Field Survey & Data Collection Flashcards
7 cards from real CEP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Field Survey & Data Collection flashcards as text
When collecting sediment cores from a lake for paleoecological analysis, the primary purpose is to:
Answer: Reconstruct historical environmental conditions using proxies
Sediment cores preserve pollen, diatoms, charcoal, and chemical proxies that allow reconstruction of past vegetation, climate, and disturbance history.
A field crew is using a quadrat method to estimate plant species cover. What does a 25% cover estimate in a 1-m² quadrat indicate?
Answer: The species occupies 0.25 m² of the quadrat's ground surface
Cover estimates the proportion of the ground surface (or quadrat area) occupied by the vertical projection of a species' aerial parts.
Which type of aerial photography is most useful for identifying surface drainage patterns and subtle topographic features in an environmental survey?
Answer: Stereoscopic black-and-white vertical photography
Stereo pairs of black-and-white vertical photos allow three-dimensional viewing that reveals subtle relief and drainage patterns better than single-image color photos.
A field environmental planner observes soil with mottles showing strong brown and gray colors. This most likely indicates:
Answer: Periods of seasonal saturation and oxidation-reduction cycling
Mottles (redoximorphic features) of orange/brown iron oxidation and gray iron reduction indicate fluctuating water table and periodic anaerobic conditions.
Which data collection approach is best suited for assessing cumulative noise impacts along a proposed highway corridor?
Answer: Long-term continuous noise monitoring at multiple representative receptors
Cumulative noise assessment requires Leq and Ldn metrics derived from continuous monitoring at representative sensitive receptors over extended periods.
When using a flow meter to measure stream discharge, the mid-section method calculates discharge by:
Answer: Summing the products of subsection width, depth, and velocity across the cross-section
The mid-section method divides the channel into vertical subsections and sums (width × depth × velocity) for each to obtain total discharge.
A field team collects ambient air samples using Summa canisters. The primary target analytes for this method are:
Answer: Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
Summa canisters are evacuated stainless-steel vessels used specifically for collecting and preserving VOC samples per EPA Method TO-14A/TO-15.