Exam 24: Human Impacts, Biodiversity, and Environmental Issues

Match the following air pollutants to their description. -hydrocarbons

Destruction of the ozone due to pollutants is limited to layers located only above the South American continent.

Certain gases in the upper atmosphere allow sunlight to pass through to Earth's surface, but prevent heat from escaping. This is known as

________ water is a slowly exchanging pool, and once it becomes polluted it is difficult to clean up.

Which one of the following energy sources is NOT an alternative to fossil fuels?

Explain how emissions of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide create the greenhouse effect.

Which one of the following actions of humans has not contributed to the worldwide reduction in biodiversity?

As DDT accumulates in the tissues of carnivores at increasing trophic levels, the concentration increases; this is representative of ________.

Human activities have resulted in at least one-third of the landmass of Earth being altered in some way.

One way to reduce the amount of raw materials consumed by humans is by ________ useable materials.

A(n) ________ occurs when a warm, stagnant layer of air traps a cooler mass of air containing smog below it.

Despite an international agreement signed in 1987 to phase out the production of CFCs, depletion of the ozone will continue to affect Earth and its atmosphere for at least another one hundred years.

Match the following air pollutants to their description. -smog

Although it was one time hoped that nuclear energy would meet most human energy needs, this has not occurred due to expense and safeguards necessary to prevent meltdowns.

Humans breathe in air that contains nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of thousands of pollutants.

The transformation of marginal lands into near-desert conditions unsuitable for future agriculture is referred to as ________.

Thinning of the ozone has already been detected in the stratospheric ozone layer.

The ozone layer can be destroyed by pollutants such as

Although humans have had a negative impact on biodiversity in the past, the present global extinction rate is 20 times lower now than at any other time in the past.

The death of animal life in a shallow body of water in conjunction with a rapid increase in plant life is known as ________.