Unit 8: Aquatic & Terrestrial Pollution
Env. Science · Unit 8 · Paper 1

Aquatic & Terrestrial Pollution 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 21 terms and is the same for everyone, so a teacher can assign “Unit 8, Paper 1” 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

RCRA

2

Indicator organisms for water quality

3

Clean Water Act

4

Sewage treatment stages

5

Waterborne diseases

6

Leachate

7

Dissolved oxygen and temperature

8

Plastic pollution and microplastics

9

Oil spills

10

Point vs nonpoint source pollution

11

Heavy metal pollution

12

Persistent organic pollutants

Short answer 1. Define or explain: Cultural eutrophication

3 pts

Short answer 2. Define or explain: Dose-response curve

3 pts

Short answer 3. Define or explain: Solid waste disposal

3 pts

Short answer 4. Define or explain: Bioaccumulation vs biomagnification

3 pts

Free response

10 pts

A city plans to build a coal-fired power plant beside a wetland. Ecologists worry that acid deposition will lower the pH of the wetland and reduce amphibian egg survival. Before construction, the city funds a two-year study of amphibian breeding pools.

Identify the independent variable the researchers should measure.

Identify ONE dependent variable they should measure.

Describe an appropriate control or comparison group for this investigation.

Explain why that comparison group must otherwise resemble the treatment pools.

Identify ONE variable that must be held constant across sampling sites.

Justify why that variable must be held constant.

Describe the method and instrument the team should use to collect the pH data.

State how often and at what time of day the samples should be taken.

Make a prediction about the results if the acid-deposition hypothesis is correct.

Identify ONE limitation of this investigation and explain why it weakens a claim that the plant CAUSED any change.