ENV chpt 6-9, 12
Natural gas deposits form where nonporous rock traps volatile gases, especially________, diffusing upward from coal or oil-bearing rock.
methane
Natural gas is a mixture of several kinds of hydrocarbons, but the major gas in the mixture is generally
methane. The hydrocarbons in natural gas are all gases at room temperature.
irrigation:
A system for artificially delivering water to crops so that they can grow in areas with too little precipitation to support them otherwise.
hydrocarbon:
An organic molecule made up of carbon and hydrogen only; the simplest hydrocarbon is methane (CH4), the main component of natural gas.
genetically modified (GM) organism (GMO):
An organism into which one or more genes have been incorporated using the techniques of biotechnology.
El Niño Southern Oscillation:
An oscillating climatic system involving variation in ocean surface temperatures and barometric pressures across the Pacific Ocean.
In 1978 the Department of Energy first identified Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a potential nuclear disposal site and experimental tunnels were bored into the rock. Did it happen?
NO
Surface Impoundments
Natural or excavated depressions can be used as surface impoundments for temporarily storing or treating liquid hazardous wastes (Figure 12.26b). These structures must have double liners, a system for collecting and removing leachate, and a leak detection system. They must be regularly monitored, inspected, and eventually sealed.
brackish water:
Natural waters with a salt content intermediate between freshwater and seawater, commonly occurring near the mouths of rivers where freshwater and seawater mix.
E horizon:
Soil layer between the A and B horizons, from which clays and dissolved materials are transported down the soil profile to the underlying B horizon.
A horizon (topsoil):
Soil layer immediately below the O horizon that includes significant amounts of organic matter, generally expressed by dark color.
T/F. Dams and reservoirs developed for hydroelectric power and water storage on the COLUMBIA RIVER system have disrupted salmon migration and have severely reduced the productivity of a major salmon fishery.
T
T/F. Each step in the process of coal fired power plant results in a loss of usable energy.
T
O horizon:
Surface layer. Site of active decomposition. Rich in organic matter like leaves, twigs and bark.
The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster
Survived the earthquake in Japan, but the power was knocked out and the tsunami following was too much.
T/F. Soil forms as the environment interacts with parent material. The factors important to soil formation include climate, organisms, the nature of the parent material, the topography (or form) of the land surface, and time
T
T/F. An explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on April 26, 1986, and a subsequent 10-day fire sent a plume of radioactive materials across Europe.
T
T/F. Avoiding soil salinization in irrigated fields depends on maintaining adequate soil drainage so that salts are leached down the soil profile and drained away with groundwater.
T
T/F. Currently, no country has a viable system in place for long-term disposal of spent fuel rods.
T
T/F. Exposure of bare soil and disturbance of topsoil during logging, particularly due to road building and log skidding, create conditions conducive to increased soil erosion.
T
T/F. In the absence of El Niño, there is strong upwelling along the coast of western South America, which supports high levels of primary production and one of the world's most productive fisheries.
T
T/F. Ironically, fire suppression has made the forests of western North America more vulnerable to fires and more susceptible to soil and nutrient loss.
T
T/F. Many thousands of bacterial species can be identified from a single gram of soil.
T
T/F. Removing dams that impede movement and reproduction by migrating salmon is critical to restoring commercially important fish stocks.
T
T/F. The Coriolis effect deflects prevailing winds and ocean currents to the right of their direction of travel in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere.
T
T/F. The amount of fruits and vegetables farmers harvest is affected by soil fertility.
T
T/F. The earth recycles rocks
T
T/F. The effect of El Niño on the coastal ecosystems of western South America results from its creating a barrier to upwelling, which delivers nutrients to the euphotic zone.
T
T/F. The impacts of overgrazing in arid and semiarid rangelands commonly lead to desertification
T
T/F. There is a rising energy demand.
T
T/F. Unlike for the Superfund sites, no national program exists to clean up brownfields, which are commonplace in any city with an extensive industrial history
T
T/F. newer electrical energy converting power plants must have the latest pollution control systems to avoid releasing hazardous wastes into the air.
T
T/F. those on steep slopes are more vulnerable to erosion
T
T/F. Of the liquid hazardous waste disposed of in the United States, approximately 90% is injected into wells drilled into deep rock formations
T Deep well injection is regulated by RCRA and the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974.
The Tampa Bay Desalination Plant
Tampa, Florida, has turned to desalination to supplement its traditional water supplies, opening the largest reverse osmosis plant in the United States in 2007 95 million L of freshwater a day
Other water solutions than technology
Technology is not the only solution to securing the future of our water resources. Restoring aquatic ecosystems can provide many benefits, such as purifying water and reducing erosion
half-life:
The time needed for half of a given amount of a radioactive isotope to decay.
riparian:
The transition zone between a river or stream and the terrestrial environment, generally inhabited by a biological community distinctive from adjacent aquatic and upland communities. Riparian zones naturally flood periodically and usually have shallow water tables.
A device capable of producing electricity, commonly called a generator, includes two basic components:
a magnet and a conductor
Water supplies are severely restricted for the people living in _______, which cover a large fraction of Earth's land surface.
arid regions (dry)
Many predatory fish species have recovered rapidly, following reductions in fishing pressure, including
giant sea bass (Stereolepis gigas), soupfin sharks (Galeorhinus galeus), white seabass (Atractoscion nobilis), and leopard sharks (Triakis semifasciata).
Flooding, both by surface water and groundwater seepage, is essential to the natural functioning of
rivers and associated wetlands.
Prior to mining, the undisturbed landscape in the Powder River Basin consisted of
rolling hills covered mainly with sage brush and grasses. Strip mining removed all the topsoil and vegetation, but restoration has been remarkably successful in creating productive wildlife grazing areas like this tract of restored grassland.
Mature soils under temperate deciduous forests commonly have six horizons:
the O, A, E, B, C, and R horizons. "Only austin eats Bacon Covered Ribs"
The most common type of sprinkler irrigation
the center-pivot system: a pipe bearing the sprinklers pivots around a central point, provides fairly even irrigation coverage.
The lowest rates of primary production occur in
the cold dry tundra and in deserts, which may be cold or hot but are always dry. Between these end members are boreal forests, temperate grasslands, and savannas, which support medium levels of primary production. (After Del Grosso et al., 2008)
The sustainability of groundwater depends on
the relative rates of recharge and pumping. Where pumping rates are greater than recharge, groundwater use is not sustainable.
One of the keys to successful management of a fishery, including the Bristol Bay salmon fishery, is information on
the state and trends in the exploited fish population.
The rate of soil development reaches maximum levels in the _______ tropics.
warm, humid
The U.S. EPA takes a prioritized, hierarchical approach to waste management, with the highest priority given to
waste reduction and reuse.
Driven by prevailing or seasonal winds, upwelling generally occurs where
winds blow warmer surface water away from shore and replace it with colder, subsurface water.
Among these countries, the greatest allocation of land to GM crops is found in just three:
US, Brazil, and Argentina.
Countries with the largest known coal reserves:
US, Russia, China
T/F. Nuclear bonds hold much more energy than chemical bonds.
T
One of the best-known examples of a GM crop with improved nutritional quality is
"golden rice," which produces b-carotene, a precursor to vitamin A.
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission released a list of recommendations for improving nuclear power plant safety. The list included three main measures:
(1) Planning for multiple natural disasters or other threats and building the capacity to support the safety functions of all reactors at a site simultaneously; (2) improved monitoring of pools containing spent fuel rods and robust backup systems for cooling spent fuel rod pools; (3) better systems for venting reactors of the type at Fukushima, in case of power loss.
Most commercially grown GM crops have been engineered with three traits in mind:
(1) the capacity to produce insect-killing chemicals (e.g., Bt), thereby increasing crop plants' resistance to pests; (2) resistance to chemical herbicides, allowing farmers to control weeds with herbicides without harming crops; or (3) resistance to plant viruses, reducing losses of crop plants to these pathogens
Four communities (______) that have ongoing programs promoting water conservation have achieved significant water savings.
(New York City; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Windhoek, Namibia; and Singapore)
control rods:
Long rods made of neutron-absorbing substances, used to control the rate of fission in a nuclear reactor.
What fraction of Earth's population relies on groundwater?
1/4
nuclear energy:
A form of energy released when the nucleus of an atom breaks apart (nuclear fission), or when the nuclei of two atoms fuse (nuclear fusion).
primary energy:
A form of energy that requires only extraction or capture for use (e.g., coal, crude oil, wind).
The average loss of soil on each hectare of agricultural land in the United States as a result of erosion amounts to
17 metric tons annually.
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA):
A law passed by the U.S. Congress that banned open dumping of wastes and set standards for solid waste landfills.
electronic waste (e-waste):
A portion of the waste stream consisting of discarded electronic products that typically contain hazardous components (e.g., heavy metals like lead, and other toxins).
In spite of the application of massive quantities of pesticides, insects, pathogens, and weeds still reduce potential annual crop production in the United States by nearly what percent?
40%
enrichment:
A nuclear process in which uranium-235 is separated from less valuable uranium-238.
Peter H. Gleick has suggested____ liters per day as a minimum water right for all individuals on Earth, based on estimates of the minimum volumes required for drinking, food preparation, bathing, and sanitation.
50
By current estimates, irrigation accounts for nearly ___ of water withdrawals from surface and groundwater around the world and threatens biodiversity by reducing the availability of water in freshwater ecosystems.
70%
Regional distribution of known natural gas reserves: The Middle East and Northern Eurasia have _____of the known reserves.
75%
Regional distribution of known coal reserves: Three geographic regions possess ___% of the world's coal reserves.
95%
La Niña:
A period of lower than average sea surface temperatures and higher barometric pressures in the eastern Pacific Ocean, resulting in reduced storm activity in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
El Niño:
A period of warmer than average sea surface temperatures and lower barometric pressure in the eastern Pacific Ocean, favoring the production of storms in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
monoculture:
A planting of a single variety of crop, generally over a large area, that creates an attractive target for pests and pathogens of the crop.
GMOs are called transgenic organism:
A GM organism that contains genes from another species For example, genes from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis have been inserted into the DNA of several crops, including corn, to increase the corn plant's resistance to insects who chew on the plants.
bitumen:
A flammable, highly viscous or semisolid mixture of hydrocarbons. Some of the dirtiest oil on Earth lies deep within the boreal forests of Alberta, Canada.
stock:
A discrete subpopulation of a species, which is reproductively isolated from other stocks.
reservoir:
A body of water, ranging in size from a pond to an ocean, including below-ground deposits of water; constructed dams retain water in artificial reservoirs, which are commonly used to store and divert water for human use.
strip mining:
A coal extraction technique in which overburden is removed from a long strip of land, exposing a coal seam; once the coal is removed, material from an adjacent strip is used to fill the excavation.
slash-and-burn:
A common technique used in tropical countries to rapidly convert forestlands into temporary farms. Rather than harvesting the timber, trees are BURNED, thereby releasing some of their nutrients into the poor tropical soils, which remain fertile for several years.
waterlogged soil:
A condition in which the water table is at or near the soil surface. Happens when you apply water to a field faster than it can drain Deprives plants of oxygen
fracking (hydraulic fracturing):
A controversial extraction technique that involves drilling horizontally into a rock formation and pumping in a mixture of fluids and sands to fracture it, thus creating a path through which natural gas or oil can flow out. EPA identified a number of instances in which contamination of drinking water due to fracking has been verified Not responsible for earthquakes
oxbow lake:
A crescent-shaped lake formed on a river's floodplain by rerouting the main river channel, generally during a flood.
Coriolis effect:
A deflection in the winds from a straight north-south path as a consequence of Earth's rotation on its axis from west to east; deflects winds to the right of their direction of travel in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere.
B horizon: .
A depositional soil layer in which materials transported from the A and E horizons accumulate
distillation:
A desalination process that uses heat to evaporate water from seawater or brackish water and condenses the resulting salt-free water vapor to produce freshwater.
reverse osmosis:
A desalination process that uses selectively permeable membranes and pressure to separate salts and water.
aquifer:
A geologic formation containing groundwater; gains water through the process of infiltration and loses water through groundwater flow.
individual transferable quota (ITQ) (catch shares):
A guaranteed right to a certain portion (quota) of the catch in a fishery or exclusive rights to certain fishing grounds; may also be granted to a fisheries cooperative or community.
integrated waste management:
A management strategy that minimizes waste disposal by stressing the importance of reducing waste, reusing materials, recycling, composting, and recovering energy from waste materials.
catch-per-unit effort:
A measure of how many fish are caught using a specific piece of gear—a net or a line—for a certain period of time.
crop rotation:
A method farmers use to maintain soil fertility and reduce the buildup of pests by rotating crops on two-, three-, or four-year cycles.
petroleum (crude oil):
A mixture of hydrocarbons contained in sedimentary rocks of marine origin; developed from the accumulated remains of algae and zooplankton deposited on the sea floor over millions of years.
acid mine drainage:
A problematic result of strip mining, in which surface flow of groundwater turns acidic as it percolates through mine wastes (tailings).
nuclear fission: (not fusion)
A process in which the bonds holding the protons and neutrons that make up the nucleus of an atom are broken, resulting in the release of a large quantity of energy
nuclear fusion: (not fission)
A process in which the nuclei of two atoms fuse to form a new type of atom, releasing large amounts of energy.
composting:
A process involving aerobic decomposition of organic material used to recycle garden waste and organic components of municipal solid waste.
desertification:
A process of degradation of once fertile lands to a desertlike condition of reduced plant cover and primary production.
erosion:
A process that removes geologic materials, ranging from clay-sized particles to boulders, from one part of a landscape to be deposited elsewhere; increased rates of soil erosion due to human activity can reduce soil fertility.
reclamation:
A process that restores an ecosystem to its natural structure and functioning prior to mining or to an economically usable state.
subsidence:
A settling or sudden sinking, in the case of sinkhole formation, of a land surface as a result of processes such as groundwater withdrawal or loss of organic matter in soil.
sanitary landfill:
A solid waste disposal site consisting of a lined pit constructed and managed in ways to minimize environmental impacts.
containment structure:
A steel and concrete enclosure designed to prevent the release of radioactive material in the case of a serious nuclear reactor accident.
moderator:
A substance (most commonly pressurized water) used in a nuclear reactor to reduce the speed at which neutrons travel.
euphotic zone:
A surface layer of the oceans and deep lakes where there is sufficient light to support photosynthetic aquatic organisms.
source reduction:
A waste management tactic aimed at reducing the amount of material that enters the waste stream.
kerogen:
A waxy substance found in shale and other sedimentary rocks that yields oil when heated; occurs during an intermediate stage of petroleum formation.
tertiary treatment:
Advanced treatment of wastewater, which follows primary and secondary treatment, that removes dissolved organic chemicals, nitrogen, phosphorus, several other dissolved salts, and pathogens.
brownfield:
An abandoned industrial site generally contaminated with hazardous waste and unusable without remediation.
integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA):
An approach to aquaculture that involves raising several species of aquatic organisms with complementary feeding habits in close proximity.
ecosystem-based management:
An approach to management of natural resources that considers the entire ecosystem; a departure from earlier, single-species approaches to natural resource management.
clear-cutting:
An economically efficient technique whereby an entire area is cleared of its trees.
ATP (adenosine triphosphate):
An energy-bearing molecule containing phosphorus used to transport energy within cells.
anaerobic:
An environment without molecular oxygen (O2).
life cycle assessment (LCA):
An estimate of the total environmental impact of a product or technology as a result of activities such as extraction of an energy source (e.g., coal), transport, processing of raw materials, construction, maintenance, dismantling, removal, and recycling or disposal of structures.
pesticide resistance:
An evolved tolerance to a pesticide by a pest population as a result of repeated exposure to a pesticide, ultimately rendering the chemical ineffective.
mountaintop removal mining:
An extremely destructive coal mining practice that involves clear-cutting of the forests on a mountain and adjacent stream valleys; miners then use explosives to break up the rock overlying the coal deposit, depositing it in the adjacent valleys, which are buried as the coal is exposed.
water reclamation:
Any process of treating wastewater to make it safe for reuse or recycling.
Water summary 6.6
Approximately 2.6 billion people around the world lack access to enough water to meet their basic needs. Continued population growth, coupled with natural variation in water supplies, will intensify the potential for conflict among water users, especially in arid regions. Only about one-third of freshwater runoff is accessible to human population centers, of which a majority has been appropriated for human uses, including agriculture, waste dilution and disposal, shipping, recreation, and residential and industrial uses. While there are extensive deposits of groundwater, such reservoirs are slowly renewed and are not generally a sustainable supply on timescales that match human needs. Alteration of freshwater environments around the world threatens many aquatic species, ranging from mollusks to fish. Dams, built to store water and control floods, change river ecosystems in many ways, including blocking the passage of migrating fish, altering historical patterns of flow, changing water temperatures, and reducing the availability of nutrients and sediments in river sections below dams. By reducing flooding, dams also decrease the connection between rivers and riverside wetlands and forests, which make particularly valuable contributions to biodiversity and primary production in arid and semi-arid landscapes.
Waste summary
Around the world, the amount of municipal solid waste generated is increasing with urban population growth and economic development. Food waste and other biodegradable waste take up valuable landfill space and represent an unnecessary and avoidable problem. Non-biodegradable waste also creates significant environmental problems. For example, plastics accumulate in natural ecosystems, such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, where they threaten sea life. Hazardous waste represents a great threat to the environment—contaminating land and water the world over. This type of contamination produced brownfields, abandoned industrial sites contaminated with hazardous waste that are unusable without remediation. The increase in the use of electronic devices has created a new source of waste—e-waste. Finally, radioactive waste poses unique challenges in that it must be sequestered in structures sufficient to shield the environment from harmful radiation. Nuclear waste remains in temporary storage at nuclear power plant sites across the United States and around the world.
constructed wetlands:
Artificial wetland ecosystems, used in the treatment of wastewater, that are constructed in areas where wetlands may not occur naturally.
one of the nation's first Superfund sites.
Love Canal
Concerns about the Green Revolution
But because the Green Revolution involved intensive agriculture, with its range of attendant problems (see Figure 7.24, page 207), it has come under criticism. Even Borlaug recognized that one of the ways to continue to increase production, with reduced environmental impact, may be to return, at least partly, to the past, by incorporating crop rotation and a greater diversity of crops into agricultural systems.
pot-traps:
Baited traps used to catch lobster or crab.
instream uses:
Benefits, such as dilution of sewage and recreational fishing and boating, that result from water flowing in river or stream channels.
______ helps sustain economically valuable services provided by aquatic ecosystems, including salt marshes, kelp forests, mangrove forests, and riparian wetlands.
Biodiversity
Some benefits of GMO
Lower insecticide use Less tillage leading to healthier soils Higher nutrition Reduced soil erosion Disease tolerance Drought resistance Greater food security
A historic three-year drought turned much of _________________, one of the richest agricultural regions in the world, into a virtual desert.
California's San Joaquin Valley This triggered water rationing, a reminder that freshwater is essential to human welfare.
The highest rates of groundwater depletion and land subsidence in the US in recent years have occurred in
California's San Joaquin Valley. Faced with an epic drought, farmers in the San Joaquin Valley were pumping massive amounts of groundwater to compensate for the lack of water in storage reservoirs.
commercial fishing:
Catching fish for profit; represents the vast majority of the fish captured around the world.
What defines the minimum amount of water a person needs to live?
Climate Depends on the individuals, how old they are, how much they weigh, and how active they are. Daily water requirements increase with temperature, activity level, and body size.
Summary on climate and soil
Climate, which includes temperature and precipitation, is one of the most important factors influencing the amount of biomass an ecosystem produces. Careful experimental research has revealed that biodiversity also has a significant positive influence on productivity, independent of climate. These documented relationships may help in the design of sustainable agricultural systems. Different climatic conditions support a wide range of biomass production and different soil types. This variation in climate and soils is linked to Earth's terrestrial biomes, within which human populations have developed systems of farming, ranching, and forestry to harvest primary production for human use. In a mature temperate deciduous forest, soils have a distinct sequence of layers called the O, A, E, B, C, and R horizons. The main factors important to soil formation include climate, organisms, the nature of the parent material, the topography (or form) of the land surface, and time. The supply of essential plant nutrients (e.g., nitrogen and phosphorus) and organic matter in soils is not static, but rather the result of a dynamic interaction between several processes, such as erosion, deposition, and decomposition.
4 Types of Coal
Coal is a nonrenewable resource known as a fossil fuel. It's the most abundant fossil fuel we have. The four types of coal include peat, lignite, bituminous, and anthracite, with anthracite being most desirable due to its high heat content.
How a coal fired power plant works
Coal is first pulverized into tiny pieces so it burns more completely. The heat of combustion is used to boil water, which produces steam. The steam creates pressure that turns a turbine attached to an electrical generator. After passing through the turbine, the steam is cooled, condenses back to liquid water, and returns to the boiler, where it is heated to form steam once again. The electricity produced can then flow through the power grid and into homes and businesses.
Shrimp Farming and Mangrove Conservation
Costal pollution, waste water isn't managed, ponds may be damaged by storm SO many shrimp ponds are now sited behind protective mangrove forests, and the necessary ocean water is delivered to the inland ponds through a canal or pipeline. Drained periodically
Effects of a dam made on the Klamath River?
Dams on the Klamath River prevent the passage of migratory salmon and other migratory fish species to the upper river basin, greatly reducing the area available for spawning.
bycatch:
Discarded catch and mortality of any organism (e.g., fish, invertebrate animals, birds, dolphins, sea turtles) as a result of contact with fishing gear.
Most efficient irrigation?
Drip irrigation
Drip irrigation
Drip irrigation, which delivers water and often nutrients directly to the rooting zone of crop plants, is perhaps the most precise and efficient irrigation system in common use. But because this system is expensive, farmers use drip irrigation only on high-value crops, such as strawberries and tomatoes, in water-starved regions.
Osmosis moves water across a selectively permeable membrane
During the natural process of osmosis, water moves from the side of a selectively permeable membrane on which the concentration of salts is lower to the side on which the concentration of salts is higher. Reverse osmosis changes ("reverses") this normal direction of flow by applying physical pressure to the side of the membrane with higher salt content, forcing water to move toward the side of the membrane with the lower salt content.
internal combustion engine:
Engine (most commonly used in cars, boats, and jet airplanes) in which combustion directly drives a set of pistons or turbines hooked up to a crank arm.
gas turbine engine:
Engine that burns natural gas, sending a hot, high-pressure stream of gas through a turbine connected to an electrical generator.
stock assessment:
Estimated size of a fish stock, the rate at which the population is growing, and the rate of harvest.
T/F. Retaining nutrients in soil is not critical for sustaining primary production.
F. ITS CRITICAL.
T/F. Twenty years after the collapse of the cod fishery in New England and eastern Canada, the stock has recovered.
FALSE
Which doesn't require uranium or other rare, radioactive materials, but rather a seemingly limitless fuel: hydrogen, which can be extracted from water? (Fission or fusion?)
FUSION
Fission vs fusion reaction
Fission reaction, involving the splitting of uranium-235. Fusion reaction in which two hydrogen nuclei fuse, resulting in the formation of helium.
The situation in the Greater Mekong Basin
Forest is getting smaller. increased erosion, landslides, and degradation of soils. Rainwater normally collected and purified in forested basins will be cloudy with sediment, harming the freshwater fish that feed so much of the population.
fossil fuels:
Fossilized organic material, mainly the remains of ancient photosynthetic organisms that converted the Sun's radiant energy into chemical energy (e.g., coal, oil, natural gas).
pesticide:
Generally a chemical substance used to kill destructive organisms, including insects (insecticide), fungi (fungicide), weeds (herbicide), and rodents (rodenticide).
cogeneration:
Generally refers to the use of a single source of energy for multiple purposes.
Overgrazing of Rangelands and Desertification
Grazing by livestock causes erosion in the same way as conventional tillage, by reducing plant cover and disturbing topsoil. Livestock are generally heavy animals that consume a lot of plant material and compress soils with their hooves. Overgrazed rangelands may lose up to 100 tons of soil per hectare per year. Rangelands in hot, dry regions are particularly sensitive to erosion because they naturally support sparse plant cover, which can be easily overgrazed. Severe erosion can occur during torrential rains and flash floods
Norman Borlaug
Green Revolution—a series of technological advances in crop production that enabled many developing countries to overcome the threat of famine and, in some cases, become agriculturally self-sufficient.
______ is one of the best known of the major ocean currents
Gulf Stream First mapped by B Franklin (using whale hunting techniques)
Klamath River Dam Removal
Hasnt happened yet? Many would lose jobs, but many would gain them The agreement included a plan for sharing water in ways that would both restore salmon runs to the upper Klamath River system and protect the interests of farmers
nitrogen fixation:
Incorporation of atmospheric nitrogen, N2, into nitrogen-containing compounds by bacteria, living in association with plants or free living.
In which of the following situations would irrigation most likely produce soil salinization? In soils with high rates of drainage and low levels of irrigation water inputs In soils with low rates of drainage and high levels of irrigation water inputs In soils with a low (deep) water table In sandy soils with high rates of leaching
In soils with low rates of drainage and high levels of irrigation water inputs
Ogallala Aquifer
In the United States, some of the most productive farmland in the High Plains depends on a massive groundwater resource, the Ogallala Aquifer. Unfortunately, the rate of withdrawal is approximately 2.5 times greater than the annual recharge rate May run out of water in a century
Nuclear Power Summary
In the next 20 years, fossil fuel production will likely peak and then begin to decline until we have exhausted Earth's nonrenewable supplies of energy. More intense fossil fuel extraction in response to higher prices and greater demand will continue to be a source of significant environmental damage. Strip mining of coal and oil sands and mountaintop removal mining have already devastated many landscapes. Coal sludge and fly ash ponds have contaminated water supplies with heavy metals. Oil spills have disrupted ecosystems around the world. Nuclear power is neither as safe nor as cheap as once promised. Three nuclear accidents have changed public perceptions of nuclear power and altered the course of its development. An accident in 1979 at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island nuclear power plant led to a partial meltdown of one of the plant's reactors. Another accident in 1986 at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine spread radioactive material over thousands of square kilometers across Europe. Explosions and fires at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan, deposited enough radioactive material into the surroundings to force the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents.
Bt:
Insect-killing crystalline substance produced by the bacteria species Bacillus thuringiensis.
What determines whether a genetically modified organism (GMO) is transgenic? It carries genes different from wild ancestors. It is more resistant to attacks by insects. It grows at faster rates than other varieties. It carries a gene from another species.
It carries a gene from another species.
Klemetsrud
Klemetsrud is one of two waste-to-energy power plants in Oslo, Norway, that, combined, have the capacity to process 410,000 metric tons of solid waste per year. Municipal solid waste generated locally and transported to Norway from other European locations provides enough fuel for the two plants to generate sufficient electricity and heat to meet the energy needs of 84,000 homes.
Geologists classify coal into four major grades, which differ in carbon and energy content (increasing carbon content and hardness)
Lignite, sub-bituminous, Bituminous, anthracite
The state of_______, for example, imposes a 10-cent deposit on all its recyclable beverage containers, the highest of any state.
Michigan
one of the most destructive forms of mining in use today.
Mountain top removal, which removes the tops of some of the oldest mountains on Earth along with their cloak of highly diverse temperate forest ecosystems EX: The Appalachian Mountains
Which of the following soil horizons generally contains the lowest amount of organic matter? O horizon A horizon B horizon C horizon
My guess is C
key processes of the nitrogen cycle
Nitrogen makes up 78% of dry air. However, only a few microorganisms are capable of nitrogen fixation, a process that requires breaking the strong bonds that join the two atoms in N2 molecules. Once incorporated into the molecules, such as amino acids and nucleic acids, of which these nitrogen fixers are made, nitrogen can be cycled through an ecosystem. Ammonia and ammonium ions are released from decomposing plant, animal, and microbial biomass in a process called (2) ammonification. Some ammonium and ammonia are converted to nitrates through (3) nitrification, a two-step process in which bacteria first produce nitrites (NO2−) and then nitrates. Primary producers can take up the nitrates and ammonium in terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. Once within the plant or alga, nitrate and ammonium enter a process called (4) nitrogen assimilation, in which they are incorporated into essential nitrogen-containing organic compounds, such as DNA and amino acids. When plants, or the consumers that eat them, decompose, the nitrogen in their bodies returns to soil or water, completing the nitrogen cycle. Nitrogen can also be lost from ecosystems through the process of (5) denitrification. Denitrification takes place in poorly drained, poorly aerated soils, or in low- or no-oxygen environments in lakes and marshes, where denitrifying bacteria convert nitrates into elemental nitrogen gas. If nitrogen is not replenished by nitrogen fixation, denitrification may deplete the available nitrogen within an ecosystem. In ecosystems developing on nitrogen-rich sedimentary rocks, (6) weathering can make significant contributions to the amount of cycled nitrogen.
Some of the most fertile soils occur in temperate grasslands, which is why the prairie regions of ____ and _____ have been centers of wheat and maize farming. Faming in prairie and Mediterranean regions often requires irrigation, which creates a challenge to sustainability
North America and Eurasia
The leaf beetle
OR Colorado potato beetle. Kills crops. evolved pesticide resistance!!!!
seawater:
Ocean water and the water of seas, such as the Caribbean and Mediterranean seas. The salinity of seawater averages about 34,000 mg/l (34 g/l), but ranges from 30,000 to about 40,000 mg/l (30 to 40 g/l).
Fishery and dam summary
One key to properly managing fisheries is a management plan built on sound science. In the case of whales, an international ban helped species recover. Fisheries are generally regulated through gear restrictions and limits to the amount of time and the period when a fishing vessel can be at sea. Competitive approaches to fishing can be avoided by granting fishing quotas to individuals, cooperatives, or communities. Fishing quotas also appear to encourage more cooperation between fishers and fisheries scientists and managers, and marine protected areas improve fisheries while simultaneously increasing marine biodiversity. Thousands of projects around the world, large and small, are aimed at restoring rivers and wetlands, and this increasingly involves dam removal. Aquaculture now accounts for nearly 40% of total fisheries production. With the massive increase in aquacultural production comes the potential for massive environmental damage. One of the most effective ways to reduce pollution from aquaculture is through integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA). Many shrimp farms are now being sited and managed in ways that protect nearby mangrove forests. More and more, wastewater from land-based aquaculture is being treated effectively and economically using constructed wetlands. In addition, fish farmers are switching to plant-based diets and raising fish lower on the food chain.
Pros and Cons of Flood irrigation
PRO: does not require expensive equipment. CON: It can waste a lot of water.
Which of the following was not part of the Green Revolution? Use of pesticides Conventional tillage Genetically modified crops Intensive plant breeding programs
PROBABLY use of pesticides
Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island nuclear power plant
Partial meltdown. A valve got stuck inside, which led to the loss of coolant from the nuclear reactor
fly ash:
Particles formed during combustion that are light enough to become airborne and exit a combustion chamber with exhaust gases, including soot and dust.
fly ash:
Particles formed during combustion that are light enough to become airborne and exit a combustion chamber with exhaust gases, including soot and dust. Cause pollution
Which environmental scientist pointed out in 1999 that water has not been included as a right in most international conventions on human rights.
Peter H. Gleick
Example of genotype pros
Plots of eel grass, Zostera marina, containing more genotypes lost fewer shoots to grazing geese, indicating higher resistance to this form of disturbance. (Data from Hughes and Stachowicz, 2004) Eel grass plots containing more genotypes also recovered more rapidly following heat-related mortality, indicating higher resilience following disturbance. (Data from Reusch et al., 2005)
combined cycle power plants:
Power plants that combine a gas turbine engine with a steam power plant.
natural enemies:
Predators and pathogens that attack herbivorous insects and other pest organisms.
marine protected areas (MPAs):
Protected areas in coastal regions and the oceans that help conserve ecosystems critical for biodiversity (e.g., coral reefs and salt marshes) and sustain populations that supply fish and other marine resources.
low-level nuclear waste:
Radioactive waste, including any item that has become contaminated with small amounts of radioactive particles, including instruments, protective suits, or clothing from nuclear facilities.
high-level nuclear waste:
Radioactive waste, primarily nuclear fuel rods that have been depleted to the point that they can no longer contribute to the efficient production of electricity.
What motivated the local government in Namibia's capital city to develop wastewater reclamation and reuse to make more efficient use of its limited water resources?
Rapid population growth
Waste Summary
Reducing the waste stream involves reducing packaging, recycling materials when possible, and composting biodegradable food and yard scraps. Using these approaches can substantially reduce the volume of waste incinerated or disposed in a landfill. The modern sanitary landfill is a complex structure designed to reduce water, air, and soil contamination. Decomposer bacteria in landfills produce landfill gas, which is approximately half methane and half carbon dioxide and is increasingly used as an energy resource. As with municipal solid waste, reducing the amount of hazardous waste produced is generally given highest management priority because it reduces the threat to the environment and the expense of hazardous waste treatment, transport, and disposal. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) requires industries that produce hazardous wastes to track, treat, and eventually dispose of these wastes. The goal of the Basel Convention treaty is to limit the export of hazardous waste from developed to developing countries and to encourage the safe treatment and disposal of hazardous wastes within the countries where they were generated. Nuclear reactors around the world continue producing high-level nuclear waste, yet the problem of permanent waste disposal remains unresolved.
Herr's Island, Pennsylvania
Slaughter house Dangerous even years later from contaminated soils PCBs
Hubbert
Shell Oil Co began to wonder when the planet would run out of oil. he predicted that production would reach its peak in 1970 and decline afterwards. Was right Hubbert's approach has been expanded to estimate the peaks of other fossil fuels, including peak coal.
nonrenewable energy:
Sources of energy, including coal, petroleum, natural gas, and nuclear fuels, that are not renewable on timescales meaningful to human lifetimes and that can be depleted with continued use.
renewable energy:
Sources of energy, including solar, wind, hydrologic, geothermal, and biomass, that can be replenished in a relatively short period of time. Use does not deplete renewable energy sources.
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA):
Superfund Law enacted in 1980 to regulate hazardous waste and require companies to dispose of it safely.
take back laws:
State regulations that require manufacturers of various electronics to pay for e-waste recycling programs.
dry casks:
Steel and concrete structures used for temporary storage of nuclear waste.
Sydney, Nova Scotia
Steel plant One of the waste products of this process was coal tar. Abandoned. No clean up.
Some Concerns of GMO
Super pests Herbicide-resistant weeds Allergenic food Killing of non target organisms Genetic contamination of crops Insufficient regulation and research
What did the Basel convention say?
The Basel Convention reported a 12% increase in hazardous waste being generated in 43 countries over a period of just 3 years, from 2004 to 2006.
About the Colorado pikeminnow
The Colorado pikeminnow, the largest minnow native to North America, has become endangered as a result of dam building, altered temperatures, and the introduction of non-native species to its habitat. In addition, more species of freshwater mussels are native to North America than anywhere else in the world. However, up to 70% of them are extinct or threatened by overharvesting, dam building, sedimentation, and competition with invasive species. Finally, the Yangtze River dolphin, or Baiji, one of very few freshwater dolphin species in the world, was driven to extinction in the late 20th century as a result of unintentional killing by various fishing methods, pollution, and habitat alteration.
What is the largest ecosystem restoration attempted to date?
The Kissimmee restoration project, which began in 1992
The Mekong River (China)
The Mekong River is one of the world's longest rivers China has built seven dams alter the river's flow and threaten its 850 fish species Locals are fighting
Treatment and Disposal of Hazardous Waste
The RCRA requires that hazardous wastes be treated before disposal to reduce the danger they pose to the environment. Predisposal treatments involve a variety of physical, chemical, or biological processes to reduce the threat hazardous wastes pose to the environment.
The Wallow Fire
The Wallow Fire of 2011 burned with such intensity that it consumed more than 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) of forest in Arizona before firefighters could contain it. One consequence of intense forest fires, such as the Wallow Fire, is massive soil loss to erosion.
groundwater depletion:
The amount of groundwater pumped from an aquifer in excess of recharge. Groundwater depletion can result in land subsidence, which reduces the capacity of an aquifer to store water and can damage buildings and other infrastructure.
biotechnology:
The application of engineering techniques to modify organisms genetically for a particular purpose.
R horizon:
The base of a soil profile composed of consolidated bedrock, immediately below the C horizon.
parent material:
The bedrock or unconsolidated deposits, such as windblown sand or silt, from which soil develops.
aquaculture:
The controlled growing of aquatic organisms (e.g., fish, shellfish, algae, or plants) as a crop, mainly for food; carried out in marine, brackish water, or freshwater environments.
Windhoek, Namibia
The country of Namibia occupies some of the driest regions of southwest Africa. Namibia has had to be innovative in its use of its limited freshwater supplies. The capital, Windhoek, was founded on a natural spring, but it is a rapidly growing city whose size has increased five-fold. Windhoek obtains its water primarily from local aquifers and reservoirs that trap the occasional flows of nearby intermittent rivers, which flow only during heavy rainstorms.
Earliest fishers practiced: subsistence fishing:
The practice of catching enough fish for one's family plus a bit more for bartering or selling.
sport (recreational) fishing:
The practice of fishing for pleasure (e.g., fly-fishing, hiring a tourist charter boat to catch trophy-sized fish).
longline fishing:
The practice of laying out a very long line with hundreds or thousands of baited hooks; used to catch tuna (near the surface) or groundfish (e.g., halibut, cod).
C horizon:
The deepest soil layer, consisting mainly of lightly weathered parent material.
demanufacturing:
The dismantling of equipment, especially electronics, into constituent components and scrap metals that can be reused or recycled.
gillnetting:
The practice of placing panels of large mesh net in the water column to catch fish, the size of which depend on the mesh size; fish that cannot pass all the way through the gillnet are ensnared by their gill covers when trying to retreat.
ranching:
The practice of raising domesticated livestock for meat, leather, wool, and other products.
catch-and-release fishing:
The practice of releasing fish back into the water after catching them.
flux:
The rate of flow of materials or energy across a given area (e.g., the flow of water vapor from the ocean's surface to the atmosphere or the flow of radiant energy between an organism and its surroundings).
Fly ash spill in TN
The fly ash slurry spill at the Kingston, Tennessee, coal-fired power plant, shown here, took place on December 22, 2008. The failure of the retaining structure on the fly ash slurry pond released 4 million cubic meters of fly ash slurry, some of which can be seen here.
Fishery and winds summary
The goal of fisheries managers is to estimate how much we can harvest from a fish stock while still keeping it productive. Prevailing winds blow across the oceans, driving oceanic currents, which influence patterns of primary production and fish stock productivity by transporting warm or cooling waters from one region to another. Upwelling further modifies marine environments by bringing nutrient-rich cool water to the surface. Limited penetration of water by light restricts photosynthesis to the euphotic zone. Many commercially significant fish stocks vary as a consequence of oscillations in large-scale climate systems. For example, the El Niño Southern Oscillation influences fisheries productivity by altering physical and chemical conditions that can influence fish populations directly or indirectly through its effects on rates of primary production.
polyculture:
The growing of multiple domesticated crops that may be intermixed with useful wild species.
The hydrologic cycle includes two major subcycles: explain
The hydrologic cycle includes two major subcycles, the oceanic and terrestrial subcycles, connected by the 40,000 km3 of precipitation of oceanic origin that falls on land and the 40,000 km3 of runoff that flows back to the oceans each year. (Differences in arrow width represent differences in amounts of water flux.)
Summary of the hydrologic cycle
The hydrologic cycle, which is powered by the Sun, moves Earth's water across the biosphere and strongly influences sustainable water supplies. The oceans form the largest reservoir of water on Earth, followed by polar ice caps and glaciers, groundwater and freshwater lakes and rivers, and the atmosphere. Approximately one-tenth of the water evaporated from the oceans annually (40,000 km3) falls as precipitation on land. Another 70,000 km3 of precipitation on land originates as water that evaporates from soils and plants. El Niño and its opposite, La Niña, are extremes in an oscillating climatic system involving variation in ocean surface temperatures and atmospheric pressures across the Pacific Ocean. Conditions during an El Niño favor the production of storms in the eastern Pacific Ocean that cause the southern United States and northern Mexico to experience periods of extreme wetness. During a La Niña, conditions favoring the production of storms move away from the eastern Pacific Ocean, drying out the United States and Mexico and delivering moisture to Southeast Asia and Australia.
Nuclear Power Summary
The impacts of strip mining for coal, oil sands mining, and mountain top removal mining can be reduced by restoring the land to a natural or economically useful condition. The impacts of mountaintop removal mining are not reversible, so mining companies have opted for producing flat areas, suitable for some forms of economic activity, in an otherwise mountainous landscape. Because it appears that nuclear power will continue as a significant source of energy, engineers have suggested improvements to existing nuclear power plants, including more robust electrical backup in the event of natural disasters, better monitoring of spent fuel rod tanks, and more reliable venting systems for Fukushima-type reactors. The latest designs for new nuclear power plants are simpler than those for older power plants, and they rely more heavily on passive safety systems instead of active ones. The new design features are intended to reduce construction and maintenance costs, decrease construction time, and make the newer nuclear power plants safer to operate.
watershed (catchment, drainage basin):
The land area from which an aquifer or river system acquires its water; also defined as the dividing line between catchments or drainage basins.
unsaturated zone:
The layers above the water table, which are not saturated with water.
saturated zone:
The layers of rock below the water table, in which the pore spaces in the geologic formation are saturated with water.
forestry:
The management of forests and woodlands for the harvest of timber or fuelwood.
maximum sustainable yield (MSY):
The maximum harvest of a renewable natural resource that does not reduce future yields (e.g., the sustainable annual catch from a fish population).
Fossil Fuel Summary
The most commonly used sources of nonrenewable energy are fossil fuels in the form of coal, oil, and natural gas, which were formed over millions of years. Any source of heat sufficient to convert liquid water to steam can be used to generate electricity. Currently, the most common source of this heat is the combustion of fossil fuels, especially coal and natural gas. Oil can also be used to power internal combustion engines, which are found in vehicles and portable power generators. In the mid-20th century, we learned how to harness nuclear energy through nuclear fission. Nuclear fission is a very powerful source of heat, which can be used to generate electricity, but nuclear energy requires special precautions for safe use.
hydrologic cycle:
The movement of Earth's water between the oceans, atmosphere, and terrestrial and freshwater environments.
upwelling:
The movement of cold subsurface water to the ocean's surface when warmer surface waters move offshore under the influence of prevailing or seasonal winds.
Future Nuclear Power Plant features
The new designs rely more on natural forces, such as gravity and heat convection, and less on mechanical systems, such as valves and pumps
salinization:
The process of salt buildup in a soil.
nitrogen cycle:
The process whereby nitrogen passes through and between ecosystems, involving several key actions by microorganisms, including nitrogen fixation, decomposition, ammonification, nitrification, and denitrification.
soil texture:
The relative fineness or coarseness of a soil, which is determined by its proportions of sand, silt, and clay.
What 3 disasters are influencing the design of new power plants, which include safety features that were not part of earlier nuclear power plants.
Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima
conventional-tillage agriculture:
Tilling a field to break up soil clumps and smooth the soil surface before planting, as well as weeding using specialized machinery.
Who tested and found that plots with more species had higher primary production levels?
Tilman. To test this hypothesis, in the early 1990s, an ecologist named David Tilman prepared 147 plots—10 feet by 10 feet—in the Minnesota prairie. He and his colleagues seeded these plots with anywhere from 1 to 24 species of native grasses. As predicted, they found that plots with more species had higher primary production levels. In fact, a long-term study by Tilman's research group found that primary production in the most diverse study plots was over 340% higher than in plots with a single species.
channelize:
To engineer a change to the natural form of a stream or river, including straightening, deepening, or widening the channel.
Largest consumers on earth
Today, China, the United States, and the European Union are the three largest consumers of energy on Earth.
Love Canal
Toxic waste was dumped in Niagra Falls, NY and poisonous fumes and stuff was causing birth defects and miscarriages and more. Sold place for $1. New people came in and were dumb. In 1978 President Jimmy Carter declared the site a federal disaster area and more than 800 families were relocated.
Forestry Info
Tropical biomes generally sustain high levels of primary production and are home to valuable hardwoods such as mahogany and rosewood. However, because many tropical forests grow on old, highly oxidized soils from which abundant rains have washed most plant nutrients, reforestation can be a frustratingly slow process that makes sustainable harvesting more difficult (see Figure 7.6). In temperate coniferous forests, soils are generally less fertile than soils in deciduous forests because conifer needles are acidic. Taiga also has acidic soils and short growing seasons. Thus, these biomes are better suited to supporting forestry, the management of forests and woodlands for the harvest of timber or fuelwood, than agriculture.
Which of the following ecosystems is most likely to support the highest level of primary production? Tropical forest Temperate forest Hot desert Temperate grassland
Tropical forest
fuel rods:
Tubes containing small pellets of uranium-235 used as an energy source in nuclear reactors.
_______, the fuel used in today's nuclear power plants, is a nonrenewable resource.
Uranium Mined from the ground
Uranium mining accidents
Uranium mining accidents also have the potential to seriously damage the environment. In July 1979 a waste pond at a uranium mill in Church Rock, New Mexico, breached its dam. Over 1,000 tons of acidic, radioactive mining waste flowed into the Puerco River, contaminating water supplies used for watering livestock.
water recycling:
Using treated wastewater for beneficial purposes, including industrial processes, irrigation, recharging groundwater supplies, restoring wetlands and aquatic ecosystems, and augmenting drinking-water supplies.
Sandy Dam
Was blocked. Became unblocked. For the first time in nearly 100 years, the Sandy River was flowing freely from its headwaters on Mount Hood to the Columbia River Flowing from Mount Hood to the Columbia River, the Sandy River, Oregon, is a wild river once more.
6.8-6.10 Solutions: Summary
Water conservation can be very effective at reducing water use—at both the individual and city scale. A water conservation campaign in New York City has saved over 1 billion liters per day. Water recycling is also saving water around the world. Wastewater can be made safe for recycling through a variety of treatments collectively called water reclamation. Depending on the level of treatment, recycled water is being put to a wide range of uses around the world, including industrial processes, irrigation, recharging groundwater supplies, restoring or augmenting wetland or aquatic ecosystems, or even drinking water. Desalination, which removes salt from water, can be used to convert seawater or brackish water into freshwater. Although desalination is energy-expensive, developments in cogeneration and reverse osmosis are rapidly increasing efficiency and decreasing costs. Restoring aquatic ecosystems involves establishing minimum stream flows and reintroducing periodic flooding. For example, controlled flooding is being used on the Colorado River to sustain critical sandbar habitat within the Grand Canyon. The Kissimmee River in central Florida was "channelized" to prevent flooding, which had disastrous consequences for the functioning of the river-floodplain ecosystem and associated biodiversity. Restoration has produced rapid recovery of the Kissimmee River system.
groundwater:
Water found in the pore spaces in rock and sediments beneath Earth's surface; feeds wells, springs, and desert oases, and is Earth's second largest reservoir of freshwater.
leachate:
Water that has seeped down through the waste in a landfill; flows to a sump in a modern landfill, where it can be pumped out and treated.
freshwater:
Water with a salt content, or salinity, below that of brackish water (i.e., salinity less than 500 mg/l).
terrestrial harvest systems:
Ways of extracting production from ecosystems, ranging from hunting and gathering in unmanaged natural ecosystems to nomadic herding and small-scale subsistence farming to industrialized agriculture.
Has the Chinese government banned these informal e-waste recycling practices?
Yes
Will radioactive waste decay and become harmless in time?
Yes, but a long time
bottom trawlers:
Weighted nets dragged along the ocean to catch groundfish (e.g., cod, flounder, scallops, shrimp, crab).
How did the Green Revolution work?
Wheat Breeding Working with wheat in Mexico, Borlaug made several thousand crosses between genetic varieties, producing high-yielding strains that could be grown in a wide range of ecological conditions and that were resistant to many diseases that infect wheat. The results were dramatic. In just 25 years, the national average wheat yield in Mexico increased four-fold
prevailing winds:
Winds that blow consistently from one direction (e.g., the northeast trade winds blow from the northeast).
Following a period of cooling in heavily reinforced and carefully monitored pools of water called spent fuel pools, high-level nuclear waste can be moved to onsite dry storage casks constructed of steel and concrete until
a permanent repository is available.
Theoretically, the maximum sustainable yield of a population is achieved when
a population is growing at a maximum rate. In a population growing logistically, maximum growth rate occurs when the population size is one-half of the carrying capacity.
The modern landfill is designed to contain MSW sufficiently to prevent
air, water, or soil pollution. Puts layer of soil over the day's trash collection to prevent wind, scavenging BUT Even after sanitary landfills are filled and capped with layers of clay and soil, they are not waterproof. Rainwater and water from melting snow can continue to percolate through the soil and through the buried waste, emerging as leachate, which will need to be collected and treated.
Phosphorus is essential to
all living systems as a component of energy-carrier molecules, such as ATP, and also of DNA. Unlike the carbon and nitrogen cycles, the phosphorus cycle does not include a gaseous form occupying a major atmospheric pool.
Sprinkler, or spray, irrigation does what?
applies water to agricultural fields by pumping pressurized water through sprinkler or spray nozzles.
In contrast to subsistence fishing, commercial fishing involves
catching fish for profit, and it represents the vast majority of the fish captured around the world. More than 90% of commercial fishing around the world is done by small-scale fishers, who use minimal gear, such as handlines or hand nets, and may fish from small boats such as motorized skiffs or nonmotorized canoes. They typically stay close to the coastline and fish for only a few hours or days at a time.
Many factors contribute to biodiversity in the Bristol Bay sockeye salmon fishery, including
climatic diversity, ecosystem diversity, spawning habitat diversity, and genetic and life history diversity.
Natural gas forms in both petroleum deposits and
coal beds.
Rather than dumping food scraps and yard waste in landfills, such material can be ____
composted
The design of a nuclear power plant is aimed at
controlling the rate of nuclear fission and heat production to produce a steady source of steam for driving the electrical generator, while avoiding a reactor meltdown.
During an El Niño, the waters off the west coast of South America are warmed; during a La Niña, they are
cooled
Recycled water is viewed as _____ to sustaining California's rapidly growing population and its exceptionally valuable agricultural productivity, which depends heavily on irrigation.
critical
How does Nitrogen cycle
cycles from soil to water to air.
Restoration of landscapes following mining of Athabasca oil sands results in substantial changes in land coverage. Coverage by forests and lakes increases significantly, while peatland (bogs and fens) cover______.
decreases
The lowest levels of primary production tend to occur in
deep, mid-ocean environments, particularly in tropical oceans where warm surface water rarely mixes with nutrient-rich deeper layers of cool water. Here, nutrients that could stimulate primary production are trapped below the euphotic zone.
Nutrients released from food, fed to fish cultured in cages, is absorbed by either phytoplankton, which is food for oysters and scallops, or by s
eaweeds, which are eaten by abalone.
The Colorado River Basin
encapsulates the challenges created by drought cycles and water shortages in arid regions. The Colorado River carving the lands of western North America over the course of millions of years has produced some of the most spectacular landscapes on Earth, the best known of which is the Grand Canyon. Spectacular landscapes and a pleasant climate have attracted a large and growing human population, which is on a collision course with water shortages. The Colorado River Basin: an arid region with rapidly growing human population
The first step to restoring an aquatic ecosystem is
ensuring that there is sufficient water to support populations of aquatic species. Many states have laws requiring that some minimum instream flow be maintained in rivers. In other cases, river managers have gone beyond minimum flows and have restored some of the historical floods to approximate a natural flow regime.
Primary production is highest in
equatorial regions where the natural vegetation is tropical forest. Temperate forest regions support the next highest levels of primary production.
To protect valuable timber resources, the U.S. Forest Service began a policy of
fire suppression in 1910, and tree densities have since increased to hundreds or thousands per hectare
In nuclear power plants, the heat energy released during the ______(fusion/fission) of uranium can be harnessed to generate electricity.
fission
3 main ways of applying irrigation water to fields
flood, sprinkler or spray, and drip irrigation
Periodic flooding is essential for maintaining healthy riparian areas in arid lands, since many key riparian plant species require
flooding for reproduction.
Oil refineries separate the wide range of useful substances present in crude oil by
heating the mixture and allowing the substances to separate themselves by molecular weight, with the lightest compounds rising to the top of the fractionating column.
bottom ash:
heavier, noncombustible material left over after incineration. The ash that accumulates at the bottom of an incinerator during the combustion of solid waste.
The pikeminnow (fish) is just one example of how_____ have harmed aquatic organisms through their activities
humans
several species of aquatic organisms with complementary feeding habits are raised in close proximity.
integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA)
Why is slash-and-burn maybe not good?
it is not an effective or sustainable practice for large populations at an industrial scale because widespread slash-and-burn practice would result in massive erosion and loss of soil fertility.
Inceneration
its great. but in the case of MSW, the by-product of incineration, ash, will require testing and disposal.
Corn engineered to contain spores of the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) does what?
kills herbivorous insects feeding on its tissues, but it is not known to harm humans.
Why do soil development and soil structure vary around the world
largely because of differences in climate and the types and abundance of organisms present
One of the most important ways in which regulators restrict fishing and reduce bycatch is by
limiting the type of gear that can be used, including the size of the mesh in nets or the type of nets. Bycatch often kills or injures many nontarget organisms that are caught in fishing gear, and the loss of those organisms affects aquatic food webs.
Intensive annual cultivation, which is central to conventional-tillage agriculture, can result in
massive soil losses through erosion by both wind and water.
One of the most direct approaches to reducing the impact of sea lice on wild salmon is to
monitor and treat lice infestations on captive salmon using pesticides.
Flood irrigation does what?
moves water across the surface of a field guided by gravity and berms (raised barriers) or by a series of furrows (small channels in the ground).
In US, mainly renewable or nonrenewable resources?
nonrenewable Recently, the energy sources for electrical generation across the globe and in the United States were dominated by nonrenewable energy sources. Meanwhile, the energy for electrical generation in Brazil came mainly from renewable resources.
At the base of a soil developed on rock is the R horizon, which is
partially weathered bedrock.
What happens when there is no easily accessible runoff
people drill wells and tap into the groundwater.
Which trees become prevalent after the fire protection policy?
ponderosa pines Historically, ponderosa pines in Arizona and elsewhere in the American West grew at low densities, producing a parklike landscape. After decades of fire protection, however, the densities of ponderosa pines in these landscapes increased to unsustainable levels.
vitamin A deficiency can cause
premature blindness
desalination:
process of removing salts from seawater or brackish water to form freshwater.
Church Rock has been called the biggest _______ accident in U.S. history.
radioactive
Uranium mining, which can be conducted underground or on the surface, poses many of the same environmental threats as coal mining, but with the addition of
radioactivity, which can cause cancer and other ailments.
As we have straightened river channels to ease navigation and built riverside levees to control flooding, we have _______ the availability of habitats on which many species depend.
reduced
Flood control on the Kissimmee River involved
replacing the complex channel structure of the river with a straight canal, which severed the former connection between the river and its floodplain. Restoration of the Kissimmee River included filling sections of the channelized river and rerouting river flow through the original channels, which once again overflow onto the surrounding floodplain and wetlands during heavy rains.
The energy-rich methane produced during decomposition of organic matter under anaerobic conditions in landfills is widely collected and burned to
run electrical generators, heat buildings, fuel industrial processes, and power transportation networks.
Soils dominated by one of the three types of mineral soil particles are called
sandy, silty, or clay soils.
In 'Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed', Jared Diamond describes how
soil depletion has contributed to the fall of ancient civilizations, such as the Maya in Central America.
If you were to dig into a mature soil, you would find a series of layers, called
soil horizons.
Irrigation combined with inadequate soil drainage can also result in
soil salinization, a process of salt buildup in a soil. If irrigation raises the water table, salts are not flushed away but rather deposited in topsoil as water evaporates from the soil surface.
Heat from the burning of coal, natural gas, oil, or biomass can be used to generate the ________ used to spin the turbines of an electric power plant. The power plant featured here uses coal as its source of energy.
steam
Where the land is not too steep, the surface mining technique generally used to extract coal is _____
strip mining
Landfills dedicated to the disposal of hazardous waste are
subject to much more stringent standards of construction and management than landfills for the disposal of MSW. Surface impoundments used for temporary storage of liquid hazardous waste are carefully constructed to avoid leakage. Deep well injection of liquid hazardous waste is the means by which approximately 90% of hazardous waste is disposed of in the United States. (Information from EPA, 2013a)
Physical consequence of excessive groundwater withdrawal:
subsidence of the overlying land surface into the spaces left as water is pumped out. Such subsidence can substantially reduce the storage capacity within the aquifer and damage surface structures in rural and urban areas alike.
One of the major goals of controlled flooding below the Glen Canyon Dam was to
sustain sandbars in the Grand Canyon, where they provide nursery habitat for native fish and camping sites for rafters and backpackers. The sandbar shown in this photo was formed during the controlled flood in the spring of 2004.
irrigation
system for artificially delivering water to crops
For example, the highly productive rice farming of China and Japan is concentrated in the
temperate forest biome.
Climate directly influences soil development through
temperature and precipitation. Temperature fluctuations, freezing and thawing in cold climates, and heating and cooling in hot climates, promote weathering of rocks.
The worst type of accident that can happen at a nuclear power plant is called a meltdown. A meltdown occurs when
the core of a nuclear reactor grows too hot and begins to melt, a situation that could lead to the release of radiation into the environment.
Coal is extracted from
the earth using both underground mining and surface mining. When the layer of rock above the coal, known as overburden, is thicker, underground or subsurface mining is generally used; where it is thinner, coal is usually extracted by surface mining.
Con of sprinkler or spray irrigation
the equipment is costly and water losses through evaporation can be high
The apparent biodiversity in traditional polycultures contrasts sharply with
the large tracts of land planted to monocultures in contemporary industrial agriculture.
Creatures living in soils range from microscopic bacteria to
the largest organism known—a honey fungus, Armillaria ostoyae, in eastern Oregon, which is 3 times the size of New York's Central Park