Environmental Science Final - Study Guide
Chapter 7: What does ozone do?
Ozone acts as a barrier, shielding the Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation
Chapter 8: Why is biodiversity important?
boosts ecosystem productivity where each species, no matter how small, all have an important role to play.
Chapter 4: What are biomes?
A terrestrial region distinguished by the predominance of certain types of vegetation and other forms of life. It includes various deserts, grasslands, and forests.
Chapter 10: What is aquaculture? Mariculture?
Aquaculture: the practice of raising fish in freshwater ponds, lakes, reservoirs, and rice paddies, and in underwater cages in coastal and deeper ocean waters. Mariculture: a specialized branch of aquaculture involving the cultivation of marine organisms for food and other products in the open ocean, an enclosed section of the ocean, or in tanks, ponds or raceways which are filled with seawater.
Chapter 3: How does mass pass through our environment?
Atom Molecule Cell Organism Population Community Ecosystem Biosphere
Chapter 3: What's a heterotroph? A autotroph? A decomposer? A consumer? A detrivore?
Autotroph- Organism that uses solar energy (green plants) or chemical energy (some bacteria) to manufacture the organic compounds it needs as nutrients from simple inorganic compounds obtained from its environment. Examples include trees and plants. Decomposer- Organism that digests parts of dead organisms, by breaking down the complex organic molecules in those materials into simpler inorganic compounds and then absorbing the soluble nutrients. The balance of these broken down materials return to the soil and water for reuse. Decomposers primarily consist of various bacteria and fungi. Consumer (Heterotroph)- Organism that cannot synthesize the organic nutrients it needs and gets its organic nutrients by feeding on the tissues of producers or of other consumers; generally divided into primary consumers (herbivores), secondary consumers (carnivores), tertiary (higher-level) consumers, omnivores and detritivores (decomposers and detritus feeders). Examples include humans, and animals Detrivore- Consumer organism that feeds on detritus- parts of dead organisms and cast-off fragments and wastes of living organisms. Examples include earthworms, termites, and crabs.
Chapter 3: Define ecology.
Biological science that studies the relationships between living organisms and their environment Study of the structure and functions of nature
Chapter 4: What are biotic and abiotic factors?
Biotic- The living things in an ecosystem Abiotic- non living parts of an ecosystem
Chapter 2: What is energy?
Capacity to do work or to transfer heat. Can involve mechanical, physical, chemical, or electrical tasks or heat transfers between objects at different temperatures.
Chapter 6: How do humans positively impact our world?
Captive breeding and release of endangered animals, selective removal of invasive species, protecting native species, controlling wildfires, cleaning waterways, reforestation efforts, using technology to reduce pollution
Chapter 8: What are mass extinctions?
Catastrophic, widespread, often global event in which large numbers of species become extinct over a short time period, compared with normal extinctions.
Chapter 10: What are endocrine disruptors?
Chemicals that, at certain doses, can interfere with the endocrine (or hormone) system in mammals.
Chapter 5: What are the different types of symbiosis (examples of each).
Commensalism An interaction that benefits one species but has little, or any beneficial or harmful effect on the other. Ex. Birds benefit Mutualism Occurs when two species behave in ways that benefit both by providing each with food, shelter, or some other resource Ex. Pollination of flowering plants by species such as honeybees Parasitism Occurs when one species feeds on another organism Ex. Tapeworm living inside a human
Chapter 9: What does deforestation do to biodiversity? Why?
Deforestation decreases biodiversity Deforestation entails the destruction of many types of plants in an environment. These plants are animal's food sources. If there is no more food, the animals will go look for more elsewhere. Some species can find an alternate food source, but most can't. This causes them to starve and die off. If this happens to too many species, it majorly impacts the biodiversity of an environment.
Chapter 1: What is an ecological footprint and how is this estimated?
Ecological footprint is the amount of land and water needed to supply a population or an area with renewable resources and to absorb and recycle the wastes and pollution produced by such resource use. The Ecological Footprint of a person is calculated by considering all of the biological materials consumed and all of the carbon dioxide emissions generated by that person in a given year. All these materials and emissions are then individually translated into an equivalent number of global hectares.
Chapter 1: What is sustainable development?
Economic development that is conducted without the depletion of natural resources
Chapter 2: What is potential energy?
Energy stored and potentially available for use. Rock held in your hand The water in a reservoir behind the dam The chemical energy stored in the carbon atoms of coal or in molecules of food
Chapter 2: What is kinetic energy?
Energy that matter has because of its mass and speed, or velocity
Chapter 1: How is Environmental Science different than other more specific sciences (biological, chemical, physical, geological, space, etc...).
Environmental science is studying science as well as social sciences. It focuses on surrounding conditions that affect humans and living and dead organisms.
Chapter 11: What is eutrophication?
Eutrophication is the enrichment of an ecosystem with chemical nutrients, typically compounds containing nitrogen, phosphorus, or both.
Chapter 2: What are the laws of thermodynamics?
First law of thermodynamics: -AKA Conservation of energy -No atoms are created or destroyed whenever matter undergoes a physical or chemical change. Second law of thermodynamics: -Whenever energy is converted from one form to another in a physical or chemical change, no energy is created or destroyed Third law of thermodynamics: -States that the entropy of a perfect crystal at absolute zero, or 0 kelvin is zero
Chapter 3: What is the difference between a food web and a food chain?
Food Web- Complex network of many interconnected food chains and feeding relationships. Food Chain- Series of organisms in which each organism is eaten or decomposed by the next one in the series.
Chapter 5: What factors influence population growth (for animals? for humans?)
For animals: -Range of tolerance -Food supply -Reproduction -Young stay alive For humans: -Birth rate -Immigration -Death rate -Emigration
Chapter 5: Describe population growth characteristics.
Four variables govern changes in population size: Births Deaths Immigration Emmigration
Chapter 11: What is the chemical composition of freshwater? Saltwater?
Freshwater Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium, Potassium, Carbonate, Sulfate, Chloride Saltwater Sodium, Magnesium, Calcium, Potassium, Chloride, Sulfate, Carbonate, Bromine
Chapter 4: What are some aquatic biomes?
Freshwater Saltwater
Chapter 8: What is HIPPCO?
Habitat destruction, degradation, and fragmentation Invasive (nonnative) species Population growth (too many people consuming too many resources) Pollution Climate change Overexploitation
Chapter 8:What are the biggest causes of extinctions?
Habitat loss, climate change, ocean acidification, and always environmentally harmful effects of human activities
Chapter 11: What impacts the Floridan aquifer?
Humans regularly impacts the Floridan aquifer. Changes in the landscape and land use, such as paved roads, parking lots, shopping centers, and housing developments and other buildings, tend to alter the quality and quantity of water that seeps into an aquifer. Additionally, the aquifer's water quality is sensitive to pollutants, such as lawn fertilizers, pesticides, and animal waste, which run off of our own backyards or other developed areas and seep into the ground.
Chapter 9:What might happen if deforestation is allowed to continue?
In 70 years, there will only be 25% of forests left on Earth.
Chapter 10: What are some of the different types of agriculture?
Industrialized agriculture: uses heavy equipment along with large amounts of financial capital, fossil fuels, water, commercial inorganic fertilizers, and pesticides to produce single crops, or monocultures. The major goal of industrialized agriculture is to steadily increase each crop's yield—the amount of food produced per unit of land. Plantation agriculture: is a form of industrialized agriculture used primarily in tropical less-developed countries. Traditional subsistence agriculture: supplements energy from the sun with the labor of humans and draft animals to produce enough crops for a farm family's survival, with little left over to sell or store as a reserve for hard times. Traditional intensive agriculture: farmers try to obtain higher crop yields by increasing their inputs of human and draft-animal labor, animal manure for fertilizer, and water. Polyculture: the practice of growing many crops at a time. Organic Agriculture: crops are grown without the use of synthetic pesticides, synthetic inorganic fertilizers, and genetically engineered varieties, and animals must be raised on 100% organic feed without the use of antibiotics or growth hormones.
Chapter 5: What is symbiosis?
Interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association, typically to the advantage of both A mutually beneficial relationship between different people or groups
Chapter 1: What is Environmental Science?
Interdisciplinary study that uses information and ideas from the physical sciences (such as biology, chemistry, and geology) as well as those from the social sciences and humanities (such as economics, politics, and ethics) to learn how nature works, how we interact with the environment, and how we can deal with environmental problems.
Chapter 2: How is energy measured (units of measurement and definition of that unit)?
Joule is the SI unit of work or energy, equal to the work done by a force of one newton when its point of application moves one meter in the direction of action of the force, equivalent to one 3600th of a watt-hour
Chapter 10: What is the difference between malnutrition and undernutrition/hunger?
Malnutrition: where a person doesn't get enough protein and other key nutrients Undernutrition/Hunger: where a person can't grow or buy food to meet their basic needs
Chapter 2: What are the different types of matter?
Matter is anything that takes up space. It exists in three physical states: Solid, liquid and gas It exists in two chemical forms: Elements and compounds
Chapter 3: What is a biogeochemical cycle?
Natural processes that recycle nutrients in various chemical forms from the nonliving environment to living organisms and then back to the nonliving environment.
Chapter 7: What is ozone?
O3 , it is a pale blue gas that is toxic for humans to breathe in.
Chapter 9: What are the major differences between old-growth forests and second growth forests?
Old growth: A forest that has made it to a significant age without much disturbance from humanity (200 years or more) More biodiversity Larger size Includes trees that are many centuries old, but trees of any age can occur. Not all the same type of tree. Patchy canopy that allows sunlight to reach the forest floor because of uneven aging Second growth: A stand of trees resulting from secondary succession. Less biodiverse environment Smaller in size Trees are all the same age (and generally the same species too) Canopy is the same height, which doesn't allow sunlight to reach the floor
Chapter 11: What is the world's current trend in water availability? Where does most freshwater occur?
Only ~1% of the world's freshwater is accessible for human uses Most of the world's freshwater is inaccessible because it is frozen in glaciers
Chapter 6: Explain potential problems and advantages of urbanization?
People living in urban area usually have better access to family planning services and tend to have fewer children than do those living in the rural areas of poorer countries
Chapter 11: What causes eutrophication to occur?
Phosphates entering the water, oxygen depletion in watee
Chapter 6: How do humans negatively impact our environment?
Population explosion, soil pollution, water pollution, air pollution, global warming and ozone layer depletion
Chapter 5: What are the differences between primary and secondary succession?
Primary succession -plant life, occurring in an environment in which new substrate devoid of vegetation and other organisms usually lacking soil, such as a lava flow or area left from retreated glacier, is deposited. Secondary succession -the series of community changes which take place on a previously colonized, but disturbed or damaged habitat. Examples include areas which have been cleared of existing vegetation (such as after tree-felling in a woodland) and destructive events such as fires.
Chapter 5: What are the differences between R and K- species?
R- selected species -Those that have a capacity for a high rate of population increase They tend to have short life spans and have many, usually small offspring, and give little to no parental care or protection. K-selected species -They tend to reproduce later in life and have a small number of offspring with fairly long life spans
Chapter 9:What are the different ways trees can be harvested?
Selective cutting: intermediate or mature aged trees are cut in small groups or singularly Clear cutting: remove all trees from an area Strip-cutting: clear-cutting a strip of trees along the land that allows for natural regeneration within a few years
Chapter 11: What are the positives/ negatives of eutrophication?
Species diversity decreases and the dominant biota changes Plant and animal biomass increase Turbidity increases Rate of sedimentation increases, shortening the lifespan of the lake Anoxic conditions may develop
Chapter 4: What are exotic species?
Species living outside its native distributional range, which has arrived there by human activity, either deliberate or accidental.
Chapter 4: What are sentinel species?
Species that are often animals, used to detect risks to humans by providing advance warning of a danger. The terms primarily apply in the context of environmental hazards rather than those from other sources
Chapter 8: What are endangered species (examples)?
Species that have so few individual survivors that the species could soon become extinct. EX: Mexican greywolf, California Condor, Whooping Crane, Sumatran Tiger
Chapter 8: What are threatened species (examples)?
Species that is vulnerable to extinction in the near future Ex. Atlantic Ridley Turtle, Florida Panther, Green Turtle
Chapter 4: What are native species?
Species that normally live and thrive in a particular ecosystem
Chapter 4: What are keystone species?
Species that play roles affecting many other organisms in an ecosystem These roles often have the effect of supporting or maintaining an ecosystem.
Chapter 7: Where do we find ozone in our atmosphere?
Stratosphere
Chapter 2: What is the chemical organization of matter?
Subatomic particles Atoms Monomer (micro molecules) Polymer (macromolecules) Proteins Organelles Organs Organ System Organism
Chapter 3: How does energy pass through the environment?
Sun Plants Primary Producers Primary Consumers Secondary Consumers Third Level Consumers Apex Predators
Chapter 8: What is the Endangered Species Act of 1973, summarize.
The Endangered Species Act (ESA) provides a program for the conservation of threatened and endangered plants and animals and the habitats in which they are found.
Chapter 11: What is the Floridan aquifer?
The Floridan aquifer is a portion of the principal artesian aquifer that extends into Florida and is composed of carbonate rock and located beneath the coastal regions of the Southeastern United States
Chapter 11: Why is this important?
The Floridan aquifer provides water for smaller communities, and people living in rural areas. Also because it provides water for major cities such as Savannah, Brunswick, Jacksonville, and Tallahassee
Chapter 10: What can they cause to happen?
These disruptions can cause cancerous tumors, birth defects, and other developmental disorders.
Chapter 3: Example of a biogeochemical cycle.
The carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, and hydrologic cycles
Chapter 3: What is the ecological organization of life on our planet?
The earth's life-support system consists of four main spherical systems: Atmosphere Troposphere Stratosphere Hydrosphere Geosphere Biosphere
Chapter 8: What is background extinction rates?
The estimated extinction rate of 1 species per year for every 1 million wild species living on the earth
Chapter 5: What is succession?
The gradual process by which ecosystems change and develop over time. Nothing remains the same and habitats are constantly changing. There are two main types of succession, primary and secondary.
Chapter 11: What is potable water?
Water that can be consumed by humans, more commonly known as drinking water
Chapter 7: What are greenhouse gase?What do they do?
Water vapor (H2O), Carbon dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4) and Nitrous oxide (N2O) The gases trap heat in the atmosphere, which heats up the Earth.
Chapter 6: How does the human population impact our environment?
The number of people, The lifestyle, consumption patterns, and regions people inhabit and use directly affect the environment. The relationship between population growth and environmental degradation may appear to be rather straightforward. More people demand more resources and generate more waste.
Chapter 2: What is the scientific method and how does it assist Environmental Science?
The scientific method is a method of procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses. Scientists use observations, experiments and models to answer questions about how nature works.
Chapter 9: What is deforestation?
The temporary or permanent removal of large expanses of forest for agriculture, settlements, or other uses.
Chapter 1: What are the objectives of Environmental Science?
The three goals of Environmental Science are: To learn how life on earth has survived and thrived To understand how we interact with the environment To find ways to deal with the environmental problems and live more sustainability
Chapter 10: How do they get into the environment?
They are introduced by humans pollution
Chapter 9:Why (reasons) does deforestation occur?
To make more land available for housing and urbanization To harvest timber to create commercial items such as paper, furniture and homes To create ingredients that are highly prized consumer items, such as the oil from palm trees To create room for cattle ranching
Chapter 9: Why are forests so important?
Trees absorb and store Carbon Dioxide and turn it into wood, where it is bound for hundreds or even thousands of years. Forests are home to animals, and destruction of forests could result in loss of biodiversity Forests absorb carbon dioxide and put off oxygen They can help prevent floods by absorbing some extra rainwater
Chapter 7: Three main types of deserts, characteristics.
Tropical -They have few plants and a hard, wind-blown surface strewn with rocks and sand Temperate -The sparse vegetation consists mostly of widely dispersed, drought resistant shrubs and cactii or other succulents adapted to dry conditions. Cold -Vegetation is sparse, winters are cold, summers are hot, precipitation is low
Chapter 7: Three main types of grasslands, characteristics.
Tropical (savannah) They are home to grazing and browsing hoofed animals (including wildebeest, gazelle, zebra, giraffe) as well as their predators (such as lions, hyenas, and humans) Plants are adapted to survive drought, and extreme heat. (many have deep roots) Temperate Winters can be bitterly cold, summers are hot and dry, and annual precipitation is fairly sparse. Fertile top soil Cold (Arctic tundra) These treeless plains are bitterly cold during most of the year, winters are long with very few hours of daylight. This biome is carpeted with thick spongy mat of low growing plants
Chapter 7: Three main types of forests, characteristics.
Tropical Rainforest Warm temperatures, large amounts of rain thick vegetation, organismal diversity Animals: all kinds Plants/Trees: Bamboo, Mangrove trees, Curare, Coconut trees, vines Adaptations:Because the weather is hot and wet, trees do not need thick bark to slow down moisture loss and have instead thin, smooth bark, plants have to adapt to reach the canopy to get sufficient sunlight, and animals have to become specialized because of extreme competition Temperate Deciduous Rainfall is evenly distributed throughout the year, temperatures are moderate Animals: deer, fox, owl, and squirrel Plants/Trees: Beech and maple dominate in colder variations of this biome, while oak and hickory are more prevalent where temperatures are warmer Adaptations: In winter, the deciduous plants drop their leaves and enter a period of dormancy, animals use migration and dormancy Northern Coniferous Colder and receives less precipitation than Temperate Deciduous Forests Animals:birds, small mammals such as squirrels, large herbivorous mammals such as moose and elk, and large carnivorous mammals such as wolves and grizzly bears Plants/Trees: Coniferous, e.g. Spruce Adaptations:trees have needle-shaped leaves that help conserve water
Chapter 4: What are the biomes of the world?
Tundra Rainforest Savanna Taiga Temperate forest Temperate grassland
Chapter 8: What is biodiversity?
Variety of different species, genetic variability among individuals within species, variety of ecosystems, and variety of functions such as energy flow and matter cycling that are part of the life-support system of the biosphere
Chapter 10: Global food production, what needs to be done to feed humans?
We need to grow more crops on the land already cleared for agriculture, shift diets to what we're growing, and make more crop calories go towards feeding people (not livestock)
Chapter 7: What is the difference between weather and climate?
Weather is what conditions of the atmosphere are over a short period of time Climate is how the atmosphere "behaves" over relatively long periods of time.
Chapter 8: What is extinction?
When a species can no longer be found on earth
Chapter 7: How did ozone develop in our atmosphere?
Within the stratosphere, incoming solar radiation at wavelengths below 240 nm. is able to break up (or dissociate) molecular Oxygen (O2) into individual Oxygen atoms, each of which, in turn, may combine with an Oxygen molecule (O2), to form ozone, a molecule of Oxygen consisting of three Oxygen atoms (O3).
Chapter 6: What is an eco-city?
places where people can live healthier and economically productive lives while reducing their impact on the environment.
Chapter 6: What is smart growth?
planned economic and community development that attempts to curb urban sprawl and worsening environmental conditions.
