AP Environmental Science

Resource Partitioning

When animals or plants share resources in different ways so they don’t compete with each other.

Trophic Cascade

When changes in the number of top animals (like wolves) affect the whole food chain, even plants and small animals.

Carrying Capacity

The biggest number of animals or people that an environment can support without running out of resources.

Limiting Factors

Things that stop a population from growing too big, like not enough food, water, or space.

Succession

The natural way an environment slowly changes over time, like a field turning into a forest.

Positive Feedback Loop

A cycle where a change keeps making itself stronger, like ice melting makes the Earth warmer, which melts more ice.

Biogeochemical Cycles

The ways that important elements like carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus move through living things (plants and animals) and nonliving things (air, water, soil).

Carbon Cycle

How carbon moves between the air, plants, animals, the ground, and the ocean. Plants take in carbon from the air, animals eat plants, and carbon goes back into the air when things breathe or die and decay.

Carbon Sinks

Places that store a lot of carbon for a long time, like forests, oceans, and soil.

Carbon Sequestration

When carbon is taken out of the air and stored in a sink (like trees or the ocean) instead of going into the atmosphere.

Nitrogen Cycle

How nitrogen moves between the air, soil, plants, animals, and back to the air. Nitrogen is needed to make proteins in living things.

Nitrogen Fixation

When special bacteria or lightning change nitrogen gas in the air into a form that plants can use.

Ammonification

When dead plants and animals or waste are turned into ammonia by bacteria in the soil.

Nitrification

When bacteria turn ammonia into nitrates, which plants can absorb and use to grow.

Denitrification

When other bacteria change nitrates back into nitrogen gas, which goes into the air.

Phosphorus Cycle

The movement of a nutrient that helps plants grow, mostly through rocks, soil, water, and living things. It does not cycle through the air like other elements do.

GPP (Gross Primary Productivity)

The total amount of energy plants make from sunlight through photosynthesis.

NPP (Net Primary Productivity) (HINT: Gross is total, Net is what's left.)

The energy left over after plants use some for themselves, this is the energy available to animals that eat the plants.

Energy Transfer

When energy moves from one living thing to another, like when a rabbit eats a plant or a fox eats the rabbit. Only about 10% of the energy gets passed on each time.

1st Law of Thermodynamics

Energy can’t be created or destroyed, it can only change from one form to another

2nd Law of Thermodynamics

Every time energy changes form, some is lost as heat, which makes energy transfer less efficient in food chains.

Plate Boundaries

The edges where pieces of Earth’s crust (tectonic plates) meet and move. This movement causes earthquakes, mountains, and volcanoes.

Transform Boundary

Two plates slide past each other side by side.

Convergent Boundary

Two plates move toward each other and crash together.

Divergent Boundary

Two plates move away from each other.

Atmospheric Layers

Layers of gases that surround Earth. Each layer has different temperatures and roles.

Troposphere

The lowest layer of the atmosphere, where we live and where weather happens.

Water Use vs. Price

In many places, water is cheap even if it’s used a lot, which can lead to waste. When water costs more, people tend to use less of it.

Point Source Pollution

Pollution that comes from one clear place, like a pipe or a factory drain.

Nonpoint Source Pollution

Pollution that comes from many small sources, like runoff from streets, farms, or lawns.

Eutrophication

When too many nutrients (like fertilizer) get into water, causing lots of algae to grow. The algae die, rot, and use up oxygen, which kills fish and other life in the water.

Nonrenewable Energy

Energy that comes from sources that can run out and take millions of years to form, like coal, oil, and natural gas.

Renewable

Energy that comes from sources that won’t run out (or are replaced quickly), like sunlight, wind, and water.

Nuclear Energy

Energy made by splitting atoms (usually uranium). It makes a lot of power but also creates radioactive waste that must be stored safely.

Tragedy of the Commons

When people overuse a shared resource (like air, water, or fish in the ocean) because everyone acts in their own self-interest, leading to the resource being damaged or used up.

Best Regulation

Rules or laws made by governments to help protect resources and the environment, like setting fishing limits, banning pollution, or creating protected areas.

Biodiversity Loss

When there are fewer kinds of animals and plants in an area. This can happen from things like deforestation, pollution, or climate change and it makes ecosystems weaker.

Oil Spills and Environmental Impact (Definition)

An oil spill is when oil accidentally leaks into oceans, rivers, or land, often during drilling, transport, or storage. It harms the environment and living things nearby.

Oil Spills and Environmental Impact (Causes)

Oil spills can happen from tanker accidents, broken pipelines, drilling mistakes, or natural disasters. Human error and equipment failure are common causes.

Oil Spills and Environmental Impact (Immediate Environmental Impact)

Oil covers animals, making it hard for them to move, breathe, or stay warm. It also poisons marine life and damages coastlines.

Oil Spills and Environmental Impact (Long Term Effects)

Oil can stay in the environment for years, harming ecosystems and reducing animal populations. Some species may struggle to recover.

Oil Spills and Environmental Impact (Clean up Methods)

Skimming, burning, using dispersants, and manual removal. Bacteria can also be used to naturally break down oil.

Oil Spills and Environmental Impact (Prevention and Regulation)

Governments use laws and safety rules to prevent spills and respond quickly when they happen. Better ship designs and regular inspections help reduce risk.

FAN-D

Fixation, Ammonification, Nitrification, Denitrification.

CHNOPS

Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorus, Sulfur