Environmental Science, part 2

Pheromones

Chemicals produced by one organism that affect the behavior of another.

a group of organisms that can successfully mate with each other and reproduce

Choose the phrase that correctly finishes this statement: "A species is..."

Brownfields Program

Cleans up hazardous waste sites

Deforestation

Clearing trees without replacing them

Fossil Fuels

Coal, oil, and natural gas

there is only a limited amount of food and living space available in any ecosystem

Competition for resources is a limiting factor because

Selective Cutting

Cutting only middle aged or mature trees

Suburban Sprawl

Development that spreads out around cities, characterized by houses and strip malls.

Solar cells

Devices that convert the sun's energy directly into electricity.

Pathogens

Disease causing bacteria, viruses, parasitic worms, and other organisms.

interactions between organisms as well as the interactions between organisms and their environment

Ecology is the study of the

Low Input farming

Farming which doesn't use a lot of energy, pesticides, fertilizer, or water.

Arable Land

Fertile land that can be plowed to grow crops.

habitat

Food, water, shelter, and a space in which to live all describe an organism's

physical monitoring, environmental monitoring, chemical monitoring, and biological monitoring.

Four common types of ecosystem monitoring are

Greenhouse Gases

Gases that trap and radiate heat: Water vapor, carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, methane, and nitrous oxide.

Polyculture

Growing more than one crop at a time.

Monoculture

Growing only one crop at a time.

A solid

Has a fixed shape and stays the same shape unless it is acted on forcefully

three types of consumers

Herbivores, carnivores and omnivores are

an organism that cannot produce its own food

A consumer is

producers are usually eaten by many different consumers and most consumers are eaten by more than one predator

A food web is more realistic than a food chain for showing the feeding relationships in ecosystems because

Mistletoe

A parasite that grows on trees and rob its hosts of sugar, water and other nutrients

Primary Pollutant

A pollutant that is put directly into the air by human activity.

has reached its carrying capacity

A population that has reached the largest number of individuals that the environment can support over a long period of time

Clear Cutting

A process that involves removing all of the trees from a land area

Ecological succession

A process where species present at one stage change the environment in some way that makes it possible for other species to move in

There are always a large number of producers at the bottom and fewer top consumers

A pyramid of numbers shows that in an ecosystem

an environmental impact assessment

A report that outlines how an activity will affect the environment is called

Threatened Species

A species that could become endangered

Threatened species

A species that could become endangered if the factors limiting its population are not reversed is called

an endangered species

A species that is almost extinct is called

Shifting Agriculture

A type of farming where the farmer will fell and burn down trees to grow crops. After a few years, he will move on and continue the process.

Cellular respiration

A way in which consumers break down high-energy foods

more wildlife than fields or forests

According to some environmental biologists, wetlands have

Salinization

Accumulation of salts in the soil

The Earth Summit

Aimed to integrate environmental and economic goals of countries

atoms

All matter is made up of small particles called

Infrastructure

All the things society builds for public use

Wilderness Act

An act which protects certain lands as national parks.

Safe Drinking Water Act

An act which required the EPA to set standards for drinking water.

Water Pollution Control Act

An act which set standards for the amount of pollution in water.

Sahelanthropus Tchadensis

An extinct hominid species believed to be the last common ancestor between man and apes.

Australopithecus Afarensis

An extinct hominid species believed to exhibit the first example of full-time bipedalism.

Neanderthals

An extinct hominid species believed to have the same brain capacity as modern man and use many different weapons.

educate people about them

An important part of the plan to help populations of species recover is to

Silent Spring

An influential book by Rachel Carson which helped begin the environmental movement.

Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer

An international convention which created the framework for protecting the ozone layer.

a producer

An organism that creates its own food is called

a scavenger

An organism that eats decaying plants and animals is called

Producers

An organisms that make their own food

Ozone

An unstable form of oxygen which protects the earth from UV radiation. Although naturally occurring in the stratosphere (upper atmosphere), in the lower atmosphere this gas acts as a pollutant.

a limiting factor

Any abiotic or biotic factor that controls the number of individuals in a population is

qualitative

Any property you can observe directly with your senses is a _______ property.

Ecological reserves

Areas set aside by the government to protect endangered habitats and organisms are known as?

ecological reserves

Areas set aside to protect examples of the different habitats in the province are called

the build-up of pollutants in an organism

Bioaccumulation is

a captive breeding program

Biologists might use _________ to mate animals in zoos then release the young into the wild.

a wide variety of organisms, many ecosystems, and a diverse geography and climate

British Columbia has 10 ecoprovinces, showing that British Columbia also has

an ecologist

If you studied ecosystems to learn about relationships between organisms and any changes in populations that take place over a long period of time, you would be

top consumers

In a food chain, the organisms most affected by bioaccumulation are

the environment in some way

In the process of ecological succession, organisms that are present at one stage change

traditional ecological knowledge

Information that is based upon the beliefs, cultures, and values of Aboriginal peoples and their thousands of years of experience in their environments is called

Secondary Pollutant

Is formed when a primary pollutant comes into contact with other primary pollutant.

Urban Crisis

Lack of adequate infrastructure in overpopulated cities.

biomes

Large regions that have about the same temperature and amount of rain or snow are known as

natural disturbances

Limiting factors such as landslides, forest fires, floods and extreme weather are all

Detrivores

Made up of detritus feeders and decomposers.

global warming

Many scientists call the steady increase in the temperature of Earth's atmosphere

Nonrenewable resources

Materials being used faster than they can naturally be replaced.

natural resources

Objects found in nature that people use to meet their basic needs are

Thermal Inversion

Occurs when a layer of warm air settles over a layer of cooler air that lies near the ground. The warm air holds down the cool air and prevents pollutants from rising and scattering.

Nuclear Fusion

Occurs when lightweight atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, releasing huge amounts of energy in the process.

Biological Magnification

Occurs when toxins pass from organism to organism: An infected fish is eaten by a bird, the toxin increases and is passed onto the bird.

selective harvesting

One method of practicing responsible stewardship is to take only some of the available resources. This is also known as

a food chain

One model that shows how energy passes from organism to organism is called

loss of habitat

One of the main reasons wildlife populations become threatened is

most of the energy is used for life processes

Only a small amount of the energy stored in food is available to the next organism in a food chain because

Native species

Organisms that occur naturally in an ecosystem

Hetrotrophs

Organisms which consume autotrophs for food.

Autotrophs

Organisms which produce their own food.

Copiotrophs

Organisms which thrive in high nutrient environments, especially those with plenty of carbon.

Oligotrophs

Organisms which thrive in low nutrient environments and usually have slow growth rates.

Eukaryotes

Organisms with a nucleus.

the three main types of symbiotic relationships

Parasitism, commensalism and mutualism are

Clean Water Acts

Passed in 1977 and 1987 to help control water pollution

Soil and water conservation act

Passed in 1977 for the conservation, protection, and enhancement of soil, water, and natural resources.

long-term monitoring

Populations of many species change naturally from year to year, so ecologists monitor the same populations for many years. This is called

superfund act

Primary goal is to clean up hazardous waste sites.

respiration

Process by which carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere is taken in by plants during photosynthesis, and converted into glucose, an energy source for plants and animals

Evaporation

Process in which liquid water changes into an invisible gas called water vapor

Transpiration

Process in which water that is taken in through a plant's roots evaporates from the leaves, stems and flowers

chlorophyll

Producers make food using ______ to trap the Sun's energy in a process called photosynthesis.

Habitat restoration

Projects are undertaken to restore or improve habitats that have been damaged are known as?

a habitat enhancement project

Providing nesting boxes for birds is an example of

Closed loop recycling

Recycling products into new products of the same type

Abiotic

Refers only to the non-living parts of an environment, and biomes contain biotic and abiotic environments

A decomposer

Releases a chemical that breaks down dead or waste material, so the decomposer can absorb the material into its body

habitat restoration

Removing garbage from a stream or planting trees along the banks is an example of

Reforestation

Replacing trees that have died or have been cut down.

Reclamation

Restoring mined land to the condition it was in before mining.

quadrat

Scientists often estimate population sizes in ecosystems by marking off a specific area using a

an ecosystem

Scientists refer to a biological community and the abiotic parts of the environment that affect the community as

ecosystem monitoring

Scientists use _____ to track changes in ecosystems by comparing the results of investigations done at different times.

annual surveys

Scientists use _________, conducted at the same time and place every year, to track changes in populations.

help people make better decisions about how to treat their environment

Scientists use both scientific knowledge and traditional Aboriginal knowledge to

Ecological reserves

Set aside to protect examples of different habitats in the province as well as rare and endangered plants and animals are known as?

Prokaryotes

Single-celled organisms which lack a nucleus.

Desertification

Soil fertility that deteriorates so much that the land becomes desert-like.

spruce broom rust and canine distemper

Some examples of how diseases and parasites can limit populations are

Keystone Species

Species that are very important to the functioning of an ecosystem.

Greenhouse Effect

Sunlight comes through the atmosphere and heats earth. The heat radiates up from earth and some escapes into space. The rest of the heat is trapped by gases in the troposphere and warms the air on earth.

abiotic

Temperature, light, air, water, soil, and climate are all __________ parts of the environment

environmental monitoring

The Nisga'a operate fish wheels on both the lower and the upper Nass River, allowing biologists to tag fish at the lower wheel and count them upstream. This is an example of

Stockholm Conference

The UN's first major conference on environmental issues.

does not change

The amount of carbon in the environment

Tropopause

The area between the troposphere and the stratosphere. Here the temperature reverses from decreasing to increasing with altitude.

Turbidity

The cloudiness of a liquid due to small suspended particles.

Resource Partitioning

The coexistence of two species using the same resource where the two will use the resource in different ways.

Lithosphere

The crust and upper mantle of the earth.

Nuclear energy

The energy that exists within the nucleus of an atom.

gas

The form of matter that has no shape of its own, takes the shape of its container and fills the container completely is a

liquid

The form of matter that has no shape of its own, takes the shape of its container and forms a surface

precipitation, condensation, transpiration, and evaporation

The four main processes of the water cycle are

tundra, grassland, boreal forest, and temperate forest

The four major biomes of Canada are

ecological succession

The gradual change in the make-up of a biological community over time is called

Mesosphere

The layer that's above the stratosphere and below the thermosphere. Height is about 30 to 80km. This layer burns up metorids and other space objects.

Joseph Fourier 1824

The natural greenhouse effect was first described by:

how one population can limit another population

The predator-prey cycle shows

Precipitation

The process in which tiny water droplets inside clouds combine to form large drops

transpiration

The process in which water evaporates from the leaves, stems and flowers of plants is called

condensation

The process in which water vapor changes to a liquid is called

Interplanting

The process of planting different plant species right next to each other to maximize one's yield.

Alley Cropping

The process of planting trees in between other crops.

Harmful Algal Bloom

The rapid increase of harmful algae in a body of water.

Downcycling

The recycling of one type of product into different products

Thermosphere

The region of the atmosphere above the mesosphere and below the height at which the atmosphere ceases to have the properties of a continuous medium. Is characterized throughout by an increase in temperature with height

Claude Pouillet

The role of water vapor and CO2 in the greenhouse effect was later identified by:

No-Till Farming

The seeds of the next crop are planted in slits that are cut into the soil, straight through the remains of the previous crops.

niche

The space where an organism lives and the role an organism plays within its ecosystem is referred to as a

the carbon cycle

The way in which carbon is used and reused through the ecosystem is called

phytoplankton, zooplankton

There would be no life in the oceans without organisms called ______ and ______. A) decomposers, phytoplankton B) zooplankton, consumers C) phytoplankton, zooplankton D) zooplankton, scavengers

Subsistence Farmers

Those who grow food just for just their family.

a pyramid of numbers

To show how many organisms are at each level of a food chain, ecologists use a model called

run-off

Water that moves over the surface of the ground into lakes and rivers is called

energy flow

What do ecologists call the transfer of energy that begins with the Sun and passes from one organism to the next in a food chain?

A group of individuals of the same species that live in the same ecosystem

What is a population?

All the interacting organisms that live in an environment and the abiotic parts of the environment that affect the organisms

What is an ecosystem?

loss of habitat

What is the biggest threat facing organisms today?

pollution

When any substance is added to the environment faster than it can be broken down, stored, or converted to a non-harmful form, it is called

a habitat restoration project

When concerned people try to restore or improve damaged areas of an ecosystem, this is called

Thermal Pollution

When excessive amounts of heat are added to a body of water.

Open Pit Mining

When machines are used to dig large holes in the ground and remove ore.

community

When populations share their environment and interact with populations of other species, it is called a

Germ Plasm Bank

When reproductive (germ) cells of organisms are stored.

acid rain

When sulfur and nitrogen compounds mix with water vapour, __________ is formed

Passive solar heating

When sunlight is used to heat buildings directly without pumps or fans

Nuclear Fission

When the nucleus of an atoms is split apart

sustainability

When the resources of nature are being renewed or replaced at least as fast as they are used, this is

molecule

When two or more atoms link together, a(n) _______ is created

air, water, food, and a suitable place to live

Which of the following are necessary for the survival of living things? A) air, water, food, and a suitable place to live B) air, water and companions C) temperature, light, air, water, soil, and climate D) oxygen, carbon dioxide, soil, and energy

Styrofoam

Which of the following is NOT a natural resource? A) trees B) Styrofoam C) water D) natural gas

Natural gas

Which of the following is NOT a renewable resource? A) natural gas B) trees C) fish D) wheat

termite

Which of the following is NOT an example of a parasitic organism A) tapeworm B) mistletoe C) termite D) lice

Coal

Which of the following is a non-renewable resource? A) timber B) cattle C) coal D) orchards

mutualism

Which of the following is a symbiotic relationship where both partners benefit A) mutualism B) parasitism C) commensalism D) symbolism

commensalism

Which of the following is a symbiotic relationship where one partner benefits and the other does not benefit or lose from the relationship? A) commensalism B) mutalism C) parasitism D) decomposition

parasitism

Which of the following is a symbiotic relationship where one partner benefits and the other is harmed? A) commensalism B) mutualism C) symbolism D) parasitism

sampling

Which of the following is a way of counting the number of organisms in a small area to estimate the number of organisms in a much larger area?

Crude oil

Which of the following is an example of a raw material? A) Gasoline B) Propane C) Diesel fuel D) Crude oil

Grassland

Which of the following is not an ecoprovince in British Columbia?

plants and phytoplankton

Which of the following two organisms are producers?

Freezing point, melting point

Which pair of words describes the same temperature? A) Cooling point, freezing point B) Freezing point, melting point C) Melting point, heating point D) Cooling point, heating point

observe animals carefully and ask questions about what you observe

You are a wildlife biologist. Your job is to

Baseline data

_______ give scientists information about ecosystems before any events occur.

Permanent plots

________ are study sites that scientists monitor year after year.

Viscosity

________ describes how thick or thin a liquid is.

quadrat

a square that marks off a specific area is called a