Unit 5: Land & Water Use
Env. Science · Unit 5 · Paper 2

Land & Water Use unit test

A test on this unit alone, marked as a percentage and a letter grade — for the test your class is actually sitting, rather than for May. Answer everything, then submit once: seeing the answer to question 3 before attempting question 4 makes the final percentage meaningless.

Paper 1Paper 2Paper 3
Each paper is built from this unit’s 35 terms and is the same for everyone, so a teacher can assign “Unit 5, Paper 2” and every student sits the identical test. Multiple choice is marked objectively; the written sections you mark yourself against the model answer and rubric.
Suggested time 37 min 34 points0/17 attempted
1

Overfishing and bycatch

2

No-till farming

3

Urban sprawl

4

Integrated pest management

5

Urban runoff and impervious surface

6

Clearcutting

7

Acid mine drainage

8

Strip cropping and alley cropping

9

Irrigation methods

10

Dams: the full ledger

11

Concentrated animal feeding operations

12

Sustainable practices

Short answer 1. Define or explain: Windbreaks and cover crops

3 pts

Short answer 2. Define or explain: Selective cutting vs clearcutting

3 pts

Short answer 3. Define or explain: Bycatch reduction devices

3 pts

Short answer 4. Define or explain: Slash-and-burn agriculture

3 pts

Free response

10 pts

ANALYZE AN ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM USING CALCULATIONS. The town of Riverton has a population of 40,000 people, growing at a constant rate of 2.0 percent per year. Each resident uses an average of 300 liters of water per day. The town draws its water from an aquifer that is recharged at a rate of 5.0 × 10⁹ liters per year. Show all work and include units in your answers.

A. Calculate the total volume of water, in liters, that Riverton uses per year at its current population.

B. Calculate the number of years it will take for Riverton’s population to double at its current growth rate.

C. Calculate Riverton’s annual water use after one doubling of the population, assuming per capita use stays the same.

D. Determine whether the aquifer can sustainably supply the town after one doubling, and justify your answer with a comparison of the relevant values.

E. Calculate the percentage reduction in per capita daily water use that would be required, after one doubling, to bring total annual use down to the aquifer’s recharge rate.

F. Describe one consequence of withdrawing groundwater faster than an aquifer recharges, and explain the mechanism.