"Cahokia" is the name of the largest urban center of the Mississippian Culture which declined
after 1250 AD due to natural resources depletion correct answers True
The Andromeda Galaxy is: correct answers The sister galaxy to the Milky Way (our galaxy), 2.3
million light years away and the furthest object visible to the naked eye.
Coal swamp forest refers to: correct answers Forests of Lycophytes, horsetails, scale trees and
other primitive species that thrived in the warm humid conditions of the Carboniferous Period
(359-299 Ma). Lack of fungi with enzymes to decompose lignin and suberin, and burial under
swampy conditions, preserved accumulations of the organic material that formed today's coal
deposits.
The definition of "biome" is: correct answers The world's major biological communities,
classified according to the predominant vegetation and characterized by adaptations of organisms
to that particular environment
A rigorous peer-review process is an important part of maintaining the integrity, relevance and
validity of science, because: correct answers A group of independent, usually anonymous, and
qualified experts critically evaluates the societal importance of a project, the methods of data
collection and analysis, and the appropriateness of inferences and conclusions arrived at by the
investigators based on the data.
The biological pump can best be described as: correct answers Carbon and nutrient fluxes to
great depths of the ocean water column, and eventual burial in sea floor sediments, due to
"leakage" of marine food webs of the euphotic zone, based on photosynthesis by phytoplankton,
consumption by zooplankton, and higher trophic levels.
Drivers of coastal change include both human- and climate-related factors, such as socio-
economic development, sediment delivery (or its interruption), hypoxia, relative sea level rise,
and storms. correct answers True
, The mountain pine beetle is an example of: correct answers A native insect species that is
expanding its range to higher latitudes due to the warming climate, with potential to devastate
forests across northern Canada that were previously protected by cold winters.
The US DOE Spruce Project is an experiment that is looking at the effects of atmospheric CO2
(ambient up to 900 ppm) and temperature (ambient up to +9 oC) on all aspects of forest C
cycling in boreal spruce forests, especially soil processes. correct answers True
The phrase "Planet Earth Quo Vadis?" basically means: correct answers Humans are at a
crossroads between choosing to use science and a sense of justice to engineer a sustainable,
equitable future or to continue mining the environment unsustainably.
The Crab Nebula is: correct answers A supernova in the constellation Taurus observed by
Chinese astronomers in 1054 AD.
Climatic/atmospheric and non-climatic factors affecting agriculture include: 1) temperature,
carbon dioxide, precipitation and ozone, and 2) soil fertility, irrigation/fertilization, demography,
economics, and socio-politics. correct answers True
The acronym FACE stands for: correct answers Free-Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment
The definition of ecosystems is: correct answers Specific assemblages of populations of
organisms forming communities in a geographic area resulting from ecological processes
operating over evolutionary time, interacting with the physical environment.
The global heating imbalance is: correct answers Low latitudes receiving more solar radiation
than high latitudes, due to shorter path length through the atmosphere and more direct angle of
incidence, which drives atmospheric and ocean circulation.
The five major oceans listed in order of decreasing size (e.g. biggest to smallest) are: correct
answers Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Antarctic, Arctic