hydrogen, discussed in this context, is a gas.
Giraffes use their incredibly long necks and tough, prehensile tongues to expertly remove acacia leaves from their spiky branches. Honey badgers are opportunistic and will chase other predators away from carcasses to eat carrion. They will also destroy beehives with their huge claws to reach honey. Additionally, they can use their claws to dig burrows and find yams. Gerenuks will stand on their back legs to reach the tops of grassland shrubs, which is a unique trait among grass eating antelope. Last, aardvarks have immense nails and sticky tongues that they use to open termite mounds and consume thousands of termites and ants in a given night.
Using this information, which of the following species would best be described as a niche generalist?
Honey badger
Giraffe
Aardvark
Gerenuk
A species generalist can survive in a wide variety of environmental conditions and make use of varying resources. Honey badgers are generalists because they eat proportionally smaller amounts of many types of food over their lifetime. The other species listed are specialists and eat a proportionally large amount of one or few types of food over their lifetimes.
Which biogeochemical cycle is the only one without an atmospheric component?
The phosphorus cycle
The sulfur cycle
The nitrogen cycle
The carbon cycle
All of the other cycles have at least one atmospheric component in their systems. The carbon cycle incorporates carbon dioxide in the photosynthesis portion of its cycle. The sulfur cycle incorporates gaseous sulfur dioxide when it is released by volcanic eruptions. The water cycle has the condensation of clouds in the atmosphere and the precipitation of those clouds as well. The nitrogen cycle incorporates atmospheric nitrogen gas before it is fixed by cyanobacteria. Only the phosphorus cycle does not have a phosphorus containing compound in the atmosphere that is essential for life on Earth.
What describes a "stable population?"
A population in which the number of children is approximately the same as the number of reproducing adults
A population in which carrying capacity is well above the current number of individuals
A population that uses resources in an effective manner, such as resource partitioning
A population in which the offspring have a low mortality rate
A population in which member numbers do not fluctuate in a given time period
A stable population is described as one in which birth rate equals to death rate, and the number of children is about equal to the number of reproducing adults.
Which of the following is a habitat and way of life to which a particular organism is adapted?
Niche
Habituation
Biome
Community
TerritorialityTerr
A niche is a habitat and way of life to which a particular organism is adapted. It is the role of a particular species within an ecosystem, including all aspects of its interaction with the living and nonliving environments. Habituation is a common form of simple learning, defined as a decline in response to a repeated stimulus. The ability to habituate is adaptive. Humans habituate to many stimuli: city dwellers to traffic sounds, and country dwellers to the sounds of nature. A biome is a terrestrial ecosystem that occupies an extensive geographical area and is characterized by a specfic type of plant community. A community is all the interacting populations within an ecosystem. Terrioriality is the defense of an area in which important resources are located.
Which biogeochemical cycle is the only one without an atmospheric component?
The phosphorus cycle
The sulfur cycle
The nitrogen cycle
The carbon cycle
All of the other cycles have at least one atmospheric component in their systems. The carbon cycle incorporates carbon dioxide in the photosynthesis portion of its cycle. The sulfur cycle incorporates gaseous sulfur dioxide when it is released by volcanic eruptions. The water cycle has the condensation of clouds in the atmosphere and the precipitation of those clouds as well. The nitrogen cycle incorporates atmospheric nitrogen gas before it is fixed by cyanobacteria. Only the phosphorus cycle does not have a phosphorus containing compound in the atmosphere that is essential for life on Earth.
At the current rate of consumption, available natural gas reserves are expected to last another:
75 years
50 years
25 years
600 years
100 years
Currently available natural gas reserves are expected to last another 75 years at the current rate of consumption.
Which of the following is NOT an adverse affect of building dams to generate hydro-electric power?
The energy required to operate and maintain the dam is often equal to the energy produced by the dam.
Dams often change the current and width of a watershed, altering the riparian ecosystem.
Many fish populations (including salmon and trout) are decimated because dams restrict access to essential habitat.
Dams can contribute to flooding and resulting property damage.
Animals that rely on fish as sustainance may begin to decline because the dam has permanently altered fish habitat.
The energy output from a hydro-electric dam is substantial enough to result in most of America's major rivers being damned. The more pressing issues that these damns cause are changes to the aquatic ecosystem and restriction of movement for migratory fish species.
Giraffes use their incredibly long necks and tough, prehensile tongues to expertly remove acacia leaves from their spiky branches. Honey badgers are opportunistic and will chase other predators away from carcasses to eat carrion. They will also destroy beehives with their huge claws to reach honey. Additionally, they can use their claws to dig burrows and find yams. Gerenuks will stand on their back legs to reach the tops of grassland shrubs, which is a unique trait among grass eating antelope. Last, aardvarks have immense nails and sticky tongues that they use to open termite mounds and consume thousands of termites and ants in a given night.
Using this information, which of the following species would best be described as a niche generalist?
Honey badger
Giraffe
Aardvark
Gerenuk
A species generalist can survive in a wide variety of environmental conditions and make use of varying resources. Honey badgers are generalists because they eat proportionally smaller amounts of many types of food over their lifetime. The other species listed are specialists and eat a proportionally large amount of one or few types of food over their lifetimes.
Which of the following is a habitat and way of life to which a particular organism is adapted?
Niche
Habituation
Biome
Community
TerritorialityTerr
A niche is a habitat and way of life to which a particular organism is adapted. It is the role of a particular species within an ecosystem, including all aspects of its interaction with the living and nonliving environments. Habituation is a common form of simple learning, defined as a decline in response to a repeated stimulus. The ability to habituate is adaptive. Humans habituate to many stimuli: city dwellers to traffic sounds, and country dwellers to the sounds of nature. A biome is a terrestrial ecosystem that occupies an extensive geographical area and is characterized by a specfic type of plant community. A community is all the interacting populations within an ecosystem. Terrioriality is the defense of an area in which important resources are located.