AP Environmental Science
first massed produced plug in car
BYDF3DM
average american requires about 9.7 global hectors worth of resources per year. the average person in china uses 2.1 global hectors per year. Providing 1.3 mil chinese with american lifestyle would require and additional
10 billion global hectors per year
exemplified by starlings displacing bluebirds from nesting sites
Competition
activity that borrows from the future and cannot continue indefinitely
Non-sustainable
Plant roots absorb ammonium ions and nitrate ions for use in making molecules such as DNA, amino acids, and proteins
assimilation
exemplified by moss growing on a tree trunk in a forest
commensalism
one species benefits while the other neither suffers nor benefits
commensalism
exemplifed by a Titmouse and a Chickadee living in the same territory, using some of the same resources
competition
a comparison between an exposed group and an unexposed group
controlled study
the rapid rate of this process in the tropical forests results in low-nutrient soils
decomposition
Nitrate ions and nitrite ions are converted into nitrous gas and nitrogen
denitrification
the process by which a soil nutrient is reduced and released to the atmosphere as a gas
denitrification
depends on the condition set up in the experiment
dependent variable
responding variable that results from chagnes in conditions set up in the experiment
dependent variable
millions of species inhabit Earth in a complex, interrelated community where towering trees and huge animals live together with, and depend on, tiny life forms, such as viruses, bacteria and gungi
diversity of life
neither subject nor researcher know who is in treatment group or control group
double-blind study
we can expect to understand the fundamental processes and laws of nature by careful observation
empiricism
circumstances or conditions that surround an organism or group of organisms
environment
complex of social or cultural conditions that affect an individual or community
environment
systematic study of our environment and our proper place in it
environmental science
a sense of right and wrong
ethics
shifting attention from questions of preserving a particular landscape or preventing pollution of a specific watershed to concern about the life support system of the whole plant
global environmentalism
the variable the scientist manipulates
independent variable
an intrinsic right to exist
inherent value
having value only because it is useful to someone who matters
instrumental value
corporations, such as disney, are treated as people and given legal rights
moral extensionism
extending value, legal rights, and rights to an ever wider circle of living things
moral extensionism
worthy of equal rights legal protections
moral value
exemplified by bees consuming nectar and carrying pollen from one flower to another
mutualism
ammonia is converted to nitrite then to nitrate
nitrification
which organisms convert ammonia into nitrites
nitrifying bacteria
which organisms convert nitrogen and hydrogen into ammonia
nitrogen-fixing bacteria
exemplified by ticks on a deer
parasitism
Ockham's razor
parsimony
when two plausible answers are reasonable, the simpler answer is usually the best answer
parsimony
the process in which glucose is synthesized by plants
photosynthesis
anything that can be used to simulate a "real" treatment
placebo
if same results cannot be reproduced, then the conclusions are probably incorrect
repeatablility
idea of economic improvement is possible without devastating the enviro
sustainable development
individuals acting independently according to eachs self interest behave contrary to the best interests of the group by depleting a common resource
tragedy of the commons
knowledge changes as new evidence appears
uncertainity
the forces and processes at work today are the same as those that shaped the world in the past and they will continue to do so in the future
uniformitarianism
