APES CH1-7, APES Chapter 9, APES Ch 10, APES Chapter 8, APES Ch 11, APES Ch 16 and 17, APES Ch 14 and 15, APES Chapter 13 and 6

Convert 0.000 000 0203 to scientific notation (I just put space to see the groups of 3 zero easier)

2.03*10 to the -8 power

Convert 0.000 000 0214 to scientific notation (I just put space to see the groups of 3 zero easier)

2.14*10 to the -8 power

Convert 25,300,000,000,000 to scientific notation

2.53*10 to the 13 power

The Killing, Capturing, and Selling of Wild Species Threatens Biodiversity

247 talks about the endangered animals that are poached/illegally hunted or illegally killed or illegally captured and how much they are worth.

What is 35% of 80

28

Convert 3,749,000,000 to scientific notation

3.749*10 to the 9 power

Convert 4.13 to the 3 power to standard form

4,130

Convert 0.000004021 to scientific notation

4.021* 10 to the -6 power. Decimal point moved 6 digits to the left, so 6 Negative because you borrowed zeros so you now have a negative amount technically.

Read Case study: The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident in Japan CASE STUDY Germany Is a Renewable Energy Superpower

442-443 456

What is 120% of 400?

480 (120%=1.2 decimal form, 1.2*400=480)

Convert 0.000 05269 to scientific notation (I just put space to see the groups of 3 zero easier)

5.269*10 to the -5 power

Ion

An atom or group of atoms with one or more net positive (+) or negative (-) electrical charges from losing or gaining negatively charged electrons. Chemists use a superscript after the symbol of an ion to indicate the number of positive or negative electrical charges. Ex: Hydrogen ion (H+) is positive, and chloride ion (Cl-) is negative. Ions are important for measuring a substance's acidity.

Every organisms is composed of one or more cells

Based on their cell structure organisms can be classified by eukaryotic or prokaryotic.

warm front

boundary between an advancing warm air mass and the cooler one it is replacing. Because warm air is less dense (weights less per unit of volume) than cool air, and advancing warm air mass rises up over a mass of cool air. As the warm air rises, its moisture begins condensing into droplets, forming layers of clouds at different altitudes. Gradually, the clouds thicken, descend to a lower altitude, and often release their moisture as rainfall.

omnivores

eat both plants and animals

full-cost pricing (from economics)

including the harmful environmental and health costs of producing and using goods and services into the price. As a result, it would give consumers information about the harmful environmental impacts of products.

More developed countries

industrialized nations with high average incomes per person (U.S., Japan, Canada, most European countries, etc). Industrialize nations make up 17% of the world's population but uses about 70% of the earth's natural resources, the U.S. using the most (4.3% of pop and uses 30% of world's natural resources)

Common unit of measurement for length in the metric system

meter, abbreviation= m

Entropy

measure the amount of disorder in a process or system.

atomic number

how many protons are in the nucleus of an atom. Each element has a unique atomic number.

adaptation/ adaptive trait

improves the ability of an individual organism to survive and reproduce at a higher rate than other organisms in a population.

producers/autotrophs

organisms such as plants that make the nutrients they need from compounds and energy obtained from their environment

What are the two types of fertility rates?

replacement level fertility rate and total fertility rate (TFR)

biomes

terrestrial (land) ecosystems that are classified into large regions such as forests, deserts, and grasslands based off of climate and prominent species (usually vegetation).

ecological restoration

the process of repairing damage caused by humans to ecosystems. Ex.: replanting forests, reintroducing keystone native species, removing harmful invasive species, freeing river flows by removing dams, and restoring grasslands, coral reefs, wetlands, and stream banks.

habitat

the place or type of ecosystem in which a species lives and obtains what it needs to survive.

Trophic level

the position that an organism occupies in a food chain, what it eats and what eats it. Ex: Producer, Herbivores, Carnivores, tertiary consumers (carnivores that eat other carnivores), and apex predator (species with no predators).

biological evolution/ evolution

the process by which the earth's life forms change genetically over time. These changes occur in the genes of populations of organisms from generation to generation. According to this theory, species evolve from earlier ancestral species through natural selection.

7.3 What Limits the Growth of Populations? Concept

No population can grow indefinitely because of limitations on resources and because of competition among species for those resources.

Convert 5.2216 to the -9 power to standard form

0.000 000 0052216

Convert 8.2 to the -5 power to standard form

0.000 082

Convert 9.205*10 to the -3 power to standard form

0.009205

What is 45% of 2,500

1,125 (0.45*2,500=1,125)

HOW CAN WE USE FRESHWATER MORE SUSTAINABLY? cocept

1. 13.5 We can use freshwater more sustainably by cutting water waste, raising water prices, slowing population growth, and protecting aquifers, forests, and other ecosystems that store freshwater.

HOW CAN WE REDUCE THE THREAT OF FLOODING? Concept

1. 13.6 We can lessen the threat of flooding by protecting more wetlands and natural vegetation in watersheds, and by not building in areas subject to frequent flooding.

WHAT TYPES OF ENERGY RESOURCES DO WE USE? CONCEPT (Chapter 14)

1. 14.1A About 90% of the commercial energy used in the world comes from nonrenewable energy resources (mostly oil, natural gas, and coal) and 10% comes from renewable energy resources. 2. 14.1B Energy resources vary greatly in their net energy, which is the amount of energy available from a resource minus the amount of energy needed to make it available.

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF USING OIL? CONCEPT (Chapter 14)

1. 14.2A Conventional crude oil is abundant and has a medium net energy, but when burned causes air and water pollution and releases climate-changing C02 to the atmosphere. 2. 14.2B Unconventional heavy oil from oil shale rock and oil sands exists in potentially large supplies but has a low net energy and a higher environmental impact than conventional oil has.

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF USING NATURAL GAS? CONCEPT (Chapter 14)

1. 14.3 Conventional natural gas is more plentiful than oil, has a medium net energy and a fairly low production cost, and is a clean-burning fuel, but producing it has created environmental problems.

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF USING COAL? CONCEPT (Chapter 14)

1. 14.4A Conventional coal is plentiful and has a high net energy and a low cost, but using it has a high environmental impact. 2. 14.4B We can produce gaseous and liquid fuels from coal, but they have a lower net energy and higher environmental impacts than those of conventional coal.

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF USING NUCLEAR POWER? CONCEPT (Chapter 14)

1. 14.5 Nuclear power has a low environmental impact and a very low accident risk, but its use has been limited by a low net energy, high costs, its role in the spread of nuclear weapons technology, fear of accidents, and long lived radioactive wastes.

WHY DO WE NEED A NEW ENERGY TRANSITION? CONCEPT (Chapter 15)

1. 15.1 The world is in the early stages of a transition from relying on fossil fuels to greater reliance on energy efficiency and renewable energy.

WHY IS IMPROVING ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND REDUCING ENERGY WASTE AN IMPORTANT ENERGY RESOURCE? CONCEPT (Chapter 15)

1. 15.2A Improvements in energy efficiency and reducing energy waste could save at least a third of the energy used in the world and up to 43% of the energy used in the United States. 2. 15.2B We have a variety of technologies for sharply increasing the energy efficiency of industrial operations motor vehicles, appliances, and buildings.

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF USING SOLAR ENERGY? CONCEPT

1. 15.3 Passive and active solar heating systems can heat water and buildings effectively, and the cost of using sunlight to produce electricity is falling rapidly.

WHAT MAJOR HEALTH HAZARDS DO WE FACE? CONCEPT

1. 16.1 We face health hazards from biological, chemical. physical, and cultural factors, and from the lifestyle choices we make.

HOW DO BIOLOGICAL HAZARDS THREATEN HUMAN HEALTH? CONCEPT

1. 16.2 The most serious biological hazards humans face are infectious diseases such as flu, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), tuberculosis, diarrheal diseases, and malaria.

HOW DO CHEMICAL HAZARDS THREATEN HUMAN HEALTH? CONCEPT

1. 16.3 Certain chemicals in the environment can cause cancers and birth defects and disrupt the human immune, nervous, and endocrine systems.

HOW CAN WE EVALUATE RISKS FROM CHEMICAL HAZARDS? CONCEPT

1. 16.4A Scientists use live laboratory animals, to estimate the toxicity of chemicals, but this approach has serious limitations. 2. 16.4B Many health scientists call for much greater emphasis on pollution prevention to reduce our exposure to potentially harmful chemicals.

HOW Do WE PERCEIVE AND AVOID RISKS? CONCEPT

1. 16.5 We can reduce the major risks we face by becoming informed, thinking critically about risks, and making careful choices.

WHAT IS THE GENERAL NATURE OF AQUATIC SYSTEMS? Concept

1. 6.1A Saltwater and freshwater aquatic life zones cover almost three-fourths of the earth's surface, with oceans dominating the planet. 2. 6.1B The key factors determining biodiversity in aquatic systems are temperature, dissolved oxygen content, availability of food, and access to light and nutrients necessary for photosynthesis.

WHY ARE MARINE AQUATIC SYSTEMS IMPORTANT? Concept

1. 6.2 Saltwater ecosystems provide major ecosystem and economic services and are irreplaceable reservoirs of biodiversity.

HOW HAVE HUMAN ACTIVITIES AFFECTED MARINE ECOSYSTEMS? Concept

1. 6.3 Human activities threaten aquatic biodiversity and disrupt ecosystem and economic services provided by marine ecosystems.

WHY ARE FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS IMPORTANT? Concept

1. 6.4 Freshwater ecosystems provide major ecosystem and economic services and are irreplaceable reservoirs of biodiversity.

HOW HAVE HUMAN ACTIVITIES AFFECTED FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS? Concept

1. 6.5 Human activities threaten biodiversity and disrupt ecosystem and economic services provided by freshwater lakes, rivers, and wetlands.

What are the two limitations on adaption through natural selection?

1. A change in environmental conditions leads to adaptation only for genetic traits already present in a population's gene pool, or if they arise from mutations that occur randomly. This means that humans won't be able to adapt and do things such as become resistant to UV radiation. 2. Even if a beneficial heritable trait is present in a population, the population's ability to adapt may be limited by its reproductive capacity. The faster a population can reproduce the quicker it can adapt.

Concepts for energy in an ecosystem

1. As energy flows through ecosystem in food chains and food webs, there is a decrease in the high-quality chemical energy available to organisms at each successive feeding level.

Factors that affect biodiversity concepts

1. As environmental conditions change, the balance between the formation of new species and the extinction of existing species determines the earth's biodiversity 2. Human activities are decreasing biodiversity by causing the extinction of many species and by destroying or degrading habitats needed for the development of new species through natural selection.

Three steps of critical thinking:

1. Be skeptical about everything you read or hear. 2. Evaluate evidence and hypotheses using inputs and opinions from a variety of reliable sources. 3. Identify and evaluate your personal assumptions, biases, and beliefs ad distinguish between facts and opinions before coming to a conclusion.

Concept for matter in an ecosystem

1. Matter in the form of nutrients, cycles within and among ecosystems and the biosphere, and human activities are altering these chemical cycles.

How do human interfere with the nitrogen cycle?

1. By burning fossil fuels which creates high temperatures and as a result converts some of the N2 and O2 in the air to nitric oxide (NO). In the atmosphere, NO can be converted to nitrogen dioxide gas (NO2) and nitric acid vapor (HNO3), which can return to the earth's surface as damaging acid deposition/acid rain which damages buildings, statues, and forests. 2. Removing large amounts of N2 from the atmosphere to combine with H2 and make ammonia and ammonium ions which are used in fertilizers. 3. We add nitrous oxide (N2O) to the atmosphere through the action of anaerobic bacteria on nitrogen-containing fertilizer or soil with organic animal manure. Nitrous oxide can warm the atmosphere, and take part in reactions that deplete the stratospheric ozone which keeps most of the sun's harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from reaching the earth's surface 4. Adding excess nitrates (NO3-) to aquatic ecosystem due to agricultural runoff of fertilizers, animal manure, and discharges from municipal sewage treatment systems. Excess nitrates causes excessive growth of algae which disrupts aquatic systems. Human nitrogen inputs into the environment have risen sharply and are projected to continue rising

CAN WATER TRANSFERS EXPAND WATER SUPPLIES? Concept

1. CONCEPT 13.4 Transferring water from one place to another has greatly increased water supplies in some areas but has also disrupted ecosystems.

Key Ideas of Chapter 7

1. Certain interactions among species affect their use of resources and their population sizes. 2. The species composition and population sizes of a community or ecosystem can change in response to changing environmental conditions through a process called ecological succession. 3. No population can escape natural limiting factors and grow indefinitely.

Major factores that determine regional climates

1. Cyclical movement of air driven by solar energy, convection. 2.Uneven heating of the earth's surface by the sun Air is heated much more at the equator where the sun's rays strike directly, than at the poles where sunlight strikes at an angle and spreads out over a much greater area. Thus, solar heating varies with latitude. 3. Tilt of the Earth's axis which results in season changes The earth's axis (an imaginary line connecting the north and south poles) is tilted with respect to the sun's rays. As a result, regions north and south of the equator are tipped upward or away from the sun at different times as the earth makes its annual revolution around the sun. This means most areas of the world experience widely varying amounts of solar energy and as a result, different season throughout the year. 4. Rotation of the earth on its axis: Coriolis effect 5. Ocean currents: help to redistribute heat from the sun, thereby influencing climate and vegetation, especially near costal areas. This solar heat, along with differences in water density (mass per unit volume), creates warm and cold ocean currents. They are driven by prevailing winds and the earth's rotation (the Coriolis effect), and continental coastlines change their directions. As a result, between the continents the currents flow in roughly circular patterns called gyres, which move clockwise in the norther hemisphere and counterclockwise in the southern hemisphere.

Earth's life support system questions

1. Define the natural greenhouse effect. Explain how it affects the current life found on the earth. 2. Explain how gravity plays a significant role in sustaining life on earth.

How humans are harming the ecosystem

1. Deforestation: this decreases the amount of animals that can live in an area. Also, the trees that were cut down can no longer play a role in regulating the water/rain in the area. This could cause things such as erosion because there are no trees to take in the water so the water moves around and causes the soil to start moving= landslide. Deforestation is also one of the main causes desertification 2. Desertification- the spread of dry unproductive landscape; where once fertile land turns into a desert. Caused by deforestation, overgrazing, and over-irrigation(too much water). Over-irrigation causes deforestation because it uses ground water, causing a buildup of the natural salt in the soil making it so salty nothing can survive. 3. Global warming- Main causes deforestation (less plants and trees to such up carbon dioxide), and greenhouse gasses from burning fossil fuels= double ouch. Global warming causes sea ice levels to decrease in the Arctic ocean= less places to live for animals such as polar bears, seals, and sea birds. Also, hotter conditions are causing more fires (like those in california) 4. Introducing nonnative species. This affects biodiversity (member an intact biodiversity is needed so that the ecosystem can keep doing the 3 beneficial things). Invasive species are harmful because most of the time they destroy native species that do not have a defense against them. Or they can reproduce at very high levels (could also be don't have predators in the ecosystem, allowing their numbers to increase substantially) thus lowering the amount of food, which impacts native species. 5. Overharvesting organisms (overfishing, etc). This hurts biodiversity because the population of a specie(s) is being decreased substantially as a result of overharvesting. If the ecosystem can't take this loss, it might not provide the benefits to its full capacity or it could even stop doing so.

Concept about how climate affects nature and the location of biomes

1. Desert, grassland, and forest biomes can be tropical, temperate, or cold depending on their climate and location.

Two ways of turning a percent into a decimal

1. Divide by 100 2. Move the decimal two places to the left Ex: .50%= 0.5

Key Ideas Chapter 11

1. Dynamic forces that move matter within the earth and on its surface recycle the earth's rocks, form deposits of mineral resources, and cause volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis. 2. The available supply of a mineral resource depends on how much of it is in the earth's crust, how fast we use it, the mining technology used to obtain it, its market prices, and the harmful environmental effects of removing and using it. 3. We can use mineral resources more sustainably by trying to find substitutes for scarce resources, reducing resource waste, and reusing and recycling nonrenewable minerals.

What Are The Earth's Major Geological Hazards? Concept

1. Dynamic processes move matter within the earth and on its surface and can cause volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, erosion, and landslides.

What are the Earth's major Geological Processes and What are Mineral Resources? Concept

1. Dynamic processes within the earth and on its surface produce mineral resources we depend on, 2. Mineral resources are nonrenewable because it takes millions of years for the earth's rock cycle to produce or renew them.

Species in ecosystems concepts

1. Each species plays a specific ecological role called its niche 2. Any given species may play one more more of four important roles: native, nonnative, indicator, or keystone in a particular ecosystem.

2 main concepts of matter

1. Matter consists of elements and compounds, which in turn are made up of atoms, ions or molecules. 2. Whenever matter undergoes a physical or chemical change, no atoms are created or destroyed (law of conservation of matter).

Three factors that sustain the earth's life.

1. Energy from the sun provides energy for plants and animals. Solar energy principal of sustainability When solar energy interacts with carbon dioxide (CO2), water vapor, and other gases in the troposphere it warms the troposphere, the process is called the greenhouse effect. Without the greenhouse effect the earth would be too cold to support most of the life on earth. 2. Cycling of nutrients in the biosphere. chemical cycling principal of sustainability 3. gravity, allows earth to hold on to its atmosphere and enable the movement and cycling of chemicals through air, water, soil, and organisms.

What are the three factors that affect how and at what rate ecological succession occurs?

1. Facilitation- one set of species makes an area suitable for species with different niche requirements, and often less suitable for itself (cause competition for space and whatnot). Ex: lichens and mosses build up soil allowing herbs and grasses to move in reducing space for mosses and lichens. 2. Inhibition- where some species hinder the establishment and growth of other species. Ex: Needles dropping off some pine trees makes the soil beneath the tree to acidic for most other plants to grow there. 3. Tolerance- where plants in the late stages of succession succeed because they are not in direct competition with other plants for key resources. Ex: Shade tolerant plants can live in shady forests because they do not need as much sunlight as the trees above them do.

5 is important

1. For six decades, India has tried to control its population growth with only modest success. The world's first national family planning program began in India in 1952, when its population was nearly 400 million. In 2017, after 63 years of population control efforts, India had a TFR of 2.3 and a population of 1.35 billion people, which is the world's second largest population. Much of the increase was due to India's declining death rates. 2. In 1952, India added 5 million people to its population. In 2017 it added 19 million people (more than any other country. The UN projects that by 2029, India will be the world's most populous country, and that by 2050 it will have a population of 1.7 billion. 3. India has the world's fourth largest economy and a rapidly growing middle class of more than 100 million people (almost 1/3 of the U.S. population). However, the country faces serious poverty, malnutrition, and environmental problems that could worsen as its population continues to grow rapidly. About one fourth (1/4) of all people in India's cities live in slums, and prosperity and progress have not touched hundreds of millions of Indians who live in rural villages. According to the World Bank, about 30% of India's population lives in extreme poverty (less than $1.90 a day). In India, 300 million people (basically the U.S. population) does not have electricity. 4. For decades, the Indian government has provided family planning services throughout the country and has strongly promoted a smaller average family size. Even so, Indian women have an average of 2.3 children. 5. Three factors help to account for larger families in India. First, most poor couple believe they need several children to work and care for them in their old age. Second, the strong cultural preference in India for male children means that some couples keep having children until they produce one or more boys. And third, although 90% of Indian couples have access to at least one modern birth control method, only about 48% actually use one. India also faces critical resource and environmental problems. With 18% of the world's people, India has just 2.3% of the world's land resources and 2% of its forests. About half the country's cropland has been degraded by soil erosion and overgrazing. In addition, more than two thirds of its water is seriously polluted, sanitation services often are inadequate, and many of its major cities suffer from serious air pollution. India's rapid economic growth is expected to accelerate over the next few decades. This will help many people in India escape poverty, but it will also increase pressure on India's and the earth's natural capital as rates of per capita resource use rise. On the other hand, economic growth may help India to slows it population growth by accelerating its demographic transition

How Should We Manage and Sustain Forests and Public Lands? Concept

1. Forest ecosystems provide ecosystem services far greater in economic value than the value of wood and other raw materials they provide. 2. We can sustain forests by emphasizing the economic value of their ecosystem services, halting government subsidies that hasten their destruction, protecting old growth forests, harvesting trees no faster than they are replenished, and planting trees to reestablish forests.

Questions about biodiversity

1. Functional diversity, ecosystem diversity, species diversity, and genetic diversity are all essential for sustaining life on earth. Explain the role of each of these types of diversity. 2. Discuss why biodiversity is critical to the survival of humans.

IS GROUNDWATER A SUSTAINABLE RESOURCE? Concept

1. Groundwater used to supply cities and grow food is being pumped from many aquifers faster than it is renewed by precipitation.

Questions about species in ecosystesm

1. Identify several reasons why the American alligator is considered a keystone species in its ecological niche. 2. Native, nonnative, invasive, and indicator species are also roles that a species can fill. Identify all roles that apply to the American alligator.

Nutrient cycle questions

1. Identify several ways that human activities are altering the hydrologic cycle. 2. Identify several harmful human activities that are altering the carbon cycle. 3. Discuss the role that bacteria play in the nitrogen cycle 4. Identify several harmful human activities that are altering the phosphorus cycle.

The four step strategy for carrying out most forms of ecological restoration and rehabilitation

1. Identify the causes of the degradation, such as pollution, farming, overgrazing, mining, or invasive species. 2. Stop the degradation by eliminating or sharply reducing these factors. 3. Reintroduce keystone species to help restore natural ecological processes, such as reintroducing the gray wolf to Yellowstone National Park 4. Protect the area from further degradation to allow natural recovery.

Question about factors that influence climate

1. Identify the four factors that determine regional climates around the world. 2. Explain how a rain shadow desert forms.

Concept about factors that influence climate

1. Key factors that influence an area's climate are incoming solar energy, the earth's roation, global patterns of air and water movement, gases in the atmosphere and the earth's surface features.

Concept about factors that influence weather

1. Key factors that influence weather are moving masses of warm and cold air, changes in atmospheric pressure, and occasional shifts in major winds.

HOW CAN WE INCREASE FRESHWATER SUPPLIES? Concept

1. Large dam-and-reservoir systems and water transfer projects have greatly expanded water supplies in some areas, but have also disrupted ecosystems and displaced people. 2. We can convert salty ocean water to freshwater, but the energy and other costs are high, and the resulting salty brine must be disposed of without harming aquatic or terrestrial ecosystems.

Concepts of principles of sustainability

1. Life on the earth has been sustained for billions of years by solar energy, biodiversity, and chemical cycling. 2. Our lives and economies depend on energy from the sun and on natural resources and ecosystem services (natural capital) provided by the earth. 3. We could live more sustainably by following the six principles of sustainability

How Can Cities Become More Sustainable and Livable? Concepts

1. Most cities are unsustainable because of high levels of resource use, waste, pollution, and poverty. 2. An eco city allows people to choose walking, biking, or mass transit for most transportation needs; recycle or reuse most of their wastes; grow much of their food; and protect biodiversity by preserving surrounding land.

How Long Might Supplies of Nonrenewable Mineral Resources Last? Concepts

1. Nonrenewable mineral resources exist in finite amounts and can become economically depleted when it costs more than it is worth to find, extract, and process the remaining deposits 2. There are several ways to extend supplies of mineral resources, but each of them is limited by economic and environmental factors.

Chapter 13 Key Ideas

1. One of the major global environmental problems is the growing shortage of freshwater in many parts of the world. 2. We can expand water supplies in water-short areas in a number of ways, but the most important ways are to reduce overall water use and to use water much more efficiently. 3. We can use water more sustainably by reducing water use, using water more efficiently, cutting water losses, raising water prices, and protecting aquifers, forests, and other ecosystems that store and release water.

The shift to urban areas in the U.S. occurred in three phases.

1. People migrated from rural areas to large central cities. 2. Many people migrated from large central cities to nearby smaller cities and suburbs. 3. Many people migrated from the North and East to the South and West.

What Processes Lead to Soil Formation? Concepts

1. Physical, chemical, and biological processes all contribute to the formation of soil. 2. Soil is a renewable resource and a key favor in nutrient cycling.

What Factors Influence the Size of the Human Population? Concept

1. Population size increases through births and immigration, and decreases through deaths and emigration. 2. Many factors affect birth rates and death rates and the size of the human population, but the key factor is the average number of children born to the women in the population (total fertility rate).

What the ecosystems do for us

1. Recycling things necessary for life such as water and oxygen. They also form do things such as form new soil (important for growing crops) and producing atmospheric oxygen. 2. Provides provisioning services, which gives us the raw materials we need to live. Ex: Fish from ocean, water from freshwater sources like rivers, oxygen from plants who also take away harmful carbon dioxide from atmosphere. 3. Provides regulating services. They take care of things that could harm us if left uncheck. Ex: Decomposer gets rid of dead things and waste full of diseases and what not. Plants filter air and water and provide flood control, also absorbs carbon (very harmful). Ecosystems can only provide these things if their biodiversity is intact. Also, ecosystems with high biodiversity are less likely to be heavily affected if a species greatly declines in population or goes extinct. Since there are so many other species. Ex: If you destroy too many plants/trees you won't get as much of the benefits they provide. Apparently, if we have to do all the things ecosystems do for us it would costs us 46 trillion per year.

How humans affect the phosphate cycle

1. Removing large amounts of phosphate from the earth to make fertilizers 2. By clearing tropical forests we reduce phosphate levels in tropical soils. 3. Eroded topsoil and fertilizer washed from fertilized crop fields, lawns, and golf courses carry large quantities of phosphate ions into streams, lakes, and oceans. Where they stimulate the growth of producers which can upset chemical cycling and other processes in bodies of water. Our inputs of phosphorus into the environment (primarily in the form of fertilizer) exceeds the planet's environmental limit for phosphorus

The 4 ways to restore degraded ecosystems

1. Restoration: returning a degraded habitat or ecosystem to a condition as similar as possible to its original one 2. Rehabilitation: turning a degraded ecosystem into a functional or useful ecosystem without trying to restore it to its original condition. Ex: removing pollutants from abandoned industrial sites and replanting trees to reduce soil erosion in clear cut forests. 3. Replacement: replacing a degraded ecosystem with another type of ecosystem. Ex: A degraded forest could be replaced by a productive pasture or tree plantation. 4. Creating artificial ecosystems: for example, artificial wetlands have been created in some areas to help reduce flooding and to treat sewage.

Chapter 6 Key Ideas

1. Saltwater and freshwater aquatic life zones cover almost three-fourths of the earth's surface, and oceans dominate the planet. 2. The earth's aquatic systems provide important ecosystem and economic services. 3. Certain human activities threaten biodiversity and disrupt ecosystem and economic services provided by aquatic systems.

Limitations of science

1. Scientists cannot prove anything absolutely because there is always some degree of uncertainty in measurements, observations, models, and the resulting hypotheses and theories. Instead scientists try to establish that a particular scientific theory has a very high probability or certainty (typically 90-95%) for being useful for understanding some aspect of the natural world. 2. Scientist have biases about their own results and hypotheses, but evidence and peer review uncovers or greatly reduces personal bias and falsified results. 3. Many systems in the natural world involve a huge number of variables with complex interactions. Making it too difficult, costly, and time consuming to test one variable at a time in controlled experiments. As a result scientists develop [mathematical models] that can take into account the interactions of many variables and run the models on high-speed computers. 4. Science involves the use of statistical tools. Ex: there is no way to measure accurately the number of metric tons of soil eroded annually worldwide. Instead scientists use statistical sampling and mathematical methods to estimate such numbers.

How scientists stud ecosystems concept

1. Scientists use field research, laboratory research, and mathematical and other models to learn about ecosystems and how much stress they can take.

Other long-term factors that affect the earth's climate

1. Slight changes in the shape of the Earth's orbit around the sun from mostly round to more elliptical over a 100,000 year cycle 2. Slight changes in the tilt of the Earth's axis over a 41,000 year cycle. 3. slight changes in the Earth's wobbly orbit around the sun over a 20,000 year cycle. These three factors are known as the Milankovitch cycles.

Ecosystem concepts

1. Some organisms produce the nutrients they need, others get the nutrients they need by consuming other organisms, and some recycle nutrients back to producers by decomposing the wastes and remains of other organisms. 2. Soil is a renewable resource that provides nutrients that support terrestrial plants and helps purify water and control the earth's climate.

What Role do Humans Play in the Loss of Species and Ecosystem Services? Concept

1. Species are becoming extinct at least 1,000 times faster than the historical rate and by the end of this century, the extinction rate is projected to be 10,000 times higher.

Checkpoint for Understanding 7.1

1. Species have three options when competing directly with another species. A species that cannot compete may adapt, migrate, or go extinct. Explain how this is demonstrated in interspecific relationships. 2. A symbiotic relationship is defined as a close and long term relationships between two organisms. Identify the three types of symbiotic relationships. Explain why a predator prey relationship is not considered symbiotic.

What are the three adaptations that played a major role in our ability to dominate the planet

1. Strong opposable thumbs- allows humans to grip and use tools better than the other animals that have thumbs 2. The ability to walk upright- gave humans agility and freed up their hands for many uses. 3. A complex brain- allowed humans to develop many skills, such as the ability to talk, read, and write, which help to transmit complex ideas.

What are the 5 myths about evolution through natural selection

1. Survival of the fittest means survival of the strongest. To biologists, fitness is a measure of reproductive success, not strength. Thus, the fittest individuals are those that leave the most descendants, not those that are physically the strongest. 2. Evolution explains the origin of life. It does not. However, it does explain how species have evolved after life came into being around 3.8 billion years ago. 3. Humans evolved from apes or monkeys. Fossil and other evidence shows that humans, apes, and monkeys evolved along different paths from a common ancestor that lived 5 million to 8 million years ago. 4. Evolution by natural selection is part of a grand plain in nature in which species are to become more perfectly adapted. There is no evidence of such a plant. Instead, evidence indicated that the forces of natural selection and random mutations can push evolution along any number of paths. 5. Evolution by natural selection is not important because it is just a theory. This reveals a misunderstanding of what a scientific theory is. A scientific hypothesis becomes a scientific theory only after through testing and evaluation by the experts in a field. Numerous polls show that evolution by natural selection is widely accepted by over 95% of biologists because it is the best scientific explanation for the earth's biodiversity and how populations of different species have adapted to changes in the earth's environmental conditions over billions of years.

Two ways to find a percent of a number

1. The "normal way" Ex: 50% of 10 is 5 because 50%= 1/2 and half of 10=5. 2.Turn the percent of whatever you are trying to find into a decimal and multiply by the decimal. Ex: Find 50% of 10, 50%= 0.5 0.5*10= 5 Formula for this method (with ex from the ex above) the percent of the number (5)= percent in decimal form (0.5) * original number or number you are trying to find a percent of (10). Put together 0.5*10= 5 IMO this method is easier for harder problems.

Questions about Ecosystems

1. The earth's life support system is comprised of biotic and abiotic components. What are the abiotic components? What are the biotic components? 2. Plants are the link between the sun and primary consumers. Explain why plants are critical to sustaining all other organisms. 3. Identify several reasons why microbes are critical to continued life on earth.

Earth's life support system concepts

1. The four main components of the earth's life-support system are the atmosphere (air), the hydrosphere (water), the geosphere (rock, soil, and sediment), and the biosphere (living things). 2. Life is sustained by the flow of energy from the sun through the biosphere, the cycling of nutrients within the biosphere, and gravity.

Key Ideas

1. The human population is growing rapidly and may soon bump up against environmental limits. 2. The combination of population growth and the increasing rate of resource use per person is expanding the overall human ecological footprint and putting a strain on the earth's natural capital. 3. We can slow human population growth by reducing poverty, elevating the status of women, and encouraging family planning.

Chapter 14 Key Ideas

1. The nuclear power fuel cycle has a low environmental impact and a low accident risk, but high costs, a low net energy, long lived radioactive wastes, and its role in spreading nuclear weapons technology have limited its use. 2. Conventional oil, natural gas, and coal are plentiful and have a moderate to high net energy, but use of these fossil fuels, especially coal, has a high environmental impact. 3. "A key factor to consider in evaluating the long-term usefulness of any energy resource is its net energy."

How Does a Population's Age Structure Affect its Growth or Decline? Concept

1. The number of males and females in young, middle, and older age groups determine how fast a population grows or declines.

Three major trends related to urban populations

1. The percentage of the global population that lives in urban areas has grown sharply and this trend is projected to continue. Between 2016 and 2050, the world's urban population is projected to grow from 4.0 billion to 6.6 billion. Most of these 2.6 billion new urban dwellers will be from less developed countries. 2. The numbers and sizes of urban areas are increasing. In 2015, there were 30 megacities (cities with 10 million or more people), 22 of them in less developed countries. Thirteen of these urban areas are hypercities (cities with more than 20 million people). Some megacities and hypercities are merging into vast urban megaregions (places with more than 100 million people). 3. Poverty is becoming increasingly urbanized, mostly in less developed countries.

How Many People Can The Earth Support? Concept

1. The rapid growth of the human population and its impact on natural capital raises questions about how long the human population can keep growing.

Concepts about evolution

1. The scientific theory of evolution through natural selection explains how life on earth changes over time due to changes in the genes of populations. 2. Populations evolve when genes mutate and give some individuals genetic traits that enhance their abilities to survive, and to produce offspring with these traits (natural selection).

7.2: How do Communities and Ecosystems Respond to Changing Environmental Conditions? Concept

1. The species composition of a community or ecosystem can change in response to changing environmental conditions through a process called ecological succession.

Questions about evolution

1. The theory of evolution states that there must be variation within a population for evolution to take place. Identify the source of variation. Explain why organisms like bacteria and dandelions adapt more quickly than organisms like tigers and humans. 2. A farmer sprays his fields to control hornworms each season. The hornworms seem to have been eliminated. After a few seasons, the hornworms return and the farmer sprays again, but the pesticide is ineffective. Explain, in terms of evolution by natural selection, why the pesticide no longer works.

Key Ideas (chapter 9)

1. We are hastening the extinction of wild species and degrading the ecosystem services they provide by destroying and degrading natural habitats, introducing harmful invasive species, and increasing human population growth, pollution, climate change, and overexploitation. (HIPPCO). 2. We should avoid causing or hastening the extinction of wild species because of the ecosystem and economic services they provide and because their existence should not depend primarily on their usefulness to us. 3. We can work to prevent the extinction of species and to protect overall biodiversity and ecosystem services by establishing and enforcing environmental laws and treaties and by creating and protecting wildlife sanctuaries.

WILL WE HAVE ENOUGH USABLE WATER? (CH 13) Concepts

1. We are using available freshwater unsustainably by extracting it faster than nature can replace it, and by wasting, polluting, and underpricing this irreplaceable natural resource. 2. Freshwater supplies are not evenly distributed, and 1 of every 10 people on the planet does not have adequate access to clean water,

How Can we Sustain Terrestrial Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services? Concepts

1. We can establish and protect wilderness areas, parks, and nature preserves. 2. We can identify and protect biological hotspots that are highly threatened centers of terrestrial biodiversity. 3. We can protect important ecosystem services, restore damaged ecosystems, and share areas that we dominate with other species.

Key Ideas (Chapter 10)

1. We can sustain forests by emphasizing the economic value of their ecosystem services, halting government subsidies that hasten their destruction, protecting old growth forests, harvesting trees no faster than they are replenished, and planting trees to reestablish forests. 2. We can sustain terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem services by protecting severely threatened areas and ecosystem services and restoring damaged ecosystems. 3. Most urban areas are unsustainable with their large and growing ecological footprints and high levels of poverty but they can be made more sustainable and livable.

How Can We Manage and Sustain Grasslands? Concept

1. We can sustain the productivity of grasslands by controlling the numbers and distribution of grazing livestock and by restoring degraded grasslands.

How Can We Use Mineral Resources More Sustainably? Concept

1. We can try to find substitutes for scarce resources, reduce resource waste, and recycle and reuse minerals.

Chapter 16 Key Ideas

1. We face significant hazards from infectious diseases such as flu, AIDS, tuberculosis, diarrheal diseases, and malaria, and from exposure to chemicals that can cause cancers and birth defects, as well as chemicals that can disrupt human immune, nervous, and endocrine systems. 2. Because of the difficulty of evaluating the harm caused by exposure to chemicals many health scientists call for much greater emphasis on pollution prevention. 3. By becoming informed, thinking critically about risks, and making careful choices, we can reduce the major risks we face.

Why Should we Try to Sustain Wild Species and the Ecosystem Services They Provide? Concept

1. We should avoid hastening the extinction of wild species because of the ecosystem and economic services they provide, because it can take millions of years for nature to recover from large scale extinctions, and because many people believe that species have a right to exist regardless of their usefulness to us.

Key questions

1. What are some key principles of sustainability? 2. How are our ecological footprints affecting the earth? 3. Why do we have environmental problems? 4. What is the role of economics? 5. What is the role of government? 6. What is an environmentally sustainable society?

Key questions

1. What factors influence weather? 2. What factors influence climate? 3. How does climate affect the nature and location of biomes?

two concepts of energy when it undergoes change

1. Whenever energy is converted from one form to another in a physical or chemical change, no energy is created or destroyed (first law of thermodynamics) 2. 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 (second law of thermodynamics)

What are the three major ways humans impact the water cycle?

1. Withdrawing freshwater from rivers, lakes, and aquifers at rates faster than normal processes can replace the water. Because of this some aquifers are being depleted and some rivers no longer flow to the ocean. 2. Clearing vegetation from land for agriculture, mining, road building, etc. Covering much of the land with buildings, concrete, asphalt. As a result, water runoff is increased, so the water that would have normally gone underground and replenish the underground water no longer does so. 3.Draining and filling wetlands for farming and urban development. Wetlands provide the ecosystem service of flood control, acting like sponges to absorb and hold overflows of water from heavy rainfall and rapidly melting snow.

How to solve problems such as 54 is what percent of 75? This type of problem is called determining what percent of a whole number is a number.

54=x∗75 54/75=0.72 which equals 72% (0.72*100)

Case Study: A Disturbing Message from the Birds Biodiversity scientists view this decline of bird species with alarm. One reason is that birds are excellent indicator species because they live in every climate and biome, respond quickly to environmental changes in their habitats, and are relatively easy to track and count. To these scientists, the decline of many bird species indicates widespread environmental degradation. A second reason for alarm is that birds perform critically important economic and ecosystem services throughout the world. Ex: Many birds play specialized roles in pollination and seed dispersal. Extinction of these bird species could lead to extinctions of plants that depend on the birds for pollination. Then, the animals that feed on these plants might become extinct. This cascade of extinction could affect our food supplies and well being.

70% of the world's 10,000 known bird species are declining in numbers. This is mostly due to human activities summarized by HIPPCO. 13% of all bird species is threatened with extinction, mostly by habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation. According to the 2014 State of the Birds study, almost one third (1/3) of the 800 or more bird species in the U.S. are endangered, threatened, or in decline, mostly because of habitat loss and degradation, invasive species, and climate change. About one third (1/3) of all endangered and threatened bird species in the U.S. live in Hawaii. 40% of the world's water birds are in decline mostly because of the global loss of wetlands. After habitat loss, the intentional or accidental introduction of nonnative species becomes the second greatest danger and affects about 28% of the world's threatened birds. Population growth also threatens some bird species. As more people spread out over the landscape each year and increase their use of timber, food, and other resources, bird habitats get destroyed or disturbed. Pollution exposes birds to oil spills, insecticides, herbicides, and other toxins. Climate change causes heat waves and flooding, which are causing declines of some bird populations in every part of the globe. Will get worse as climate change gets worse. Overexploitation: Many parrot species are captured for sale as pets.

Convert 7.21*10 to the 5 power to standard form

721,000

Convert 7.921*10 to the 8 power to standard form

792,100,000

Convert 813,000,000,000,000 to scientific notation

8.13*10 to the 14 power

Covert 85,000 to scientific notation

8.5* 10 to the 4 power. Positive because you put loaned you zeros so you still have them technically.

Volcanic Eruption

A VOLCANIC ERUPTION releases chunks of lava rock, liquid lava, glowing hot ash, and gases (including water vapor, carbon dioxide, and sulfur dioxide) (Concept 11.6). Eruptions can be explosive and extremely destructive, causing loss of life and obliterating ecosystems and human communities. They can also be slow and much less destructive with lava gurgling up and spreading slowly across the land or sea floor. It is this slower form of eruption that builds the cone-shaped mountains so commonly associated with volcanoes, as well as layers of rock made of cooled lava on the earth's surface. While volcanic eruptions can be destructive, they can also form majestic mountain ranges and lakes, and the weathering of lava contributes to fertile soils. Hundreds of volcanoes have erupted on the ocean floor, building cones that have reached the ocean's surface, eventually to form islands that have become suitable for human settlement, such as the Hawaiian Islands. We can reduce the loss of human life and some of the property damage caused by volcanic eruptions by using historical records and geological measurements to identify high risk areas, so that people can avoid living in those areas. We also use monitoring devices that warn us when volcanoes are likely to erupt, and in some areas that are prone to volcanic activity, evacuation plans have been developed.

covalent bond

A bond that forms when the atoms in a molecule share one or more pairs of their electrons.

Physical change

A change in matter where there is no change in its chemical composition. Ex: a piece of aluminum foil can be cut into multiple small pieces and it is still aluminum foil.

chemical change/chemical reaction

A change that changes the chemical composition of the substance.

Trait

A characteristic that an organism can pass on to its offspring through its genes.

In a desert, annual precipitation is low and often scattered unevenly throughout the year. During the day, the baking sun warms the ground and evaporates water from plant leaves and from the soil. At night, most of the heat stored in the ground radiates quickly into the atmosphere. This explains why in a desert, you might roast during the day but shiver at night.

A combination of low rainfall and varying average temperatures over many decades creates a variety of desert types (tropical, temperate, and cold) In all types of deserts, plants and animals have evolved adaptation that help them to stay cool and get enough water to survive.

Food webs

A complex network of interconnected food chains. Formed because most consumers feed on more than one type of organisms, most organisms are eaten or decomposed by more than one type of consumer. A complex diagram representing the many energy pathways in an ecosystem

Creating solutions

A component of sustainability. Ex: a solution to the loss of forests is to stop burning or cutting down mature forests. Solutions usually can only be created by government or by citizens pressuring government.

Nitrogen (N2)

A critical nutrient for all forms of life. Makes up 78% of the volume of the atmosphere. However, it is only a plant nutrient when it becomes ammonia (NH3), ammonium ions (NH₄⁺), and nitrate ions (NO3-)

population density

A factor that can limit the sizes of some populations. The number of individuals in a population found within a defined area or volume. It is a measure of how crowded the members of a population are.

Population

A group of individuals that belong to the same species and live in the same area

population

A group of interbreeding individuals of the same species.

Speices

A group of organisms having a unique set of characteristics that set it apart from other groups. Each of earth's organisms belongs to a species

Community

A group of organisms inhabiting the same region and interacting with each other

Thermocline

A horizontal zone of gradual temperature change which separates warm and cold water

Acidity

A measurement that compares the amounts of hydrogen ions (H+) and hydroxide ions (OH−).

predator

A member of one species that feeds directly on all or part of a member of another species.

Rotation grazing

A method that prevents the carrying capacity for grazing animals to be surpassed. Where small groups of cattle are confined by portable fencing to one area for a few days and then moved to a new location.

Phosphorus

A nutrient that supports life

eco city

A people oriented not car oriented city. Its residents are able to walk, bike, or use low polluting mass transit for most of their travel. Its buildings, vehicles, and appliances meet high energy efficiency standards. Trees and plants adapted to the local climate and soils are planted throughout the city to provide shade, beauty, and wildlife habitats, and to reduce air pollution, noise, and soil erosion. In an eco city, abandoned lots and industrial sites are cleaned up and used. Nearby forests, grasslands, wetlands, and farms are preserved. Much of the food that people eat comes from nearby organic farms, solar greenhouses, community gardens, and small gardens on rooftops, in yards, and in window boxes. Parks are easily available to everyone.

Age structure

A population's distribution of individuals among various age groups (can have a strong effect on how rapidly a population grows or declines). Age groups are usually described in terms of organisms not mature enough to reproduce (the pre reproductive stage), those capable of reproduction (the reproductive stage), and those too old to reproduce (the post reproductive stage). The size of a population will likely increase if it is made up mostly of individuals in their reproductive stage, or soon to enter this stage. In contrast, the size of a population dominated by individuals in their post reproductive stage will tend to decrease over time.

Natural selection

A process in which organisms with favorable traits tend to survive and reproduce at higher rates than other individuals because of those traits.

Range of tolerance

A range of variations in a population's physical and chemical environment under which it can survive. Ex: A trout population may do best within a narrow band of temperatures, but a few individuals can survive above and below the trouts band of temps. Individuals within a population may also have slightly difference tolerance ranges for temperature, other physical factors, or chemical factors. These occur because of small differences in their genetic makeup, health, and age. Such differences allow for evolution through natural selection. The individuals that have a wider tolerance for change in some factor such as temperature are more likely to survive such a change and produce offspring that can tolerate it.

inexhaustible/perpetual resource

A resource that is expected to last for a long time. Ex: solar energy is expected to last for 5 billion years which is when the sun will die.

igneous rock

A rock that form below or on the earth's surface under intense heat and pressure when magma wells up from the earth's mantle and then cools and hardens. Ex: granite (formed underground) and lava rock (formed aboveground). Igneous rock forms the bulk of the earth's crust but is usually covered with layers of sedimentary rock.

metamorphic rock

A rock that forms from an existing rock when that existing rock is subjected to high temperatures (which may cause it to melt partially), high pressures, chemically active fluids, or a combination of these agents. Ex: slate (formed when shale and mudstone are heated) and marble (produced when limestone is exposed to heat and pressure).

Building and running a nuclear power plant is only one part of the NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE (Figure 14.22), which also includes the mining of uranium, processing and enriching the uranium to make fuel, using it in a reactor, safely storing the resulting highly radioactive wastes for thousands of years until their radioactivity falls to safe levels, and retiring the worn out plant by taking it apart and storing its high and moderate level radioactive parts safely for thousands of years. As long as a reactor is operating safely, the power plant itself has a low environmental impact and a low risk of an accident. However, considering the entire nuclear fuel cycle, the potential environmental impact increases. In evaluating the safety, economic feasibility, net energy, and overall environmental impact of nuclear power, energy experts and economists caution us to look at the entire nuclear fuel cycle, not just the power plant itself. A major problem with nuclear power is the high cost of building the plant and operating the nuclear fuel cycle, which leads to a low net energy. As a result, nuclear power Cannot compete in the marketplace with other energy resources such as natural gas, wind, and soon (yes it rlly says soon) from solar cells unless it is heavily subsidized by governments.

A serious safety and national and global security concern related to commercial nuclear power is the spread of nuclear weapons technology around the world. The United States and 14 other countries have been selling commercial and experimental nuclear reactors and uranium fuel enrichment and waste reprocessing technology to other countries for decades. Much of this information and equipment can be used to produce bomb grade uranium and plutonium for use in nuclear weapons.

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. major focus of ecology is studying ecosystems.

life expectancy

A useful indicator of the overall health of people in a country of region. The average number of years a person born in a particular year can be expected to live. Between 1955 and 2017, average global life expectancy increased from 48 years to 72 years. In 2017 Japan had the world's longest life expectancy of 84 years. Between 1900 and 2017, the average US life expectancy rose from 47 years to 79 years. Research indicates that poverty, which reduces the average life span by 7 to 10 years is the single most important factor affecting life expectancy.

Scientific theory

A well-tested and widely accepted scientific hypothesis or a group of related hypotheses. One of the most important and certain results of science

Keystone species

A specie(s) that has a large effect on the types and abundance of other species in an ecosystem. Without the keystone species, the ecosystem would be dramatically different or might cease to exist. Keystone species play several critical roles in helping to sustain ecosystems. One of them is pollination of plants. Also, top predator keystone species feed on and help to regulate the populations of other species. The loss of a keystone species in an ecosystem can lead to population crashes and extinctions of other species that depend on them for certain ecosystem services.

endagered species

A species that has so few individual survivors that the species could soon become extinct.

second growth forest

A stand of trees resulting from secondary ecological succession. They develop after the trees in an area have been removed by human activities (ex: clear cutting for timber or conversion to cropland) or by natural forces such as fire or hurricanes.

trophic level

A step in a food chain or food web in which organisms are assigned to based on their source of nutrients.

Chromosome

A strand of DNA that is encoded with genes, and carries all of the information used to help a cell grow, thrive, and reproduce

Ecosystem

A system formed by the interaction of living organisms with their physical environment/nonliving parts of their environment. Ex: An ant hides under a rock to avoid the head.

Closed system

A system that is isolated from its surroundings, and as a result matter is not allowed to enter or leave

Plate tectonics

A theory stating that the earth's crust is broken into fragments called tectonic plates which move.

Migration

A third factor in population change. The movement of people into (immigration) and out of (emigration) specific geographic areas. Most people who migrate to another area within their country or to another country are seeking jobs and economic improvement. Others are driven by religious persecution, ethnic conflicts, political oppression, or war. There are also environmental refugees, people who have to leave their homes and sometimes their countries because of water or food shortages, soil erosion, or some other form of environmental degradation.

strip cutting

A variation of clear cutting that allows a more sustainable timber yield without widespread destruction. Involves clear cutting a strip of trees along the contour (border) of land within a corridor narrow enough to allow natural forest regeneration within a few years. After regeneration, loggers cut another strip next to the first, and so on.

An alternative to conventional or light crude oil is heavy crude oil that is thicker and stickier. Two sources of heavy oil are oil shale rock and oil sands. Heavy oil extracted from oil shale rock is called SHALE OIL. It is dispersed within bodies of shale rock compared to lighter oil that is trapped between layers of shale rock (Core Case Study). Producing this shale oil involves mining, crushing, and heating oil shale rock (Figure 14.7, left) to extract a mixture of hydrocarbons called kerogen that can be distilled to produce shale oil (Figure 14.7, right). Before the thick shale oil is pumped through a pressurized pipeline to a refinery, it must be heated to increase its flow rate and processed to remove sulfur, nitrogen, and other impurities, which reduces its net energy. A growing source of heavy oil is OIL SANDS or TAR SANDS, which are a mixture of clay, sand, water, and an organic material called bitumen, which is a thick, sticky, tar-like heavy oil with a high sulfur content. The two big drawbacks of producing heavy synthetic oil from oil sands are its low net energy (Figure 14.3) and its major harmful impacts on the land (Figure 14.8), air, water, wildlife, and climate. It takes two to four tons of oil sands and two to five barrels of water to produce one barrel of the heavy synthetic oil. The process also emits large quantities of air pollutants—especially sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulates—and 20% more climate-changing C02 than does the production of conventional crude oil, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Energy.

About 72% of the world's estimated oil shale rock reserves are buried deep in rock formations located primarily under government-owned land in the U.S. states of Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. The potential supply is huge but its net energy is low (Figure 14.3). The process also has a large harmful environmental impact, including the production of rock waste, possible leaks of the extracted kerogen to water tables, wastewater, and high water use. If the production price can be significantly lowered or the price of conventional oil rises sharply, and if its harmful environmental effects can be reduced, shale oil could become an important energy source. Otherwise, it will remain in the ground.

Past and projected human population growth and rising rates of resource use per person have greatly expanded the human ecological footprint. People have eliminated, degraded, and fragmented vast areas of wildlife habitat as they have spread out over the planet, and increased their use of resources, causing the extinction of many species. Pollution of the air, water, and soil by human activities also threatens some species with extinction. According to the USFWS, each year pesticides kill about one fifth (1/5) of the European honeybee colonies that pollinate almost a third of all US food crops. The USFWS also estimates that pesticides kill more than 67 million birds and 6 to 14 million fish each year. They also threaten about 20% of the country's endangered and threatened species. During the 1950s and 1960s, populations of fish eating birds (ospreys, brown pelicans, etc) plummeted because of the widespread use of a pesticide called DDT. The concentration of a chemical derived from DDT remained in the environment and was taken up and accumulated in the tissues of organisms, and became more concentrated as it moved up through food chains and webs (biomagnification). Concentrated amounts of DDT in the fatty tissues of top predator birds decrease their ability to produce calcium in the eggshells they lay. This leads to eggshell being so thin they crack before hatching and reduce the ability of the species to reproduce successfully. Most species affected by DDT have made a comeback after it was banned in 1972.

According to a study by Conservation International, the habitat loss and disruption of food webs associated with projected climate change could drive a fifth to half of all known land animals and plants to extinction by the end of this century. Currently, climate change is caused mostly by human activities such as burning carbon containing fossil fuels and clearing forests, both of which increase the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2). The hardest hit species will be those that have limited ranges or low tolerance for temperature changes. For example, studies indicate that the polar bear is threatened because of high temperatures and melting sea ice in its polar habitat. The shrinkage of floating ice is making it harder for polar bears to find seals. According to the IUCN and the US Geological Survey, the world's total polar bear population is likely to decline by 30-35% by 2050 due to loss of habitat and prey. By the end of this century, polar bear might be found only in zoos.

Most of the minerals found in seawater occur in such low concentrations that recovering them takes more energy and money than they are worth. Currently, only magnesium, bromine, and sodium chloride are abundant enough to be extracted profitably from seawater. On the other hand, sediments along the shallow continental shelf and adjacent shorelines contain significant deposits of minerals such sand, gravel, phosphates, copper, iron, silver, titanium, and diamonds. Another potential ocean source of some minerals is hydrothermal ore deposits that form when superheated mineral rich water shoots out of vents in volcanic regions of the ocean floor. When the hot water comes into contact with cold seawater, black particles of various metal sulfides precipitate out and accumulate as chimney-like structures, called black smokers, near the hot water vents (Figure 11.11). These deposits are especially rich in minerals such as copper, lead, zinc, silver, gold, and some of the rare earth metals. A variety of more than 300 exotic forms of life (ex:giant clams, six foot tubeworms and eyeless shrimp) live in the dark depths around black smokers. Because of the rapidly rising prices of many of these metals, there is growing interest in deep-sea mining. Companies from Australia, the United States, and China have been exploring the possibility of mining black smokers in several areas. In 2012 the U.S. government issued its first. ever approval of large-scale deep-sea mining, proposed for a large area between Hawaii and Mexico. In 2015 the Center for Biological Diversity sued the government to try to prevent the project, arguing that it could damage important habitat for whales, sharks, and sea turtles by destroying seafloor ecosystems.

According to some analysts, seafloor mining is less environmentally harmful than mining on land. Other science however, are concerned because seafloor mining stirs up sediment that can harm or kill organisms that feed by filtering seawater. Supporters of seafloor mining say that the number of potential mining sites, and thus the overall environmental impact, will be small. Another possible source of metals is the potato size manganese nodules that cover large areas of the Pacific Ocean floor and smaller areas of the Atlantic and Indian Ocean floors. They also contain low concentrations of various rare earth minerals. These modules could be sucked up through vacuum pipes or scooped up by underwater mining machines. To date, mining on the ocean floor has been hindered by the high costs involved, the potential threat to marine ecosystems, and arguments over rights to the minerals in deep ocean areas that do not belong to any specific country.

Surface and subsurface mining operations produce large amounts of solid waste (three-fourths of all US solid waste) and cause major water and air pollution. For example, acid mine drainage occurs when rainwater that seeps through an underground mine or a spoils pile from a surface mine carries sulfuric acid (H2S04) produced when aerobic bacteria act on remaining minerals to nearby streams and groundwater. This is one of the problems often associated with gold mining.

According to the EPA, mining has polluted mountain streams in 40% of the western watersheds in the United States. It accounts for 50% of all the country's emissions of toxic chemicals into the atmosphere. In fact, the mining industry produces more of such toxic emissions than any other US industry. Where environmental regulations and enforcement are lax, mining is even more harmful to the environment. In China, for instance, the mining and processing of rare earth metals and oxides has stripped land of its vegetation and topsoil. It also has polluted the air, acidified streams, and left toxic and radioactive waste piles.

CASE STUDY Freshwater Resources in the United States

According to the USGS, the major uses of groundwater and surface freshwater in the United States are the cooling of electric power plants, irrigation, public water supplies, industry, and livestock production (Figure 13.4, left). Household water is used mostly for flushing toilets, washing clothes, taking showers, and running faucets, or is lost through leaking pipes, faucets, and other fixtures. The United States has more than enough renewable freshwater to meet its needs. However, it is unevenly distributed and much of it is contaminated by agricultural and industrial practices. The eastern states usually have ample precipitation, whereas many western and southwestern states have little. In the eastern United States, most water is manufacturing and cooling power plants (with most of the water heated and returned to its source), while in the west, most water is used for irrigation. The west faces severe water shortages due to high evaporation of irrigation water, low precipitation, and severe drought. Most Americans rely on groundwater for drinking water, irrigation, and industrial use. Groundwater is currently being used unsustainably—it is pumped out faster than the rate at which some US aquifers can be naturally recharged. Water shortages are expected to increase as populations grow, industrialized agriculture increases, drought occurs more often, and virtual water use increases. The US Department of the Interior has mapped out water hotspots in 17 western states (Figure 13.6). In these areas, competition for scarce freshwater to support growing urban areas, irrigation, recreation, and wildlife could trigger intense political and legal conflicts between states and between rural and urban areas within states. Based On climate models generated at Columbia University, it is projected that the southwest United States and northern Mexico are likely to have long periods of extreme drought throughout the rest of this century. The Colorado River will be directly affected by such drought. Four factors will impact this river system. First, the Colorado River basin is located in some of the driest lands in the United States and Mexico. Second, legal agreements between the United States and Mexico allocate more water for human use than the river can supply. Third, because of the many dams installed along the Colorado River and the water that is diverted to cities and agricultural regions, the river has rarely flowed all the Way to th of California. Fourth, the river receives enormous of pollutants from urban areas, farms, animal feedlots and industries as it makes its way toward the sea.

Thing to remember when converting to scientific notation

Always and only have one digit on the left of the decimal; in front of the decimal. Write out all the numbers until you get to the repeat zeros.

infant mortality rate

An important indicator of the overall health of a population. The number of babies out of every 1,000 born who die before their first birthday. It is viewed as one of the best measure of a society's quality of life because it indicates the general level of nutrition and health care. A high infant mortality rate usually indicates insufficient food (undernutrition, poor nutrition (malnutrition), and a high incidence of infectious disease. Infant mortality also affects the TFR. In areas with low infant mortality rates, women tend to have fewer children because fewer of their children die at an early age. Infant mortality rates in most countries have declined dramatically since 1965. Even so, every year more than 4 million infants die of preventable causes during their first year of life, according to UN population experts. Most of these deaths occur in less developed countries. This average of nearly 11,000 mostly unnecessary infant deaths per day is equivalent to 55 jet airliners, each loaded with 200 infants, crashing every day with no survivors. Between 1900 and 2017, the US infant mortality rate dropped from 165 to 5.8. This sharp decline was a major factor in the marked increase in average life expectancy during this period. However, 44 other nations had lower infant morality rates than the U.S. in 2017.

peer review

An important part pf the scientific process where scientists publish details of the methods they used, the results of their experiment(s), and the reasoning behind their hypothesis for other scientists working in the same field (their peers) to evaluate. Scientific knowledge advances in this self-correcting way because scientists question and confirm the data and hypotheses of their peers.

Organism

An individual living thing that is capable of growing and reproducing. Ex: plant, fungus, protist, bacterium, dog, and person

Commensalism

An interaction that benefits one species but has little, if any beneficial or harmful effect on the other. Ex: Birds make nest in trees, birds benefit, tree not harmed nor does it benefit

Producer

An organism that can make its own food. Also know as autotrophs Ex: plants

Heterotroph

An organism that cannot make its own food, and therefore obtains energy from the foods it consumes. Need to consume other organisms to get energy. Heterotrophs consists of carnivores, omnivores, herbivores, and scavengers. A.K.A consumer

Consumer

An organism that obtains energy by feeding on other organisms

Niche

An organism's particular role and position in an ecosystem; how an organism fits into a community. includes all of an organism's interactions with the biotic and abiotic factors of its environment. Ex: garden spider is a predator that hunts for prey among plants, while an oak tree grows to dominate a forest canopy, turning sunlight into food

Every day we are exposed to small amounts of potentially harmful chemicals in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. TOXICOLOGY is the study of the harmful effects of these and other chemicals on humans and other organisms. TOXICITY is a measure of the ability of a substance to cause injury, illness, or death to a living organism. A basic principle of toxicology is that any synthetic or natural chemical can be harmful if ingested or inhaled in a large enough quantity. But the critical question is this: At what level of a particular toxic chemical will the chemical cause harm? This is a difficult question to answer because of the variables involved in estimating the effects of human exposure to chemicals. A key factor is the DOSE, which is the amount of a harmful chemical that a person has ingested, inhaled, or absorbed through the skin at any one time. The effects of a particular chemical can also depend on the age of the person exposed to it. For example, toxic chemicals usually have a greater effect on fetuses, infants, and children than on adults (see the Case Study that follows). Toxicity also depends on genetic makeup, which determines an individual's sensitivity to a particular toxin. people vary widely in their degrees of sensitivity to chemicals (Figure 16.14), and some are sensitive to a number of toxins—a condition known as multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS). Another factor that determines how chemicals affect people is SYNERGISTIC INTERACTION, or SYNERGY, which occurs when two or more compounds interact. When that interaction magnifies the effects of both compounds, it is called a synergistic reaction. For example, scientific studies reveal such an interaction between smoking and inhaling asbestos particles. Nonsmokers who are exposed to asbestos particles for long periods of time increase their risk of getting lung cancers fivefold. But people who smoke and are exposed to asbestos have 50 times the risk that nonsmokers have for getting lung cancer. Several other variables can affect the level of harm caused by a chemical. One is its solubility. Water-soluble toxins can move throughout the environment and get into water supplies, as well as the aqueous solutions that surround the cells in our bodies. Oil- or fat-soluble toxins can penetrate the membranes that surround our cells, because these membranes allow similar oil-soluble chemicals to pass through them. Thus, oil- or fat-soluble toxins can accumulate in body tissues and cells. The health damage resulting from exposure to a chemical is called the RESPONSE. One type of response, an acute effect, is an immediate or rapid harmful reaction ranging from dizziness to death. By contrast, a chronic effect is a permanent or long lasting consequence (kidney or liver damage, for example) of exposure to a single dose or to repeated lower doses of a harmful substance.

Another factor is a substance's persistence, or resistance to breaking down. Many chemicals, including DDT and PCBs, were used widely because they are not easily broken down in the environment. This means that they are more likely to remain in the body and have long-lasting harmful health effects. Biological magnification can also play a role in toxicity. Animals that eat higher on the food chain are more susceptible to the effects of fat-soluble toxic chemicals because of the magnified concentrations of the toxins in their bodies. Examples of chemicals that can be biomagnified include DDT (Figure 9.13, p. 247), PCBs (Figure 16.B), and methylmercury (Core Case Study).

Many factors affect a country's average birth rate and TFR. One is the importance of children as a part of the labor force, especially in less developed countries. Many poor couples in those countries struggle to survive on less than $3.10 a day and some on less than $1.90 a day. Some of these couples have a large number of children to help them haul drinking water, gather wood for heating and cooking, and grow or find food. Worldwide, 1 of every 10 children between ages 5 and 17 work to help their families survive. Another economic factor is the cost of raising and educating children. Birth and fertility rates tend to be lower in more developed countries, where raising children is much more costly because they do not enter the labor force until they are in their late teens or twenties. In the U.S., the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that the average cost of raising a child born in 2016 to age 18 was $245,000. The availability of pension systems can influence the number of children couples have, especially poor people in less developed countries. Pensions reduce a couple's need to have several children to replace those that die at an early age and to help support them in old age. Urbanization also plays a role. People living in urban areas usually have better access to family planning services and tend to have fewer children than do those living in the rural areas of less developed countries.

Another important factor is the educational and employment opportunities available for women. Total fertility rates tend to be low when women have access to education and paid employment outside the home. In less developed countries, a woman with no education typically has two more children than does a woman with a high school education. Average age at marriage ( or the average age at which a woman has her first child) also plays a role. Women normally have fewer children when their average age at marriage is 25 or older. Birth rates and TFRs are also affected by the availability of reliable birth control methods that allow women to control the number and spacing of their children. Religious beliefs, traditions, and cultural norms also play a role. In some countries, these factors contribute to large families because many people strongly oppose abortion and some forms of birth control.

Coastal coniferous forests/ temperate rain forests

Another type of temperate forest. Found in scattered coastal temperate areas with ample rainfall and moisture from dense ocean fogs. These forests contain thick stands of large cone bearing/coniferous trees that keep most of their leaves (or needles) year round. Most of these species have small, needle shaped, wax coated leaves that can withstand the intense cold and drought of winter. Ex: Sitka spruce, Douglas fir, giant sequoia, and redwoods that once dominated undisturbed areas of these biomes along the coast of North America (from Canada to Northern California) In this biome, the ocean moderates the temperatures so winters are mild and summers are cool. The trees in these moist forests depend on frequent rains and moisture from summer fogs. Most of the trees are evergreen because the abundance of water means that they have no need to shed their leaves. Tree trunks and the ground are frequently covered with mosses and ferns in this cool and moist environment. As in tropical rain forests, little light reaches the forest floor. Many of the redwoods, Douglas fir, and western cedar forests have been cleared for their valuable timber and there is constant pressure to cut what remains. This threatens species such as the spotted owl and marbled murrelet that depend on these ecosystems. Clear cutting also loads streams in these ecosystems with eroded sediment and threatens species such as salmon that depend on clear streams for laying their eggs.

One way to increase forest sustainability is to create a certification of sustainably grown timber and sustainably produced forest products. This helps inform consumers about products made from sustainably grown wood. Another way to increase forest sustainability is for consumers to reduce the demand for unsustainable and illegal logging in tropical forests by buying only wood and wood products that have been certified as sustainably produced by the FSC and other organization. Many economists urge governments to begin making a shift to more sustainable forest management. They recommend phasing out government subsidies and tax breaks that encourage forest degradation and deforestation and replacing them with forest sustaining subsidies and tax breaks. This would likely lead to higher prices on unsustainably produced timber and wood products, and would therefore use the FULL COST PRICING PRINCIPLE OF SUSTAINABILITY.

Another way to increase forest sustainability is to reduce the demand for forest products. Using fibers from non tree sources to make paper can reduce the need to harvest trees to make paper. Another way to increase forest sustainability is to reduce the use of throwaway paper products made from trees. Instead, we should use reusable plates, cups, cloth napkins, handkerchiefs, etc.

Adaptation

Any change that helps an individual become better suited to their environment.

Pollution

Any materials that harms an environment and it's inhabitants.

Renewable resource

Any resource that can be replenished by natural processes as long as people do not use the resource faster than natural processes can replace. Ex: forests, grasslands, fertile topsoil, fishes, clean air, and fresh water.

matter

Anything that has mass and takes up space. Can exist in three physical states (solid, liquid, and gas) ad two chemical forms (elements and compounds).

S shape curve

As a population approaches the carrying capacity of its habitat, the J- shaped curve of its exponential growth is converted to an S shaped curve of logistic growth (growth that fluctuates around the carrying capacity of its habitat) (Figure 7.16, right) The population sizes of some species often fluctuate above and below their carrying capacity.

Coriolis effect.

As the earth rotates to the east the equator spins faster than the regions to its north and south. This means that air masses moving to the north or south from the equator are deflected to the east because they are also moving east faster than the land below them. Some of this high moving mass of warm air cools as it flows northeast or southeast from the equator. It becomes more dense and heavier and sinks toward the earth's surface at about 30° north and 30° south. Because it is a convection cell it starts flowing back towards the equator in what is know as a Hadley cell. Because of the Coriolis effect, this air moving towards the equator curls in a westerly direction. In the northern hemisphere, it thus flows southwest from northeast. In the southern hemisphere, it flow northwest from southeast. These winds are known as the northeast trade winds and the southeast trade winds. They are examples of prevailing winds because they blow almost continuously The warm air that does not descend in the Hadley cells at 30° north and 30° south continues moving towards the poles and curving to the east due to the Coriolis effect. These prevailing winds that blow generally from the west in temperate regions of the globe are known as westerlies. This complex movement of air results in six huge regions between the equator and the poles in which warm air rises and cool, then falls and heats up again in great rolling patters. The two nearest the equator are the Hadley cells. These convection cells and the resulting prevailing winds distribute heat and moisture over the earth's surface, thus helping to determine regional climates.

Coevolution

At the individual level, members of predator species benefit from their predation and members of prey species are harmed. At the population level, predation plays a role in natural selection. Animal predators tend to kill the sick, weak, aged, and least fit members of a prey population because they are the easiest to catch. Individuals with better defence against predation thus tend to survive longer and leave more offsprings with adaptations that can help them avoid predation. Over time, as a prey species develops traits that make it more difficult to catch, its predators face selection pressure that favor traits increasing their ability to catch their prey. Then the prey species must get better at eluding the more effective predators. This back and forth adaptation cycle is called coevolution. Changes in the gene pool of one species leads to changes in the gene pool of another species.

isotopes

Atoms of the same element with the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons. As a result, they have different mass numbers. The protons (atomic number) an element has always stays the same, but the neutrons does not.

Biodiversity is vital to sustaining the natural capital that keeps us alive and supports our economies. We use biodiversity as a source of food, medicine, building materials, and fuel.

Biodiversity also provides natural ecosystems services such as air and water purification, renewal of topsoil, decomposition of wastes, and pollination. The earth's variety of genetic information, species, and ecosystems provide raw materials for the evolution of new species and ecosystem services as they respond to changing environmental conditions. Biodiversity is the earth;s ecological insurance policy.

A more biologically diverse ecosystem with a greater variety of producers can produce more plant biomass, which can support a greater variety of consumer species.

Biologically diverse ecosystems also tend to be more stable because they are more likely to include species with traits that enable them to adapt to changes in the environment such as disease or drought

What four variable governs changes in population size?

Births, deaths, immigration, and emigration. A population increases through bird and immigration (arrival of individuals from outside the population). Populations decrease through death and emigration (departure of individuals from the population). Population change= Individuals added- Individuals lost Population change= (Births+ Immigration) - (Deaths + Emigration)

Hydrogen bonds

Bonds between parts of the nucleotides in DNA that hold two DNA strands together like a spiral staircase, forming a double helix.

Population change

Calculated by subtracting the number of people leaving a population (through death and emigration) from the number entering it (trough birth and immigration) during a year. Population change= (Births + Immigration) - (Deaths + Emigration) When births plus immigration exceed deaths plus emigration a population grows, and vice versa.

carbon cycle in the biosphere

Carbon is cycled through the biosphere when producers use photosynthesis to remove carbon dioxide from the air and water, and when consumers and decomposers use aerobic respiration which adds carbon dioxide into the atmosphere

prokaryotic

Cells that are enclosed by a membrane but contains no distinct nucleus or other internal parts enclosed by membranes. Bacterial cells are prokaryotic

El Nino Southern Oscillation or ENSO

Change in wind patterns that happens every few years. Because normal wind patters in the Pacific Ocean are disrupted and this affects weather around much of the globe. Winds that usually blow from east to west usually weaken or reverse direction. This allows the warmer waters of the western Pacific to move towards the coast of South America. The thermocline sinks in the eastern pacific. Changes result in drier weather in some areas and wetter weather in other areas. A strong ENSO can alter weather condition over at least two thirds of the globe especially on the coasts of the Pacific and Indian oceans. Although an ENSO is a natural weather event and not a climate event, an ENSO can raise the earth's average temperature by as much as 0.25 celsius or 0.45 fahrenheit, affecting climate for a year or two.

Species Are a Vital Part of the Earth's Natural Capital

Chapter 9

COAL is a solid fossil fuel formed from the remains of land plants that were buried and exposed to intense heat and pressure for 300-400 million years (Figure 14.12). Coal is the world's most abundant fossil fuel. However coal is by far the dirtiest of all fossil fuels, starting with the mining of coal, which severely degrades land. This includes blasting the tops off more than 500 mountains in West Virginia (Figure 11.16, p. 318). Mining also pollutes water and air. Burning coal also releases large amounts of black carbon particulates, or soot, and much smaller, fine particles of air pollutants such as toxic mercury. The fine particles can get past our bodies' natural defenses and into our lungs, causing various severe illnesses such as emphysema and lung cancer and contributing to heart attacks and strokes. Coal burning power and industrial plants are among the largest emitters of C02 (Figure 14.16), which contributes to atmospheric warming and climate change (covered in Chapter 20) and ocean acidification. Because coal is mostly carbon, coal combustion emits about twice as much C02 per unit of energy as natural gas and produces about 42% of global C02 emissions. China leads the world in such emissions, followed by the United States. Coal combustion also emits trace amounts of radioactive materials as well as toxic mercury into the atmosphere and into lakes, where it can accumulate to high levels in fish consumed by humans. Because of air pollution laws, many coal-burning plants use scrubbers to remove some of these pollutants before they leave the smokestacks. This reduces air pollution but produces a dust-like material called coal ash (Figure 14.13), which can contain dangerous, indestructible chemical elements such as arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium, and radioactive radium. It must be stored safely, essentially forever. However, political pressure by the U.S. coal industry has kept it from being classified as a hazardous waste. Instead, coal ash is in the same category as household garbage.

Coal is burned in power plants (Figure 14.13) that in 2016 generated about 40% of the world's electricity, 30% of the electricity used in the United States (down from 51% in 2003), 66% in China, and 60% in India. Coal is also burned in industrial plants to make steel, cement, and other products. According to a study by the Clean Air Task Force, each year fine-particle pollution in the United States, mostly from the older coal-burning power plants without the latest air pollution control technology, kills at least 13,000 people a year. In China, outdoor air pollution from the burning of coal contributes to 336,000 premature deaths (an average of 921 per day) from strokes, heart attacks, pulmonary obstruction, and lung cancer, according to a study by Teng Fei at Tsinghua University.

mass number

Describes the mass of an atom, is calculated based off the total number of neutrons and protons in its nucleus. Ex: A carbon atom with 6 protons and neutrons in its nucleus has a mass number of 12 (6+6=12)

Gene pool

Combined genetic information of all the members of a particular population

Some producer bacteria live in dark and extremely hot water and get their source of energy from the heat of the earth's interior/geothermal energy.

Common producers on land: trees and other green plants Freshwater and ocean ecosystems: algae and aquatic plants near shorelines Open water of the oceans: microscopic organisms called phytoplankton.

intraspecific competition

Competition among members of the same species

Biosphere

Consists of all life on Earth and all parts of the Earth in which life exists, including land, water, the atmosphere, the lithosphere and the hydrosphere.

Biome

Contain multiple ecosystems with similar climates and organisms. Ex:tundra, taiga, chaparral, desert, savanna, tropical rainforest, lakes, rivers, and wetlands.

Less- developed countries

Country that has low to moderate industrialization and low to moderate per capita GDP. Most are located in Africa, Asia, and Latin America (China, India, Nigeria, Bangladesh, etc). Less- developed countries make up 83% of the world's populations and use 30% of the world's resources.

Selective cutting

Cutting of intermediate aged, mature, or diseased trees in an uneven-aged forest stand, either singly (one at a time) or in small groups and leaving the forest largely intact. This can allow a forest to produce economically valuable trees on a sustainable basis, as long as trees are not removed faster than they can grow back.

Temperate deserts

Daytime temperatures are high in the summer and low in the winter. There is more precipitation than in tropical deserts. The scattered/widely dispersed vegetation (can't find a lot in one area) is mostly made up of drought resistant shrubs, cacti, or other succulents adapted to the dry conditions and temperature variations. Has more vegetation than tropical and polar deserts.

Didn't find anything important from "The Killing, Capturing, and Selling of Wild Species Threatens Biodiversity" to pg 250 before the case study

Didn't find much usefulness in Establish Wildlife Refuges and Other Protected Areas pg 254

Latitude

Distance north or south of the equator

Summary

Ecosystems and the biosphere are sustained by the one-way energy flow from the sun and the nutrient cycling of key materials

Species-rich ecosystems such as rainforests tend to have high species species evenness

Ecosystems with low species richness, such as tree farms, tend to have low species evenness.

Potential energy

Energy that is stored and ready to be released. Converted into kinetic energy when released. Ex: Water behind dam, car sitting at top of hill

Another potential alternative fuel resource is the HYDROGEN FUEL CELL, which could be used to power electric vehicles. This device uses hydrogen gas (H2) as a fuel to produce electricity when it reacts with oxygen gas (02) in the atmosphere and emits harmless water vapor into the atmosphere. A fuel cell is more efficient than an internal combustion engine, has no moving parts, and requires little maintenance. Their H2 fuel is usually produced by passing electricity through water or produced from methane stored in a vehicle. Two major problems with fuel cells are that they are expensive and H2 has a negative net energy, which means that it takes more energy to produce it than it can provide.

Energy-efficient vehicles are available. One such vehicle is the gasoline—electric hybrid car (Figure 15.4, left). These cars have a small gasoline-powered engine and a battery powered electric motor used to provide the energy needed for acceleration and hill climbing. The most efficient current models of these cars get a combined city/highway mileage of up to 23 kpl (55 mpg) and emit about 65% less C02 per kilometer driven than do comparable conventional cars. Another option is the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (Figure 15.4, right). These cars can travel 48—97 kilometers (30—60 miles) on electricity alone. Then a small gasoline powered motor kicks in, recharges the battery, and extends the driving range to 600 kilometers (370 miles) or more. The battery can be plugged into a conventional 110-volt outlet and fully charged in 6 to 8 hours or a much shorter time using a 220-volt outlet. Another option is an all-electric vehicle that runs on a battery only. Reducing the weight of a vehicle is another way to improve fuel efficiency. Car bodies can be made of ultralight and ultra strong composite materials such as fiberglass, carbon fiber, hemp fiber, and graphene (Case Study, p. 321) They are also safer in a crash than cars with conventional bodies. The current cost of making such car bodies is high, but technological innovations and mass production would likely bring these costs down.

What happens to energy in an ecosystem according to the second law of thermodynamics

Every use and transfer of energy by organisms from one feeding level to another involves a loss of some high quality energy to the environment as low-quality energy in the form of heat.

environment

Everything around you that you interact with. Ex: living things such as (plants and animals) and nonliving things (air, water, and sunlight)

Solving for the whole when given a percent and the part

Ex: You have 15 pencils remaining which is only 30% of the amount you originally had. How many were there originally? Solve: 15=0.30*x 15/0.30=50

Question about energy in ecosystems

Explain why there are rarely more than four levels in a trophic pyramid.

What Are The Environmental Effects of Using Nonrenewable Mineral resources? Concept

Extracting minerals from the earth's crust and converting them to useful products can disturb the land, erode soils, produce large amounts of solid waste, and pollute the air, water, and soil.

Nucleus

Extremely small center in each atom that contains one or more protons and in most cases one or more neutrons.

data

Facts, figures, and other evidence gathered through observations. Information

We are alive because natural processes purify the earth's air as long as we do not add pollutants to the air faster than the earth's natural processes can dilute or remove them.

I agree

Pioneer species

First species to populate an area during primary succession. They often have seeds or spores that can travel long distances and quickly spread, usually over the rocks that are exposed. Pioneer species such as lichens release acids that can break down the rock and start soil formation process. As the soil slowly forms, small plants, insects, and worms invade and add more nutrients that build up the soil. Each successive wave of new organisms changes the environmental conditions in ways that provide more nutrients, habitats, and favorable environmental conditions for future arrivals.

7.1 How do Species Interact? concept

Five types of interactions among species (interspecific competition, predation, parasitism, mutualism, and commensalism) affect the resource use and population sizes of species.

Coal is the cheapest of the fossil fuels and the most plentiful. For a producer in the early days of a new coal mining operation, the cost of extracting coal is typically low enough that they can make a profit simply selling their product. However the cost of removal goes up with each additional unit of coal taken. Economists refer to this as MARGINAL COST, which is any increase in the cost of producing an additional unit of a product. After most of the readily accessible coal has been removed from a mine, taking what is left can become too unless some factor such as scarcity raises the value of the coal remaining in the mine.

For the consumer, the primary reason why coal generated electricity is cheap is that most of its harmful environmental and health costs are not included in the market price. Including the estimated environmental and health costs of using coal would double or triple the price of electricity from coal fired power plants. This would promote a shift toward natural gas and renewable energy resources such as solar and wind whose prices have been falling sharply.

surface fire

Forest fire that usually burns only undergrowth and leaf litter on the forest floor. It kills seedlings and small trees, but spares most mature trees and allows most wild animals to escape. Occasional surface fires have several ecological benefits: 1.Burn flammable material such as dry brush to help prevent fires that are more destructive. 2. Free valuable plant nutrients trapped in slowly decomposing litter and undergrowth. 3. Release seeds from the cones of tree species such as lodgepole pines and stimulate the germination of other seeds such as those of the giant sequoia. 4. Help control destructive insects and tree diseases.

According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), only about 61,000 orangutans remain in the wild. Most of them are in the tropical forests of Borneo, Asia's largest island/ These highly intelligent animals are disappearing at an estimated rate of 1,000-2,000 per year. A key reason is that much of their tropical forest habitat is being cleared for plantations that grow oil palms, which produces palm oil (world's most widely used vegetable oil). Another reason they are disappearing is due to smuggling. To make matters worse, orangutans have the lowest birth rate of all the mammals. As a result, they have a hard time increasing their numbers. Without urgent protective actions, orangutans may disappear in the wild within the next two decades. Orangutans are considered keystone species in the ecosystems they inhabit. They provide an important ecosystem service by dispersing fruit and plant seeds located in their feces throughout the tropical rain forest. If orangutans disappear, many rain forest plants and the animals that consume them will be threatened.

Four major reasons why we should be concerned about human activities causing or hastening the extinction of other species: First, the world's species provide vital ecosystem services that help to keep us alive and support our economies. Ex: we depend on honeybees and other insects for pollination of many food crops. Second, many species contribute to economic services that we depend on. Various plant species provide economic value as food crops, wood for fuel, lumber for construction, paper from trees, and substances for medicines. Bioprospectors search tropical forests and other ecosystems to find plants and animals that scientists can use to make medicinal drugs. Currently, less than 0.5% of the world's known plant species have been examined for their medicinal properties. Preserving species and their habitats also provides economic benefits in the form of ecotourism. This rapidly growing industry specializes in environmentally responsible travel to natural areas and generates more than $1 million per minute in tourist expenditures worldwide. A third major reason for not hastening extinctions through our activities is that it will take 5 million to 10 million years for natural selection to replace the species we are likely to wipe out during this century. Fourth, many people believe that wild species, such as orangoutangs, have a right to exist regardless of their usefulness to us. However, not everyone can be protected so who should we protect?

The stuff on the right side of the stuff after the subheading is not really important info. Ex stuff on right side of 9

I am not important

Oil is the most widely used energy resource in the world (Figure 14.2, left) and in the United States (Figure 14.2, right). We use oil or gasoline produced from oil to heat homes, grow food, transport people and goods, make other energy resources available for use, and manufacture most of the things we use every day from plastics to cosmetics to asphalt on roads. CRUDE OIL, or PETROLEUM, is a black, gooey liquid containing a mixture of combustible hydrocarbons (molecules that contain hydrogen and carbon atoms) along with small amounts of sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen impurities. It is also known as conventional or light crude oil. Crude oil formed from the decayed remains of ancient microorganisms that were crushed beneath layers of rock and subjected to high temperatures and pressures for millions of years. Deposits of conventional crude oil and natural gas often are trapped beneath layers of nonporous rock within the earth's crust on land or under the seafloor. The crude oil in such deposits is dispersed in the microscopic pores and cracks of these rock formations, somewhat like water saturating a sponge.

Geologists survey landscapes on the ground and from the air to identify rock formations that might have oil deposits beneath them. When they find a promising area, they make a seismic survey of its rock formations. Different types of rocks have different densities and thus reflect shock waves at different speeds. Geologists set off explosives or use machines to pound the earth to send seismic or vibrating shock waves deep underground, and they measure how long it takes the waves to be reflected back. They feed this information into computers to produce three-dimensional seismic maps that show the locations and sizes of various underground rock formations, including those containing oil and natural gas deposits. Once they identify a potential site, geologists drill an exploratory well to learn whether the site has enough oil to be extracted profitably. If it does, a well is drilled and the oil, drawn by gravity out of the rock pores, flows to the bottom of the well and is pumped from there to the surface. After about a decade of pumping, the pressure in a well drops and its rate of crude oil production starts to decline. This point in time is referred to as PEAK PRODUCTION for the well. The same thing can happen to a large oil field when the overall rate of production from its numerous wells begins to decline. Crude oil from a well cannot be used as it is. It is transported to a refinery by pipeline, truck, rail, or ship (oil tanker). There it is heated in pressurized vessels to separate it into various fuels and other components with different boiling points (Figure 14.4) in a complex process called REFINING. Like all steps in the cycle of oil production and use, refining requires an input of high quality energy and decreases the net energy of oil. About 2% of the products of refining, called PETROCHEMICALS, are used as raw materials to make industrial organic chemicals, cleaning fluids, pesticides, plastics, synthetic fibers, paints, medicines, cosmetics, and many other products.

Case Study: Graphene and Phosphorene- New Revolutionary Materials

Graphene is made from graphite—a form of carbon that occurs as a mineral in some rocks. Ultrathin graphene consists of a single layer of carbon atoms packed into a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice (somewhat like chicken wire) that can be applied as a transparent film to surfaces (Figure 11.19). Graphene is one of the world's thinnest and strongest materials and is light, flexible, and stretchable. A single layer of graphene is 150,000 times thinner than a human hair and 100 times stronger than structural steel. A sheet of this amazing material stretched over a coffee mug could support the weight of a car. It is also a better conductor of electricity than copper and conducts heat better than any known material. The use of graphene could revolutionize the electric car industry by leading to the production of batteries that can be recharged 10 times faster and hold 10 times more power than current car batteries. Graphene composites can also be used to make stronger and lighter plastics, lightweight aircraft and motor vehicles, flexible computer tablets, and TV screens as thin as a magazine. It might also be used to make flexible, more efficient, less costly solar cells that can be attached to almost anything. However, researchers are looking into possible harmful effects of graphene production and use. A 2014 study led by Sharon Walker at the University of California Riverside found graphene oxide in lakes and drinking water storage tanks. This could increase the chances that animals and humans could ingest the chemical, which was found in some early studies to be toxic to mice and human lung cells. Graphene is made from very high purity and expensive graphite. According to the USGS, in 2013 China controlled about 68% of the world's high purity graphite production. The United States mines very little natural graphite and imports most of its graphite from Mexico and China, which could restrict U.S. product exports as the use of graphene grows. Geologists are looking for deposits of graphite in the United States. However, in 2011 a team of Rice University chemists, led by James M. Tour, found ways to make large sheets of high-quality graphene from inexpensive materials found in garbage and from dog feces. If such a process becomes economically feasible, concern over supplies of graphite could vanish, along with any harmful environmental effects of the mining and processing of graphite. In 2014 a team of researchers at Purdue University was able to isolate a single layer of black phosphorus atoms (a new material known as phosphorene). As a semiconductor, it is more efficient than silicon transistors that are used as chips in computers and other electronic devices. Replacing them with phosphorene transistors could make almost any electronic device run much faster while using less power. This could revolutionize computer technology. However, phosphorene must be sealed in a protective coating because it breaks down when exposed to air.

Biodiversity researchers summarize the most important direct causes of species extinction and threats to ecosystem services using the acronym HIPPCO: Habitat destruction, degradation, and fragmentation Invasive (nonnative) species Population growth and increasing use of resources Pollution Climate change Overexploitation According to biodiversity researchers, the greatest threat to wild species is habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation. Specifically deforestation in tropical areas is the greatest threat to species and the ecosystem services they provide. The next largest threats are the destruction and degradation of coastal wetlands and coral reefs, the plowing of grasslands for planting of crops, and the pollution of streams, lakes, and oceans. Island species (many of them found nowhere else on earth) are especially vulnerable to extinction. If their habitats are destroyed, degraded, or fragmented into patches, they have nowhere else to go. This is why the Hawaiian Islands are America's "extinction capital" with 63% of its species at risk

Habitat fragmentation occurs when a large intact area of habitat, such as a forest or natural grassland is divided into smaller isolated patches or habitat island. Roads, logging operations, crop fields, and urban developments divide forests and natural grasslands. This reduces tree cover in forests and blocks animal migration routes. Fragmentation can divide populations of a species into increasingly isolated small groups that are more vulnerable to predators, competitor species, disease, and catastrophic events such as storms and fires. In addition, habitat fragmentation creates barriers that limit that abilities of some species to disperse and colonize areas, locate adequate food supplies, and find mates. Scientists are using drones with cameras to count and monitor populations of endangered and threatened species and the degradation and fragmentation of their habitats. Fragmentation also leads to edge effect. Breaking up large areas of forest results in more edge habitat, the boundary between two different types of habitat. Abiotic factors such as air temperature, humidity, and soil moisture all change at the edges and adjacent open land can allow sunlight and wind to penetrate the forest more deeply. This in turn can lead to a change in the population of species and community structure that occurs at the boundary. The way different plant and animal species react to edge effect is referred to as their edge sensitivity. Biodiversity of the core habitat can be reduced, though some species benefit from edge effect. Plants like poison ivy thrive in edge habitat, and some bird species also proliferate (increase rapidly in numbers; multiply) in the ecotone (the boundary between forest and adjacent open land).

Biologists have only identified about 2 million species out of the estimated 7 million to 100 million species.

Half of the identified species are insects, and there are an estimated 10-30 million insect species on the planet.

smelting

Heating ores to release metals (Figure 11.12). Process in which a desired metal is separated from the other elements in an ore mineral. Without effective pollution control equipment, a smelter emits large quantities of air pollutants, including sulfur dioxide and suspended toxic particles that damage vegetation and acidify soils in the surrounding area. Smelters also cause water pollution and produce liquid and solid hazardous wastes that require safe disposal. Lead smelting is the world's second most toxic industry after the recycling of lead-acid batteries. Using chemicals to extract metals from their ores can also create numerous problems (Core Case Study). Even on a smaller scale, this is the case. For example, millions of poverty-stricken miners in less-developed countries have gone into tropical forests in search of gold (Figure 11.18). They have cleared trees to get access to gold, and such illegal deforestation has increased rapidly, especially in parts of the Amazon Basin. The miners usr toxic mercury to separate gold from its ore. They heat the mixture of gold and mercury to vaporize the mercury and leave the gold, causing dangerous air and water pollution. Many of these miners and villagers living near the mines eventually inhale toxic mercury vapor, drink mercury laden water, or eat fish contaminated with mercury.

Tropical deserts

Hot and dry most of the year. They have few plants and a hard, windblown surface (surface has a lot of wind) strewn with rocks and sand. Ex: Sahara and Namib desert

Accuracy

How close a measured value is to the actual value.

Precision

How close multiple measurements are to each other. Shows you whether your measurements are consistent or not.

About 60% of the world's major terrestrial ecosystems are being degraded or used unsustainably as the human ecological footprint gets bigger and spreads across the globe, according to the 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and later updates of such research.

How long can we keep eating away at these terrestrial forms of natural capital without threatening our economies and the long term survival of our own and many other species? No one know. But there are increasing signs that we need to come to grips with this vital issue. Many environmental scientists call for a global effort to better understand the nature and state of the world's major terrestrial ecosystems and biomes and to use such scientific data to protect the world's remaining wild areas from harmful forms of development. In addition, they call for us to restore many of the land areas that have been degraded, especially in areas that are rich in biodiversity.

PROVEN OIL RESERVES are known deposits from which oil can be extracted profitably at current prices using current technology. Proven oil reserves are not fixed. They grow when we find new deposits or develop new extraction technologies such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracking (Core Case Study) that make it possible and affordable to produce oil from deposits that were once too costly to tap.

How much crude oil is there? No one knows, although geologists have estimated the amounts existing in identified oil deposits. The 12 countries that make up the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) have about 80% of the world's proven crude oil reserves, much of it concentrated in large and accessible deposits that are cheap to exploit. OPEC's member countries are Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. In order, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia have the largest shares of the world's proven oil reserves. They can play a role in global oil prices by agreeing to increase or decrease the amount of oil they produce. However, the recent increase in U.s. oil production has weakened the ability of OPEC nations to control global oil prices.

Many insect species are considered pests by many because they compete with us for food, spread diseases (ex: malaria), bite or sting us, and invade our lawns, gardens and houses.

However, Insects play in vital role in sustaining earth's life. Ex: pollination done by insects Insects such as the praying mantis provide an important ecosystem service of pest control by eating other insects Lastly, insects are becoming a larger food supply in many parts of the world

As human population grows and uses more of the earth's resources there is growing concern that we can degrade the planet's life support system for us and other species.

I agree

Resources such as fish can be renewed and sustained as long as we do not remove fish faster than the remaining ones can reproduce.

I agree

Converting from scientific notation to standard form for positive exponents

If exponent is a positive number move the decimal to the right based on the number the exponent is, and add zeros as you go. Positive exponent= make number bigger Ex: if it is 5 move the decimal 5 times to the right.

Converting from scientific notation to standard form for negative exponents.

If the exponent is a negative number move the decimal to the left based on the number the exponent is, and add zeros as you go. Negative exponent= make number smaller Ex: if it is -5 move the decimal 5 times to the left

Detritivores and decomposers can transform a fallen tree trunk into simple inorganic molecules that plants can absorb as nutrients. Without decomposers and detritivores the planet's land surfaces would be buried in plant and animal wastes, dead animal bodies, and garbage. Most detritivores and decomposers are microbes/ microorganisms

In natural ecosystems, the wastes and dead bodies of organisms are resources for other organisms. This is the chemical cycling principle of sustainability.

RISK ANALYSIS involves identifying hazards and evaluating their associated risks (risk assessment; Figure 16.2, left) ranking risks (comparative risk analysis), determining options and making decisions about reducing or eliminating risks (risk management; Figure 16.2, right), and informing decision makers and the public about risks (risk communication).

In terms of the number of deaths per year (Figure 16.18, left), the greatest risk by far is poverty. The high death toll ultimately resulting from poverty is caused by malnutrition, increased susceptibility to normally nonfatal infectious diseases, and often-fatal infectious diseases transmitted by unsafe drinking water, and inadequate health care (Figure 16.18, right). Studies indicate that the four greatest risks in terms of shortened life spans are living in poverty, being born male, smoking, and obesity. Some of the greatest risks of premature death are illnesses that result primarily from lifestyle choices that people make (Figure 16.19) (Concept 16.1).

One major type of tropical grassland is savanna

It contains widely scattered clumps of trees and usually has warm temperatures year round with alternating dry and wet seasons. Herds of grazing and browsing animals migrate across the savanna to find water and food in response to seasonal and year to year variation in rainfall and food availability. Savanna plants (like those in deserts) are adapted to survive drought and extreme heat. Many have deep roots that tap into groundwater.

Is it better to be a generalist or specialist?

It depends. When environmental conditions undergo little change, such as in a tropical rain forest, specialists have an advantage because they have fewer competitors. Under rapidly changing environmental conditions, the more adaptable generalist is usually better off.

Producing high quality energy from any energy resource requires an input of high-quality energy. For example, before oil becomes useful to us, it must be found, pumped up from a deposit beneath the ground or ocean floor, transferred to a refinery, converted to gasoline and other fuels and chemicals, and delivered to consumers. Each of these steps uses high quality energy, obtained mostly by burning fossil fuels, especially gasoline and diesel fuel produced from oil. NET ENERGY is the amount of high quality energy available from a given quantity of an energy resource, minus the high quality energy needed to make the energy available (Concept 14.1B). Net energy = energy output - energy input Suppose that it takes about 9 units of high quality energy to produce 10 units of high quality energy from an energy resource. Then the net energy is 1 unit of energy (10 - 9 = l) a low value. Figure 14.3 shows generalized net energies for energy resources and systems. It is based on several sources of scientific data and classifies estimated net energy as high, medium, low, or negative (negative being a net energy loss). The best way to increase net energy is to waste less energy by improving ENERGY EFFICIENCY. This means using less energy to provide the same amount of useful work. This involves using more energy efficient ways to produce electricity, heat buildings, and carry out industrial processes, and to drive cars that get better mileage.

It is difficult for an energy resource with a low or negative net energy to compete in the marketplace with other energy alternatives with a medium to high net energy unless it receives subsidies and tax breaks from the government (taxpayers) or other outside sources. For example, electricity produced by nuclear power has a low net energy because large amounts of high quality energy are needed for each step in the nuclear cycle: to extract and process uranium ore, upgrade it to nuclear fuel, build and operate nuclear power plants store the resulting highly radioactive wastes for thousands of years, and dismantle each highly radioactive plant after its useful life (typically 40—60 years) and safely store its high-level radioactive materials for thousands of years. The low net energy and the resulting high cost of the entire nuclear fuel cycle is one reason why (taxpayers) throughout the world heavily subsidize nuclear generated electricity to make it available to consumers at an affordable price. Such subsidies hide the true costs of the nuclear power fuel cycle and thus violate the full-cost pricing principle of sustainability.

Movements of air masses are strongly influenced by what?

Jet streams

Basic unit of measurement for energy in the metric system

Joule, abbreviation= J

Basic unit of measurement for temperature in the metric system

Kelvin, abbreviation=k or Celsius (a.k.a centigrade)

Hurricanes and Typhoons

Kill and injure people, damage property, and hinder food production.

cold front

Leading edge of an advancing mass of cold air. Because cold air is denser than warm air, an advancing cold front stays close to the ground and wedges beneath less dense warmer air. It pushes this warm, moist air up, which produces rapidly moving, towering clouds called thunderheads. As it passes through, it can cause high surface winds and thunderstorms , followed by cooler temperatures and a clear sky.

Cold grassland/arctic tundra

Lies south of the arctic polar ice cap. During most of the year, these treeless plains are bitterly cold, swept by frigid winds, and covered with ice and snow. Winters are long with few hours of daylight, and the scant precipitation falls primarily as snow. Under the snow, the biome is carpeted with a thick, spongy mat of low growing plants, primarily grasses, mosses, lichens, and dwarf shrubs. Trees and tall plants cannot survive in the cold and windy tundra because they would lose too much of their heat. Most of the annual growth of the tundra's plants occur during the short 7 to 8 week summer, when there is daylight almost around the clock. One outcome of the extreme cold is the formation of permafrost. During the brief summer, the permafrost layer keeps melted snow and ice from draining into the ground. Thus, shallow lakes, marshes, bogs, ponds, and other seasonal wetlands form when snow and frozen surface soil melt. Hordes of mosquitos, black flies, and other insects thrive in these shallow surface pools. They serve as food for large colonies of migratory birds (especially waterfowl) that migrate from the south to nest and breed in the tundra's summer bogs and ponds. Animals in this biome survive the intense winter cold through adaptations such as thick coats of fur (arctic wolf, arctic fox, and musk oxen) or feathers (snowy owl) and living underground (arctic lemming). In the summer, caribou (reindeer) and other types of deer migrate to the tundra to graze on its vegetation. Tundra is vulnerable to disruption because of the short growing season, tundra soil and vegetation recover very slowly from damage or disturbances. Human activities in the arctic tundra (primarily on and around oil and natural gas drilling sites, pipelines, mines, and military bases) leave scars that persist for centuries.

Basic unit of measurement for volume in the metric system

Liter, abbreviation= L

subsurface mining

Method of removing deep deposits (that are underground) of minerals. Underground mineral resources are removed through tunnels and shafts (Figure 11.17). This method is used to remove metal ores and coal that are too deep to be extracted by surface mining. Miners dig a deep, vertical shaft and blast open subsurface tunnels and chambers to reach the deposit. Then they use machinery to remove the resource and transport it to the surface. Subsurface mining disturbs less than one tenth as much land as surface mining, and usually produces less waste material. However, it can lead to other hazards such as cave ins, explosions, and fires for miners. Miners often get lung diseases caused by prolonged inhalation of mineral or coal dust in subsurface mines. Another problem is subsidence (the collapse of land above some underground mines). It can damage houses, crack sewer lines, break natural gas mains, and disrupt groundwater systems.

Since the 1970s, research on wildlife and laboratory animals along with some studies of humans suggest that long-term exposure to some chemicals in the environment can disrupt important body systems, including immune and nervous systems (Concept 16.3). The immune system consists of specialized cells and tissues that protect the body against disease and harmful substances. It does this by forming antibodies, or specialized proteins, that detect and destroy invading agents. Some chemicals such as arsenic, methylmercury (Core Case Study), and dioxins can weaken the human immune system and leave the body vulnerable to attacks by allergens and infectious bacteria, viruses, and protozoa. Some natural and synthetic chemicals in the environment, called neurotoxins, can harm the human nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves). Effects can include behavioral changes, learning disabilities, attention-deficit disorder, paralysis, and death. Examples of neurotoxins are PCBs, arsenic, lead, and certain pesticides.

Methylmercury is an especially dangerous neurotoxin because it persists in the environment and, like DDT and PCBs, can be biologically magnified in food chains and food webs (Figure 16.10). According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, predatory fish such as tuna, orange roughy, swordfish, mackerel, grouper, and sharks can have mercury concentrations in their bodies that are 10,000 times higher than the levels in the water around them. In one study, the EPA found that almost half of the fish tested in 500 lakes and reservoirs across the United States had levels of mercury that exceeded safe levels (Figure 16.1). The EPA estimates that about 1 of every 12 women of childbearing age in the United States has enough mercury in her blood to harm a developing fetus.

Using Water More Sustainably

More sustainable water use would include a variety of strategies (Figure 13.25) aimed not only at conserving water and using it efficiently. but also at protecting water supplies and the ecosystems that sustain them (Concept 13.5).

Connections: Mountains and Climate

Mountains help regulate the earth's climate. many mountains are covered with glacial ice and snow that reflect some solar radiation back into space, which helps to cool the earth. However, many mountain glaciers are melting, primarily because the atmosphere has warmed over recent decades. Whereas glaciers reflect solar energy, the darker rocks exposed by melting glaciers absorb that energy. This helps to warm the atmosphere above them, which melts more ice and warms the atmosphere more in an escalating positive feedback loop.

Improving energy efficiency and conserving energy are key strategies in using energy more sustainability. ENERGY EFFICIENCY is a measure of how much useful work we can get from each unit of energy we use. Improving energy efficiency means using less energy to provide the same amount of work. No energy-using device operates at 100% efficiency; some energy is always lost as heat, as required by the second law of thermodynamics (p. 50). However, there are ways to improve energy efficiency and waste less energy by using more fuel-efficient cars, light bulbs (such as LED bulbs), appliances, computers, and industrial processes. We can also cut energy waste by changing our behavior. ENERGY CONSERVATION, which means reducing or eliminating the unnecessary wasting of energy. If you ride your bicycle to school or work rather than driving a car, you are practicing energy conservation. Another way to conserve energy is to turn off lights and electronic devices when you are done using them.

Much of this loss of energy and money is due to heavy reliance on two widely used energy-inefficient technologies: • Huge data centers, filled with racks of electronic servers that process all online information and provide cloud based data storage for users. Most data centers run 24 hours a day at their maximum capacities, regardless of the demand. They also require large amounts of energy for cooling to keep the servers from overheating. • The internal combustion engine, which propels most motor vehicles, wastes about 75% of the high-quality energy in its gasoline fuel. Thus, only about 25% of the money people spend on gasoline provides them with transportation.

Lipids

One of the four building blocks of life. They are a chemically diverse group of large organic compounds that do not dissolve in water. Ex: fats and oils for storing energy, waxes for structure, and steroids for producing hormones

One of the problems with direct solar energy is that it is dispersed. SOLAR THERMAL SYSTEMS, also known as concentrated solar power (CSP), collect and concentrate solar to boil water and produce steam for generating electricity.

One such system uses rows of curved mirrors, parabolic troughs, to collect and concentrate sunlight. Each trough focuses incoming sunlight on a pipe that runs through its center and is filled with synthetic oil (Figure 15.10). The oil heats to temperatures as high as 4000C (7500F). That heat is used to boil water and produce steam, which in turn powers a turbine that drives a generator to produce electricity. Another solar thermal system (Figure 15.11) uses an array of computer-controlled mirrors to track the sun and focus its energy on a central power tower to provide enough heat to boil water that is used to produce electricity. The heat produced by either of these systems can also be used to melt a certain kind of salt stored in a large insulated container. The heat stored in this molten salt system can then be released as needed to produce electricity at night or on cloudy days. Some analysts see solar thermal power as a growing and important source of the world's electricity. However, because solar thermal systems have a low net energy, they need large government subsidies or tax breaks to be competitive in the marketplace. These systems also require large volumes of cooling water for condensing the steam back to water and for washing the surfaces of the mirrors and parabolic troughs. Figure 15.12 summarizes the major advantages and disadvantages of concentrating solar energy to produce high-temperature heat and electricity.

high grade ore

Ore containing a large amount/concentration of a desired mineral.

low grade ore

Ore containing a small amount/concentration of a desired mineral.

Eukaryotic

Organisms who's cells are encased in a membrane and have a distinct nucleus (a membrane- bounded structure containing genetic material in the form of DNA), and several other parts enclosed by membranes. All organisms except bacteria are eukaryotic

Climate

Overall weather in an area over a long period of time (usually 30 years or more).

Read: CASE STUDY The Global Threat from Tuberculosis The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic Malaria- The Spread of a Deadly Parasite PCBs Are Everywhere—A Legacy from the Past Protecting Children from Toxic Chemicals Pollution Prevention Pays Cigarettes and E-Cigarettes

Pages: 498-502 502-503 503-505 (504-505 is not in the same email). 506 511-512 516 516-518

In many coastal regions that border on deserts, we find a biome known as temperate shrubland or chaparral. Because it is close to the sea, it has a slightly longer winter rainy season than the bordering desert has and experiences fogs during the spring and fall seasons. Chaparral is found along coastal areas of souther California, the Mediterranean Sea, central Chile, southern Australia, and southwestern South Africa. This biome consists mostly of dense growths of low growing evergreen shrubs and occasional small trees with leathery leaves. Its animal species include mule deer, chipmunks, jackrabbits, lizards, and a variety of birds. The soil is thin and not very fertile. During the long, hot, and dry summers, chaparral vegetation dries out. In the late summer and fall, fires started by lightning or human activities spread swiftly. Research reveals that chaparral is adapted to and maintained by occasional fires. Many of the shrubs store food reserves in their fire resistant roots and have seeds that sprout only after a hot fire. With the first rain, annual grasses and wildflowers spring up and use nutrients released by the fire. New shrubs grow quickly and crowd out the grasses.

People like living in the chaparral biome because of its moderate, sunny climate. As a result, humans have moved in and modified this biome so much that little natural chaparral exists. The downside is that people living in chaparral assume the high risk of frequent fires, which are often followed by flooding during winter rainy season. When heavy rains come, torrents of water pour off the unprotected burned hillsides to flood lowland areas, often causing mudslides.

Scientists use sampling techniques to estimate the sizes of large populations of species such as oak trees that are spread over a large area and squirrels that move around and are hard to count. Typically, they count the number of individuals in one or more small sample areas and use this information to estimate the number of individuals in a larger area.

Populations of difference species vary in their distribution over their habitats (dispersion). Most populations live together in clumps or groups (pack of wolves, schools of fish, flocks of birds). Living in groups allows organisms to cluster where resources are available. Group living also provides some protection from predators, and gives some predator species a better chance of getting a meal.

tentative science

Preliminary (something untested usually because it is new) scientific results without adequate testing and peer review

Predator-prey relationship has a strong effect on population sizes and other factors in many ecosystems. Ex: Sea urchins prey on kelp. Southern sea otters are a keystone species because they prey on sea urchins, preventing them from destroying the kelp forests. Predators use variety of ways to help them capture pray. Herbivores can walk, swim, or fly to the plants they feed on. Many carnivores, such as cheetahs, use speed to chase down and kill prey, such as zebras. Eagles and hawks can fly and have keen eyesight to find prey. Some predators such as female African lions work in groups to capture large or fast-running prey. Other predators use camouflage to hide in plain sight and ambush their prey. Some predators use chemicals such as venom to paralyze their prey and deter predators.

Prey species have evolved many ways to avoid predators. Some can run, swim, or fly fast and some have highly developed sense of sight, sound, or smell that alert them to the presence of predators. Pray species also use camouflage to blend into their surroundings. Some use chemical warfare to discourage predators from eating them. Either by emitting chemicals that are poisonous, irritating, smell, or bad tasting. Many bad tasting, bad smelling, toxic, or stinging prey species flash a warning coloration that eating them is risky. Prey species also use mimicry (common in butterflies) where they act like other more dangerous species. Prey also use behavioral strategies. For example, the pufferfish blows up. Some gain protection by living in large groups (schools of fish, herds of antelope). Moths have wings that look like the eyes of larger animals. Biologists Edward O. Wilson proposed two criteria for evaluating the dangers posed by various brightly colored animal species. 1. If they are small and strikingly beautiful, they are probably poisonous. 2. If they are stinkingly beautiful and easy to catch, they are probably deadly.

Cellular respiration

Process in which cells release energy by breaking down glucose and other food molecules in the presence of oxygen

aerobic respiration

Producers, consumers, and decomposers use the chemical energy stored in glucose and other organic compounds to fuel their life processes. Aerobic respiration is used in most cells to release the chemical energy. Uses oxygen to convert glucose (or other organic nutrient molecules) back into carbon dioxide and water. Equation: glucose + oxygen ---> carbon dioxide + water + energy C6H12O6 + 6 O2 + 6 CO2 + 6 H2O+ energy

Conservation

Protecting and preserving natural resources and the environment

second law of thermodynamics

Relates to processes that can be reversible or irreversible. Reversible means is that something can go either way and the amount of entropy won't change. Ex: A ball can roll to the left or it could reverse and roll to the right. With a reversible process, it is hard to tell which one was the original one (it would be hard to tell if the ball rolled to the right or left first since both actions are basically the same, with the only difference being the direction). In an irreversible process the amount of entropy will increase over time. Ex: You pour milk into a cup, the milk can't go the other way and go back into the milk carton= irreversible process. Ex: You have a container full of gas and over time the gas molecules begin to move around and spread out more (becoming more disordered). The gas can't come back together so it is irreversible. I got all the info from here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoekFxOizj4 so if you are still confused watch this video

Anaerobic

Respiration process that does not require oxygen

Aerobic

Respiration process that requires oxygen. Aerobic has the word air in it when you say it so air= oxygen that is how you remember ok?

Many unwanted nonnative invaders arrive from other continents as stowaways on aircraft, in the ballast water of tankers and cargo ships, and as hitchhikers on imported products such as wooden packing crates. Cars and trucks can also spread the seeds of nonnative plant species embedded in their tire treads. Many tourists return home with living plants that can multiply and become invasive. Some of these plants might also contain insects that can invade new areas, multiply rapidly, and threaten crops. The Burmese python is an invasive species in Florida Everglades. It can live 20 to 25 years, grow as long as 5 meters, and weigh as much as 77 kilograms. These snakes have huge appetites. They feed at night, eating a variety of birds and mammals. Occasionally they will eat other reptiles, including the American alligator which is a keystone species in the Everglades ecosystem. Research indicates that predation by these snakes is altering the food webs and ecosystem services of the Everglades. According to wildlife scientists, the Burmese python population in Florida's wetlands cannot be controlled. They are hard to find and kill or capture and they reproduce rapidly. Trapping and moving the snakes from one area to another has not worked because they are able to return to the areas where they were captured.

Roughly only 1 of every 100 species that invades an area is able to establish a self sustaining population and reduce the biodiversity of the ecosystem it has invaded. In addition, scientists have found that some invaders end up increasing the biodiversity of the areas they have moved into by creating new habitats and niches for other species.

Ecologists carry out controlled experiments by isolating and changing a variable in part of an area and comparing the results with nearby unchanged areas. Some researches attach tiny radio transmitters to animals and use global positioning systems (GPSs) to track where and how far animals go. Important for studying endangered species.

Scientists also use aircraft and satellites equipped with remote sensing devices to scan and collect data on the earth's surface. They use geographical information system (GIS) software to capture, store, analyze, and display this information. Ex: GIS software can convert digital satellite images into global, regional, and local maps. These maps show variations in vegetation, gross primary productivity, soil erosion, deforestation, air population emissions, water usage, drought, flooding ,pest outbreaks, etc.

Some analysts contend that we can increase supplies of some minerals by extracting them from lower-grade ores. They point to the development of new earth-moving equipment, improved techniques for removing impurities from ores, and other technological advances in mineral extraction and processing that can make lower-grade ores accessible, sometimes at lower costs. For example, shortly after World War Il, rich deposits of high-grade iron ore in northern Minnesota (USA) were economically depleted. By the 1960s, a new process had been developed for mining taconite, a low-grade and plentiful ore that had been viewed as waste rock in the iron mining process. This improvement in mining technology expanded Minnesota's iron reserves and supported a taconite mining industry long after the high-grade iron ore reserves there had been tapped out. Similarly, in 1900 the copper ore mined in the United States was typically 5% copper by weight. Today, it is typically 0.5%, yet copper costs less (when prices are adjusted for inflation).

Several factors can limit the mining of lower-grade ores. For example, it requires mining and processing larger volumes of ore, which takes much more energy and costs more. Another factor is the dwindling supplies of freshwater needed for the mining and processing of some minerals, especially in dry areas. A third limiting factor is the growing environmental impacts of land disruption, along with waste material and pollution produced during mining and processing. One way to improve mining technology and reduce its environmental impact is to use a biological approach, sometimes called biomining. Miners use naturally occurring or genetically engineered bacteria to remove desired metals from ores through wells bored into the deposits. This leaves the surrounding environment undisturbed and reduces the air and water pollution associated with removing the metal from metal ores. On the downside, biomining is slow. It can take decades to remove the same amount of material that conventional methods can remove within months or years. So far, biomining methods are economically feasible only for low-grade ores for which conventional techniques are too expensive.

The earth's crust contains abundant deposits of nonrenewable mineral resources such as iron and aluminum. But concentrated deposits of important mineral resources such as manganese, chromium, cobalt, platinum, and rare earth metals are relatively scarce. In addition, deposits of many mineral resources are not distributed evenly among countries. Five nations (the United States, Canada, Russia, South Africa, and Australia) supply most of the nonrenewable mineral resources that modern societies use.

Since 1900, and especially since 1950, there has been a sharp rise in the total and per capita use of mineral resources in the United States. According to the USGS, each American directly and indirectly uses an average of 22 metric tons (24 tons) of mineral resources per year. The United States has economically depleted some of its once-rich deposits of metals such as lead, aluminum, and iron. Currently, the United States imports all of its supplies of 24 key nonrenewable mineral resources. Most of these imports come from reliable and politically stable countries. However, there are serious concerns about access to adequate supplies of four strategic metal resources (manganese, cobalt, chromium, and platinum) that are essential for the country's economic and military strength. The United States has little or no reserves of these metals.

Between 1900 and 2017, the U.S. population grew from 76 million to 325 million. This happened despite oscillations (movement back and forth) in the country's TFR and population growth rate. It took the country 139 years to reach a population of 100 million people, 52 years to add another 100 million, and 39 years to add a third 100 million (by 2006). During the high birth rates between 1946 and 1964 (baby boom), 79 million people were added to the US population. At the peak of the baby boom in 1957, the average TFR was 3.7 children per woman. In most years since 1972, it has been at or below 2.1 children per woman (1.8 in 2017) compared to a global TFR of 2.5. The drop in the TFR has slowed the rate of population growth in the U.S., but the country's population is still growing. In 2016 about 3 million people were added to the US population, according to the US Census Bureau. About 2.2 million were added because there were more births than deaths and the rest were legal immigrants and refugees. Since 1820, the U.S. has admitted almost twice as many legal immigrants and refugees as all other countries combined. The number of legal immigrants (including refugees) has varied during different periods because of changes in immigration laws and rates of economic growth.

Since 1965, nearly 59 million people have legally immigrated to the United States, most of them from Latin America and Asia, with the government giving preferences for those with technical training or with family members that are U.S. citizens. A 2015 study by the US Census Bureau noted that in 2013, China surpassed Mexico as the largest source of new US immigrants. A 2015 study by the Pew Research Center found that between 2009 and 2014, more legal and illegal immigrants in the U.S. returned to Mexico (where economic conditions are improving) than migrated to the U.S. According to population experts, the country's influx of immigrants has made the country more culturally diverse and has increased economic growth as these citizens worked and started businesses. An estimated 11 million illegal immigrants also live in the U.S. There is controversy over whether to deport those who can be found or to allow these individuals to meet strict criteria for becoming US citizens. In addition to the fourfold increase in population since 1900, some amazing changes in lifestyles took place in the U.S. during the twentieth century, which led to Americans living longer. Along with this came dramatic increases in per capita resource use and much larger total and per capita ecological footprints. The US Census Bureau projects that between 2017 and 2050, the US population will most likely grow from 325 million to 397 million (increase of 72 million). Because of a high per person rate of resource use and the resulting waste and pollution, each addition to the US population has an enormous environmental impact.

We can convert solar energy directly into electrical energy using PHOTOVOLTAIC (PV) CELLS, commonly called SOLAR CELLS. Most solar cells are thin transparent wafers of purified silicon (Si) or polycrystalline silicon with trace amounts of metals that allow them to conduct electricity. Between 2001 and 2015, the cost per watt of electricity Produced by solar cells fell by 83% and the cost is expected to keep falling because the lower prices are driven by advances in technology.

Solar cells have no moving parts and they operate safely and quietly with no emissions of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants. A typical solar cell has a thickness ranging from less than that of a human hair to that of a sheet of paper. When sunlight strikes solar cells, they produce electricity (a flow of electrons). Many cells wired together in a panel and many panels can be connected to produce electricity for a house or a large solar power plant (Figure 15.14). Such systems can be connected to existing electrical grids or to batteries that store the electrical energy until it is needed.

Case Study: The Crucial Importance of Rare Earth Metals

Some mineral resources are familiar, such as gold, copper, aluminum, sand, and gravel. Less well known are the rare earth metals and oxides, which are crucial to the technologies that support modern lifestyles and economies. The 17 rare earth metals, also known as rare earths' include scandium, yttrium, and 15 lanthanide chemical elements, including lanthanum. Because of their superior magnetic strength and other unique properties, these elements and compounds are important for a number of widely used technologies. Rare earths are used to make LCD flat screens for computers and television sets, energy-efficient compact fluorescent LED light bulbs, solar cells, fiber-optic cables, cell phones, and digital cameras. They are also used to manufacture batteries and motors for electric and hybrid electric cars (Figure 11.10), solar cells, catalytic converters in car exhaust systems, jet engines, and the powerful magnets in wind turbine generators. Rare earths also go into missile guidance systems, jet engines, smart bombs, aircraft electronics, and satellites. Without affordable supplies of these metals, industrialized nations could not develop the current versions of cleaner energy technology and other high-tech products that will be major sources of economic growth during this century. Many nations also need these metals to maintain their military strength. Most rare earth metals are not actually rare, but they are hard to find in concentrations high enough to extract and process at an affordable price. According to the USGS, in 2014, China had roughly 42% of the world's known rare earth reserves, Brazil had the second largest share with 17%, and the United States, with the fifth largest share, had 1.4% of the global reserves. In 2015, China produced about 90% of the world's rare earth metals and oxides. China holds the lead, partly because it does not strictly regulate the environmentally disruptive mining and processing of rare earths, which reduces its production costs. The United States and Japan are heavily dependent on rare earths and their oxides. Japan has no rare earth reserves. In the United States, the only rare earth mine, located in California, was once the world's largest supplier of rare earth metals. However, it closed down because of the expense of meeting pollution regulations, and because China had driven the prices of rare earth metals down to a point where the mine was too costly to operate. In 2016, the company that owns the mine declared bankruptcy.

J Curve

Some species have an incredible ability to increase their numbers and grow exponentially. Plotting these numbers against time yields a J shaped curve of exponential growth when a population increases by a fixed percentage each year. Members of such populations typically reproduce at an early age, have many offspring each time they reproduce, and reproduce many times with short intervals between generations. Ex: bacteria and many insect species. Exponential growth only occurs in nature when species with a high reproductive potential have few predators, plenty of food and other resources, and little competition from other species for such resources. However, there are always limits to population growth in nature. Research reveals that a rapidly growing population of any species eventually reaches some size limit imposed by limiting factors. These factors include sunlight, water, temperature, space, or nutrients, or exposure to predators or infectious diseases is the sum of all such factors in a habitat. Limiting factors largely determine an area's carrying capacity

Generalist species

Species that have broad niches. They can live in many different places, eat a variety of foods, and they are usually able to tolerate a wide range of environmental conditions. Ex: human, cockroaches, and raccoons.

nonnative species, a.k.a. invasive, alien, or exotic species.

Species that migrate into or are deliberately or accidentally introduced into an ecosystem. Usually thought of as threatening. However, most nonnative species benefit people (a lot of stuff in America got introduced from the triangular trade) Some nonnative species compete with and reduce an ecosystem's native species, causing unintended and unexpected consequences. This is when they are a threat. Nonnative species can be especially dangerous if they do not have predators and diseases, which they would normally have in their native niche, and they sometimes outcompete with native species.

Specialist species

Species that occupy narrow niches. Usually only able to live in one type of habitat, eat only one or a few types of foods, or tolerate a narrow range of environmental conditions. Due to their narrow niches, specialists are more prone to extinction compared to generalist species when environmental conditions change. Ex: China's giant panda is vulnerable to extinction because of habitat loss (and they can't easily move somewhere else if they lose their habitat), low birth rate, and its specialized diet consisting mostly of bamboo.

K selected species

Species that tend to reproduce later in life and have a small number of offspring with fairly long life spans. Typically, the offspring of k selected mammal species develop inside their mothers (where they are safe) and are born relatively large/ After birth, they mature slowly and are cared for and protected by one or both parents. In some cases, they live in herds or groups until they reach reproductive age. Such a species' population tends to be near the carrying capacity (K) of its environment. Many of these species especially those with low reproductive rates are vulnerable to extinction. Examples: Elephants, whale, and humans.

first law of thermodynamics

States that energy can be transferred and transformed, but it cannot be created or destroyed.

Some invasive species, such as kudzu vine have been deliberately introduced into ecosystems. In the 1960s, this plant was imported from Japan and planted in the southeastern U.S. in an effort to control soil erosion. Kudzu does control soil erosion, but it grows so rapidly that it engulfs hillsides, gardens, trees, stream banks, cars and anything else in its path. Dig it up or burn it, and it still keeps spreading. It can grow in sunlight or shade and is very difficult to kill, even with herbicides that can contaminate water supplies. Nicknamed "the vine that ate the South" kudzu has spread throughout much of the southeastern United States. As the climate get warmer, it could spread to the north. Kudzu is considered a menace in the United States. However, for thousands of years Asians have used a powdered form of kudzu in herbal remedies to treat a range of ailments such as fever, inflammation, flu, dysentery, hangovers, and the effects of insect and snake bites. Almost every part of the kudzu plant is edible, making it an inexpensive and readily available source of nutrition. Because it can grow rapidly where other plants cannot and is drought tolerant. it has helped people survive droughts and famines and restore severely degraded land. Ingesting small amount of kudzu powder can lessen one's desire for alcohol. As a result, it can reduce alcoholism and binge drinking. Although kudzu can engulf and kill trees, it might eventually help to save some of them. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have found that kudzu could replace trees as a source of fiber for making paper. It is also being evaluated as a raw material for producing biofuel.

The brown, pea sized Kudzu bug is another invasive species that was imported into the U.S. from Japan. It breeds and feeds on patches of kudzu, and it can help to reduce the spread of the vine. However, it spreads even more rapidly than the kudzu vine. It also feeds on soybeans, thus posing a major threat to soy crops. Some pesticides can kill the Kudzu bug but might end up boosting their numbers by promoting genetic resistance to the pesticides.

Sustainability

The capacity of the earth's natural systems that support life and human social systems to keep surviving or adapting to changing environmental conditions.

Tornadoes/twisters

Swirling, funnel-shaped clouds that form over land. They can destroy houses and cause other serious damage in areas where they touch down. The U.S. is the world's most tornado prone country and Australia is the second. Tornadoes in the plains of the Midwestern United States often occur when a large, dry, cold front moving southward from Canada runs into a large mass of warm humid air moving northward from the Gulf of Mexico. As the large warm front moves rapidly over the denser cold air mass, it rises swiftly and forms strong vertical convection currents that such air upward. Scientists hypothesize that the interaction of the cooler air nearer the ground and the rapidly rising warmer air above causes a spinning, vertically rising air mass, called a vortex. Most tornadoes in the American Midwest occur in the spring and summer when cold fronts from the north penetrate deeply into the Great Plains and the Midwest.

Some governments are working to reduce species extinction and sustain ecosystem services by establishing and enforcing international treaties and conventions as well as national environmental policies and laws. One of the most far reaching of international agreements is the 1975 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This treaty, signed by 181 countries, bans the hunting, capturing, and selling of threatened or endangered species. It lists 931 species that are in danger of extinction and cannot be commercially traded as live specimens or for their parts or products. It restricts the international trade of roughly 5,600 animal species and 30,000 plant species that are at risk of becoming threatened. Effect has been limited because enforcement varies from country to country, with violators often only paying small fines. Another important treaty is the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), ratified or accepted by 196 countries (not the U.S. as of 2017). CBD legally commits participating governments to reduce the global rate of biodiversity loss and to share the benefits from use of the world's genetic resources. It also includes efforts to prevent or control the spread of harmful invasive species This convention is a landmark in international law because it focuses on ecosystems rather than on individual species. It also links biodiversity protection to issues such as the traditional rights of indigenous people. However, implementation has been slow because some key countries (U.S.,etc.) have not ratified it.

The U.S. enacted the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1973 and has amended it several times since. The Act is designed to identify and protect endangered species in the U.S. and abroad. ESA creates recovery programs for the species in its list, and its goal is to help each species' numbers recover to levels where legal protection is no longer needed. When that happens, a species can be taken off the list; delisted. Under the ESA, no land or water use projects or activities (with the exception of Defense Department concerns) may be carried out that would jeopardize or endanger a listed species or destroy critical habitat. Citizens may be fined if offenses are committed on their own private land, making this law controversial. On the other hand, private landowners are given incentives to save endangered species living on their lands. ESA also requires that all commercial shipments of wildlife and wildlife products entering or leaving the country be transported through specific US airports and ocean ports where inspectors can confiscate illegal cargo and fine those in violation of the law. ESA is probably the most successful and far reaching environmental law adopted by any nation. According to a study by the Center for Biological Diversity, 90% of the ESA protected species are recovering at the rate projected in their recovery plans and 99% of the listed species have been saved from extinction.

Bioaccumulation

The accumulation of a substance, such as a toxic chemical, in the tissues of a living organism.

Biodiversity

The amount of biological or living diversity in an area. It includes the concepts of species diversity, habitat diversity and genetic diversity.

total fertility rate (TFR)

The average number of children born to the women of childbearing age in a population. Between 1955 and 2017, the global TFR dropped from 5.0 to 2.5. Those who support slowing the world's population growth view this as good news. However, to eventually halt population growth, the global TFR must drop to and remain at the fertility replacement level of 2.1. With a TFR of 4.6, Africa's population is growing more than twice as fast as any other continent and is projected to more than double from 1.25 billion in 2017 to 2.7 billion in 2050. Africa is also the world's poorest continent. Estimates of any population's future numbers can vary considerably, depending mostly on TFR projections. Demographers also have to make assumptions about death rates, migration, and a number of other variables. If their assumptions are wrong, their population forecasts can be inaccurate.

background extinction rate

The average rate at which species become extinct over the long term. Scientists estimate that the background rate typically amounts to a loss of about 1 species per year for every 1 million species living on the earth.

importance of biodiversity concept

The biodiversity found in genes, species, ecosystems, and ecosystem processes is vital to sustaining the earth's life.

divergent boundary

The boundary that occurs where two tectonic plates move away from each other (Figure 11.21). At divergent boundaries, magma flows up where the plates separate, sometimes hardening and forming new crust and sometimes breaking to the surface and causing volcanic eruptions. Earthquakes can also occur because of divergence of plates, and superheated water can erupt as geysers.

phosphorus cycle

The cyclic movement of phosphorus (P) through water, the earth's crust, and living organisms. Most of the phosphorus use in the cycle are in phosphate rocks which contain phosphate ions (PO₄³⁻) and are an important plant nutrient. Phosphorus does not cycle through the atmosphere because few of its compounds exist as a gas, and it cycles slower than water, carbon, and nitrogen. As water runs over the phosphate rocks inorganic compounds that contain phosphate ions are slowly eroded away. The water then carries the ions into soil, where they are absorbed by the roots of producers. Phosphate compounds are then transferred to the organism that consumes the producer, then the carnivore that consume the herbivore, etc; the transferring process follows the food web. Phosphate and other phosphorus compounds are sometimes washed into the ocean and become trapped. Over time, geological processes sometimes uplift and expose the phosphorus deposits. From there, phosphate can be eroded and reenter the phsophorus cycle.

Concept about life on Earth

The earth's 7million to 100 million species vary greatly in their characteristics and ecological roles.

kinetic energy

The energy matter in motion has. Ex: a car speeding down the highway, electricity flowing through a conducting material, and wind

mass extinction

The extinction of a large number of species within a relatively short period of geological time. Geological, fossil, and other records indicate that the earth has experienced five mass extinctions, during which 50-90% of the species present at the time went extinct over thousands of years. The largest mass extinction took place about 250 million years ago and wiped out about 90% of the world's existing species. Mass extinctions devastate life on earth. But they also provide opportunities for new life forms to emerge, diversify, and fill empty ecological niches. Scientific evidence indicates that after each mass extinction, the earth's overall biodiversity returned to equal or higher levels. However, each recovery took several million years. The existence of millions of species today means speciation on average has kept ahead of extinction. It also demonstrates the biodiversity principle of sustainability as a factor in the long term sustainability of life on earth. The causes of past mass extinctions are poorly understood but probably involved global changes in environmental conditions (sustained significant global warming or cooling, large changes in sea levels and ocean water acidity, and catastrophes such as multiple large scale volcanic eruptions and large asteroids or comets hitting the planet).

Most published estimates of the supply of a given nonrenewable mineral resource refer to its reserves (identified deposits from which we can extract the mineral profitably at current prices). Reserves can be expanded when we find new, profitable deposits or when higher prices or improved mining technologies make it profitable to extract deposits that previously were too expensive to remove.

The future supply of any nonrenewable mineral resource depends on the actual or potential supply of the mineral and the rate at which we use it. We have never completely run out of a nonrenewable mineral resource, but a mineral becomes economically depleted when it costs more than it is worth to find, extract, transport, and process the remaining deposits. At that point, there are five choices: recycle or reuse existing supplies, waste less, use less, find a substitute, or do without.

How do Human Accelerate Species Extinction and Degradation of Ecosystem Services? Concept

The greatest threats to species and ecosystem services are loss or degradation of habitat, harmful invasive species, human population growth, pollution, climate change, and overexploitation.

Sustainable yield

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

Natural selection

The idea that individuals with certain genetic traits are more likely to survive and reproduce under a specific set of environmental conditions. These individuals then pass these traits to their offspring. Explains how populations evolve in response to changes in environmental conditions by changing their genetic makeup.

responsibility to future generations (from ethics)

The idea that we should leave the planet's life- support system in a condition that is as good as or better than it is now.

Biomagnification

The increase in chemical concentration in animal tissues as the chemical moves up the food chain. Ex: Fish has 1 chemical thing, eaten by bird, now bird has 1+ the amount it normally has +how much ever fish it gonna eat later.

One way for industries and utility companies to save energy is to use COGENERATION to produce two useful forms of energy (electricity and heat) from the same fuel source. For example, the steam used for generating electricity in a power or industrial plant can be captured and used to heat the plant or other nearby buildings, rather than being released into the environment as waste heat.

The industrial sector includes all facilities and equipment used to produce, process, or assemble goods. Industries that use the most energy are those that produce petroleum, chemicals, cement, steel, aluminum, and paper and wood products. Recycling materials such as steel and other metals can also help industries save energy and money. For example, producing steel from recycled scrap iron uses 75% less high-quality energy than does producing steel from virgin iron ore and emits 40% less C02. Industries can also save energy by using energy-efficient LED lighting; installing smart meters to monitor energy use; and shutting off computers, printers, and nonessential lights when they are not needed. A growing number of major corporations are saving money by improving energy efficiency. For example, between 1990 and 2014, Dow Chemical Company, which operates 165 manufacturing plants in 37 countries, saved $27 billion in a comprehensive program to improve energy efficiency. Ford Motor Company saves $1 million a year by turning off unused computers.

Mantle

The layer of hot, solid material between Earth's crust and core; is a thick zone surrounding the core. Made mostly of solid rock that can be soft and pliable at very high temperatures. The outermost part of the mantle is entirely solid rock.

clear cut

The method often used by loggers. The removal of all of the trees in an area. It is the most efficient and sometimes cost effective way to harvest trees. It provides profits in the shortest time for landowners and timber companies. However, clear cutting can harm or destroy an ecosystem by causing forest soil erosion, sediment pollution of nearby waterways, and losses in biodiversity. Clear cutting also contributes to atmospheric warming, which causes climate change because the stored carbon dioxide (CO2) is released into the atmosphere. Also, there is less trees to take in CO2, and the carbon cycle is altered as a result.

Core Case Study Checkpoint Chapter 11

The mining and sale of gold converts mineral resources into products that sustain human economies. However, the environmental impacts of gold mining can be devastating. Discuss these impacts and identify several ways they can be reduced.

Since the late 1960s, ecologists have developed mathematical models that simulate ecosystems, and they run the models on high speed supercomputers.

The models help them understand large and complex systems, such as lakes, oceans, forests, and the earth's climate, that cannot be adequately studied and modeled in field or laboratory research.

Competition

The most common interaction among species. It occurs when members of one or more species interact to use the same limited resources such as food, water, light (plants), and space.

Temperate forest

The most common type of temperate forest is temperate deciduous forest. Temperate deciduous forest have warm summers, cold winters, and abundant precipitation (rain in summer and snow in winter months). They are dominated by a few species of broadleaf deciduous trees (ex: oak, hickory, maple, aspen, and birch). Animal species living in these forests include predators such as wolves, foxes, and wildcats. They feed on herbivores such as white tailed deer, squirrels, rabbits, and mice. Warblers, robins, and other bird species live in these forests during the spring and summer, mating and raising their young. The leaves of the trees in this forest drop off after developing their vibrant colors in the fall. This allows the trees to survive the cold winters by becoming dormant. Each spring, the trees sprout new leaves and spend their summers growing and producing until the cold weather returns. Because they have cooler temperatures and fewer decomposers than tropical forests have, temperate forests also have a slower rate of decomposition. As a result, they accumulate a thick layer of slowly decaying leaf litter, which becomes a storehouse of soil nutrients. On a global basis, temperate forests have been degraded by various human activities (especially logging and urban expansion) more than any other terrestrial biome.

Scientists estimate the toxicity of a chemical by determining the effects of various doses of the chemical on test organisms and plotting the results in a DOSE RESPONSE CURVE (Figure 16.15). One approach is to determine the lethal dose—the dose that will kill an animal. A chemical's median lethal dose (LD50) is the dose that can kill animals (usually rats and mice) in a test population within a given time period, usually expressed in milligrams of the chemical per kilogram of body weight (mg/kg). There are three general types of dose-response curves. With the NONTHRESHOLD DOSE RESPONSE MODEL (Figure 16.15, left), any dosage of a toxic chemical causes harm that increases with the dosage. With the THRESHOLD DOSE RESPONSE MODEL (Figure 16.15, center), a certain level, or threshold, of exposure to the chemical must be reached before any detectable harmful effects occur, presumably because the body can repair the damage caused by low dosages of some substances. With the third type, called the UNCONVENTIONAL MODEL (Figure 16.15, right), the harmful effects increase with dosage to a certain point and then begin decreasing.

The most widely used method for determining toxicity is to expose a population of live laboratory animals to measured doses of a specific substance under controlled conditions. Laboratory-bred mice and rats are widely used because, as mammals, their systems function similarly to human systems, to some degree. Also, they are small and can reproduce rapidly under controlled laboratory conditions. Animal tests typically take 2 to 5 years, involve hundreds to thousands of test animals, and can cost as much as $2 million per substance tested. Some of these tests can be painful to the test animals and can kill or harm them. Animal welfare groups want to limit or ban the use of test animals and. at the very least, want to ensure that they are treated in the most humane manner possible. Chemicals vary widely in their toxicity. Some toxins can cause serious harm or death after a single very low dose. For example, a few drops of pure nicotine (found in e-cigarettes) would make you very sick, while a teaspoon of it could kill you. Others such as water or table sugar cause such harm only at dosages so huge that it is nearly impossible to get enough into the body to cause injury or death. Most chemicals fall between these two extremes. Establishing which of these three models applies at low dosages is extremely difficult and controversial. To be on the safe side, scientists often choose the nonthreshold dose-response model. High dosages are used to reduce the number of test animals needed, obtain results quickly, and lower costs. Use of low dosages would require running tests on millions of laboratory animals for many years, in which case chemical companies and government agencies could not afford to test most chemicals. For the same reasons, scientists usually use mathematical models to extrapolate, or estimate, the effects of lowdose exposures based on the measured results of high-dose exposures. Then they extrapolate these results from test organisms to humans as a way of estimating LD50 values acute toxicity. some scientists challenge the validity of extrapolating data from test animals to humans, because human physiology and metabolism often differ from those of the test animals, as well as from person to person. Other scientists say that such tests and models can work well, especially for revealing cancer risks, when the correct experimental animal is chosen, or when a chemical is toxic to several different test-animal species. More humane methods for toxicity testing are available and are being used more often to replace testing on live animals. They include making computer simulations and using individual animal cells, instead of whole, live animals. High-speed robot testing devices can now screen the biological activity of more than 1 million compounds a day to help determine their possible toxic effects.

ecoogical succession

The normally gradual change in species composition in a given terrestrial area or aquatic system. An important ecosystem service that can enrich the biodiversity of communities and ecosystems by increasing species diversity and interactions among species. Such interactions enhance sustainability by promoting population control and increasing the complexity of food webs. Two types, depending on the conditions present at the beginning of the process: Primary ecological succession and secondary ecological succession

Tremendous heat within the core and mantle generates convection cells or currents. The innermost material heats, rises, and begins to cool. As it cools, it becomes denser and sinks back toward the core where it is reheated, creating a huge loop of slowly moving material. These loops within the mantle operate like gigantic conveyer belts (Figure 11.3) Some of the molten rock in the asthenosphere flows upward into the crust, where it is called magma. When magma erupts onto the earth's surface, it is called lava. This cycling moves rock and minerals and transfers heat and energy within the earth and to its surface

The outermost and thinnest zone of solid material is the earth's crust. It consists of the continental crust, which underlies the continents (including the continental shelves extending into the oceans), and the oceanic crust, which underlies the ocean basins and makes up 71% of the earth's crust. The combination of the crust and the rigid, outermost part of the mantle is called the lithosphere. This zone contains the mineral resource we use.

periodic table of elements

The periodic table contains 118 elements, not all occur naturally . A table that classifies elements by their physical and chemical properties; rows are called periods; columns are called groups.

Forces inside the earth's mantle put tremendous stress on rock within the crust. Such stresses can be great enough to cause sudden breakage and shifting of the rock, producing a FAULT, or fracture in the earth's crust (Figure 11.22). When a fault forms, or when there is abrupt movement on an existing fault, energy that has accumulated over time is released in the form of vibrations, called SEISMIC WAVES, which move in all directions through the surrounding rock, an event called an EARTHQUAKE (Figure 11.24 and concept 11.6). Most earthquakes occur at the boundaries of tectonic plates (Figures 11.21 and 11.22). Seismic waves move upward and outward from the earthquake's focus like ripples in a pool of water. Scientists measure the severity of an earthquake by the magnitude of its seismic waves. The magnitude is a measure of ground motion (shaking) caused by the earthquake, as indicated by the AMPLITUDE, or size of the seismic waves when they reach a recording instrument, called a SEISMOGRAPH. Scientists use the RICHTER SCALE, on which each unit has an amplitude 10 times greater than the next smaller unit. SEISMOLOGISTS, or people who study earthquakes, rate earthquakes as insignificant (less than 4.0 on the Richter scale), minor (4.0— 4.9), damaging (5.0-5.9), destructive (6.0-6.9), major (7.0-7.9), and great (over 8.0). The largest recorded earthquake occurred In Chile on May 22, 1960, and measured 9.5 on the Richter scale. Each year, scientists record the magnitudes of more than I million earthquakes, most of which are too small to feel.

The primary effects of earthquakes include shaking and sometimes a permanent vertical or horizontal displacement of a part of the crust. These effects can have serious consequences for people and for buildings, bridges, freeway overpasses, dams, and pipelines. One way to reduce the loss of life and property damage from earthquakes is to examine historical records and make geological measurements to locate active fault zones. We can then map high-risk areas and establish building codes that regulate the placement and design of buildings in such areas. Then people can evaluate the risk and factor it into their decisions about where to live. In addition, engineers know how to make homes, large buildings, bridges, and freeways more earthquake resistant, although this is costly.

carbon cycle

The process in which carbon circulating trough the biosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere. Carbon dioxide is a key component

nutrient cycles/ biogeochemical cycles (life-earth-chemical cycles)

The process in which elements and compounds that make up nutrients move continually though air, water, soil, rock, and living organisms within ecosystems. Represents chemical cycling principle of sustainability. Nutrient cycles are driven directly and indirectly by solar energy and the earth's gravity. Human activities are affecting the cycles. Nutrient cycles compose of: hydrologic (water), carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles.

Nitrogen cycle

The process where the chemical forms of nitrogen, ammonia (NH3), ammonium ions (NH₄⁺), and nitrate ions (NO3-), that are a planet nutrient are created by lightning and bacteria, which converts Nitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH3). Bacteria in the topsoil and bottom sediments of aquatic systems convert NH3 to NH₄⁺ and NO3-, which plants then take using their roots.Using these forms of nitrogen, plants make various proteins, nucleic acids, and vitamins. The animals that eat plants and detritus feeders, ad decomposers consume the compounds that contain nitrogen. Bacteria in waterlogged soil and bottom sediments of lakes, oceans, swamps, and bogs convert nitrogen compounds into nitrogen gas (N2). The gas is release into the atmosphere and the nitrogen cycle begins again.

Most soils contain little phosphate, which usually limits plant growth on land unless phosphorus, in the form of phosphate salts mined from the earth) is applied to the soil as fertilizers.

The same problem happens in freshwater streams and lakes because phosphate salts are only slightly soluble in water and do not release many phosphate ions to producers in aquatic systems.

Viruses are not affected by antibiotics and can be deadly. The biggest viral killer is the influenza or flu virus (Concept 16.2), which is transmitted by the body fluids or airborne droplets released when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Influenza often leads to fatal pneumonia. Flu viruses are so easily transmitted that an especially potent flu virus could spread around the world in a pandemic that could kill millions of people in only a few months.

The second biggest viral killer is the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV . On a global scale, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), HIV infected about 2.1 million people in 2016 (down from 3.1 million in 2000), and the complications resulting from AIDS killed about 1.1 million (down from 2 million in 2005). HIV is transmitted by unsafe sex, the sharing of needles by drug users, infected mothers who pass the virus to their babies before or during birth, and exposure to infected blood. The third largest viral killer is the hepatitis B virus (HBV), which damages the liver. According to the WHO, it kills more than 780,000 people each year. It is spread in the same ways that HIV is spread. Another deadly virus is the West Nile virus, which is transmitted to humans by the bite of a common mosquito that is infected when it feeds on birds that carry the virus. In the United States, according to the CDC, between 1999 and 2015, the virus caused severe illnesses in nearly 42,500 people and killed about 1,800 people. About 45% of all infections affect the brain and spinal cord, and such infections account for 93% of all deaths due to West Nile virus. Scientists estimate that throughout history, more than half of all infectious diseases were originally transmitted to humans from wild or domesticated animals. The development of such diseases has spurred the growth of the relatively new field of ecological medicine

Stratosphere

The second innermost layer of the atmosphere (the one after the troposphere) reaches from 11-31 miles above the earth's surface. Contains enough ozone (O3) gas to filter out about 95% of the sun's harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation. This allow life to exist on the surface of the earth.

genes

The sequence of nucleotides that make up DNA molecules. Each of these segments of DNA contain instructions/codes called genetic information.

Minimum viable population

The smallest population size at which a species is able to sustain its numbers and survive.

What does solar energy do for us?

The sun's energy warms the planet and provides energy that plants us to produce nutrients (the chemicals that plants and animals need to survive)

Grasslands occur primarily in the interiors of continents in areas that are too moist for deserts to form and too dry for forests to grow. Grasslands persists because of a combination of seasonal drought, grazing by large herbivores, and occasional fires. All of which keep shrubs and trees from growing in large numbers.

The three main types of grasslands (tropical, temperate, and cold/arctic tundra) result from long term combination of low average precipitation and varying average temperatures.

ecotone

The transition from one type of habitat or ecosystem to another, such as the transition from a forest to a grassland. It is a region containing a mixture of species from adjacent ecosystems along with some migrant species not found in either of the ecosystems that border each other.

ground water

The water that is stored underground

Some solutions to taking care of white tailed deer

There are no easy solutions to the deer population problem in suburbs. Changes in hunting regulations that allow for the killing of more female deer have cut down the overall deer population. However, this has had a limited effect on deer populations in suburban areas because it is too dangerous to allow widespread hunting with guns in such populated communities. Some areas have hired experienced and licensed archers who use bows and arrows to help reduce deer numbers. To protect nearby residents the archers hunt from elevated tree stands and only shoot their arrows downward. Some communities spray the scent of deer predators or of rotting deer meat in edge areas to scare off deer. Others scare off deer by using electronic equipment that emits high frequency sounds that humans cannot hear. Some homeowners surround their gardens and yards with high, black plastic mesh fencing. Deer can be trapped and moved from one area to another, but this is expensive and must be repeated whenever they move back into an area. In addition, there are questions concerning where to move the deer and how to pay for such programs. Darts loaded with contraceptives can be shot into female deer to hold down their birth rates, but this is expensive and must be repeated every year. One possibility is an experimental, single shot contraceptive vaccine that lasts for several years. Another approach is to trap dominant males and use chemical injections to sterilize them. Both of these approaches are costly and will require years of testing. Suburban dwellers could also stop planting trees, shrubs, and flowers that attract deer around their homes.

Cities also create distinct microclimates based on their weather averaged over three decades or more. Bricks, concrete, asphalt, and other building materials absorb and hold heat, and buildings block wind. Motor vehicles and the heating and cooling systems of buildings release large quantities of heat and pollutants. As a result, cities on average tend to have more haze and smog, higher temperatures, and lower wind speeds than the surrounding countryside.

These factors make cities heat islands

As energy flows from the sun to the earth, some of it is reflected by the earth's surface back into the atmosphere. Molecules of certain gases in the atmosphere, including water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O), absorb some of this solar energy and release a portion of it as infrared radiation (heat) that warms the lower atmosphere and the earth's surface.

These gases are called greenhouse gasses, and they play a role in determining the lower atmosphere's average temperatures and thus the earth's climates.

Cold/ northern coniferous forest/ boreal forest/ taigas

They are found south of the arctic tundra in northern regions across North America, Asia, Europe, and above certain altitudes in the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountain range. In the subarctic, cold, and moist climate of the northernmost boreal forests, winters are long and extremely cold, with winter sunlight available only 6 to 8 hours per day. Summers are short, with cool to warm temperatures, and the sun shines as long as 19 hours a day during midsummer. Most boreal forests are dominated by a few species of coniferous evergreen trees or conifers such as spruce, fir, cedar, hemlock, and pine. Plant diversity is low because few species can survive the winters when soil moisture is frozen. Beneath the stands of trees in these forests is a deep layer of partially decomposed conifer needles. Decomposition is slow because of the low temperatures, the waxy coating on the needles, ad high soil acidity. The decomposing conifer needles make the thin, nutrient poor topsoil acidic, which prevents most other plants (except certain shrubs) from growing on the forest floor. Year round wildlife in this biome includes bears, wolves, moose, lynx, and many burrowing rodent species. Caribou spend winter in the taiga and summer in the arctic tundra. During the brief summer, warblers and other insect eating birds feed on flies, mosquitoes, and caterpillars.

riparian zones

Thin strips and patches of vegetation that surround streams, ponds, and rivers. Cattle prefer to graze in these areas. They are very important habitats and resources for wildlife.

The enriched uranium fuel in a typical nuclear reactor lasts 3-4 years, after which it becomes spent, or useless and must be replaced. The spent fuel rods are so thermally hot and highly radioactive that they cannot be thrown away. After spent-fuel rod assemblies are removed from reactors, they are stored in water filled pools (Figure 14.24, left). After several years of cooling and decay of some of radioactivity, they can be transferred to dry casks made of heat resistant metal alloys and concrete and filled inert helium gas (Figure 14.24, right). These casks are licensed for 20 years and could last for 100 or years—only a tiny fraction of the thousands of years the radioactive waste must be safely stored. Spent nuclear fuel rods can also be processed to remove radioactive plutonium, which can then be used as nuclear fuel or for making nuclear weapons, thus closing the nuclear fuel cycle (Figure 14.22). Reprocessing reduces the storage time for the remaining wastes from up to 240,000 years (longer than the current version of the human species has been around) to about 10,000 years. However, reprocessing is costly and produces bomb grade plutonium that can be used by nations to make nuclear weapons, as India did in 1974. Another costly radioactive waste problem arises when a nuclear reactor reaches the end of its useful life after about 40 to 60 years and must be decommissioned. Scientists and engineers have proposed three ways to do this: (l) remove and store the highly radioactive parts in a permanent. secure repository (which does not yet exist); (2) install a physical barrier around the plant and set up full-time security for 30 to 100 years before dismantling the plant and storing its radioactive parts in a repository; and (3) enclose the entire plant in a concrete and steel-reinforced tomb called a containment structure.

This last option (enclose the entire plant in a concrete and steel-reinforced tomb called a containment structure.) was used with a reactor at Chernobyl, Ukraine, that exploded and nearly melted down in 1986, due to a combination of poor reactor design and human operator error. The explosion and the radiation released over large areas of several countries killed hundreds and perhaps thousands of people. It also contaminated a large area of land with long-lasting radioactive fallout. A few years after the containment structure was built, it began to crumble and leak radioactive wastes, due to the corrosive nature of the radiation inside the damaged reactor. The structure is being rebuilt at great cost and is unlikely to last even several hundred years. Regardless of the method chosen, retiring nuclear plants adds to the enormous costs of the nuclear power fuel cycle and reduces its already low net energy.

When the drier air mass passes over the mountaintop, it flows down the leeward slopes (facing away from the wind) and warms up. This warmer air can hold more moisture, but it typically does not release much of it. This tends to dry out plants and soil below.

This process is called the rain shadow effect. Over many decades, it results in semiarid or arid conditions on the leeward side of a high mountain range. Sometimes this effect leads to the formation of deserts such as Death Valley (a part of the Mojave Desert) which lies within the U.S. states of California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona.

Soil provides the minerals needed for muscles, bone, and other parts of the body. Soil also provided nutrients for plants and purifies water.

Through aerobic respiration, organisms living in soil remove some of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and store it as organic chemical compounds, helping to control the earth's climate.

The earth's surface absorbs much of the solar energy that strikes it and transforms it into longer wavelength infrared radiation, which then rises into the lower atmosphere. Some of this heat escapes into space, but some is absorbed by molecules of greenhouse gases and emitted into the lower atmosphere as even longer wavelength infrared radiation. Some of this released energy radiates into space, and some adds to the warming of the lower atmosphere and the earth's surface.

Together these processes result in a natural warming of the troposphere called the greenhouse effect. Without this natural warming effect, the earth would be a very cold and mostly lifeless planet.

Typhoons

Tropical cyclones that form in the Pacific Ocean.

All living systems, from a cell to the biosphere, constantly change in response to changing environmental conditions. Living systems have complex processes that interact to provide some degree of stability or sustainability. This stability, or the capacity to withstand external stress and disturbance is maintained by constant change in response to changing environmental conditions. In a mature tropical rain forest, some trees die and other take their places. However, unless the forest is cut, burned, or otherwise destroyed you would still recognize it as a tropical rain forest 50 or 100 years from now.

Two aspects of stability or sustainability in ecosystems. 1. Inertia/persistence 2. resilience Evidence suggests that some ecosystems only have one of these properties but not the other. Tropical rain forests have high species diversity and high inertia and thus are resistant to low levels of change or damage. But once a large tract of tropical rain forest is cleared or severely damaged, the resilience of degraded forest ecosystem may be so low that the degradation reaches an ecological tipping point. Beyond that point, the forest might not be restored by secondary ecological succession. One reason is that most of the nutrients in a tropical rain forest are stored in its vegetation, not the topsoil. Once the nutrient rich vegetation is gone, frequent rains on a large cleared area of land can remove most of the remaining soil nutrients and thus prevent the return of a tropical rain forest to such an area. By contrast, grasslands are much less diverse than most forests. Thus, they have low inertia and can burn easily. Because most of their plant matter is stored in underground roots, these ecosystems have high resilience and can recover quickly after a fire because their root systems produce new grasses. Grassland can be destroyed only if its roots are plowed up and something else is planted in its place, or if it is severely overgrazed by livestock or other herbivores.

DNA (DeoxyriboNucleic Acid) and RNA (RiboNucleic Acid)

Two nucleic acids that help build proteins and carry hereditary information used to pass traits from parent to offspring.

A TOXIC CHEMICAL is an element or compound that can cause temporary or permanent harm or death to humans. There are three major types of potentially toxic agents. CARCINOGENS are chemicals, some types of radiation, and certain viruses that can cause or promote cancer. Cancer is a disease in which malignant cells multiply uncontrollably and create tumors that can damage the body and often lead to premature death. Examples of carcinogens are arsenic, benzene. formaldehyde, PCBs, radon, vinyl chloride, and certain chemicals in tobacco smoke. The second major type of toxic agent, MUTAGENS, includes chemicals or forms of radiation that causes or increase the frequency of mutations, or changes, in DNA molecules found in cells. Most mutations cause no harm, but some can lead to cancers and other disorders. Harmful mutations occurring in reproductive cells can be passed on to offspring and to future generations. TERATOGENS, a third type of toxic agent, are chemicals that harm or cause birth defects in a fetus or embryo. Ethyl alcohol is a teratogen. Women who drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy increase their risk of having babies low birth weight and a number of physical, developmental behavioral, and mental problems. Other teratogens are mercury, PCBs, lead, and formaldehyde.

Typically, 10 to 40 years may pass between the initial exposure to a carcinogen and the appearance of detectable cancer symptoms. This time lag helps explain why many healthy teenagers and young adults have trouble believing that their own habits, such as smoking, excessive drinking, and poor diet. could lead to some form of cancer before they reach age 50.

Urbanization has many benefits. Cities are centers of economic development, innovation, education, technological advances, social and cultural diversity, and jobs. Residents usually have better access to medical care, family planning, education, and social services than do their rural counterparts. Urban areas also have some environmental advantages. Recycling is more economically feasible because of the high concentrations of recyclable materials in urban areas. Concentrating people in urban areas preserves biodiversity by reducing the stress on wildlife habitats outside of urban areas. Central city dwellers also tend to drive less and rely more on mass transportation, car pooling, walking, and bicycling.

Urbanization has disadvantages. Most urban areas are unsustainable systems. Although urban populations occupy only about 2.8% of the earth's land area, they consume about 75% of its resources and produce about 75% of the world's pollution and wastes. Most cities lack vegetation. Therefore, they can suffer from flooding from nearby rivers, concentrate pollution and health problems, and have excessive noise. The enormous amount of heat generated by cars, factories, furnaces, lights, air conditioners, and heat absorbing dark roofs and streets creates an URBAN HEAT ISLAND surrounded by cooler suburban and rural areas. As urban areas grow and merge, these heat islands merge. This can reduce the natural dilution and cleansing of polluted air. The urban heat island effect can also increase dependence on air condition. This in turn leads to higher energy consumption, heat generation, greenhouse gas emissions, and other forms of air pollution.

Cold deserts

Vegetation is sparse/ spread out. Winters are cold, summers are warms or hot, and precipitation is low. Ex: Gobi Desert

How Can We Manage And Sustain Wetlands? Concept

We can maintain the ecosystem and economic services of wetlands by protecting remaining wetlands and restoring degraded wetlands.

The more complex a technological system, and the more people needed to design and run it, the more difficult it is to estimate the risks of using the system. The overall reliability of such as of such a system—the probability (expressed as a percentage) that the system will complete a task without failing is the product of two factors: System reliability (%) = Technology reliability (%) x Human reliability (%) With careful design, quality control, maintenance, and monitoring, a highly complex system such as a nuclear power plant or a deep-sea oil-drilling rig can achieve a high degree of technological reliability. But human reliability usually is much lower than technological reliability and is almost impossible to predict. Suppose the estimated technological reliability of a nuclear power plant is 95% (0.95) and human reliability is 75% (0.75). Then the overall system reliability is 71% (0.95 x 0.75 = 71%). Even if we could make the technology 100% reliable (1.0), the overall system reliability would still be only 75% (1.0 X 0.75 = 75%).

We can make a system safer by moving more of the potentially fallible elements from the human side to the technological side. However, chance events such as a lightning strike can knock out an automatic control system, and no machine or computer program can completely replace human judgment. Also, the parts in any automated control system are manufactured, assembled, tested, certified, inspected, and maintained by fallible human beings. In addition, computer software programs used to monitor and control complex systems can be flawed because of human design error or can be deliberately sabotaged to cause their malfunction.

How Can we Sustain Wild Species and the Ecosystem Services They Provide? Concept

We can reduce species extinction and sustain ecosystem services by establishing and enforcing national environmental laws and international treaties and by creating and protecting wildlife sanctuaries.

Pollution prevention is a strategy for implementing the PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE. According to this principle, when there is substantial preliminary evidence that an activity, technology, or chemical substance can harm humans, other organisms, or the environment, decision makers should take measures to prevent or reduce such harm, rather than waiting for more conclusive scientific evidence.

We know little about the potentially toxic chemicals around us and inside of us. and estimating their effects is very difficult, time-consuming and expensive. So where does this leave us? are known or suspected to cause significant harm should not be released into the environment at pollutant levels. Preventing such pollution means looking for harmless or less harmful substitutes for toxic and hazardous chemicals. It also requires recycling them within production processes to keep them from reaching the environment as companies such as DuPont and 3M have been doing. There is controversy over how far we should go in using the precautionary principle. Those who favor a precautionary approach argue that a person or company, proposing to introduce a new chemical or technology should bear the burden of establishing its safety. This would require two major changes in the way we evaluate and manage risks. First, we would assume that new chemicals and technologies could be harmful until scientific studies could show otherwise. Second, the existing chemicals and technologies that appear to have a strong chance of causing harm would be removed from the market until we could establish their safety. For example, after decades of research revealed the harmful effects of lead, especially on children, lead-based paints and leaded gasoline were phased out in most developed countries. Manufacturers and businesses contend that widespread application of the precautionary approach and requiring more pollution prevention would make it too expensive and almost impossible to introduce any new chemical or technology. They note that there is always some uncertainty in any scientific assessment of risk. Proponents of increased reliance on the precautionary principle argue that it would focus the efforts on finding solutions to pollution problems that are based on prevention rather than on cleanup. It also reduces health risks for employees and society, frees businesses from having to deal with pollution regulations, and reduces the threat of lawsuits from injured parties. Proponents also argue that we have an ethical responsibility to reduce serious risks to human health, to the environment, and to future generations, in keeping with the ethical principle of sustainability (see the inside back cover of this book). The European Union is applying the precautionary principle through pollution prevention. The Stockholm Convention of 2000 is an international agreement to ban or phase out the use of 12 of the most notorious persistent organic pollutants (POPs), also called the dirty dozen. These highly toxic chemicals have been shown to produce numerous harmful effects, including cancers, birth defects, compromised immune systems, and declining sperm counts and sperm quality in men in a number Of countries. The list includes DDT and eight other pesticides, PCBs, and dioxins. In 2009, nine more POPS were added, some of which are widely used in pesticides and ill flame-retardants added to clothing, furniture, and Other consumer goods. The treaty went into effect in 2004 has not been formally approved or implemented b! the United States. In 2007, the European Union enacted regulations as REACH (for Registration, Evaluation, Authorize and restriction of Chemicals). It required the registration of 30,000 untested, unregulated, and potentially harmful chemicals. In the REACH process, the most hazardous substances are not approved for use if safer alternatives exist. REACH puts more of the burden on industry to show that chemicals are safe. Conventional regulation such as that used in the United States has put the burden on governments to show that they are dangerous. The US chemical regulation structure was enacted in the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act. At Congressional hearings, experts have testified that this system makes it virtually impossible for the government to limit or ban the use of toxic chemicals. The hearings found that by 2009, the EPA had required testing for only 200 of the more than 85,000 chemicals registered for use and had issued regulations to control fewer than 12 of those chemicals. In 2011, the EPA took a step toward pollution prevention by issuing a rule to control emissions of mercury (Core Case Study) and harmful fine-particle pollution from older coal-burning plants in 28 states. Many eastern states have high depositions of mercury and harmful particles produced by coal-burning power and electric plants in the Midwest and blown eastward by prevailing winds (Figure 16.17). The new air pollution standards could prevent as many as 11,000 premature deaths, 200,000 nonfatal heart attacks, and 2.5 million asthma attacks. However, coal companies are pressuring members of Congress to eliminate this new standard. Representatives from many nations have developed a UN treaty, known as the Minamata Convention, with the overall goal of reducing global mercury emissions by 15—35% in the next several decades. By January 2016, 128 countries had signed and 22 countries had ratified the treaty. It will go into effect after 50 countries have ratified it. Once in effect, within 5 years, signatory nations must require new coal-fired power plants, industrial plants, and smelters to use the best available mercury emission-control technologies. The treaty also calls for phasing out the use of mercury in many products, including thermometers, light bulbs, switches, batteries, and some cosmetics.

Climate vs. Weather

Weather is conditions of the atmosphere over a short period of time, and climate is what the whether is usually like in an area. Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get. This is why climate change is a lot more dangerous than weather change. If the climate changes in a negative way it will have a bigger impact that things such as a large storm that lasts a couple of days.

independent variable

What is being manipulated/changed in an experiment. If there is a drug in an experiment, the drug is almost always the independent variable.

dependent variable

What is being measured and affected by the independent variable. The dependent variable would be the effect of the drug.

pH

What scientists use to measure acidity. Pure water (not tap or rainwater) has an equal number of H+ and OH− ions. Therefore it is called a neutral solution and has a pH of 7. Each single unit change on the pH scale represents a tenfold increase or decrease in the concentration of hydrogen ions in a liter of solution. Ex: an acidic solution with a pH of 3 is 10 times more acidic than a solution with a pH of 4.

Mutation

When a DNA sequence is damaged or changed to an extent that the genetic information is affected.

Greenhouse effect

When carbon dioxide gas (a key component of the carbon cycle) along with water vapors (from the water cycle) affects the temperature of the atmosphere. Playing a big role in determining the earth's climate. If the carbon cycle removes too much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the atmosphere will cool, and if it generates too much, the atmosphere will get warmer. So, slight changes in this cycle either from natural or human causes can affect the earth's climate, which is responsible for determining the types of life that can exist in various places.

How to convert from one prefix to another

When converting from one measurement to another all you have to do is either multiplied or divided by 10. Or shift the decimal to the left or right. If you are going from small to large (2 nano to micro, 2 hecto to kilo, etc) then you divide by 10 how many times you pass a larger number. Or if you are going to a larger measurement you can shift the decimal point to the left how many times you pass a larger measurement. So if you were going from millimeter to meter you would have to divide by 10 3 times. Or shift to the left 3 times If you are going from large to small (cento to milli, kilo to hecto) then you multiply by 10 how many times you pass a smaller number. Or you can shift the decimal point to the right how many times you pass a smaller measurement. So if you were going from kilometer to meter you would have to multiply by 10 3 times. Or shift to the right 3 times Ex: 2 hectometers to dekameters. Since you are going from large to small you multiply by 10. So 2*10= 20 dekameters Note: from milli to micro and micro to nano you have to shift 3 times or multiply/divide 3 times. Same thing for kilo to mega and mega to giga.

Resource partitioning

When difference species competing for similar scare resources evolve specialized traits that allow them to share the same resources. This can involve using parts of the resources or using the resources at different times or in different ways. Adaptations allow the birds to reduce competition by feeding in different portions of certain spruce trees and by feeding on different insect species.

How we are altering the carbon cycle and change the climate as a result?

When plants and animals die they still have a bit of carbon, over millions of years they are pushed underground and turned into fossil fuels which contain carbon. When you burn fossil fuels, the carbon inside is released. Not only are we suddenly releasing a lot of carbon into the atmosphere but we are also cutting down the trees and plants that get rid of that carbon.

What is degrading of natural capital?

When renewable resources are used faster than nature can restore them.

precautionary principle

When substantial preliminary evidence indicates that an activity can harm human health or the environment, we should take precautionary measures to prevent or reduce such harm even if some of the cause and effect relationships have not been fully established scientifically. Scientists use the precautionary principle to argue for both the preservation of species and protection of entire ecosystems and their ecosystem services. Implementing this principle puts the emphasis on preventing species extinction instead of waiting until a species is nearly extinct extinct before taking emergency action that can be too late. The precautionary principle is also used as a strategy for dealing with other challenges such as preventing exposure to harmful chemicals in the air we breath, the water we drink, and the food we eat.

Overgrazing

When too many animals graze an area for too long and damage or kill the grasses and their roots, thereby exceeding the area's carrying capacity for grazing. Overgrazing reduces grass cover, exposes the topsoil to erosion by water and wind, and compacts the soil (which lessens its capacity to hold water). Overgrazing also promotes the invasion of rangeland by plant species such as sagebrush, mesquite, cactus, and cheatgrass, which cattle will not eat.

Mutualism

When two species interact in ways that benefit both by providing each with food, shelter, or some other resource. Ex: Pollination process of flowers by bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies. Ex: Oxpeckers which ride on the heads of large animals, removing and eating parasites and pest from the animals' bodies and make noises when predators are approaching. Mutualism is not cooperating between two species, each one is only concerned for their survival.

Imprecise

When you measure something multiple times and get different answers each time. Ex: you measure a piece of wood that is 1.3 meter You get 1.74m, 1.25m, and 1.13m.

secondary ecological succession

Where a series of terrestrial communities or ecosystems with different species develop in places containing soil or bottom sediment. This type of succession begins in an area where an ecosystem has been disturbed, removed, or destroyed, but some soil or bottom sediment remains. Ex: abandoned farmland, burned or cut forests, etc. Because some soil or sediment is present, new vegetation can begin to grow, usually within a few weeks. On land, growth begins with the germination of seeds already in the soil and seeds imported by wind or in the droppings of birds and other animals.

reconciliation ecology

Where humans share some of the spaces they dominate with other species, by establishing and maintaining new habitats to conserve species diversity in places where people live, work, or play.

edge effect

Where large areas of forest and other biomes tend to have a core habitat and edge habitats with different environmental conditions and species Ex: A forest edge is usually more open, bright, and windy with a greater variation in temperature and humidity compared to the forest interior Humans have fragmented many forests, grasslands, and other biomes into isolated patches with less core habitat and more edge habitat which supports fewer species.

heritable trait

a genetic trait that can be passed from one generation to the next. Caused by mutations.

speices

a group of living organisms with characteristics that distinguish it from other groups of organisms. In sexually reproducing organisms, individuals must be able to mate with similar individuals and produce fertile offspring in order to be classified as a species.

convergent boundary

Where two tectonic plates are colliding. A tectonic plate boundary where two plates collide, come together, or crash into each other. This super slow motion collision causes one or both plate edges to buckle and rise, forming mountain ranges. In most cases, one plate slides beneath the other, melting and making new magma that can rise through cracks and form volcanoes near the boundary. The overriding plate is pushed up and made into mountainous terrain.

A number of studies show that women tend to have fewer children if they are educated, can control their own fertility, earn an income of their own, and live in societies that do not suppress their rights. Only about 30% of the world's girls are enrolled in secondary education, so widespread education of girls is important for their future and for trying to slow population growth. In most societies women have fewer rights and educational and economic opportunities than men have. Women do almost all of the world's domestic work and child care for little or no pay. They provide more unpaid health care (within their families) than do all the world's organized health care services combined. In rural areas of Africa, Latin America, and Asia, women do 60-80% of the work associated with growing food, hauling water, and gathering and hauling wood and animal dung for use as fuel.

While women account for 66% of all hours worked, they receive only 10% of the world's income and own just 2% of the world's land. Women also make up 70% of the world's poor and 66% of the world's 800 million illiterate adults. In many societies, boys are more likely to get an education than are girls because of traditional views of gender roles. Studies show that one of the major factors for slowing population growth is the widespread education of girls. Poor women who cannot read often have an average of five to seven children, compared with two or fewer children in societies where most women can read. This highlights the need for all children to get at least an elementary school education. A growing number of women in less developed countries are taking charge of their lives and reproductive behavior. As this number grows, such change driven by individual women will play an important role in stabilizing populations. This change will also improve human health, reduce poverty and environmental degradation, and allow more access to basic human rights.

Scientific evidence indicates that extinction rates have increased as the human population has grown and spread over most of the globe. In this expansion, humans have destroyed and degraded habitats, consumed huge quantities of resources, and create large and growing ecological footprints. The extinction of one species can lead to the extinction of other species that depend on it for food or ecosystem services, and biodiversity researches project that the rate of extinction will continue to increase. Scientists estimate that the current annual extinction rate is at least 1,000 times the natural background extinction rate. This means that for every 1 million species we are losing 1,000 every year. Biodiversity researchers project that during this century, the extinction rate is likely to rise to at least 10,000 times the background rate, mostly because of habitat loss and degradation, climate change, ocean acidification, and other environmentally harmful effects of human activities. At these rates, an estimated 20%-50% of the world's 2 million identified animal and plant species could vanish from the wild by the end of this century. Which means the earth would be entering into a sixth mass extinction, but this one is mainly due to human activities and is projected to take course over a human lifetime instead of over thousand of years like the other mass extinctions. Such large scale loss of species would likely impair some of the earth's vital ecosystem services such as air and water purification, natural pest control, and pollination. According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 15 of 24 of the earth's major ecosystem services are in decline. Conservation scientists view this potential massive loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services within the span of a human lifetime as one of the most important and long lasting environmental and economic problems humanity faces. Most of the big carnivorous cats (cheetahs, tigers, and lions) might only exist in zoos and small wildlife sanctuaries by the end of the century. Most elephants, rhinoceroses, gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans will likely disappear from the wild by the end of the century.

Wilson Pimm and other extinction experts consider a projected extinction rate of 10,000 times the background extinction rate to be low for two reasons: First, both the rate of extinction and the resulting threats to ecosystem services are likely to increase sharply during the next 50-100 years because of the harmful environmental impacts of the rapidly growing human population and its growing per capita use of resources. Second, we are eliminating, degrading, fragmenting, and simplifying many biologically diverse environments (tropical forests, coral reefs, wetlands, and estuaries) that serve as potential sites for the emergence of new species. Thus, in addition to greatly increasing the rate of extinction, we may be limiting the long term recovery of biodiversity by eliminating places where new species can evolve. In other words we are also creating a speciation crisis. Biologists Philip Levin, Donald Levin, and others warn that while our activities are likely to reduce the speciation rates for some species, they could increase the speciation rates for rapidly reproducing species (weeds, rats, insects, etc).

molecule

a combination of two or more atoms of the same or different elements held together by chemical bonds. Molecules are the basic building blocks of many compounds.

soil

a complex mixture of rock pieces and particles, mineral nutrients, decaying organic matter, water, air, and living organisms that support plant life (which in turn support animal life). Soil is a renewable resource, but it is renewed very slowly and becomes a nonrenewable resource if we deplete it faster than nature can replenish it.

mineral resource

a concentration of one or more minerals in the earth's crust that we can extract and process into raw materials and useful products at an affordable cost.

Science

a field of study focused on discovering how nature works and using that knowledge to describe what is likely to happen in nature. Science is based on the assumption that events in the natural world follow orderly cause and effect patterns. These patterns can be understood through observations, measurements, and experimentation.

tree plantation/ tree farm/ commercial forest

a managed forest containing only one or two species of trees that are all of the same age. They are often grown on land that was cleared of an old growth or second growth forest and are usually harvested by clear cutting as soon as they become commercially valuable. The land is then replanted and clearcut again, and the cycle continues. When managed carefully, plantations can produce wood at a rapid rate and could supply most of the wood used for industrial purposes, such as paper making and construction. As a result, old growth and second growth forests can be protected as long as they are not cleared to make room for tree plantations. Use of tree plantations is increasing and they occupy 7% of the world's forest area. The downside of tree plantations is that with only one or two tree species, they are less biologically diverse and less sustainable than old growth and second growth forests. Tree plantations also do not provide the amount of wildlife habitat and many of the ecosystem services that diverse natural forests do. In addition, repeated cutting and replanting trees can eventually deplete the nutrients in the plantation's topsoil, which can hinder the regrowth of any type of forest on that land.

species evenness

a measure of the comparative abundance of all species in an ecosystem. how close in numbers each species in an environment is Ex: if there is 40 foxes and 1000 dogs in an ecosystem the ecosystem has low species evenness Even if there were 1000 cat dogs, birds insects, but only 40 foxes, deer, mice there is low species evenness. Even though some species have the same amount of animals or very close amount. To have species evenness all the species in an ecosystem need to have a similar amount of organisms.

Fossil fuel

a natural fuel such as coal or gas, formed from the remains of plants and animals due to exposure to heat and pressure in the earth's crust over hundreds of millions of years. Ex: crude oil, coal, natural gas.

Mineral

a naturally occurring chemical element or inorganic compound that exists as a solid with a regularly repeating internal arrangement of its atoms or ions (a crystalline solid) Any naturally occurring inorganic substance found in the earth's crust as a crystalline solid. Because minerals take millions of years to form, they are nonrenewable resources and their supplies can be depleted.

Scientific method

a research process in which scientists identify a problem for study, gather relevant data, propose a hypothesis that explains the data, gather data to test the hypothesis, and modify the hypothesis as needed.

ore

a rock that contains a large enough concentration of a mineral (often a metal) which makes it profitable to mine and process.

botanical garden

a sanctuary for living planets botanical gardens worldwide represent almost 1/3 of the world's known plant species.

food chain

a sequence of organisms with each one serving as a source of nutrients or energy for the next level of organisms.

tsunami/ often called tidal waves (have nothing to do with tides tho)

a series of large waves generated when part of the ocean floor suddenly rises or drops (Figure 11.25). Most large tsunamis are caused when certain types of faults in the ocean floor move up or down because of a large underwater earthquake. Other causes are landslides generated by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions (Concept 11.6). They can travel across the ocean at the speed of a jet airliner. In deep water, the waves are very far apart (sometimes hundreds of kilometers) and their crests are not very high. As a tsunami approaches a coast with its shallower waters, it slows down, its wave crests squeeze closer together, and their heights grow rapidly. It can hit a coast as a series of towering walls of water that can level buildings. The largest recorded loss of life from a tsunami occurred in December 2004 when a great underwater earthquake in the Indian Ocean with a magnitude of 9.15 caused a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people and devastated many coastal areas of Indonesia (Figure 11.26 and map in Figure 11.25), Thailand. Sri Lanka, South India, and eastern Africa. It also displaced about 1.7 million people (l .3 million of them in India and Indonesia), and destroyed or damaged about 470,000 buildings and houses. There were no recording devices in place to provide an early warning of this tsunami. In 2011. a large tsunami caused by a powerful earthquake off the coast of Japan generated 3-story high waves that killed almost 19.000 people, displaced more than 300,000 people, and destroyed or damaged 125,000 buildings. It also heavily damaged three nuclear reactors, which then released dangerous radioactivity into the surrounding environment. In some areas, scientists have built networks of ocean buoys and pressure recorders on the ocean floor to collect data that can be relayed to tsunami emergency warning centers. However, these networks are not widespread.

smart growth

a set of policies and tools that encourages more environmentally sustainable urban developments with less dependence on cars. It uses zoning laws and other tools to channel growth in order to reduce its ecological footprint. Smart growth can discourage sprawl, reduce traffic, protect ecologically sensitive and important land and waterways, and develop neighborhoods that are more enjoyable places to live.

environmentalism/ environmental activism

a social movement focused on protecting life and resources on earth. Not the same as environmental science because it deals more with politics and ethics than science. However, sometimes the findings of environmental scientists can sometimes provide evidence to back the claims and activities of environmentalists.

Rock

a solid combination of one or more minerals found in the earth's crust. Some kinds of rock, such as limestone (calcium carbonate, or CaCo3) and quartzite (silicon dioxide, or SiO2) contain only one mineral, but most rocks consist of two or more minerals. Granite for example is a mixture of mica, feldspar, and quartz crystals. Based on the way they form, rocks are classified as sedimentary, igneous, or metamorphic.

atmosphere

a spherical mass of air (the earth is a sphere so the air would be in sphere also) surrounding the earth's surface.

Toxic

a substance that can harm organisms if touched, inhaled, ingested, or absorbed.

scientific hypothesis

a testable explanation of data

element

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

genetic variability

a variety in the genetic makeup of individuals in a population. The cause is mutations

pollination

a vital ecosystem service that allows for plants to reproduce. Pollen grains are transferred from one plant to another resulting in reproduction. Bees and other insects are mainly responsible for pollination If insects didn't provide this service we would have to do it ourselves

scientific law/ law of nature

a well tested and widely accepted description of what we find always happening in the same way in nature, and scientific laws/law of nature can't be broken. Ex: Law of gravity thousands of observations and measurements of objects falling from different heights. As a result, the law states that all objects fall to the earth's surface at predictable speeds.

Hydrosphere

all the water on or near the earth's surface. It is found as water vapor in the atmosphere and liquid water on the surface and underground, and as ice (icebergs, glaciers, permafrost, etc.) Salty oceans cover 71% of the earth's surface and contain 97% of the planet's water and supports almost half of the world's species. 2.5%-3% of the earth's water is freshwater, and 3/4 of the freshwater is ice.

model

an approximate physical or mathematical simulation of a system. Scientists use models to study complex systems such as the earth's climate.

crown fire

an extremely hot fire that leaps from treetop to treetop, burning whole trees. Usually occurs in forests that have no experienced surface fires for several decades. The absence of fire allows dead wood, leaves, and flammable ground litter to accumulate. This rapidly burning fire can jump to the forest canopy, spread rapidly, and destroy most vegetation, kill wildlife, increase topsoil erosion, and burn or damage buildings and homes. Strategies for limiting the harmful effects of forest fires: 1. Use carefully planned and controlled fires called prescribed burns to remove flammable small trees and underbrush in the highest risk forest areas. 2. Allow some fires on public lands to burn underbrush and smaller trees, as long as the fires do not threaten human built structures or human lives 3. Protect houses and other buildings in fire prone areas by thinning trees and other vegetation in a zone around them and eliminating the use of highly flammable construction materials such as wood shingles. 4. Use drones, equipped with infrared sensors to detect forest fires and monitor progress in fighting them.

Autotroph

an organism that is able to make its own food from light, water, carbon dioxide, or other chemicals.

primary consumers/herbivores

animals that eat mostly green plants

carnivores

animals that eat other animals

Alpine tundra

another type of tundra, occurs above the limit of tree growth but below the permanent snow line on high mountains. The vegetation is similar to that found in arctic tundra, but it receives more sunlight than arctic vegetation gets. During the brief summer, alpine tundra can be covered with an array of beautiful wildflowers.

Ecologists study what 5 levels of matter

biosphere, ecosystems, communities, populations, and organisms.

secondary consumers

carnivores that eat herbivores

tertiary consumers

carnivores that eat herbivores and other carnivores

mutations

changes in the coded genetic instructions in the DNA in a gene. Most mutations are random changes in the DNA's coded genetic instructions. Others are due to exposure to external agents such as radioactivity, ultraviolet radiation from the sun, and certain natural and human- made chemicals called mutagens. Mutations can occur in any cell, but only those that take place in the genes of reproductive cells are passed to offspring. Some mutations are harmful and some are beneficial mutations lead to genetic differences in a population.

Nutrients

chemicals that organisms need to survive. The earth's fixed supply of nutrients must be recycled to support life.

hydrologic cycle/water cycle

collects, purifies, and distributes the earth's fixed supply of water. The sun powers the water cycle, Solar energy causes evaporation the water vapors then raise into the atmosphere and condenses into droplets. Gravity draws the water back to the earth's surface in the form of precipitation (rain, snow, sleet, and dew). Most precipitation falls onto terrestrial ecosystems and becomes surface runoff, which flows into streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands, and oceans. From there the cycle repeats. Some precipitation seeps into the upper layers of soil and is used by plants, some evaporates from the soil back into the atmosphere. Some precipitation sinks through the soil into underground layers of rock, sand, and gravel called aquifers. The water stored underground is called groundwater. Some precipitation is converted to ice which is stored in glaciers.

compounds

combinations of two or more different elements held together in fixed proportions. Most matter consists of compounds.

Interspecific competition

competition between different species. It plays a larger role in most ecosystems compared to intraspecific competition When two species compete with one another for the same resources, their niches overlap. The greater this overlap, the more they compete for key resources. For example, if species A take over the largest share of one or more key resources, then competing species B must move to another area (if possible) or suffer a population decline. Given enough time for natural selection to occur, populations can develop adaptations that enable them to reduce or avoid competition with other species. Ex: resource partitioning

Covalent compounds

compounds made up of uncharged atoms

hydrocarbons

compounds of carbon and hydrogen atoms. Ex: methane CH4

Reliable science

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

biosphere

consists of the parts of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere where life is found

complex carbohydrates

consists of two or more monomers of simple sugars (ex:glucose) linked together.

Decomposers

consumers that get nourishment by releasing nutrients from the waste or remains of plants and animals. These nutrients return to the soil, water, and air for reuse by producers. Most decomposers are bacteria and fungi

organic compounds

contain at least two carbon atoms combined with atoms of one or more other elements. Ex: plastic, table sugar, vitamins, aspirin, penicillin, and most of the chemicals in your body with the exception of methane (CH4, one carbon atom).

Acidic solution

contains more hydrogen ions than hydroxide ions, and as a result has a pH less than 7.

Basic solution

contains more hydroxide ions than hydrogen ions., and as a result has a pH greater than 7.

geosphere

contains the earth's rocks, minerals, and soil. Consists of an intensely hot core, a thick mantle of very hot rock, and a thin outer crust of rock and soil. The crust's upper portion contains soil chemicals or nutrients that organisms need to live, grow, and reproduce. It also contains nonrenewable fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) and mineral that we extract and use.

Chromosome

contains thousands of genes, and is a double helix DNA molecule wrapped around one or more proteins. Genetic information coded in your chromosomal DNA is what makes you different from an oak leaf, a mosquito, and your parents.

Eukaryotic cells are the building blocks of tissues and organ systems that make up the individual organisms that populate a species

cool

La nina

cools some coastal surface water. A natural weather event that occurs every few years and leads to more Atlantic Ocean hurricanes, colder winter in Canada and the northeastern United States, and warmer and drier winters in the southeastern and southwestern U.S. It also usually leads to wetter winters in the Pacific Northwest, heavy rain in Southeast Asia, and sometimes more wildfires in Florida.

evolutionary tree/ phylogenetic tree

diagrams that depict the hypothetical evolution of various species from common ancestors using fossils, DNA, and other evidence to hypothesize the evolutionary pathways and connections among species.

mountaintop removal

explosives are used to remove the top of a mountain to expose seams of coal (Figure 11.16). This method is commonly used in the Appalachian Mountains of the United states. After a mountaintop is blown apart, enormous machines plow waste rock and dirt into valleys below. This destroys forests, buries mountain streams, and increases the risk of flooding. Wastewater and toxic sludge, produced when the coal is processed, are often stored behind dams in these valleys. Such dams have been known to overflow or collapse and release toxic substances such as arsenic and mercury. In the United States, more than 500 mountaintops in West Virginia and other Appalachian states have been removed to extract coal. According to the EPA, the resulting spoils have buried more than 1,100 kilometers (700 miles) of streams (a total roughly equal in length to the distance between the two US cities of New York and Chicago). The US Department of the Interior estimates that at least 500,000 surface-mined sites dot the US landscape, mostly in the West. Such sites can be cleaned up and restored. The US Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 requires the restoration of surface mined sites. However, the program is underfunded and many mines have not been reclaimed.

Strip mining (surface mining method)

extracting mineral deposits that lie in large horizontal beds close to the earth's surface.

detritus feeders/detritivores

feed on the waste or dead bodies (detritus) of other organisms. Ex: Earth worms, soil insects, hyenas, and vultures.

tropical cyclones

form over warm ocean water and sometimes pass over coastal land areas. Created by the formation of low-pressure cells of air over warm tropical seas. Unlike hurricanes, they take a long time to form and gain strength. This allows meteorologists to track their paths and wind speeds, and warn people in areas likely to be hit by the violent storms. For a tropical cyclone to form, the temperature of ocean water has to be at least 27 degrees celsius or 80 degrees fahrenheit up to 46 meters or 150 feet deep. Areas of low pressure over these warm ocean waters draw in air from surrounding higher pressure areas. The earth's rotation makes these winds spiral counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern hemisphere. Most air, warmed by the heat of the ocean, rises in a vortex through the center of the storm until it becomes a tropical cyclone. The intensities of tropical cyclones are rated in different categories, based on their sustained wind speeds. The longer a tropical cyclone stays over warm waters, the stronger it gets. Significant hurricane force winds can extend 64-161 kilometer (40-100 miles) from the center (eye) of a tropical cyclone.

polymers/macromolecules

form when a large number of simple organic molecules (monomers) are linked together by chemical bonds. The following 4 types of macromolecules are the molecular building blocks of life: complex carbohydrates, proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids.

Tropical rain forests

found near the equators where hot, moisture laden air rises and dumps its moisture. These lush forests have year round warm temperatures, high humidity, and almost daily heavy rainfall. this warm and wet climate is ideal for a wide variety of plants and animals. Tropical rain forests are dominated by broadleaf evergreen plants, which keep most of their leave year round. The tops of the trees form a dense canopy that blocks most light from reaching the forest floor. Many of the relatively few plants that live at the ground level have enormous leaves to capture what little sunlight filters down to them. Some trees are draped with vines (called lianas) that grow to the treetops to gain access to sunlight. In the canopy, the vines grow from one tree to another, providing walkways for many species living there. When a large tree is cut down, its network of lianas/vines can pull down other trees. Tropical rain forests have a high net primary productivity. They are teeming with life and possess incredible biological diversity. Although tropical rain forests cover only about 2% of the earth's land surface, ecologists estimate that they contain at least 50% of the known terrestrial plant and animal species. A single tree in these forests may support several thousand different insect species. Plants from tropical rain forests are a source of a variety of chemicals, many of which have been used as blueprints for making most of the world's prescription drugs. Rain forest species occupy a variety of specialized niches in distinct layers, which contribute to their high species diversity. vegetation layers are structured (for the most part) according to the plants' needs for sunlight. Much of the animal life (insects, bats, and birds) lives in the sunny canopy layer, with its abundant shelter and supplies of leaves, flowers, and fruits. Dropped leaves, fallen trees, and dead animals decompose quickly in tropical rain forests because of the warm, moist conditions and the hordes of decomposers. About 90% of the nutrients released by this rapid decomposition are quickly taken up and stored by trees, vines, and other plants. Nutrients that are not taken up are soon leached from the thin topsoil by the frequent rainfall and little plant litter builds up on the ground. The resulting lack of fertile soil helps explain why rain forests are not good places to clear and grow crops or graze cattle on a sustainable basis. At least half of the world's tropical rain forests have been destroyed or disturbed by human activities such as farming, and the pace of this destruction and degradation is increasing. Ecologists warn that without strong protective measures, most of these forests along with their rich species biodiversity and highly valuable ecosystem services could be gone by the end of this century.

Climate

general pattern of atmospheric conditions in a given area over periods ranging from at least three decades to thousands of years. Changes a lot slower than weather because it covers a larger time frame. Varies among the earth's different regions primarily because of global air circulation and ocean currents. Global winds and ocean currents distribute heat ad precipitation unevenly between the tropics and other parts of the world. Scientists have described the various regions of the earth according to their climates.

Basic unit of measurement for mass in the metric system

gram, abbreviation= g

pyramid of energy flow

graphic display of the energy loss at each trophic level. The large loss of energy from between trophic levels is why many food web and food chains don't have more than 4-5 trophic levels.

Ecologists use niches of species to classify them as generalists or specialists

habitats are different from niches.

threatened species/ vulnerable species

has enough remaining individuals to survive in the short term, but because of declining numbers, it is likely to become endangered in the near future.

protons

have a positive electical charge

neutrons

have no electrical charge

insolation

input of solar energy in a given area, varies with latitude. Partly explains why tropical regions are hot, polar regions are cold, and temperate regions generally alternate between warm and cool temperatures. The amount of solar radiation reaching the earth typically varies about every 11 years because of changes in solar magnetic activity that can warm or cool the planet.

field research, "muddy boots biology"

involves going into forests, oceans, and other natural settings to study the structure of ecosystems and to learn what happens in them. Most of what we know about ecosystems comes from this type of research.

Primary ecological succession

involves the gradual establishment of communities of different species in lifeless areas. This type of succession begins where there is o soil in a terrestrial ecosystem or no bottom sediment in an aquatic ecosystem. Usually takes hundreds to thousands of years because of the need to build up fertile soil or aquatic sediments to provide the nutrients needed to establish a plant community.

Arboretum

land set aside for protecting, studying, and displaying various species of trees and shrubs.

proteins

large polymer molecules formed by linking together long chains of monomers called amino acids. Some proteins store energy, others are components of the immune system and chemical messengers (hormones) which turn various bodily functions of animals on or off. In animals, proteins are also components of hair, skin, muscle, and tendons. Lastly, some proteins act as enzymes which catalyze or speed up certain chemical reactions.

nucleic acids

large polymer molecules made by linking large numbers of monomers called nucleotides. Each nucleotide consists of a phosphate group (sugar molecule) and one of the four different nucleotide bases ( Represented by A, G, C, and T the first letter in each of their names)

Biomes

large terrestrial regions, each characterized by a certain type of climate and dominant forms of plant life. The variety of biomes and aquatic systems is one of the four components of the earth's biodiversity. Biomes are not uniform. They consists of a variety of areas, each with somewhat different biological communities but with similarities typical of the biome. These areas occur because of the irregular distribution of the resources needed by plants and animals and because human activities have removed or altered the natural vegetation in many areas. There are also differences in vegetation along the transition zone or ecotone between any two different ecosystems or biomes.

Biotic

living components in an ecosystem Ex: plants, animals, and microbes.

Identify the type of species richness and species evenness in this ecosystem: three species but all of them have similar number of organisms

low species richness and high species evenness.

sedimentary rock

made of sediments (dead plant and animal remains and particles of weathered and eroded rocks). These sediments are transported from place to place by water, wind, or gravity. They can accumulate in layers over time wherever they are deposited. Eventually, the increasing weight and pressure on the underlying layers transform the sedimentary layers to rock. Ex: sandstone and shale (formed from pressure created by deposited layers made mostly of sand or silt), dolomite and limestone (formed from the compacted shells, skeletons, and other remains of dead aquatic organisms), and lignite and bituminous coal (derived from compacted plant remains.

prevailing winds

major surface winds that blow almost continuously

Pastures

managed grasslands or enclosed meadows usually planted with domesticated grasses or other forage such as alfalfa and clover. Blades of rangeland grass grow from the bass, not at the tip. As long as only the upper portion of the blade is eaten and the lower portion remains in the ground, rangeland grass is a renewable resource that can be grazed repeatedly. Moderate levels of grazing are healthy for grasslands, because removal of mature vegetation stimulates rapid regrowth and encourages greater plant diversity.

Ocean currents

mass movements of ocean water.

natural resources

materials and energy provided by nature and are essential or useful to humans. Categories are: inexhaustible resources, renewable resources, and nonrenewable (exhaustible) resources.

Law of Conservation of Matter

matter cannot be created or destroyed in a chemical reaction, it can only change form. Ex: when wood burns, the mass of the soot, ashes, and gases, equals the original mass of the charcoal and the oxygen when it first reacted. You can separate atoms and change an object into one or more objects, but everything that made the first object what is was will still be in the second object. Ex: you can change water into hydrogen and oxygen (gas form), but there will still be two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen.

Metric System Prefixes smallest to largest, number in ()= exponent

nano (n)= 10(-9)= 1/ 1,000,000,000 micro (μ)= 10(-6)= 1/ 1,000,000 milli (m)= 10(-3)= 1/1,000 centi (c)= 10(-2) 1/100 deci (d)= 10(-1)= 1/10 basic unit of measurement (meter, liter, gram, etc) = 1 deka (da)= 10(1)= 10 hecto (h)= 10(2)= 100 kilo (k)= 10(3) 1000 mega (M)= 10(6)= 1,000,000 giga (G)= 10(9)= 1,000,000,000 The exponent tells you how many 0 to put after the 1 Some are fractions because they have negative exponents, so to turn into positive exponent you have to put the number in the denominator Note: small m is milli, capitalized M= mega because mega is bigger than milli so mega has big M.

Niches can be classified further in terms of specific roles that certain species play within ecosystems. What are these role?

native, nonnative, indicator, and keystone. A species may play one more more of these roles in an ecosystem.

What are the key components of sustanability?

natural capital, natural resources, ecosystem services

ecosystem services

natural services provided by healthy ecosystems that support life and human economies at no monetary cost to us. Ex: forests help purify air and water, reduce soil erosion, regulate climate, and recycle nutrients A vita ecosystem service is nutrient cycling

abiotic

nonliving components in an ecosystem Ex: water, air, nutrients, rocks, heat, and solar energy

Native species

normally live and thrive in a particular ecosystem.

potential energy

one of the major types of energy. It is energy that is stored and could be used/turned into kinetic energy, but is not.

speciation

one species evolves into two or more difference species due to natural selection. For sexually reproducing organisms, a new species forms when a separated population of a species evolves to the point where its members can no longer interbreed and produce fertile offspring with members of another population of its species that did not change or that evolved differently. Happens in two phases: geographic isolation then reproductive isolation.

Water can be easily polluted. However, natural processes in the water cycle can purify the water, thus providing an important ecosystem service.

only about 0.024% of the earth's water supply is available to the living organisms on earth (found in groundwater deposits, lakes, rivers, etc.). The rest of the planet's water is too salty, too deep underground to extract at affordable prices, or is stored as ice.

simple carbohydrates/simple sugars

organic compounds that contain carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms. Ex: glucose (C₆H₁₂O₆)

Decomposer

organism that breaks down and obtains energy from dead organic matter

consumers/heterotrophs

organisms that cannot produce the nutrients they need. As a result, they get their nutrients by feeding on other organisms (producers or other consumers) or on their waste and remains (decomposers) Types of consumers: primary consumers, carnivores, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers, omnivores

electrons

particles with a negative electrical charge

Case Study: Can We Restore the Florida Everglades

pg 280-282

Case Study: Identifying and Protecting Biodiversity in Costa Rica

pg 286

Case Study: Ecological Restoration of a Tropical Dry Forest in Costa Rica

pg 287

Read CASE STUDY Overpumping the Ogallala Aquifer CASE STUDY How Dams Can Kill an Estuary Case Study: The Aral Sea Disaster: An Example of Unintended Consequences Case Study: Living Dangerously on Floodplains in Bangladesh Revisiting Coral Reefs—Amazing Centers of Biodiversity River Deltas and Coastal Wetlands- Vital Components of Natural Capital Now in Jeopardy

pg 388-390 393-395 398 405-406 161 171 (bottom part of case study on 171 next to picture is missing)-172

photosynthesis

plants capture solar energy that falls on their leaves. They use it to combine carbon dioxide and water and form carbohydrates such as glucose (C₆H₁₂O₆) in order to store chemical energy needed and emit oxygen (O2) gas into the atmosphere. Oxygen keeps us and most other animal species alive. carbon dioxide +water +solar energy -> glucose+oxygen 6 CO2 + 6 H2O + solar energy ---> C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6 O2

Seed banks

refrigerated, low humidity storage environments used to preserve genetic information and the seeds of endangered plant species.

Jet streams

powerful winds that circle the globe near the top of the troposphere. They are like fast flowing rivers of air moving west to east one in each hemisphere somewhere above and below the equator. They form because of the temperature difference between the equator and the poles, which causes air to move. As the air moves away from the equator (north and south) it is deflected by the earth's rotation and flows generally west to east. The greater the temperature difference, the faster the flow of these winds. Jet streams can influence weather by moving moist air masses from one area to another.

Photosynthesis

process by which plants and some other organisms use light energy to convert water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and high-energy carbohydrates such as sugars and starches

What are the two types of organisms in an ecosystem

producers and consumers

Family Planning

programs that provide education and clinical services that can help couples choose how many children to have and when to have them. Such programs vary from culture to culture, but most of them provide information on birth spacing, birth control, and health care for pregnant women and infants. According to the UN Population Division and other population agencies, family planning has been a major factor in reducing the number of unintended pregnancies, births, and abortions. In addition, family planning has reduced population growth rates, rates of infant mortality and the number of mothers and fetuses dying during pregnancy. Family planning also has financial benefits. Studies show that each dollar spent on family planning in countries such as Thailand, Egypt, and Bangladesh saves $10 to $16 in health, education, and social service costs by preventing unwanted births. Despite these successes, certain problems have hindered programs in some countries. There are three major problems. First, according to the UN Population Fund and the Guttmacher Institute, about 40% of all pregnancies in less developed countries were unplanned and about half of these pregnancies end with abortion. So ensuring access to voluntary contraception would play a key role in stabilizing the populations and reducing the number of abortions in such countries. Second, according to the same sources, an estimated 225 million women, primarily in 69 of the world's poorest countries, lack access to family planning services. Meeting these current unmet needs for family planning and contraception could prevent 54 million unintended pregnancies, 26 million induced abortions (16 million of them unsafe), 1.1 million infant deaths, and 79,000 pregnancy related deaths of women per year. This could reduce the projected global population size by more than 1 billion people at an average cost of $25 per couple per year. Third, largely because of cultural traditions, male domination, and poverty, one in every three girls in less developed countries is married before age 18 and one in nine is married before age 14. This occurs despite laws against child marriage. For a poor family, marrying off a daughter can relieve financial pressure. Some analysts call for expanding family planning programs to educate men about the importance of having fewer children and taking more responsibility for raising them. Proponents also call for greatly increased research in order to develop more effective birth control methods for men. The experiences of countries such as Japan, Thailand, Bangladesh, South Korea, Taiwan, and China show that a country can achieve or come close to replacement level fertility within a decade or two. The real population story of he past 50 years has been the sharp reduction in the rate of population growth resulting from the reduction of poverty through economic development, empowerment of women, and the promotion of family planning. However, the global population is still growing fast enough to add 2 to 3 billion more people during this century.

win-win solutions (from political science)

resolutions to conflicts in which both parties get what they want. Benefits the largest number of people as well as the environment.

nonrenewable/exhaustible resources

resources that exist in a fixed amount in the earth's crust. They take millions to billions of years to form through geological processes. Ex: fossil fuel (oil, coal, and natural gas) metallic mineral resources ( copper and aluminum), and nonmetallic mineral resources (salt and sand)

Atmospheric pressure

results from molecules of gases in the atmosphere (mostly nitrogen and oxygen) zipping around at very high speeds and bouncing off everything they encounter. Atmospheric pressure is greater near the earth's surface because the molecules in the atmosphere are squeed together under the weight of the air above them. An air mass with high pressured (called a high) contains cool, dense air that descends slowly towards the earth's surface and become warmer. Because of this warming, water molecules in the air do not form droplets, a process called condensation. As a result, clouds (which are made of droplets) usually do not form in the presence of a high. Fair weather with clear skies follows as long as this high remains over the area. A low-pressure air mass (called a low) contains low density, warm air at its center. This air rises, expands, and cools. When its temperature drops below a certain level (the dew point) moisture in the air condenses and forms cloud. The condensation process usually requires that the air contain suspended tiny particles of dust, smoke, sea salts, or volcanic ash (called condensation nuclei) around which water droplets can form. If the droplets in the clouds combine into larger drops or snowflakes heavy enough to fall from the sky, precipitation occurs. Thus, a low tends to produce cloudy and sometimes stormy weather.

unreliable science

scientific results and hypotheses that are presented as reliable without having undergone peer review, or are discarded as a result of peer review or additional research

Basic unit of measurement for time in the metric system

seconds, abbreviation= s

Gene

sequence of DNA that codes for a protein and thus determines a trait

Weather

set of physical conditions of the lower atmosphere (such as temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind speed, cloud cover, etc.) in a given area over a period of hours to day. Fluctuates daily and changes based on the season. The most important factors of weather in any area are atmospheric temperature and precipitation. Meteorologists use equipment mounted on weather balloons, aircraft, ships, and satellites, as well as radar and stationary sensors, to obtain data on weather variables. They feed these data into computer models to draw weather maps for various parts of the world. Other computer models project upcoming weather conditions based on probabilities that air masses, winds, and other factors will change in certain ways. Much of the weather we experience results from interactions between the leading edges of moving masses of warm air and old air. Weather changes when one air mass replaces or meets another. The most dramatic changes in weather occur along a front

Food web

shows how an organism gets it's energy, what other organism does it consume? Or does it make its own food? shows the feeding relationships among the various organisms in an ecosystem.

chemical equation

shows how chemicals are rearranged in a chemical reaction. Ex: coal is mostly made up of carbon, but when it is burned completely in a power plant, the solid carbon (C) in the coal combines with oxygen gas (O₂) from the atmosphere to form carbon dioxide (CO₂)

survivorship curve

shows the percentages of the members of a population surviving at different ages. This is because species with different reproductive strategies tend to have different life expectancies. Three generalized types of survivorship curves: late loss (Type 1), constant loss (Type II), and early loss (Type III) A late loss population (k selected species) typically has high survivorship to a certain age, and them high morality. A constant loss population (most songbirds) typically has a constant death rate at all ages. Early loss population (many r selected species and annual plants) have low survivorship in early life. These generalized survivorship curves only approximate the realities of nature.

Tragedy of the Commons

situation in which people act based on their own interest and get short-term gain but cause long term harm by deplete commonly available but limited resources, creating disaster for the entire community. Usually goes something like this " the little bit of pollution I create or if I catch a bit more fish than I need won't do anything" this is fine if only a couple of people do this but then everyone starts to think the same way.

What three scientific factors play key roles in the long term sustainability of the earth's life

solar energy, biodiversity, and chemical cycling

indicator species

species that provide early warnings of changes in environmental conditions in an ecosystem.

R selected species

species with a capacity for a high rate of population growth. These species tend to have short life spans and produce many, usually small offspring and give them little or no parental care. As a result, many of the offspring die at an early age. To overcome such losses, r selected species produce large numbers of offspring so that a few will likely survive and have many offspring to sustain the species. Ex: algae, bacteria, frogs, most insects, and many fish. These specie tend to be opportunists. They reproduce and disperse rapidly when conditions are favorable or when a disturbance such as a fire or clear cutting of a forest opens up a new habitat or niches for invasion. Once established, their populations may crash because of unfavorable changes in environmental conditions or invasion by more competitive species. This explains why many opportunist species go through irregular and unstable boom and burst cycles in their population sizes.

Weather

state of the air or atmosphere over a short period of time. Ex: Is today hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or storm, clear or cloudy?

demographic transition

states that as countries become industrialized and economically developed, their per capita incomes rise, poverty declines, and their populations tend to grow more slowly. According to the hypothesis, this transition takes place in five stages. Some analysts believe that most of the world's less developed countries will make a demographic transition over the next few decades. They hypothesize that the transition will occur because newer technologies will help them to develop economically and to reduce poverty. Other analysts fear that rapid population growth, extreme poverty, war, increasing environmental degradation, and resource depletion could leave some countries with high population growth rates that are stuck in stage 2 of the demographic transition.

Environmental science

study of connections in nature. Interdisciplinary study of (1) how the earth (nature) works and has survived and thrived, (2) how humans interact with the environment, and (3) how we can live more sustainably. Strives to answer questions such as: What environmental problems do we face? How serious are they? How do they interact? What are their causes? How has nature solved such problems? How can we use our understanding of nature to solve such problems? To answer these questions, environmental science integrates information and ideas from biology, chemistry, geology, engineering, geography, economics, political science, and ethics.

resilience

the ability of an ecosystem to be restored through secondary ecological succession after a severe disturbance.

Inertia/persistence

the ability of an ecosystem to survive moderate disturbances

energy

the ability to do work. Typically expressed in measurement units such as joules, kilojoules (1,000 joules), calories, and kilocalories (1,000 calories) Two major types of energy: moving energy (kinetic energy) and stored energy (potential energy)

replacement level fertility rate

the average number of children that couples in a population must bear to replace themselves. It is slightly higher than two children per couple because some children die before reaching their reproductive years, especially in the world's poorest countries. If we were to reach a global replacement level fertility rate of 2.1 tomorrow, would it bring an immediate halt to population growth? No, because there is a large number of potential mothers under age 15 who will be moving into their reproductive years.

carbon

the basic building block of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, DNA. and other organic compounds required for life.

front

the boundary between two air masses with different temperatures and densities.

ecology

the branch of biology that focuses on how living organisms interact with the living and nonliving parts of their environment.

Chemical cycling/nutrient cycling

the circulation of chemicals or nutrients needed to sustain life from the environment (mostly from soil and water) through various organisms and back to the environment. Organisms have developed ways to recycle the chemicals they need to survive by getting nutrient from the decaying bodies of other organisms

Trait

the coded information in each segment of DNA that passes from parent to offspring during reproduction.

evaporation

the conversion of some of the liquid water in the earth's oceans, lakes, rivers, soil, and plants to vapor.

Wavelength

the distance between successive peaks (maximums) or troughs (minimums) in the wave. Short wavelengths have more energy than long ones.

ecosystem diversity

the earth's diversity of biological communities such as deserts, grasslands, forests, mountains, oceans, lakes rivers, and wetlands.

The core

the earth's innermost zone. Composed primarily of iron (Fe). The inner core is extremely hot and has a solid center. It is surrounded by the outer core, a thick layer of molten rock or hot fluid rock, and semisolid material.

Kinetic energy

the energy an object has due to its motion Ex: Energy from a person walking, a thrown baseball, and a crumb falling from a table

cells

the fundamental structural and functional units of life. All organisms are composed of one or more cells.

The atomic theory

the idea that all elements are made up of atoms. It is the most widely accepted theory in chemistry.

cell theory

the idea that all living things are composed of cells. Most widely accepted scientific theory in biology.

troposphere

the innermost/lowest layer of the atmosphere. Extends 11 miles above sea level at the equator and 4 miles above the earth's North and South Poles. Contains the air we breath. 78% nitrogen (N2) and 21% oxygen (O2). The remaining 1% of air is water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane.

rock cycle

the interaction of physical and chemical processes that change rocks from one type to another. Rocks are recycled over millions of years by three processes: erosion, melting, and metamorphism. Which produce sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks, respectively. In these processes, rocks are broken down, melted, fused together into new forms by heat and pressure, cooled, and sometimes recrystallized within the earth's interior and crust. The rock cycle is the slowest of the earth's cyclical processes and plays the major role in the formation of concentrated deposits of mineral resources.

Carrying capacity

the largest population that an environment can support based on the food, habitat, water, and other resources available.

asthenosphere

the layer of the earth's mantle, below the lithosphere and the outermost part of the mantle (made up of solid rock) where hot partly melted rock flows.

latitude

the location between the equator and one of the poles. Latitudes are designed by degrees north of south of the equator. The equator is at 0°, the poles are 90° north and 90° south, and areas between range from 0° to 90°.

Biomass

the mass of living biological organisms in a given area or ecosystem at a given time. Biomass can refer to species biomass, which is the mass of one or more species, or the mass of all species in a community. Biomass can also mean organic matter used as a fuel, such as wood, crops, etc.

Cultural carrying capacity

the maximum number of people who could live in reasonable freedom and comfort indefinitely, without decreasing the ability of the earth to sustain future generations.

Carrying capacity

the maximum population of a given species that a particular habitat can sustain indefinitely. Carrying capacity for a population is not fixed and can rise or fall as environmental conditions change the factors that limit the population's growth.

Convection (first major climate factor)

the movement of matter (such as gas or water) caused when the warmer and less dense part of a body of such matter rises while the cooler, denser part of the fluid sinks due to gravity. In the atmosphere, convection occurs when the sun warms the air and causes some of it to rise while cooler air sinks in a cyclical patter called a convection cell. The pattern in which warm air rises and cooler air sinks (diagram in jamboard) Ex: The air over an ocean is heated when the sun evaporates water. This transfers moisture and heat from the ocean to the atmosphere, especially near the hot equator. This warm, moist air rises, then cools and releases heat and moisture as precipitation. Then the cooler, denser, and drier air sinks, warms up, and absorbs moisture as it flows across the earth's surface to begin the cycle again.

Habitat

the natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism; where an organism lives

natural capital

the natural resources and ecosystems services that keep humans and other species alive and support human economies.

Species diversity

the number and abundance of the different kinds of species living in an ecosystem. 2 components: species richness and species evenness

crude death rate

the number of deaths per 1,000 people in a population in a given year

Species richness

the number of different species in an ecosystem a species rich ecosystem has a lot of different species.

Population size

the number of individual organisms in a population at a given time. Can change or stay the same in response to changing environmental conditions.

Crude birth rate

the number of live births per 1,000 people in a population in a given year

Age strucutre

the numbers or percentages of males and females in young middle and older age groups in that population. In addition to total fertility rates, age structure is an important factor in determining whether the population of a country increases or decreases. Population experts construct a population age structure diagram by plotting the percentages or numbers of males and females in the total population in each of three categories: pre reproductive (ages 0-14) which consists of individuals normally too young to have children; reproductive (ages 15-44) which consists of those normally able to have children; and post reproductive (ages 45 and older) consists of individuals who are normally too old to have children. A country with a large percentage of people younger than age 15 will experience a rapid population growth unless death rates rise sharply. Because of this demographic momentum, the number of births in such a country will rise for several decades. This will occur even if women each have an average of only one or two children because of the large number of girls entering their prime reproductive years. Most future human population growth will take place in less developed countries because of their typically youthful age structure and rapid population growth rates. The global population of seniors (age 65 or older) is projected to triple between 2016 and 2050, when one of every six people will be a senior. An aging population combined with a lower fertility rate results in fewer working age adults having to support a large number of seniors. This could lead to a shortage of workers and friction between the younger and older generations.

biosphere

the parts of the earth's air, water, and soil where life exists

electromagnetic radiation

where energy travels from one place to another in the form of waves formed from changes in electrical and magnetic fields. There are many different forms of electromagnetic radiation. Each form has a different wavelength and energy content.

Gross primary productivity (GPP)

the rate at which an ecosystem's producers convert solar energy into chemical energy in order to stay alive, grow, and reproducer, producer must use some of their stored chemical energy for respiration. Similar to the rate at which you make money, or the number of dollars you earn per year

electric power

the rate at which electric energy is transferred through a wire or other conducting material. Commonly expressed in units of watts or megawatts (1 million watts) per hour.

Net primary productivity (NPP)

the rate at which producers use photosynthesis to produce and store chemical energy, minus the rate at which they use some of this stored chemical energy through aerobic respiration. Similar to the amount of money earned per year that you can spend after subtracting your expenses (food, clothes, rent, etc)

fossils

the remains or traces of past organisms. Include mineralized or petrified replicas of skeletons, bones, teeth, shells, leaves, and seeds or impressions of such items found in rocks.

ecological niche

the role a species plays in its ecosystem. It is a species' way of life in its ecosystem and includes everything that affects its survival and reproduction, such as how much water and sunlight it needs, how much space it requires, what it feeds on, what feeds on it, how and when it reproduces, and the temperatures and other conditions it can tolerate.

Geology

the scientific study of dynamic processes taking place on the earth's surface and in its interior. Scientific evidence indicates that the earth formed about 4.6 billion years ago and since then has undergone changes in its land and water and forms of life. As the primitive earth cooled over millions of years, its interior separated into three major concentric zones: the core, the mantle, and the crust. These three zones make up the geosphere, which is part of the earth's life support system.

atom

the smallest unit of matter into which an element can be divided and still have its distinctive chemical properties. Contains three subatomic particles (smaller than an atom): neutrons, protons, and electrons

prey

the species that gets eaten by another species

deforestation

the temporary or permanent removal of large expanses of forest for agriculture, settlements, or other uses. Over the past 8,000 years, deforestation has eliminated almost half of the earth's old growth forest cover. Most of this loss occurred in the last 65 years. If current deforestation rates continue, about 40% of the world's remaining intact forests (especially tropical forests) will be logged or converted to other uses within two decades or even sooner. Clearing large areas of forests, especially old growth forests have important short term economic benefits, but it also has a number of harmful environmental effects. Tropical forests cover 6% of the earth's land area. Climatic and biological data indicate that mature tropical forests once covered at least twice the area they do now. Most loss of the world's tropical forests have taken place since 1950. Since 2000, the world has been losing the equivalent of more than 50 soccer fields of tropical forest every minute. Currently, tropical forests absorb and store about one third of the world's terrestrial carbon emission as part of the carbon cycle. Thus, in reducing these forests we reduce their absorption of CO2 and contribute to atmospheric warming and climate change. Burning and clearing tropical forests also adds CO2 to the atmosphere, account for 10-15% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Water evaporation from trees and vegetation in tropical forests plays a major role in determining the amount of rainfall there. Removing large areas of trees can lead to drier conditions that dehydrate the topsoil by exposing it to sunlight and allowing it to be blown away. This makes it difficult for a forest to grow back in the area. At some point, the loss of trees causes the tropical forest to go beyond an ecological tipping point and become tropical grassland (savanna). Scientists project that if current burning and deforestation rates continue, 20-30% of the Amazon Basin could become savanna by 2080. Tropical deforestation results from a number of causes. Pressure from population growth and poverty push subsistence farmers and the landless poor into tropical forests, where they cut or burn trees for firewood or try to grow enough to survive. Government subsidies can accelerate large scale logging and livestock overgrazing by reducing the costs of these enterprises. Another cause is the fuelwood crisis. More than 2 billion people in less developed countries use fuelwood and charcoal made from wood for heating and cooking. Most of these countries suffer from fuelwood shortages because people are cutting trees for fuelwood and forest products 10-20 times faster than new trees are being planted.

Depletion time

the time it takes to use up a certain proportion (usually 80%) of the reserves of a mineral at a given rate of use. When experts disagree about depletion times. it is often because they are using different assumptions about supplies and rates of use (Figure 11.9). The shortest depletion-time estimate assumes no recycling or reuse and no increase in the reserve (curve A, Figure 11.9). A longer depletion-time estimate assumes that recycling will stretch the existing reserve and that better mining technology, higher prices, or new discoveries will increase the reserve (curve B). The longest depletion-time estimate (curve C) makes the same assumptions as A and B, but also assumes that people will reuse and reduce consumption to expand the reserve further. Finding a substitute for a resource leads to a new set of depletion curves for the new mineral.

heat/thermal energy

the total kinetic energy of all moving atoms, ions, or molecules in an object, a body of water, or a volume of gas such as the atmosphere. If the atoms, ions, or molecules in a sample of matter move faster, the matter will become warmer. When two objects at different temperatures make contact heat flows from the warmer one to the cooler one. Ex: you touch a hot stove. Heat is transferred from one place to another by three methods: radiation, conduction, and conversion.

biomass

the total mass of organisms in each trophic level. Smt like a 10% decrease in energy so like you can estimate 2,200 pounds of producers would provide 220 pounds of food for herbivores, which would then provide 22 pounds of food for carnivores, which would give the top carnivore 2.2 pounds of food.

Radiation

the transfer of heat energy through space by electromagnetic radiation in the form of infrared radiation. This is how heat from the sun reaches the earth and how heat from a fireplace is transferred to the surrounding air.

convection

the transfer of heat energy within liquids or gases when warmer areas of the liquid or gas rise to cooler areas and cooler liquid or gas takes its place. As a result, heat circulates through the air or liquid (water being heated in a pan).

conduction

the transfer of heat from one solid substance to another cooler solid substance when they are in physical contact. Ex: when you touch a hot object.

Rangelands

unfenced natural grasslands in temperate and tropical climates that supply forage, which is vegetation for grazing and browsing (shrub eating) animals. Ex: livestock

genetic diversity

the variety of genes found in a population or in a species. Genes contain genetic information which results in specific traits or characteristics that are passed on to offspring through reproduction. Species have a better chance of surviving and adapting to environmental changes if there populations have greater genetic diversity.

biodiversity/biological diversity

the variety of genes, species, ecosystems, and ecosystem processes. Interactions among species provide vital ecosystem services and keep any population from growing too large (carnivores eat other animals). Biodiversity also provides ways for species to adapt to changing environmental conditions and replace species that are wiped out by catastrophic environmental changes.

Biodiversity/ biological diversity

the variety of life on earth. 4 components: genetic diversity, functional diversity, ecological diversity, and species diversity.

functional diversity (component of biodiversity)

the variety of processes such as energy flow and matter cycling that occur within ecosystems as species interact with one another in food chains and food webs. Includes the variety of ecological roles organisms play in their biological communities and the impacts these roles have on their overall ecosystems.

Hurricanes

tropical cyclones that form in the Atlantic Ocean

old growth forest

uncut or regrown forest that has not been seriously disturbed by human activities or natural disasters for 200 years or more. They are reservoirs of biodiversity because they provide ecological niches for a multitude of wildlife species.

aquifers

underground layers of rock, sand, and gravel which holds water.

Permafrost

underground soil in which captured water stays frozen for more than 2 consecutive years.

Contour strip mining (surface mining method)

used mostly to mine coal and various mineral resources on hilly or mountainous terrain. Huge power shovels and bulldozers cut a series of terraces into the side of a hill. Then, earthmovers remove the overburden, an excavator or power shovel extracts the coal, and the overburden from each new terrace is dumped onto the one below. Unless the land is restored, this leaves a series of spoils banks and a highly erodible hill of soil and rock called a highwall. (Figure 11.15)

area strip mining (surface mining method)

used on flat terrain, a gigantic earthmover strips away the overburden, and a power shovel (which can be as tall as a 20 story building) removes a mineral resource such as gold (Figure 11.14). The resulting trench is filled with overburden, and a new cut is made parallel to the previous one. This process is repeated over the entire site.

chemical formula

used to show the number of each type of atom or ion in a compound. Ex: Sodium chloride (NaCl)

Density dependent factors

variables that become more important as a population's density increases. Ex: in a dense population parasites and diseases can spread more easily, resulting in higher death rates. On the other hand, a high population density helps sexually reproducing individuals to find mates more easily to produce offspring. Factors such as flood, fires, landslides, drought, and climate change are considered density independent factors because the effect they have on a population's size is not related to the population's density.

Limiting factors

various physical or chemical factors that can determine the number of organisms in a population and how fast a population grows or declines. Limiting factors are sometimes more important than other factors in regulating population growth. On land, precipitation often is the limiting factor. Low precipitation levels in desert ecosystems limit desert plant growth. Lack of key soil nutrients limits the growth of plants, which in turn limits populations of animals that eat plants, and animals that feed on plant eating animals. Limiting physical factors for populations in aquatic systems include water temperature, water depth, and water clarity (allowing for more or less sunlight). Other important factors are nutrient availability, acidity, salinity, and the level of oxygen gas in the water (dissolved oxygen content).

How Can we Slow Human Population Growth? Concept

we can slow human population growth by reducing poverty through economic development, elevating the status of women, and encouraging family planing.

biological extinction

when a species can no longer be found anywhere on the earth

geographic isolation

when different groups of the same population of a species become physically isolated from one another for a long time. The groups are exposed to different environmental conditions and as a result adapt and evolve differently.

genetic resistance

when one or more organisms in a population have genes that can tolerate a chemical that is designed to kill them. The resistant individuals survive and reproduce more rapidly than the members of the population that do not have the same genetic traits. Genetic resistance can develop quickly in populations of organisms such as bacteria and insects because they have a large number of offspring.

Parasitism

when one species (the parasite) lives in or on another organism (the host). The parasite benefits by extracting nutrients from the host. A parasite weakens its host but rarely kills it, since doing so would eliminate the source of its benefits. Some parasites (such as fleas and ticks) move from one host to another Parasites help keep their host populations in check.

work

whenever any object is moved a certain distance (work= force x distance)

law of conservation of matter

whenever matter undergoes a physical or chemical change, no atoms are created or destroyed. All we can do is rearrange atoms, ions, or molecules into different spatial patters (physical changes) or chemical combinations (chemical changes)

Zoning

where parcels of land are designated for certain uses such as residential, commercial, or mixed use. Zoning can be used to control growth and to protect areas from certain types of development. Zoning has several drawbacks. One problem is that some developers can influence or modify zoning decisions in ways that threaten or destroy wetlands, prime cropland, forested areas, and open space. Another problem is that zoning often favors high priced housing, factories, hotels, and other business over protecting environmentally sensitive areas and providing low cost housing. This is largely because most local governments depend on property taxes for their revenue. In addition, overly strict zoning can discourage innovative approaches to solving urban problems.

laboratory research

where scientists create, set up, and observe models of ecosystems and populations in laboratories. They created simplified ecosystems in things such as culture tubes. bottles, aquariums, and greenhouses where they control temperature, light, CO2, humidity, and other variables. Faster and less costly than similar experiments. However, scientists must consider how well their scientific observations and measurements in simplified, controlled systems in laboratory conditions reflect what takes place under the more complex and changing conditions in nature.

transform plate boundary

where two plates grind along in opposite directions next to each other. Boundary between two plates that are sliding past each other. The tremendous forces produced at these boundaries can form mountains or deep cracks (Figure 11.22) and cause earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Temperate grassland

winters can be bitterly cold, summers are hot and dry, and annual precipitation falls unevenly throughout the year. Because the aboveground parts of most of the grasses die and decompose each year, organic matter accumulates to produce deep, fertile topsoil. This topsoil is held in place by a thick network of the grasses' intertwined roots, unless the topsoil is plowed up which exposes it to high winds found in these biomes. Grasses are adapted to droughts and fires that burn the plant parts that are above the ground but do not harm the roots. As a result, new grass can grow. In the midwestern and western areas of the U.S. there are two types of temperate grasslands, depending mainly on the average rainfall. The two types are short grass prairies and tallgrass prairies In all prairies, winds blow almost continuously and evaporation is rapid, often leading to fires in the summer and fall. This combination of winds and fires helps to maintain such grasslands by hindering tree growth. Many of the world's natural temperate grasslands have been converted to farmland, because their fertile soils are useful for growing crops and grazing cattle.