Environmental Science for AP - Friedland and Relyea Chapter 1

Environment

Sum of all the conditions surrounding us that influence life.

Environmental Science

Field that looks at interactions among human systems and those found in nature.

System

Any set of interacting components that influence one another by exchanging energy or materials.

Ecosystem

Particular location on Earth whose interacting components include living/biotic components and abiotic/nonliving components.

Environmentalist

Person who participates in environmentalism or a social movement that seeks to protect the environment through lobbying, activism, and education.

Environmental Studies

Environmental science, policies, economics, literature, etc.

Ecosystem Services

Process by which life supporting resources such as clean water, timber, fisheries, and crops are produced.

Environmental Indicators

Describe the current state of an environmental system.

Sustainability

Living on Earth in a way that allows us to use its resources without depriving future generations of those resources.

Biodiversity

Diversity of life forms in an environment. On 3 levels: genetic, species, and ecosystem.

Species

A group of organisms that is distinct from other groups in its morphology.

Speciation

Evolution of new species.

Background Extinction Rate

Average rate at which species go extinct over the long term.

Greenhouse Gases

Gases that trap heat in the atmosphere.

Anthropogenic

Derived from human actions.

Development

Improvement in human well being through economic advancement.

Sustainable Development

Development that balances current human well being and economic advancement with resource management for the benefit of future development.

Biophilia

Love of life.

Ecological Footprint

Measure of how much an individual consumes, expressed in area of land.

Hypothesis

Testable conjecture about how something works.

Null Hypothesis

Statement that can be falsified or proved wrong.

Replication

When scientists take several sets of measurements.

Sample set

Number of times a measurement is replicated.

Accuracy

How close a measured value is to the actual or true value

Precision

How close to another repeated measurement in the same sample are.

Uncertainty

Estimate of how much a measured or calculated value differs from a true value.

Inductive Reasoning

Process of making general statements from specific facts or examples

Deductive Reasoning

Process of applying a general statement to specific facts or situations.

Critical thinking

Question source of information, consider the methods or processes that were used to obtain the information and draw own conclusions.

Theory

Hypothesis that's been repeatedly tested and confirmed with wide acceptance.

Natural Law

Theory to which there are no known exceptions and which has withstood rigorous testing.

Control Group

Group that experiences exactly the same conditions as experimental group except for single independent variable in study.

Natural Experiment

A natural event acts as an experimental treatment in an ecosystem.

Environmental Justice

Social Movement and field of study that works toward equal enforcement of environmental laws and the elimination of disparities whether intended or unintended, in how pollutants and other environmental harms are distributed among ethnic and economic groups within a society.