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Full S1 Review
The entirety of semester 1 content from environmental science
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Environment | Term used to described the natural world; includes all living and nonliving things |
| Environmental Activism | A social movement in which people or organizations advocate for protection of the natural environment |
| Ecology | A purely scientific study of natural environments |
| Environmental Science | The study of ecology combined with the focus on how humans affect the environment and ways to address environmental problems |
| Interdisciplinary Approach | Environmental science involves biology, chemistry, earth science, economics, and political science |
| Renewable Natural Resource | Resources that are naturally replenished over short periods of time |
| Non-Renewable Natural Resource | Natural resources that take a long time to replenish |
| Sustainable Rate | A rate that allows for a resource to be replaced at the same rate it is used |
| Agricultural Revolution | Humans shifted from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to live in communities, raise livestock and plant crops. |
| Industrial Revolution | The production of machinery allowed for advances in medicine, agriculture, and other technologies. |
| Ecological Footprint | A measure of the demands made by one person or group on global natural resources; includes the materials and resources consumed AND the resources needed to dispose of the waste produced |
| Tragedy of the Commons | When a shared (common) resource is unregulated, individuals will consume it at a selfish rate |
| Science | A logical way of thinking about the world; always growing and changing as new information becomes known |
| Inferences | Logical guesses or predictions |
| The Scientific Method | The way in which scientists gather and use information: #1. State the problem or question based on observations, #2. Research, #3. Form hypothesis, #4. Test hypothesis with experiments, #5. Collect and analyze data, #6. Interpret. #7. Share |
| Hypothesis | A testable explanation for a question or problem |
| Inductive Reasoning | Reasoning that looks for patterns or rules in the natural world |
| Deductive Reasoning | Reasoning that compares new things to the rules of the natural world |
| Controlled Experiment | An experiment that only changes one variable at a time |
| Controls | Variables that are being kept the same in an experiment |
| Dependent Variable | Variables which changes are being measured as a result in an experiment |
| Independent Variable | Variables that are being changed in an experiment |
| Qualitative Data | Data that contains words or descriptions |
| Quantitative Data | Data that contains numbers or measurements |
| Peer Review | Where peers, or people who have the same level of education/specialization, review the experiment to determine if there are flaws with the process or the conclusions |
| Scientific Theory | Explains a phenomenon and is supported by many different fields of evidence; broad explanations that apply to many situations |
| Ethics | The branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles |
| Anthropocentrism | Places the most value on human populations and human welfare |
| Biocentrism | Places value on each and every organism, including humans |
| Ecocentrism | Places value on the ecosystem or community as a whole, rather than individuals |
| Economics | The study of the production and consumption of scarce resources and the way they affect behaviour |
| Supply | The amount of a resource available |
| Demand | The number of people that are willing to purchase or use that resource |
| Cost-Benefit Analysis | The decision-making process that involves the consideration of the cost of a resource and whether or not it is worth what is gained |
| Ecosystem Services | The benefits or values provided by an ecosystem |
| Provisioning Ecosystem Services | Goods that humans use directly from the ecosystem |
| Regulating Ecosystem Services | The ability of an ecosystem to regulate air, soil, or water quality, provide flood control or disease control |
| Cultural Ecosystem Services | Non-material benefits that people obtain from the ecosystem |
| Supporting Ecosystem Services | Provides the necessities to allow an ecosystem to function |
| Regulations | Policies that focus on the threat of punishment if rules are not followed; work well but are expensive to enforce |
| Incentives | The encouragement of an environmentally friendly activity through subsidies or tax breaks |
| Subsidies | Payments by the government for an action or characteristic |
| Cap-and-Trade Policies | Limits the total amount of pollutants, allows for polluting companies to buy permits that can be sold and traded to other companies if the limit is not reached |
| Environmental Policies | Rules put in place to regulate the effects of human activities on the environment; can be made on the local, state, national, or global level |
| Lithosphere/Geosphere | Stone/ground sphere of the earth; made of rocks, minerals, and soil; also includes the earth's interior |
| Hydrosphere | Water sphere of the earth; contains all of the water that is on Earth's surface, underground, and in the air |
| Cryosphere | The frozen part of the hydrosphere; made primarily of glaciers and sea ice |
| Atmosphere | The air sphere of the earth; made of the gases surrounding the earth; mostly nitrogen and oxygen |
| Biosphere | The sphere of earth containing life; extends high into the air and below the surface into oceans |
| Ecology | The scientific study of interactions between organisms and their environments |
| Biotic Factors | Living organisms that inhabit an environment |
| Abiotic Factors | Nonliving parts of an environment |
| Individual/Organism | One individual thing, one way to be organized |
| Population | Group of organisms of one species in one place at the same time |
| Community | Interacting populations; many species together in one place |
| Ecosystem | All biotic and abiotic factors in a certain area |
| Biome | All the ecosystems in a portion of the world with a specific climate |
| Biosphere | The portion of the earth where life is found |
| Niche | The unique role a species plays in the environment |
| Habitat | Where an organism lives (can be shared with other species) |
| Fundamental Niche | The role an organism can occupy without competition |
| Realized Niche | The smaller niche an organism occupies because of competition |
| Tolerance | The ability of an organism to survive in changing conditions, such as temperature |
| Specialists | Organisms that have limited tolerance and can only withstand small changes in their environments |
| Generalists | Organisms that adapt easily to changes in their niche due to large ranges of tolerance |
| Autotrophs/Producers | Obtain energy from the sun or chemical compounds |
| Heterotrophs/Consumers | Depend on autotrophs for energy; herbivores eat plants, carnivores eat meat, omnivores eat both plants and meat |
| Scavengers | Eat animals that have already died |
| Decomposers | Break down dead and decaying matter into simpler molecules that can be absorbed |
| Food Chains | Show the feeding relationships of organisms with arrows that show the transfer of energy |
| Species | A population of organisms that can interbreed and reproduce under natural conditions |
| Endangered Species | A species in immediate jeopardy of extinction throughout a large portion of their range |
| Threatened Species | A species at lower risk of extinction than an endangered species, but likely to become endangered in the future. |
| Causes of Extinction | Habitat loss and degradation, introduction of non-native species, over-exploitation, pollution, disease |
| Endangered Species Act of 1973 | Placed international trade restrictions on species that are threatened or endangered; made land necessary for the survival of a species designated as a critical habitat that cannot be destroyed |
| Gene Pool | The combined genetic information for a particular population of organisms |
| Speciation | If the gene pool of two populations are separated and cannot be shared through reproduction, the populations may develop into a new species |
| Behavioral Isolation | When two populations are incapable of interbreeding due to differences in courtship or reproductive behaviors |
| Mechanical Isolation | When the reproductive organs of the two groups have become so different that they can no longer mate |
| Temporal Isolation | When the two populations mate at different times or seasons |
| Geographic Isolation | The populations have been separated by geographic barriers that prevent reproduction |
| Interspecific Competition | The competition between species |
| Principle of Competitive Exclusion | Two species competing for the same limited resource cannot both have thriving populations |
| Linear Growth | Also called arithmetic growth; shows a pattern increasing in a constant amount |
| Exponential Growth | Also called geometric growth; shows a pattern increasing at a constant rate (doubling); also called a J curve |
| Limiting Factors | Limits that keep populations from increasing forever; may cause organisms to die or move out of an area; eventually the population will stabilize |
| Carrying Capacity | The number of organisms that an environment can support over a long period of time |
| Density-Dependent Factors | Have an increasing effect as the population increases; usually biotic |
| Density-Independent Factors | Affect all populations, regardless of how large; usually abiotic |
| Natality | The addition of new individuals (birth) |
| Fecundity | The ability to reproduce |
| Fertility | The number of offspring produced |
| Mortality | The death rate |
| Life Expectancy | The predicted length of survival |
| Survivorship Curve | Shows the probability of survival for a given group or species; there are typically three curves based on the natality and mortality of individuals |
| K Strategist Characteristics | Live in stable environments, reproduce slowly, produce fewer offspring, strong and well protected, long life expectancy, usually large, type 1 & 2 survivorship curve, high energy/offspring expended, high levels of parental care |
| R Strategist Characteristics | Live in unstable environments, reproduce rapidly, weak and subject to predation, have short life expectancy, usually small, type 3 survivorship curve, low energy, low levels of parental care |
| Expanding Population | When the population is composed of many young individuals |
| Biome | An area of the planet that can be classified according to the plants and animals that live in it |
| Defining Characteristics of Biomes | Temperature, soil, amount of light, amount of water |
| Tundra Biome | Cold, treeless, permanently frozen ground |
| Taiga Biome | Cold, animals hibernate, largest biome, coniferous trees |
| Grasslands Biome | Large, rolling terrain, many grasses, few trees, fire |
| Deciduous Forest Biome | Four distinct seasons, many trees, camouflage |
| Savanna Biome | Grassland, few trees, little rainfall, tropical climate |
| Chaparral Biome | Hot and dry, mild winter, fire and drought are common |
| Rainforest Biome | Year-round warmth, near equator, rainy and dry seasons |
| Desert Biome | Cold or hot/dry, little vegetation, nocturnal animals |
| Alpine Biome | Mountainous, cold, small vegetation, animals have insulation |
| Weather | The daily fluctuation of temperature and precipitation |
| Climate | Weather in a particular location over a long period of time |
| Keystone Species | Species that have a large impact on their habitats and affect many other species |
| Indicator Species | Species that respond to environmental changes drastically; help measure environmental conditions and can be indicators of environmental health |
| Pioneer Species | The first organisms to inhabit barren environments |
| Climax Community | The final stage of succession; a stable community that remains relatively unchanged |
| Biodiversity | The variety of life |
| Species Biodiversity | The variety of species within a habitat or region |
| Genetic Biodiversity | The variation of DNA and genes within a species or population |
| Ecological Biodiversity | The variation in the network of species present in a certain location and the way they interact with each other |
| Biodiversity Index | Tells a scientist how many species exist in a certain environment; is calculated by dividing the total number of species in the area by the total number of individuals in the area; a greater index represents greater biodiversity |
| Line Transect | One method of sampling the number of species in an area; a sample of species along a physical line is measured as the number of species touching the line provides evidence for the amount of biodiversity in that location |
| Gases That Make Up the Atmosphere | Nitrogen, Oxygen, Argon, and trace gases |
| Pressure | A measure of force that acts over a certain area. |
| Barometer | A tool that measures air pressure |
| Gravity | Force that causes air to be pulled down towards Earth's surface. |
| What Determines the Layers of the Atmosphere? | Temperature trends as you move further from the Earth's surface. |
| Troposphere | Closest atmospheric layer to earth; contains 75% of all the mass of the atmosphere; the thinnest layer; weather occurs in this layer; thickest at the equator and thinnest at the poles; warmest near the earth's surface |
| Stratosphere | Layer above the troposphere; contains the ozone layer (protects the surface from dangerous UV radiation); causes the temperature to increase throughout the stratosphere |
| Mesosphere | The middle layer; most meteors burn up here; does not absorb energy from the sun |
| Thermosphere | Layer with very thin air; contains the International Space Station and Aurora Borealis; solar radiation first hits this layer |
| Exosphere | The outer edge/layer of our atmosphere; extends for thousands of miles; satellites orbit in this layer |
| Why Do We Have Different Seasons? | The tilt of Earth's axis determines different seasons; Earth's tilt remains the same as it orbits the Sun, but the Sun's light shines differently on the earth throughout the year |
| Tilt of the Hemisphere in Summer | Towards the Sun |
| Tilt of the Hemisphere in Winter | Away from the Sun |
| Tilt of the Hemisphere in Spring/Autumn | Neither towards nor away from the sun |
| Three Main Circulation Patterns on Earth | Three major bands of wind around the globe: Hadley cells, Ferrel cells, Polar cells |
| What is Nitrogen Needed For? | It's needed for amino acids and proteins, DNA, and RNA |
| What is Phosphorus Needed For? | It's needed for DNA, RNA, ATP, and the phospholipid bilayer |
| What Makes Gaseous Nitrogen so Hard to Break Apart? | Gaseous nitrogen has a triple bond, which makes it much harder to break down and use |
| How Can Nitrogen Be Converted Into Useful Forms? | Lightning, man-made fertilizer products |
| Dentrification | The process by which nitrate is converted back into nitrogen and oxygen; the opposite process from nitrogen fixation |
| How Does the Heating of the Earth Create Wind? | The unequal heating, such as the equator receiving the most solar radiation, causes global winds; the rotation of the earth and unequal distribution of land creates the three major bands of wind around the globe |
| Low Pressure: How Does it Affect Rainfall? | Produces rainfall |
| High Pressure: How Does it Affect Rainfall? | Prevents rainfall |
| Coriolis Effect | If something is traveling a greater distance in a shorter amount of time, it must be going faster: Points on the earth near the poles are spinning slower than regions near the equator |
| What Causes Circular Air Patterns? | When air masses that fall behind and push ahead encounter high and low pressure systems, they can create circular air currents |
| Where is Phosphorus Found? | Found in rocks; the phosphorus cycle does not involve the atmosphere |
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