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WorksheetsAPES Nutrient Cycles
Total questions: 55
Worksheet time: 36mins
Name
Class
Date
1.
Which elements are in fertilizer?
a)
Nitrogen and Oxygen
b)
Phosphorous and Hydrogen
c)
Nitrogen and Phosphorous
2.
What is one way that people add Nitrogen into the environment?
a)
By littering
b)
By using fertilizer on farms
c)
By burning fossil fuels
3.
What is one way that people add Phosphorus into the environment?
a)
Manure from animals
b)
Driving cars
c)
Cutting down trees (deforestation)
4.
Where does the carbon come from that plants use?
a)
Animals
b)
Water
c)
Air
d)
Connecticut
5.
What of the following is NOT a way that people add carbon to the environment?
a)
Burning fossil fuels
b)
Deforestation
c)
Littering
6.
What is one way that people add sulfur into the environment?
a)
Coal-fired power plants
b)
Driving cars
c)
Burning oil in our homes
d)
All of the above
7.
What is a negative effect of sulfur (especially sulfur dioxide) being released into the atmosphere?
a)
It creates acid rain
b)
It causes clouds to not form
c)
It makes the sky yellow
8.
What are the four most important materials needed by living organisms?
a)
water, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen
b)
water, food, oxygen, carbon
c)
water, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous
d)
water, carbon, food, phosphorous
9.
An underground layer of rocks or sand that can hold groundwater.
a)
watershed
b)
levee
c)
aquifer
d)
erosion
10.
An area or ridge of land that separates waters flowing to different rivers, basins, or seas.
a)
watershed
b)
levee
c)
aquifer
d)
erosion
11.
How much of the Earth's water is stored in the oceans?
a)
50%
b)
67%
c)
97%
d)
85%
12.
This is essential to living organisms, it is found in nucleic acid and amino acids.
a)
Nitrogen
b)
Carbon
c)
Water
d)
Phosphorous
13.
The conversion of ammonium to nitrate is called what?
a)
nitrification
b)
renitrification
c)
denitrification
d)
unnitrification
14.
The conversion of nitrate to nitrogen gas is called what?
a)
nitrification
b)
renitrification
c)
denitrification
d)
unnitrification
15.
What is it called when water vapor cools and changes into a liquid?
a)
condensation
b)
respiration
c)
precipitation
d)
evaporation
16.
Where would you find most of the Earth's phosphorous?
a)
In the atmosphere
b)
Underwater
c)
on the Earth's surface
d)
Underground
17.
Which of the following is NOT a stage of the nitrogen cycle?
a)
organisms breathe in nitrogen gas
b)
organisms release nitrogen compounds via waste or decomposition
c)
bacteria convert unusable nitrogen to usable nitrogen
d)
plants absorb nitrogen compounds from the soil
18.
Which of these is the greatest cause of harmful levels of carbon in the atmosphere?
a)
respiration
b)
combustion
c)
photosynthesis
d)
decomposition
19.
Which of these steps is part of the nitrogen cycle AND the phosphorous cycle?
a)
it starts off inside underwater rocks and dirt
b)
bacteria convert it into organic compounds
c)
animals leaving waste and death and decay release it back into the soil
d)
rain water and ocean waves break off pieces, putting it back into the ecosystem
20.
Which of these is in both the carbon cycle AND the phosphorous cycle?
a)
erosion
b)
respiration
c)
photosynthesis
d)
combustion
21.
Which type of bacteria would transform nitrate into nitrogen gas?
a)
nitrogen-fixing
b)
denitrifying
c)
nitrifying
d)
nitrogen-defixing
22.
Bacteria that cause nitrification in the soil cause nitrogen to change from _________ to _________.
a)
nitrogen gas; ammonia
b)
nitrogen gas; organic nitrogen
c)
ammonia; nitrate
d)
nitrate; ammonia
23.
Which of these is a step in the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle, and the phosphorous cycle?
a)
condensation
b)
decomposition
c)
respiration
d)
photosynthesis
24.
The process of plants losing water through their leaves is called ____.
a)
condensation
b)
evaporation
c)
transpiration
d)
exhaling
25.
What is the only process that removes carbon from the atmosphere?
a)
combustion
b)
cellular respiration
c)
photosynthesis
d)
decomposition
26.
Where is carbon stored in the environment?
a)
Fossil fuels
b)
Wood of trees
c)
Calcium carbonate (shells and bones)
d)
All of the above
27.
A particular golf course is using large amounts of nitrogen fertilizer. What process could move this nitrogen into a local stream?
a)
volatilization
b)
nitrogen fixation
c)
runoff
d)
ammonification
28.
What converts nitrogen into a useable form for plants and animals?
a)
bacteria
b)
fungi
c)
rain
29.
What cycle are fossil fuels part of ?
a)
carbon
b)
oxygen
c)
nitrogen
d)
phosphorus
30.
What is the largest reservoir for water?
a)
the ocean
b)
rocks and minerals
c)
the atmosphere
d)
glaciers
31.
What is the largest reservoir for nitrogen?
a)
the ocean
b)
rocks and minerals
c)
the atmosphere
d)
bacteria
32.
The carbon in coal, oil, and natural gas came from
a)
the combustion of fossil fuels
b)
the remains of dead organisms
c)
carbon-fixing bacteria in swamp soil
d)
carbon dioxide dissolved in ocean water
33.
Nitrogen fixation is the process in which certain bacteria convert nitrogen gas into
a)
liquid nitrogen
b)
nitrates
c)
nitrites
d)
ammonia
34.
A place where matter/nutrients are collected/stored.
a)
A lake
b)
A reservoir
c)
A cloud
d)
The atmosphere
35.
What cycle is shown in the diagram?
a)
The Life Cycle
b)
The Nitrogen Cycle
c)
The Carbon Cycle
d)
The Water Cycle
36.
Which pair of biogeochemical cycles are most associated with inorganic fertilizer and sewage waste?
a)
Carbon and Nitrogen cycles
b)
Carbon and Sulfur cycles
c)
Phosphorus and Nitrogen cycles
d)
Sulfur and Nitrogen cycles
e)
Sulfur and Water cycles
37.
In which biogeochemical cycles are humans most affecting the natural greenhouse affect?
a)
Carbon, Nitrogen, and Water cycles
b)
Carbon and Phosphorous cycles
c)
Phosphorus and Nitrogen cycles
d)
Sulfur and Nitrogen cycles
e)
Sulfur and Water cycles
38.
Identify the cycle pictured.
a)
The Water cycle
b)
The Carbon cycle
c)
The Nitrogen cycle
d)
The Phosphorus cycle
39.
How does carbon dioxide leave the atmosphere and become part of the food chain?
a)
Through transpiration
b)
Through photosynthesis
c)
Through factory emission
d)
Sunlight
40.
How do animals get the carbon they need?
a)
decomposing
b)
combustion
c)
eating plants
d)
breathing it in
41.
What role do animals play in the carbon cycle?
a)
absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
b)
give off carbon dioxide through respiration
c)
combustion
d)
decomposing matter
42.
What is one way that carbon dioxide can be put back into the atmosphere?
a)
Sunlight
b)
Burning of Fossil Fuels
c)
Ocean uptake
d)
Rain
43.
In the carbon cycle, what is the role of volcanic activity?
a)
releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere into the air
b)
decomposing matter back into the soil
c)
absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
d)
combustion
44.
Identify the cycle pictured.
a)
The Water cycle
b)
The Carbon cycle
c)
The Nitrogen cycle
d)
The Phosphorus cycle
45.
How does nitrogen become part of the food chain?
a)
Through transpiration by plants
b)
Through uptake of nitrogen compounds in the soil by plants
c)
Through factory emission and combustion of fossil fuels
d)
Sunlight changes nitrogen into usable forms
46.
Where do animals get nitrogen from?
a)
from the soil
b)
directly from the air
c)
from water they drink
d)
from plants they eat
47.
What is the most abundant gas in our atmosphere?
a)
carbon dioxide
b)
oxygen
c)
nitrogen
48.
Nitrogen in the atmosphere is not available. Free nitrogen has to be changed into a usable form in a process called __
a)
nitrogen fixation
b)
transpiration
c)
precipitation
d)
respiration
49.
What are the two ways nitrogen gas is turned into a form plants and animals can use?
a)
lightning & bacteria
b)
bacteria & worms
c)
lightning & worms
d)
bacteria & fungi
50.
Identify the cycle pictured.
a)
The Water cycle
b)
The Carbon cycle
c)
The Nitrogen cycle
d)
The Phosphorus cycle.
51.
What role do decomposers play in the phosphorous cycle?
a)
absorb phosphorous
b)
release phosphorous into atmosphere
c)
return phosphorous into the soil
d)
combustion
52.
This is released by the weathering of rocks.
a)
Carbon
b)
Oxygen
c)
Phosphorus
d)
Nitrogen
53.
Phosphorus runoff in the water supply can lead to _____________.
a)
phosphorus poisoning
b)
healthier fish
c)
overgrowth of aquatic plants
d)
Who knows? Not Me.
54.
How do animals get the phosphorous they need?
a)
decomposing
b)
combustion
c)
eating plants
d)
breathing it in
55.
Which nutrient is not cycled through the atmosphere?
a)
carbon
b)
nitrogen
c)
phosphorous
d)
water
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