EENS 1300 Exam 1

T/F: The spread of environmental zinc is the most serious issue associated with zinc smelting.

False (arsenic and lead are)

T/F: A scientific theory will become a scientific law if additional evidence provides overwhelming support.

False

T/F: Cadmium is more abundant than zinc.

False

T/F: Economists prefer command and control regulations over tradable permits.

False

T/F: Species are arbitrary taxonomic units.

False

transference of energy

potential energy turned into kinetic energy

Chemosynthesis

process by which non-photosynthetic organisms use chemical energy to produce carbohydrates

greenhouse effect

process in which certain gases trap sunlight energy in Earth's atmosphere as heat

nitrogen fixation

process whereby nitrogen (N2) is converted into ammonium (NH4+) by nitrogen fixing bacteria

emissions charge

"green tax" that forces polluters to pay the full costs of pollution, including externalities. the goal is that the private marginal costs of pollution will be equivalent to the societal costs of pollution

natural selection

"some individuals within a population have characteristics that enhance their reproductive capabilities"

ring species

"the perfect demonstration of speciation" allows us to reconstruct and infer biogeographical evolutionary history

Which "big 5" extinction killed the dinosaurs?

#5: Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction

open system in thermodynamics

exchanges energy with its surroundings

Detritivores

ingest dead organisms

strategies for pollution control: worldviews

-western (utilitarian) -biocentric preservationism

forms of energy: potential

-chemical (stored in bonds of atoms and molecules) -mechanical (in objects by tension) -nuclear (in nucleus of an atom) -gravitational (in an object's high from Earth's surface)

command and control solutions

-government agencies requires that a particular piece of equipment be installed to limit emissions to water, air and soil -makes excessive amounts of pollution illegal -unfavorable by economists b/c may result in pollution levels that are lower or higher than the economically optimal levels

incentive based regulations

-more preferable by economists, both liberal and conservative, as a result of cost effective analysis -most popular regulations are 1) environmental taxes 2) tradable permits

What percent of global deaths each year are related to pollution?

40%

forms of energy: kinetic

-radiant (electromagnetic energy that travels in transverse waves) -thermal (energy that comes from movement of atoms and molecules within a substance) -motion (stored in the movement of objects; i.e. wind) -sound (the movement of energy through substances in longitudinal waves) -electrical (delivered by electron particles, typ. moving through a wire; i.e. lightening)

how many people are drinking contaminated water?

1 billion

why study science? (2 reasons)

1) pure research (to understand nature) 2) applied research (to solve a particular problem)

3 benefits of ecosystem services

1. Support biodiversity 2. Provide food, materials, and recreation 3. Improve air and water quality

How many children die each year from drinking contaminated water?

2 million

What percent of earth's land area is agricultural land?

40%

aerobic oxygen conditions

6 ml -1.0 ml O2/liter of water highest solubility closest to surface

Globally, how many people die prematurely due to air pollution each year?

7 million

Pleistocene extinctions

Abrupt extinction 47,000 years ago coincident with arrival of humans. See loss of major megafauna

Holocene extinctions

Anthropocene extinction (#6!) past 10,000 years- present caused by humans

phosphorous cycle

Biogeochemical cycle of phosphorus through the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere (water, earth's crust, and living organisms) Dissolved phosphate (PO4)3- is derived from weathered rocks and deep sea vents

7 species concepts

Biological Morphological Evolutionary Ecological Phylogenetic Mate-recognition Genetic

What is the term for a challenge to the admissibility of expert testimony?

Daubert challenge

What caused the collapse of the Easter Island human population prior to the arrival of Europeans?

Deforestation

trophic levels

Energy flow; 10% of the energy in one trophic level is transferred to the next level

plate tectonics

Explains formation, distribution and location of continents, ocean bases, mountain ranges, earthquakes, volcanoes and ocean trenches

primary consumers

Organisms that feed on primary producers, e.g. herbivores and zooplankton

primary producers

Organisms that produce biomass from inorganic matter e.g. photosynthesizers and chemoautotrophs

urban heat islands

Local heat buildup in an area of high population density (building trap heat)

cap and trade

Market-based approach pollution control based on $$$ incentives for reducing emissions of pollutants because they can sell the allowances they save Preferred by economists

nitrogen cycle

Movement of nitrogen among the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and lithosphere soil, water, in and out of food webs

biggest cause of water pollution?

Nitrogen + phosphorous in fertilizer causing algae to grow

Ammonification

Nitrogen fixers transform ammonium (NH4+) into cellular components like amino acids and proteins

What two outdoor air pollutant is most hazardous to human health?

Particulate matter and ozone

how does the phosphorous cycle differ from the carbon cycle

Phosphorus cycle differs from carbon cycle in that the atmosphere plays very little role in the phosphorous cycle

photosynthesizers

Plants (grasses and trees) Algae (diatoms and kelp) Cyanobacteria

as temperatures increase...

Primarily affects physiology and metabolism Biological reaction rates increase higher rates of growth solubility of oxygen and carbon dioxide decreases Concentrations of calcium carbonate increase

evidence of evolution

Shape similarities DNA Embryology Vestigial organs Biogeography Natural selection Artificial selection Fossil record

effects of global warming

Rise in sea level Extreme climate Shifting of climatic zones towards poles Spread of disease Widespread extinction of species Arctic sea ice decline

What is the best explanation for biotic evolution (which is a scientific fact)?

Some individuals have traits that make them more likely to reproduce.

chemoautotrophs

Sulfur oxidizing bacteria Iron oxidizing bacteria

T/F: Carbon dioxide is an air pollutant.

True

T/F: Sharks benefit commercial fisheries for other species of fishes.

True

T/F: The loss of land in coastal Louisiana is caused in part by the oil and gas industry.

True

thermal energy

The total potential and kinetic energy of the particles in an object.

Scientific fact

any observation that has been repeatedly confirmed and accepted as true (i.e., very small possibility that it is false)

environment

anything (both abiotic and biotic) that surrounds an organism

community

a group of species that live in the same area at the same time

evolutionary species concept

a lineage evolving separately from others and with its own unitary evolutionary role and tendencies

Is the explanation for gravity a scientific law or theory?

a scientifc theory

nitrification

ammonia (NH4+) converted into nitrates and nitrites Deep-water bacteria in soil oxidize NH4+(ammonium) to nitrite (NO2-) and then to nitrate (NO3-)

biological species concept

an array of populations interbreeding that are reproductively isolated from other such groups organisms appear to be alike but are different species most widely accepted

Thermohaline circulation

an oceanic circulation pattern that drives the mixing of surface water and deep water due to temperature and salinity

first law of thermodynamics

an organism may absorb from and/or give up energy to its surroundings, yet the total energy content of the organisms and its surroundings will remain constant (i.e. energy can be neither created, nor destroyed, only transferred)

What coincides with the extinction of large animals on continents and islands during the past 50,000 years?

arrival of humans

where is the phosphorous cycle fastest?

bodies of water

decomposers

break down dead organisms bacteria and fungi present at all trophic levels

photosynthesis

carbon dioxide + water = glucose + oxygen via sunlight

negative feedback

change in some condition within a system causes a response that counteracts change, could keep an undisturbed system at equilibrium

What is the primary provisioning service provided by the wetlands of coastal Louisiana?

commercial fishing

scientific law

comprehensive DESCRIPTION of a natural phenomenon that occurs under certain circumstances

scientific theory

comprehensive EXPLANATION of some aspect of nature that is SUPPORTED by a vast body of evidence through repeated testing (i.e. an explanation accepted as true)

What is responsible for Earth's magnetic field ?

convection of the outer core

denitrification

conversion of nitrates (NO3-) in the soil by bacteria into nitrogen gas (N2)

What causes the most hazardous indoor air pollution in the world?

cooking with atmosphere carbon stove

anerobic

devoid of oxygen inefficient for animal life found in deeply stagnated bodies of water

morphological species concept

diagnosable group with pattern of ancestry and descent defines species anatomically most practical classification

positive feedback

disturbance or variable in a system causes a response that intensifies the disturbance

closed system in thermodynamics

does not exchange energy with its surroundings; rate in nature

major biotic events

earliest life earliest oxygen atmospheric oxygen Ediacaran fauna Cambrian explosion Mass extinction events Humans

ediacaran fauna

early marine invertarates first fossils, dating from about 575 million years ago

secondary consumers

eat primary consumers

tertiary consumers

eat secondary consumers

What is most likely to cause lead poisoning for people living near zinc plants?

eating dirt (for kids) or breathing soot

3 types of incentive based regulations

emission charge tradable permits cap and trade

habitat

environment where a species or organism lives

Eutrophication

excessive loading of phosphorous and nitrogen in a body of water that pollutes water Poor light penetration Low dissolved oxygen Shallow waters

T/F: If a scientific law is found be untrue in certain circumstances, then it may be downgraded to a scientific theory.

false

T/F: scientific theory can change into a scientific law if verified by repeated testing

false

T/F: The earth's mantle is liquid

false (made of solid rock and minerals)

What is responsible for the global collapse of shark populations?

fishing for fins

Heritable variation

genetic differences within a species essential prerequisite for evolution

Pleistocene megafauna

giant ice age animals extinguished by arrival of humans in Australia 47,000 years ago

tradable permits

government sets an optimal cap on certain pollutants permit owners can decide to generate pollution or sell the permit (usu. whichever creates the most income) allows for industries that can afford to cut emissions to do so and sell their permits to industries that cannot afford to do so

limitations of the biological species concept

helpful but does not define species "grolar bear" definition only applies to species that exist at the same time characterized by reproductive isolation, excludes asexual and ring species

ecosystem

large scale interacting system of organisms and their environment

chlorophyll

light-absorbing pigment molecule in photosynthetic organisms

Which came first: Land plants or marine invertebrates?

marine invertebrates

What is the most practical way of recognizing living species?

morphology

dead zones

occur when too much nutrient rich fertilizer (nitrogen + phosphorous) washes off causing explosion of dead phytoplankton that become oxygen eating bacteria

Euryhaline organisms

organisms in intertidal zones that can tolerate a wide variety of salinites good at osmotic regulation

biosphere

part of earth's atmosphere and lithosphere that supports life

Law of fossil succession

plant/animal fossils succeed in an recognizable order throughout the geographic record

substrate

reactant of an enzyme-catalyzed reaction

That every point mass in the universe attracts every other point mass with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them is an example of a:

scientific law

Metapopulations

set of local populations among which individuals are distributed in distinct habitat patches across landscape

Stenohaline organisms

subtidal organisms that can only tolerate low variations in salinities

cellular respiration

sugar + oxygen = carbon dioxide + water Oxidation of glucose releases energy, which is stored as ATP

5 environmentally limiting factors

temperature oxygen salinity depth substrate

as depth increases...

temperature decreases Oxygen decreases Carbonate concentration decreases Light decreases (photic zone) Nutrients increase Abundance and diversity decline

second law of thermodynamics

the amount of biologically usable energy available to do work decreases over time When energy is converted, some of it is degraded into lower-quality, less useful form (Entropy)

Which layer in the earth is similar in composition to an iron-nickel meteorite?

the core

niche

the ecological role of a species in its environment

realized niche

the range of abiotic and biotic conditions under which a species actually lives

artificial selection

the selective breeding of organisms (by humans) for specific desirable characteristics

fundamental niche

the total theoretical range of environmental conditions that a species can tolerate

the species problem

there is no universally accepted definition, however it is the most fundamental unit of classification

salinity

total dissolved salts per volume of seawater affects osmotic regulation fresh water = least brine = highest

T/F : Cyanobacteria produced the earliest oxygen in earth's oceans and atmosphere.

true

T/F :The field of economics uses the scientific method to acquire knowledge.

true

T/F: Evolution can be considered a fact, scientific theory, or scientific law depending how evolution is being defined.

true

T/F: The pattern of evolutionary change documented by the fossil record is a scientific law.

true

T/F: biotic evolution is a fact

true

brownfields

urban areas of abandoned industrial or residential sites that may be contaminated from past use

utilitarian conservationist

values natural resources for their usefulness for practical purposes, but uses them sensibly

biocentric preservationist

values protecting nature because all forms of life deserve respect and consideration