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ESM Vocab
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| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| reproducibility | Making an observation or obtaining a certain result consistently. |
| deductive reasoning | Begins with a general principle and derive a testable prediction about a specific case. |
| inductive reasoning | Study specific examples and try to find patterns and derive explanations from observations. |
| paradigm shifts | When a scientific idea changes the world sees how things are. |
| critical thinking | An ability to evaluate information and opinions in a scientific, systematical and purposeful manner. |
| sustainability | Ecological, social and economic systems that can last over the long term. |
| sustainable development | A real increase in well-being and standard of life for the avg person that can be maintained long term without degrading the environment or hurting future gen. |
| gross national product | The sum of the total of all goods/services produced in an economy. Used to distinguish economic activity. |
| ecological services | Processes or materials provided by ecosystems (ex. Clean water, energy, climate regulation etc.). |
| “The Tragedy of the Commons” | Process of degradation of communal resources due to selfish free-riders who use/destroy more than their fair share of resources. |
| cost-benefit analysis (CBA) | Evaluation of large-scale public projects by comparing costs and benefits. |
| genuine progress index (GPI) | Measures real progress in quality of life and sustainability. |
| human development index (HDI) | Measure of quality of life using data for life expectancy, child survival, adult literacy, education etc. |
| externalizing costs | Shifting expenses to someone other than the ind or groups that use a resource. |
| internalizing costs | Planning so those that reap the benefits of a resource use also bear all the external costs. |
| matter | Anything that takes up space and has mass. |
| conservation of matter | Any chemical reaction matter changes form, it is neither created nor destroyed. |
| elements | A substance that cannot be broken down to simpler parts by chemical means. |
| atoms | Smallest particle that exhibits characteristics of an element. |
| compounds | Substances composed of different kinds of atoms. |
| molecule | Combinations of 2 or more molecules. |
| acids | Substances that release hydrogen atoms into water. |
| bases | Substances that bond with hydrogen ions in aqueous solutions. |
| pH | Value that indicates acidity or alkalinity of a solution. |
| organic compounds | Complex molecules organized around skeletons of Carbon atoms arranged in rings or chains. |
| energy | Capacity to do work. |
| kinetic energy | Energy contained in moving objects. |
| potential energy | Stored energy available for use |
| heat | Total kinetic energy of atoms or molecules in a substance not associated with the bulk motion of the substance. |
| First Law of Thermodynamics/Energy | Energy is conserved- neither created nor destroyed under normal conditions. |
| Second Law of Thermodynamics/Energy | With each successive energy transfer or transformation in a system less energy is available to do work. |
| entropy | Measure of disorder and usefulness of energy in a system. |
| weather | The physical conditions of the atmosphere. |
| climate | A description of the long term pattern of weather in a particular area. |
| aerosols | Minute particles or liquid droplets suspended in the air. |
| troposphere | Layer of air nearest to the Earth’s surface. |
| convection currents | Rising or sinking air currents that stir the atmosphere and transport heat from one area to another. |
| stratosphere | Zone in the atmosphere extending from the tropopause to about 30 mi from earth’s surface. |
| ozone | Highly reactive molecule containing three oxygens. |
| albedo | Description of a surface’s reflective properties. |
| greenhouse effect | Trapping of heat by the earth’s atmosphere. |
| thermohaline ocean conveyor | Circulation system in which warm water flows from equatorial zones to higher latitudes where it cools and evaporates causing it to sink and flow back toward equator. |
| Milankovitch cycles | Periodic variations in tilt, electricity and wobble in the earth’s orbit. Responsible for cyclic weather cycles. |
| El Nino | Climatic change marked by shifting of a large warm water pool from the western Pacific ocean towards the east. |
| Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) | Large group of scientists from many nations and a wide variety of fields assembled to assess the current state of knowledge about climate change. |
| Kyoto Protocol | International treaty adopted to Japan in 1997 to roll back on usage of CO2 methane and other emissions. |
| cellular respiration | Process in which a cell breaks down sugar or other organic compounds to release energy used for cellular work. |
| population | All members of a species that live in the same area at the same time. |
| biological community | The populations of plants, animals and other organisms living and interacting in a certain area at a given time. |
| ecosystem | A specific biological community and its physical environment interacting in an exchange of matter and energy. |
| producers | an organism that synthesizes food molecules from inorganic compounds by using an external energy source |
| productivity | the amount of biomass produced in a given area during a given period of time |
| biomass | the accumulated biological material produced by living organisms |
| food web | a complex, interlocking series of individual food chains in an ecosystem |
| trophic level | step in the movement of energy through an ecosystem; organism's feeding status in an ecosystem |
| consumers | organisms that obtain energy and nutrients by feeding on other organisms or their remains |
| biomes | broad regional types of ecosystems characterized by distinctive climate and soil conditions and distinctive kinds of biological community adapted to these conditions |
| systems | networks of interdependent components and processes |
| positive feedback | factors that result from a process and increase that same process |
| negative feedback | factors that result from a process and decrease that same process |
| homeostasis | a dynamic steady state in a living system maintained through opposing compensating adjustments |
| resilience | the ability of a community or ecosystem to recover from disturbances |
| adaptation | physical changes that allow organisms to survive in a certain environment |
| tolerance limits | chemical or physical factors that limit the existence growth or distribution of an organism |
| habitat | the place or set of environmental conditions in which an organism lives |
| ecological niche | the functional role and position of a species in its ecosystem including how and when it uses the resources and how it interacts with other species |
| competitive exclusion principle | a theory that no two populations of different species will occupy the same niche and compete for the same resources in the same habitat for very long |
| resource partitioning | in a biological community various populations sharing environmental resources through specialization and reducing competition |
| intraspecific competition | in a community competition for resources between members of the same species |
| interspecific competition | in a community competition for resources between members of different species |
| coevolution | the process in which species exert selective pressure on each other and gradually develop new characteristics and behaviors |
| symbiosis | the intimate living together of members of two species |
| mutualism | a symbiotic relationship between individuals of two different species in which both species benefit |
| commensalism | a symbiotic relationship in which one member is benefited and the second is neither harmed nor benefited |
| parasitism | a relationship in which one organism feeds on another without immediately killing it |
| stability | a dynamic equilibrium among the physical and biological factors in an ecosystem or a community |
| primary succession | ecological succession that begins in an area where no biotic community previously existed |
| secondary succession | succession on site where an existing community has been disrupted |
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