Term | Definition |
Thanks to | Ashley B for starting this study guide |
Agriculture | science and practice of farming, including cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food, wool, and other products; need to sustain high populations, can cause pollution and loss of habitat and biodiversity |
Monoculture | farming strategy of planting a single, highly productive crop year after year; reduces biodiversity and can deplete soils |
Development | the process used by humans to improve their ability to survive and enjoy life; improved housing, road systems, industry, agriculture etc. Makes life easier but could cause an increased need for natural resources and creating pollution. |
Sustainable development | strategy for using natural resources without depleting them and for providing human needs without causing long term environmental harm |
Industrial growth | the process of creating consumer goods; using more and more energy by burning fossil fuels- coal, oil, and natural gas. |
Ecosystem goods/services | goods resources we use/services how the environment creates and processes materials humans need |
Renewable resources | can be made or replaced by a healthy ecosystem ex. grass, water, O2, wood products |
Non-renewable resource | cannot be replaced in a reasonable amount of time ex fossil fuels, gold, metal |
Fossil fuels | coal, oil, and natural gas used to create energy |
What human activities have the biggest impact on the environment? | agriculture/human development and industrial growth |
What are some ways we can reduce those impacts on the environment? | reduce/reuse/recycle, sustainable development |
Why is earth like and island? | An island has limited resources, if you use them faster than the island makes them, you will run out. People used to think that the earth was to big to pollute or run out of resources. We have learned that as the population grows, this is far from true |
Soil/air/Water Pollution | the three main resources required for the survival of organisms that are being polluted |
Topsoil | the upper part of the soil profile that is relatively rich and sustains life |
Desertification | overgrazing of soil and very little rain causes the land to turn into a desert |
Deforestation | loss of forests through non-sustainable forestry and agricultural process |
Erosion | the process of being eroded by wind, water or other natural agents |
pollutant | harmful material that can enter the biosphere through the land, air or water |
point pollution | when pollutants enter water supplies from a single source, a factory or an oil spill |
Non-point pollution | when pollutants enter the water supply from many smaller sources the grease and oil washed off streets by rain or the chemicals released into the air by factories and automobiles |
DDT | cheap and long lasting effectively controls agricultural pests and disease carrying mosquitos banned for causing issues that could have lead to the extinction of many bird species. |
Pesticides | dangerous pollutants |
Rachel carson/silent spring | silent spring was a book by Rachel Carson that lead to new laws being created to protect the environment. ex EPA |
biological magnification | occurs if a pollutant is picked up by an organism and is not broken down or eliminated from its body, causing animals at the top of the food chain to be highly toxic |
smog | a gray brown haze formed by chemical reactions among pollutants released into the air by industrial processes and automobile exhaust harmful to the health of living organisms |
acid rain | results from the chemical transformation of nitrogen and sulfur products that come from human activities the causes many harmful effects on the environment |
greenhouse gases | burning fossil fuels and forests releases stored carbon into the atmosphere as |
Causes of pollution of land,sea and air | living unsustainably, not reduce, reusing or recycling, increased consumerism, use of fossil fuels, creating waste by over production |
Ways to reduce pollution | refuse unsustainable products, reduce, reuse, recycle, grow a garden, cut down on waste, lower(winter)/increase(summer) thermostats, use recycled goods, pass laws |
biomagnification/pollution | at higher levels of the food chain pollution of body tissues becomes greater, to prevent eating this pollution eat organisms at the bottom of food chain. ie plants and grazers |
carbon dioxide responsible for climate change | carbon dioxide and water are just two of the green house gases. They trap heat on earth causing warming. |
ecosystem biodiversity | refers to the variety of habitats communities and ecological processes in the biosphere |
species biodiversity | the number of different species in the biosphere, or in a particular area |
genetic diversity | can refer to the sum total of all different forms of genetic material carried by a particular species, or by all organisms on earth, leads to species survival |
habitat fragmentation | when development causes the ecosystem to split into pieces |
introduced species | species that are introduced to a new environment |
climate change | large scale change to climate due to natural or man made changes to the environment |
conservation | process of protecting environments or species by actively promoting sustainable behaviors. |
ecological hotspot | areas of the earth with the greatest biodiversity |
Effects of Loss of Biodiversity | plants and animals contain medicines, different plants have different traits allowing them to survive under different conditions, different ecosystems allow different animals and plants to survive, the less biodiversity the less able our planet is able to |
Threats to biodiversity | the biggest threats to biodiversity is us!!! Overhunting, overfishing cutting down forests, monoculture in agriculture, and humans fragmenting the habitat due to industry and development. |
Protecting biodiversity | Laws, sustainable development, reduce, reuse, recycle. Buying local agriculture |
ecological footprint | describes the total area of functioning land and water ecosystems needed both to provide the resources an individual or population uses and to absorb and make harmless the wastes that individual or population generates; ie live sustainably |
ozone layer | the atmosphere that contains a relatively high concentration of ozone |
aquaculture | raising of aquatic organisms for human consumption |
global warming | increase in the average temperatures on earth |
greenhouse effect | process in which certain gases trap sunlight energy in earth's atmosphere as heat |
Which is better large/small footprint? | We want each person to have the smallest footprint possible to support more organisms on earth. Problem no matter how small our footprint if we have too many footprints we may find the earth unsustainable. |
Reducing Ozone depletion | We have made laws to prohibit in the 1970’s, the ozone hole seems to be the correct size. |
Reducing Overfishing | Setting fishing quotas, limiting bycatch, finding alternatives such as fish farming, |
Reducing Climate Change | using less fossil fuels, change agricultural practice, laws, reduce, reuse recycle |
contour plowing | plowing in such a way to prevent erosion, across hills in stead of up and down. |