Environment Science Word Scramble
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Question | Answer |
Environment | Circumstances or conditions that surround an organism or a group of organisms as well as the complex of social or cultural conditions that affect an individual. |
Environmental Science | The systematic study of our environment and our place in it. |
Sustainability | A search for ecological stability and human progress that can last over time. "Happy Medium" |
Sustainable Development | Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generation to meet their own needs. |
What is your environment | Where you live, go to school, and just live your life. |
Difference between environmental science and environmentalists? | They have separate goals. Environmentalists work to influence attitudes and policies toward our environment. |
What must be true for sustainable development to endure? | Resources must be available to everybody and they must be equal. |
Observation | Facts gathered using five senses |
Hypothesis | Educated guess based on observations |
Experiment | The testing of the hypothesis |
Date | Facts gathered during the experiment |
Interpreting the results | Logical conclusions backed by data |
Producers | They create carbohydrates and other compounds using just sunlight, air, and water. Example: Elm Tree, Fern, and other "green plants" |
Photosynthesis | The process of CO2 and H20 to make food and oxygen. Example: Plants |
Cellular Respiration | Animals eat plans and take in oxygen to produce CO2 and H2O. |
Species | A group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of breeding. Example: Humans and Mammals |
Population | Consists of all the members of a species living in a give area at the same time. |
Biological community | All the population of organisms living and interacting in a particular area. Examples: Mosquitoes, squirrels, and birds. |
Ecosystem | All the population of organisms living and interacting in a particular area. Example: Everglades |
Food Web | Individual food chains become interconnected to form web. |
Consumer | Must eat their food, cannot 'make' their own food. |
How is the sun the ultimate source of energy? | Because all the food webs start with producers and the sun is a producer. |
Carnivores | Flesh eaters. Example: Lions, wolves, cats, dogs |
Herbivore | Plant eaters. Example: rabbits, mice, and elephants |
Omnivore | Eats both plants and flesh. Example: Humans, bears, and bats |
Decomposer | Fungi and bacter. Complete the final breakdown and recycling of organic materials. Example: Ants and beetles |
Hydrologic Cycle | The path that water passes from the atmosphere to the land and back. |
Why is water so important to our environment? | Because we need it for everything. |
Carbon Cycle | The process by which carbon is converted in the environment, from the atmosphere to land and back again. |
What are the 2 purposes of carbon for organisms? | It's our food and structure. (Bones, DNA, and Food) |
Adaptation | The genetic acquisition of traits that allow a species to survive in its environment. |
What is the difference between adaptation and acclimation? Give an example. | The difference is that acclimation cannot be given to future generations Tanning in the summer. |
Natural Selection | Process of the fittest individuals surviving to pass their genetic traits to the next generation. |
Give and example of Natural Selection | White mice passing on their white fur to their offspring. |
Critical Factor | The single factor in shortest supply relative to demand. |
Give an example of a Critical Factor | The giant saguaro cactus cannot live in cold temperatures, because it will die. |
Tolerance Limits | Each environmental factor has both minimum and maximum beyond which a particular species cannot survive. |
How are tolerance limits and critical factors difference? | Because with a critical factor it actually limits where you can live. |
Habitat | Describes a set of environmental conditions in which a particular organism lives. |
Ecological Niche | Both the role played by a species in a biological community and the habitat. |
Endemic Species | A species that occur only in one area. |
How is an ecological niche different from a habitat? | It is different because it is more functional than a habitat, and describes both the role played and set of environmental factors. |
Give an example of an endemic species in it's habitat. | A giant panda in the mountainous bamboo forests of South Western China. |
Native Species | An organism that is living in an area for entirely natural reasons without human intervention. |
Keystone Species | Plays a critical role in a biological community. |
Diversity | The number of species in the area |
Why is diversity important? | Because it indicates how many different types of ecological niches and genetic variations there are in a community. |
Abundance | Number of actual individuals in an area. |
How are abundance and diversity related? | They are opposites. If diversity is up abundance is down. |
Competition | A struggle that occurs between same or different species when there is not enough resources for all. |
Name 3 things that species compete for | Food, Mates, and Habitat |
3 factors that limit where a species can live | Physiological, competition, and predation |
Physiological | Stress that is due to abnormally high levels of some critical environmental factors such as: moisture, light, temperature, pH, or other specific nutrients. |
Predation | Which includes parasites and other diseases. |
Carrying capacity | Maximum number of individuals earth can support. |
Ecological footprint | How much Earth we use based on our lifestyle. |
Zero Population Growth | Occurs when births plus immigration in a population just equal deaths plus emigration. |
What is ecological debt? | The use of more resources than Earth can sustain. |
Current ecological debt? | One-third more than Earth can sustain for a long period of time. |
What are the 3 different perspectives on population growth | Overpopulation, human ingenuity, technology, and enterprise, and there is enough resources for all. |
Major event in human history that triggered the most population growth? | Industrial revolution |
Biome | Biological communities with environments that occur in different conditions of temperature. Vary with latitude. |
How many different terrestrial (Land) biomes are there on Earth? | 9 |
Biodiversity | The number and variety of species. |
Why is biodiversity considered good? | Because it helps maintain stability, or it can help a system recover from a disturbance. |
Is there a time when Biodiversity could be considered bad? | It could be considered bad because if there is too much diversity there could be too much competition. |
Invasive Species | Organisms that thrive in new territory where they are free of predators, diseases, or resource limitations. |
3 kinds of biodiversity that are essential to preserve ecological systems and function? | Genetic diversity, species diversity, and ecological diversity |
Genetic diversity | The variety of DNA with in individual species. |
Species diversity | The number of difference kinds of organisms with in community. |
Ecological diversity | The complexity of a biological community. |
Created by:
rorossonera
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