,Chapter 1 test questions
1. In ancient times, our ancestors confronted which of the following environmental health
challenges:
a. Food sanitation
b. Water sanitation
c. Human waste management
d. Solid waste management
e. All of the above
2. With the development of industrialization and urbanization in the 17th through 19th centuries,
which of the following most contributed to heightened public health threats?
a. Urban mass transit
b. Crowding and substandard housing in cities
c. Mass production of industrial products
d. The development toxic pesticides
e. Bubonic plague
3. In the first half of the 20th century in the U.S., infant mortality and total mortality fell
dramatically, and life expectancy rose. Which intervention accounted for the largest part of
these gains?
a. Antibiotics
b. Improved literacy
c. The defeat of Jim Crow laws
d. Improved surgical techniques
e. Improved potable water supplies
4. John Snow, a seminal figure in the history of public health, made his mark by:
a. Conducting the first analysis of vital statistics in England
b. Identifying workplace hazards in a rapidly industrializing England
c. Identifying contaminated water as the cause of a cholera outbreak in London
d. Proposing postulates, or requirements, that establish a causal connection between a
microorganism and human disease
e. Campaigning against unsafe housing in the tenements of London
5. Which of the following environmental health disasters does NOT correctly identify the toxic
exposure?
a. Minamata Bay, Japan - mercury
b. Bhopal, India – isocyanates
c. Woburn, Massachusetts – organic chemicals in drinking water
, d. Donora, Pennsylvania – severe air pollution
e. Love Canal, New York – contaminate fish from the Great Lakes
6. Which of the following represents a unique, defining feature of environmental justice?
a. A focus on land conservation
b. A focus on environmental exposures of vulnerable populations such as racial minorities
c. A focus on the enforcement of environmental laws
d. A focus on ecosystem functioning
e. A focus on public-private partnerships to improve environmental health
7. Which of the following statements is NOT an accurate reflection of upstream thinking in
environmental health?
a. Water treatment plants are generally placed upstream from sources of drinking water.
b. The root causes of disease may operate at a location far from the affected population.
c. The root causes of disease may operate long before the disease appears.
d. The root causes of disease may operate outside the health sector, say, in the energy or food
sectors.
e. Complex systems thinking is often necessary to understand fully the risks a population faces.
Key:
1. E
2. B
3. E
4. C
5. E
6. B
7. A
, Frumkin 3rd Ed. - Test Bank Items Chapter 2 1
Chapter 2 Ecology and Ecosystems as Foundational for Health
Test Bank Questions
1. The word ecology comes from the Greek word oikos meaning
a. Planet Earth
b. The interconnected web of life
c. Home, place to live
d. The study of living organisms
2. Hierarchy and scale are important constructs in ecology. Which of the following phrases
correctly describes the relationship between a particular level of scale and a related
discipline and its focal area?
a. Cells, anatomy, behavior
b. Communities, community ecology, evolution
c. Tissues/organs, morphology, infection
d. None of the above
3. Understanding food webs is important for environmental health in particular because
a. Humans can be consumed by predators at the top of the food chain
b. Decomposers can be sources of infectious disease in human populations
c. Persistent pollutants can bioaccumulate or biomagnify up the food web
d. Humans need food to survive
4. Examples of factors that limit population growth include all except
a. Competition for resources
b. Predation
c. Activities of decomposing microorganisms
d. Activities of parasitic organisms
5. The field of Conservation Biology seeks to prevent species extinction, which becomes
irreversible when
a. The death rate for all populations of that species exceeds the birth rate
b. The birth rate for all populations of that species exceeds the death rate
c. The birth rate and death rate for all populations of that species are
approximately equal
6. Air and water quality, climate, erosion, disease transmission, pest proliferation, and
pollination are all examples of which category of ecosystem services, defined by the
Millenium Ecosystem Assessment
1. In ancient times, our ancestors confronted which of the following environmental health
challenges:
a. Food sanitation
b. Water sanitation
c. Human waste management
d. Solid waste management
e. All of the above
2. With the development of industrialization and urbanization in the 17th through 19th centuries,
which of the following most contributed to heightened public health threats?
a. Urban mass transit
b. Crowding and substandard housing in cities
c. Mass production of industrial products
d. The development toxic pesticides
e. Bubonic plague
3. In the first half of the 20th century in the U.S., infant mortality and total mortality fell
dramatically, and life expectancy rose. Which intervention accounted for the largest part of
these gains?
a. Antibiotics
b. Improved literacy
c. The defeat of Jim Crow laws
d. Improved surgical techniques
e. Improved potable water supplies
4. John Snow, a seminal figure in the history of public health, made his mark by:
a. Conducting the first analysis of vital statistics in England
b. Identifying workplace hazards in a rapidly industrializing England
c. Identifying contaminated water as the cause of a cholera outbreak in London
d. Proposing postulates, or requirements, that establish a causal connection between a
microorganism and human disease
e. Campaigning against unsafe housing in the tenements of London
5. Which of the following environmental health disasters does NOT correctly identify the toxic
exposure?
a. Minamata Bay, Japan - mercury
b. Bhopal, India – isocyanates
c. Woburn, Massachusetts – organic chemicals in drinking water
, d. Donora, Pennsylvania – severe air pollution
e. Love Canal, New York – contaminate fish from the Great Lakes
6. Which of the following represents a unique, defining feature of environmental justice?
a. A focus on land conservation
b. A focus on environmental exposures of vulnerable populations such as racial minorities
c. A focus on the enforcement of environmental laws
d. A focus on ecosystem functioning
e. A focus on public-private partnerships to improve environmental health
7. Which of the following statements is NOT an accurate reflection of upstream thinking in
environmental health?
a. Water treatment plants are generally placed upstream from sources of drinking water.
b. The root causes of disease may operate at a location far from the affected population.
c. The root causes of disease may operate long before the disease appears.
d. The root causes of disease may operate outside the health sector, say, in the energy or food
sectors.
e. Complex systems thinking is often necessary to understand fully the risks a population faces.
Key:
1. E
2. B
3. E
4. C
5. E
6. B
7. A
, Frumkin 3rd Ed. - Test Bank Items Chapter 2 1
Chapter 2 Ecology and Ecosystems as Foundational for Health
Test Bank Questions
1. The word ecology comes from the Greek word oikos meaning
a. Planet Earth
b. The interconnected web of life
c. Home, place to live
d. The study of living organisms
2. Hierarchy and scale are important constructs in ecology. Which of the following phrases
correctly describes the relationship between a particular level of scale and a related
discipline and its focal area?
a. Cells, anatomy, behavior
b. Communities, community ecology, evolution
c. Tissues/organs, morphology, infection
d. None of the above
3. Understanding food webs is important for environmental health in particular because
a. Humans can be consumed by predators at the top of the food chain
b. Decomposers can be sources of infectious disease in human populations
c. Persistent pollutants can bioaccumulate or biomagnify up the food web
d. Humans need food to survive
4. Examples of factors that limit population growth include all except
a. Competition for resources
b. Predation
c. Activities of decomposing microorganisms
d. Activities of parasitic organisms
5. The field of Conservation Biology seeks to prevent species extinction, which becomes
irreversible when
a. The death rate for all populations of that species exceeds the birth rate
b. The birth rate for all populations of that species exceeds the death rate
c. The birth rate and death rate for all populations of that species are
approximately equal
6. Air and water quality, climate, erosion, disease transmission, pest proliferation, and
pollination are all examples of which category of ecosystem services, defined by the
Millenium Ecosystem Assessment
