Unit 8: Aquatic & Terrestrial Pollution
Env. Science · Unit 8 · Paper 3

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 3” 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

Dissolved oxygen and temperature

2

Oil spills

3

Superfund (CERCLA)

4

Dose-response curve

5

Solid waste disposal

6

Cultural eutrophication

7

Waterborne diseases

8

Indicator organisms for water quality

9

Heavy metal pollution

10

Persistent organic pollutants

11

Plastic pollution and microplastics

12

Bioaccumulation vs biomagnification

Short answer 1. Define or explain: Safe Drinking Water Act

3 pts

Short answer 2. Define or explain: Sewage treatment stages

3 pts

Short answer 3. Define or explain: Clean Water Act

3 pts

Short answer 4. Define or explain: Biochemical oxygen demand

3 pts

Free response

10 pts

A stream draining agricultural land experiences dense algal blooms each spring, followed by fish kills in early summer. A class hypothesizes that phosphate from fertilizer applied to nearby fields is responsible.

Identify the independent variable in this experiment.

Identify the dependent variable and how it should be measured.

Describe the control group.

Identify ONE variable that must be held constant across the aquaria.

Explain why that variable must be held constant.

Predict how algal growth will differ across the treatments.

Explain what must be true of the difference between treatments for the result to be meaningful.

Describe what happens to the algae after a bloom forms.

Explain how that leads to a fish kill.

Identify ONE agricultural practice that would reduce phosphate runoff.