click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
APES Ch. 1 Vocab
Studying the State of our Earth - AP Environmental Science, Chapter 1
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Environment | The sum of all the conditions surrounding us that influence life |
Environmental science | The field of study that looks at interactions among human systems and those found in nature |
System | An interacting set of components that influence one another by exchanging energy or materials |
Ecosystem | A particular location on Earth distinguished by its mix of interacting biotic and abiotic components |
Biotic | Living |
Abiotic | Nonliving |
Environmentalist | A person who seeks to protect the environment |
Environmental studies | Field of study that includes environmental science, environmental policy, economics, literature, and ethics |
Ecosystem services | The process by which natural environments provide life-supporting resources |
Environmental indicators | An indicator that describes the current state of an environmental system |
Sustainability | Living on Earth in a way that allows humans to use its resources without depriving future generations of those resources |
Biodiversity | The diversity of life forms in an environment (includes genetic diversity, species diversity, and ecosystem diversity) |
Species | A group of organisms that is distinct from other groups in its morphology, behavior, or biochemical properties |
Speciation | The evolution of a new species |
Background extinction rate | The average rate at which species become extinct over the long term |
Greenhouse gases | Gases in Earth's atmosphere that trap heat near the surface |
Anthropogenic | Derived from human species |
Development | Improvement in human well-being through economic advancement |
Scientific method | 1. observe and question 2. form a hypothesis 3. collect data 4. interpret results 5. disseminate findings |
Hypothesis | A testable theory or supposition about how something works |
Null hypothesis | A statement or idea that can be falsified |
Replication | The data procedure of taking repeated measurements |
Sample size | The number of times a measurement is replicated in the data collection process |
Accuracy | How close a measured value is to the actual or true value |
Precision | How close the repeated measurements of a sample are to one another |
Uncertainty | An estimate of how much a measured or calculated value differs from a true value |
Inductive reasoning | Making general statements from specific facts or examples |
Deductive reasoning | Applying general statements to specific facts or situations |
Critical thinking | An objective method to explore the natural world; draw inferences from it; and predict the outcome of certain events, processes, or changes |
Theory | A hypothesis that has been repeatedly tested and confirmed by multiple groups of researchers and has reached wide acceptance |
Natural law | A theory for which there is no known exception and that has withstood rigorous testing |
Control group | In a scientific investigation, a group that experiences exactly the same conditions as the experiment group, except for the single variable under study |
Natural experiment | A natural event that acts as an experimental treatment in an ecosystem |
The five global-scale environmental indicators | Biological diversity, food production, average global surface temperature and carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere, human population, and resource depletion |