Earth Day Quiz

Sputnik 1 was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the USSR on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It orbited for three weeks before its batteries ran out. (The image is not of Sputnik 1)

An endangered species is a type of organism that is threatened by extinction. Species become endangered for two main reasons: loss of habitat and loss of genetic variation.

About two-thirds of the world’s breathable oxygen comes from the ocean or, more specifically, from tiny marine plants, called phytoplankton, floating on the ocean’s surface.

The World Environment Day theme for 2023 is “Solution to plastic pollution” and the event was hosted by Côte d’Ivoire, a country on the southern coast of West Africa. It is a reminder that people’s actions on plastic pollution matters. The steps governments and businesses are taking to tackle plastic pollution are the consequence of this action. It is time to accelerate this action and transition to a circular economy.

The ozone layer is a thin part of the Earth’s atmosphere that absorbs almost all of the sun’s harmful ultraviolet light. “Ozone holes” are popular names for areas of damage to the ozone layer. Ozone layer damage is more like a really thin patch than a hole.

Ocean noise created by human activities puts marine species at risk and threatens their survival. In fact, increased noise levels can impact certain species like whales, who rely on the ability to communicate and hear in their natural environment to find food, mates, and avoid predators.

Examples of ecotones include marshlands (between dry and wet ecosystems), mangrove forests (between terrestrial and marine ecosystems), grasslands (between desert and forest), and estuaries (between saltwater and freshwater). The species, which are found primarily or most abundantly or spend most of their time in an ecotone are known as edge species.