Name: ____________________________________________ Mod: _________ Date: _______________

Environmental Science Midterm Study Guide

Please answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper.

Chapter 1

1) Describe the term biodiversity. How do we depend on a large biodiversity?

2) Describe the Tragedy of the Commons. Explain how the Tragedy of Commons could be used to

explain what would happen to a section of land that is used by several different farmers but that

none of them own.

3) Describe the concept of sustainability. What steps do people need to take in order to maintain

sustainability?

4) What is an ecological footprint? What factors contribute to an individual’s ecological footprint?

5) How does a developing nation differ from a developed nation? Provide an example of both a

developing and a developed nation.

6) Describe the impact that the Industrial Revolution has had on the environment. Be descriptive.

7) Describe and define the following laws and regulations; Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Water

Act, Clean Air Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Endangered Species Act, and

Environmental Protection Agency.

8) Describe the concept of cost benefit analysis. How does this concept have an impact on

environmental regulations?

9) What are limiting factors? What factors affect the growth of a population? What factors affect

the carrying capacity of a population? Identify the carrying capacity in the graph below.

Chapter 3

10) What are the layers of the earth? Describe each layer.

11) Describe the following terms; exosphere, thermosphere, mesosphere, stratosphere,

troposphere.

12) Describe the process of erosion, be sure to describe both wind and water erosion.

13) Describe the greenhouse effect. Provide three examples of greenhouse gases.

14) What happens on boundaries between tectonic plates? What are tectonic plates, faults, and

seismic waves?

15) Describe the concepts of radiation, conduction, and convection.

16) What is a volcano? What causes melted rock to form?

Chapter 14

17) What is deforestation? What are the effects of deforestation? Describe the two prominent

methods for clearing trees.

18) What are ecosystem services?

19) What is GIS used for? What does it stand for?

20) What are parks, preserves, open spaces, and wilderness areas? What are the benefits of these

areas? What threats do these areas face?

21) What is the difference between urban and rural areas? How do these areas depend/impact each

other? What is urban sprawl? What are the impacts of urban sprawl? Describe the urban crisis.

What are the effects of the urban crisis? What is infrastructure?

22) What is mass transit? What are the benefits of the mass transit system?

23) What is marginal land? What problems are associated with marginal land? Why is marginal land

usually used to build upon?

24) What are rangelands? What steps can be taken to properly manage rangelands?

Chapter 19

25) What is a landfill? What problems are associated with the current use of landfills? How are

landfills managed?

26) What are the different types of solid waste? How can we manage/ reduce the production of

solid waste? What is the difference between biodegradable and nonbiodegradable waste? What

is source reduction? How can solid waste be reduced in packaging materials?

27) How do the students of West Caldwell contribute to the production of solid waste on a daily

basis? What steps could be taken to reduce the production of this waste?

28) Describe the concept of recycling. What benefits are there to recycling? What steps are taken to

recycle products? How can you as an individual use the SPI code system to make the process of

recycling more efficient?

29) Describe the concept of composting. What makes up soil? How is a compost pile properly

assembled?

30) What are greens and browns when composting? Why do you need them? How does

composting change our idea of food waste?

31) What are the different types of plastics? What problems are associated with the overuse of

plastics? How do we classify different types of plastics? Compare and contrast photodegradable

and biodegradable plastics.

32) What is electronic waste? What problems are associated with the production of electronic

waste? How is electronic waste disposed of?

33) What are incinerators? What are the impacts of using incinerators?