PWS 150 Midterm #1 (Dr. Smith)

What are the five levels of the organization of matter in nature?

(1) Organism (2) population (3) community (4) ecosystem (5) biosphere

Dependence on solar energy

(First principle of sustainability) The sun's input of solar energy warms the planet and provides energy that plants use to produce nutrients. The sun also powers indirect forms of solar energy such as wind and flowing water, which we use to produce electricity.

Biodiversity (Principle of sustainability)

(Second principle of sustainability) The variety of genes, organisms, species, and ecosystems in which organisms exist and interact. The interactions among species, especially the feeding relationships, provide vital ecosystem services and keep any population from growing too large. Biodiversity also provides countless ways for life to adapt to changing environmental conditions, even catastrophic changes that wipe out large numbers of species.

Chemical Cycling

(Third principle of sustainability) The circulation of chemicals necessary for life from the environment (mostly from soil and water) through organisms and back to the environment is called chemical cycling, or nutrient cycling. The earth receives a continuous supply of energy from the sun, but it receives no new supplies of life-supporting chemicals. Thus through their complex interactions with their living and nonliving environment, organisms must continually recycle the chemicals they need in order to survive. This means that there is little waste in nature, other than in the human world, because the wastes and decayed bodies of any organism become nutrients or raw materials for other organisms. In nature, waste = useful resources

Why should we care if some (or all) amphibian species go extinct?

1- Because they are an indicator species 2- Because they play important roles in biological communities 3- Because they are a genetic storehouse of pharmaceutical products waiting to be discovered.

Why do we care about the loss of tropical rain forests? (see Core Case Study, Page 42, 15th Edition).

1- Clearing forests results in loss of biodiversity 2- Destruction of forests results in atmospheric warming because they can no longer remove CO2 from the atmosphere 3- weather patterns can be affected and prevent the return of tropical rain forests.

What are the three factors that sustain the Earth's life?

1- one way flow of high quality energy from the sun 2- cycling of nutrients 3- gravity

How does human activity impact the water cycle (3 major ways)?

1- remove freshwater 2- clear vegetation/ increase asphalt cover, resulting in more runoff. 3- drain wetlands.

Four myths about evolution were presented in the text. Know them.

1- that evolution explains the origin of life 2- that natural selection equals survival of the strongest 3- that humans evolved from apes or monkeys 4- that evolution involves a grand plan of nature (where species are to become more adapted)

What are the four important steps to critical thinking?

1.) Be skeptical about everything you read or hear. 2.) Look at the evidence and evaluate it and any related information, along with inputs and opinions from a variety of reliable sources. 3.) Be open to many viewpoints and evaluate each one before coming to a conclusion. 4.) Identify and evaluate your personal assumptions, biases, and beliefs, being careful to distinguish between facts and opinions.

What are the three principles of sustainability?

1.) Dependence on solar energy 2.) Biodiversity 3.) Chemical Cycling

Organic compound

A compound containing at least two carbon atoms combined with atoms of one or more other elements.

Isotope

A form of an element having the same atomic number but a different mass number.

Species

A group of organisms that has a unique set of characteristics that distinguish it from other groups of organisms; a set of individuals that can mate and produce fertile offspring.

pH

A measure of acidity. A neutral solution has a pH of 7. A basic solution has a pH greater than 7. An acidic solution has a pH less than 7.

Scientific Hypothesis

A possible and testable explanation of the data.

What does nature deficit disorder refer to?

A series of problems resulting from spending increasingly less time in the natural world.

System:

A set of components that function and interact in some regular way.

Ecosystem

A set of organisms within a defined area of land or volume of water that interact with one another and with their environment of nonliving matter and energy.

Point source

A single, identifiable source (ex. smokestack)

Environmentalism

A social movement dedicated to trying to sustain the earth's life-support systems for all forms of life.

Organism

Any form of life

Matter

Anything that has mass and takes up space.

Resource

Anything that we can obtain from the environment to meet our needs and wants.

Positive feedback loop:

Causes a system to change further in the same direction.

Negative or corrective feedback loop:

Causes a system to change in the opposite direction from which it is moving.

How do you define biological evolution (or simply evolution)?

Change in species over time (through changes in genes in future generations)

High-quality energy:

Concentrated energy that has a high capacity to do work, such as sunlight.

Define pollution (and name the two types)

Contamination of the environment by any chemical or other agent such as noise or heat to a level that is harmful to the health, survival, or activities of humans or other organisms. (Point source and non-point source)

Non-point source

Dispersed and often difficult to identify (ex. pesticides in runoff)

Kinetic Energy

Energy associated with movement. Heat/Thermal Energy: The total kinetic energy of all moving atoms, ions, or molecules in an object. Electromagnetic radiation: Energy travels in the form of a wave as a result of changes in electrical and magnetic fields.

Low-quality energy:

Energy that is so dispersed that it has a little capacity to do useful work, such as heat.

Electromagnetic Radiation

Energy travels in the form of a wave as a result of changes in electrical and magnetic fields.

What does environmental worldview refer to? Can you name a few examples of these?

Environmental worldview: An individual's set of assumptions and values reflecting how one thinks the world works and what one thinks their role in the world should be. Human-centered Planetary management Stewardship Life-centered Earth-centered

What are the hallmarks of an environmentally sustainable society?

Environmentally sustainable society: A society that meets the current and future basic resource needs of its people in a just and equitable manner without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their basic resource needs. Protect your capital and live on the income it provides.

Why does evolution involve changes in populations, not individuals?

Evolution involves changes in populations and not individuals because evolution is not the changing of an individual's DNA to increase fitness. Evolution is caused by natural selection, where more fit individuals live longer and reproduce more, increasing the instance of their advantageous trait(s) in the population as generations go on. Evolution happens over generations, not during an individual's lifetime.

What is a gene? What does it do? How does the concept of a gene relate to a chromosome?

Gene: A sequence of nucleotides; coded units of information about specific traits passed from parent to offspring during reproduction. Genes contain genetic information for the making of specific proteins. A gene is a section of DNA found inside of a chromosome.

What is the take home message from the Core Case Study "Experimenting with a Forest"? (see page 26 in your text, 15th Edition) How much did runoff of water and nutrients increase due to clear-cut logging?

Interrupting or altering natural processes can lead to negative effects. Runoff water increased by 30-40% and runoff nutrients increased by 6 to 8 times due to clear-cut logging.

How does poverty cause a number of environmental and health effects? Be able to identify a few of them...

People in poverty are focused on getting enough food, water, and cooking and heating fuel to survive. They do not have the luxury to worry about long-term environmental effects. This leads to degradation of forests, topsoil, grasslands, and fisheries. Poverty also leads to malnutrition due to a lack of food, which stems from environmental degradation that interferes with food production, and dysentery, which comes from a lack of adequate sanitation facilities and clean water.

What form is phosphorus most often in? how does this P-cycle compare to the others? (what makes it different than the other cycles?)

Phosphorus is most often in the form of phosphate ions. The P-cycle is different from others because the phosphorus does not cycle through the atmosphere, and cycles slowly compared to the other cycles.

How is carbon cycled through the biosphere by photosynthesis?

Plants remove CO2 from the air, which is then incorporated into their tissues. When the plant dies and is decomposed, the carbon is cycled back.

Tentative science

Preliminary scientific results that have not been widely tested and accepted by peer review or tested and reproduced by other scientists.

Reliable science

Science that consists of data, hypotheses, models, theories, and laws that are widely accepted by all or most of the scientists who are considered experts in the field under study.

Unreliable science

Scientific results or hypotheses that are presented as reliable science but have not yet gone through the rigors of peer review.

Why are scientists skeptics? What part of the scientific process does peer review play?

Scientists are skeptics because they are the ones that are validating and checking the conclusions of other scientists based off of the experiments they ran and the data they collected. Peer review involves scientists openly publishing the work they performed for other scientists to evaluate. Scientific knowledge advances in a self-correcting way.

Why can science never absolutely prove or disprove anything and yet it advances our understanding of the world around us?

Scientists can never absolutely prove or disprove anything because there is always some degree of uncertainty in scientific measurements, observations, and models. However, science advances our understanding of the world around us because scientists try to establish that particular scientific theory has a very high probability or certainty of being useful for understanding some aspect of the natural world.

What does our 'ecological footprint' refer to?

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.

Ecology

The biological science that studies how living things interact with one another and with their environment; study of the structure and functions of nature.

Energy

The capacity to do work

What is the concept of sustainable yield?

The highest rate at which we can use a renewable resource indefinitely without reducing its available supply.

Fission

The nuclei of certain isotopes with large mass numbers are split apart into lighter nuclei and release energy when struck by a neutron.

Radioactive decay

The nuclei of unstable isotopes spontaneously emit fast-moving chunks of matter, high energy radiation, or both at a fixed rate.

Atomic number

The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom.

What is the pyramid of energy flow? How much energy transfers from each level to the next higher level?

The pyramid of energy flow shows the decrease in energy available at each succeeding trophic level. 10% of the energy transfers to the next higher level.

Food web

a complex network or interconnected food chains. More complex, involves more organisms than a food chain.

Adaptive Trait

a heritable trait that improves the organism's survival and reproduction chances in the given environmental circumstances

Indicator Species

a species that acts as a warning, indicating changes or problems in the environment. Example- Amphibians

Keystone Species

a species that plays a vital role in its ecosystem; without it, the ecosystem crumbles. Example: Alligator, some sharks, bees

Heritable Trait

a trait that can be passed down to offspring (the next generation)

Genetic Resistance

ability of an organism to resist a toxin in the environment, reproduce, and then pass that trait on to their offspring, resulting in a large population of organisms resistant to that chemical. (what happens when a bacteria becomes resistant to an antibiotic over time)

Mutagen

an agent such as chemicals or radiation that increases mutations in DNA.

Generalist Species

can survive in many different conditions and eats many different things. Example- A raccoon

Genetic engineering

changing, adding, or removing a gene in an organism so it will develop with the desired traits. (faster than artificial selection)

Decomposers

consumers that feeds on dead plants and animals. They release the nutrients back into the environment.

Trophic level

feeding level of an organism depending on its source of nutrients

Speciation

formation of new species (process by which one species splits into two or more)

Background extinction rate

the regular rate at which species would go extinct (before humans began influencing it)

Ecological niche

the role a species plays in the ecosystem, and its needs

aquifers

underground water reserves in layers of rock, sand, and gravel. groundwater- water in the ground, stored in aquifers.

mass extinction

when many species go extinct all at once. (significant rise in extinction rates above the background rate). Usually caused by a large and widespread environmental change, such as the Ice Age.

What is the difference between GPP and NPP?

GPP- Gross primary productivity- the rate at which an ecosystem's producers convert solar energy into chemical energy. NPP- Net primary productivity- rate at which producers produce and store chemical energy MINUS the rate at which it is used.

What are the three social science principles of sustainability?

1.) Full-cost pricing (from economics): Many economists urge us to find ways to include the harmful environmental and health costs of producing and using goods and services in their market prices. This would give consumers better information about the environmental impacts of their lifestyles, and it would allow them to make more informed choices about the goods and services they use. 2.) Win-win solutions (from political science): Shifting from a win-lose approach based on competition and dominance of other humans and of ecosystems to win-win solutions that are based on compromise in light of our interdependence and that benefit both people and the environment. 3.) A responsibility to future generations (from ethics): We should leave the planet's life support systems in at least as good a condition as that which we now enjoy, if not better, for future generations

Sustainability relies on several key components. What are they?

1.) Natural capital: The natural resources and ecosystem services that keep us and other species alive and support human economies. 2.) Human activities can degrade natural capital by using normally renewable resources, such as topsoil and trees, faster than nature can restore them and by overloading the earth's normally renewable air and water systems with pollution and waste. 3.) Solutions: Environmental scientists search for solutions to environmental problems such as the degradation of forests. 4.) Trade-offs/compromises: Environmental scientists must make compromises with governments and companies, such as lumber companies that want to clear-cut rainforests for economic gain.

What is natural capital? (name its two components)

1.) Natural resources: Materials and energy in nature that are essential or useful to humans. 2.) Ecosystem services: Processes provided by healthy ecosystems that support life and human economies at no monetary cost to us (ex. water and air purification).

What two approaches to dealing with pollution does the text identify?

1.) Pollution cleanup: Cleaning up or diluting pollutants after we have already produced them. 2.) Pollution prevention: Efforts focused greatly on reducing or eliminating the production of pollutants.

Experts identify 5 basic causes for environmental problems. Be familiar with them.

1.) Population Growth 2.) Wasteful and unsustainable resource use 3.) Poverty 4.) Failure to include the harmful environmental and health costs of goods and services in their market prices 5.) Increasing isolation from nature

What are the three goals of environmental science?

1.) To learn how life on the earth has survived and thrived. 2.) To understand how we interact with the environment. 3.) To find ways to deal with environmental problems and live more sustainably.

Biome

A biome is a large region such as a desert, forest, or grassland, that has a distinct climate and species.

Science

A broad field of study focuses on discovering how nature works and using that knowledge to describe what is likely to happen in nature.

Chemical change

A change in the chemical composition of the substance involved (ex. burning coal creates CO2).

Why are some amphibians extinct and others going extinct?

A combination of human and natural causes: Viral and fungal diseases, habitat loss and fragmentation, prolonged drought, higher levels of UV radiation, pollution, overhunting, nonnative predators and competitors.

Molecule

A combination of two or more atoms of the same or different elements held together by forces known as chemical bonds.

Compound

A combination of two or more different elements held together in fixed proportions.

Element

A type of matter that has a unique set of properties and that cannot be broken down into simpler substances by chemical means.

Scientific Law

A well-tested and widely accepted description of what we find happening repeatedly and in the same way in nature. An example is the law of gravity.

Scientific Theory

A well-tested and widely accepted scientific hypothesis or a group of related hypotheses.

There were simple steps scientists follow to discover answers as to how the natural world works. What are they?

A. Make an observation that generates questions B. Devise hypotheses (preliminary explanations) that may explain why what you observed occurred... C. Construct tests of the hypotheses - these are experiments. D. See if results support or reject your hypotheses E. Repeat as needed.

Sustainability

Ability of the earth's various systems, including human cultural systems and economies, to survive and adapt to changing environmental conditions indefinitely.

What is respiration? More specifically, what is aerobic respiration? What are the inputs and outputs of aerobic respiration?

Aerobic respiration- using oxygen to convert glucose back into carbon dioxide and water. -inputs: glucose + oxygen -outputs: carbon dioxide + water + energy

Environment

All external conditions, factors, matter, and energy, living and nonliving, that affect any living organism or other specified system.

Model

An approximate representation or simulation of a system.

Ion

An atom or a group of atoms with one or more net positive or negative electrical charges as a result of losing or gaining one or more electrons.

How does human activity impact the C-cycle?

By burning fossil fuels (which adds CO2 to the atmosphere) and clearing forests that contain large amounts of CO2.

Be able to name the four major components of earth's life support system. Briefly, how do they differ? (i.e., define them).

Atmosphere- gases that surround Earth. (includes the troposphere and the stratosphere) Hydrosphere- water realm (water vapor in the atmosphere, liquid water, and solid water in glaciers and ice) Geosphere- rock (includes the crust, mantle, and core) Biosphere- parts of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere where life is found.

Be able to define biodiversity and its four interacting components.

Biodiversity is the variety of the earth' species, the genes they contain, the ecosystems in which they live, and the ecosystem processes that sustain all life. species diversity- number and variety of species present in community genetic diversity- variety of genes in a population or species ecosystem diversity- variety of biomes and the species occurring within them functional diversity- variety of processes that occur in ecosystems

What is exponential growth? Can it continue indefinitely? What ultimately slows or stops it?

Exponential growth: When a quantity such as the human population increases at a fixed percentage rate per unit of time. Exponential growth cannot continue indefinitely because eventually environmental limits, such as limited resources or limited space, slow or stop the growth.

What is extinction? This is one possibility for a species facing environmental change. What are the other two possible outcomes?

Extinction- when a change in the environment causes a complete obliteration of a species. Other outcomes are 1-adaptation, and 2-migration

How are fossil fuels created? Are they renewable or nonrenewable resources?

Fossil fuels are created by carbon in dead plant matter that is deeply buried in the earth and converted into fossil fuels by the pressure of the overlying sediments and the heat released during decomposition. They are nonrenewable resources.

How do humans impact the N-cycle?

Humans add nitrogen to the atmosphere as a product of combustion (which can fall to the earth as acid rain), remove nitrogen from the atmosphere to make plant fertilizer, and adding nitrogen to aquatic ecosystems in agricultural runoff.

How do human activities affect the S-cycle?

Humans release sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere by (1) burning sulfur-containing oil and coal for power, (2) by refining sulfur- containing oil for gasoline, and (3) extracting metals from sulfur- containing compounds in rocks.

How do human activities impact the P-cycle?

Humans remove phosphate from the earth to make fertilizer and clear tropical rain forests (which reduces phosphate levels in soils). When phosphate enters streams, lakes, and oceans, they can result in the increased growth of algae which can upset processes like chemical cycling.

What role do microorganisms play in sustaining life on earth (see Science Focus 3.1 on page 46 of the 15th Edition)?

Microbes do a lot: they break down food in our intestines, prevent harmful bacteria from reaching our lungs (in our noses), they purify water we drink, decompose organic wastes, provide oxygen, regulate the atmosphere's temperature, and control diseases.

What is the difference between more-developed and less-developed countries?

More-developed countries: Industrialized nations with high average income per person. Less-developed countries: Countries that have low to moderate industrialization and low to moderate per capita GDP.

What role do mutations play in evolution?

Mutations introduce new genes into a population, and natural selection determines whether these new genes will stay or go.

Physical change

No change in chemical composition (ex. cutting paper or freezing water).

Feedback loop:

Occurs when an output of matter, energy, or information is fed back into the system as an input and leads to changes in that system.

Where does Nitrogen exist on earth? What role does it play in living systems?

On Earth, nitrogen is mainly found in the atmosphere. When it is in compounds, it is a plant nutrient.

Inexhaustible resource

Resource such as sunlight the is expected to last essentially forever, in human terms.

Renewable resource

Resource that can be replenished by natural processes within hours to centuries, as long as we do not use it up faster that natural processes can renew it.

Nonrenewable/Exhaustible resource

Resource that exists in a fixed quantity or stock, in the earth's crust. On a timescale of millions to billions of years, geologic processes can renew such resources.

What is an endemic species?

Species found in only one area, usually a small geographic area (like many species that are only found in Hawaii). Endemic species are especially vulnerable to extinction hence why a large portion of species endemic to Hawaii are endangered or extinct.

Potential Energy

Stored energy that is potentially available for use.

What does the sulfur cycle entail?

Sulfur stored underground is brought to the surface and atmosphere by volcanoes and the breakdown of organic matter. It is used by plants

Atomic mass

The total number of neutrons and protons in the nucleus of an atom.

Habitat

the ecosystem in which the species lives.

What is the phenomenon "the tragedy of the commons"? Who first used this to describe the free-for-all that overuses/depletes resources?

Tragedy of the commons: Depletion or degradation of a potentially renewable resource to which a large number of people have free and unmanaged access due to every user believing that their small impact won't make a big difference. Garret Hardin was the first person to describe this tragedy.

Fusion

Two nuclei of lighter atoms, such as hydrogen, are forced together at extremely high temperatures until they fuse to form a heavier nucleus and release a tremendous amount of energy.

Define biodiversity

Variety of different species (species diversity), genetic variability among individuals within each species (genetic diversity), variety of ecosystems (ecological diversity), and variety of functions such as energy flow and matter cycling are part of the life-support system of the biosphere (functional diversity).

Artificial selection

When humans select and breed two organisms with desirable qualities so that the offspring will have that trait

What is natural selection? How does it interact with changes in genes to yield new species?

When individuals with certain traits are better able to survive and reproduce, therefore passing on those traits to their offspring. It yields new species because it results in changes to the genetic makeup of the population over time.

Synthetic biology

When scientists make new sequences of DNA and use it to create new cells, tissues, organisms, or redesign existing biological systems.

First Law of Thermodynamics (Law of Conservation of Energy):

Whenever energy is converted from one form to another in a physical or chemical change, no energy is created nor destroyed.

Second Law of Thermodynamics:

Whenever energy is converted from one form to another in a physical or chemical change, we end up with lower-quality or less usable energy than we started with.

What is the Law of Conservation of Matter?

Whenever matter undergoes a physical or chemical change, no atoms are created or destroyed.

Reproductive Isolation

mutation and natural selection occur separately in species that are geographically isolated, so eventually they can no longer reproduce with one another and become separate species.

What is a nutrient cycle?

nutrient cycle- the movement of nutrients through the air, water, soil, rock, and living organisms in an ecosystem and the biosphere

Specialist Species

occupies a very narrow niche, only feeds on one type of thing. susceptible to extinction. Example: a panda

Heterotroph

organism that cannot produce its own nutrients and so feed on producers or their remains. (Consumers)

Autotroph

organism that produces its own nutrients from compounds and energy from their environment. (Producer)

Geographic isolation

populations of the same species become physically separated from one another over a long period of time

Surface runoff

precipitation that runs into streams, rivers, or lakes, etc, that is free to evaporate and repeat the water cycle.

Food chain

shows a sequence of organisms that serve as a source of nutrients for the next.