Environmental Science Review Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms from the Environmental Science lecture notes.

Ecological Footprint

The impact of a person or community on the environment, expressed as the amount of land required to sustain their use of natural resources.

Environmental Science

An interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physical, biological and information sciences to the study of the environment, and the solution of environmental problems.

Environmentalism

A philosophical and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment.

Environmental Ethics

Examination of the ethical basis of environmental responsibility and how far our obligation to the environment extends.

Cost/Benefit Analysis

An economic analysis that weighs the costs and benefits of a project, decision, or policy.

External Costs

Costs that are not included in the market price of a good or service.

Regulatory Taking

A situation where government regulation limits the uses of private property to such a degree that the landowner is effectively deprived of all economically beneficial or productive use of their property and is therefore entitled to compensation.

Command and Control

Regulations that set specific limits for pollution emissions and/or mandate specific pollution control technologies.

Subsidies

Government financial assistance to support activities believed to be environmentally friendly.

Green Taxes

Taxes designed to promote ecologically sound activities via economic incentives.

Marketable Permits

A system that allows parties to trade permits to pollute; creates a market for environmental protection.

Natural Selection

The process by which organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and reproduce more offspring.

Speciation

The formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution.

Extinction

The disappearance of a species from Earth.

Allopatric Speciation

Speciation that occurs when biological populations of the same species become isolated due to geographical changes.

Sympatric Speciation

Speciation that occurs when two groups of the same species live in the same geographic location, but they evolve differently until they can no longer interbreed and are considered different species.

Endemism

Ecological state of a species being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation, country or other defined zone, or habitat type.

Habitat

The natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism.

Niche

The role and position a species has in its environment; how it meets its needs for food and shelter, how it survives, and how it reproduces.

Shannon Diversity Index

A measure of biodiversity which takes into account the number of species present and the evenness of species

Ecosystem

An ecological community and its environment functioning as a unit.

Eutrophication

Excessive richness of nutrients in a lake or other body of water, frequently due to runoff from the land, which causes a dense growth of plant life and death of animal life from lack of oxygen.

GPP (Gross Primary Production)

The total rate at which material is produced.

Major Macronutrients

Nitrogen, carbon, and phosphorus.

Population Ecology

The size, density, distribution, age structure, and sex ratio of a population.

Population Density

The number of individuals per unit area or volume.

Population Distribution

The spatial arrangement of organisms within an area.

Age/Sex Structure with Pyramids

A graphical illustration that shows the distribution of various age groups in a population.

Survivorship Curve

A curve showing the number of survivors in different age groups for a particular species.

Carrying Capacity

The maximum population size of a species that the environment can sustain indefinitely, given the available food, habitat, water, and other necessities.

r-selected Species

Species that reproduce quickly and have many offspring, but do not invest a lot of time or energy in each offspring.

K-selected Species

Species that produce few offspring but invest a lot of time and energy in each offspring.

Total Fertility Rate (TFR)

The average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates through her lifetime, and survive from birth through the end of her reproductive life.

Demographic Transition Model

A model that describes population growth through stages of development.

Accumulation and Magnification

The increase in concentration of a substance in organisms as it passes through a food chain.

Toxicology

The study of the adverse effects of chemical, physical or biological agents on living organisms and the ecosystem, including the prevention and amelioration of such adverse effects.

Dose-Response Curve

The relationship between the amount of a substance and the effect it has on living organisms.

Endocrine Disruptor

A chemical that can interfere with endocrine (or hormone) systems at certain doses.

Risk Assessment

The process of evaluating a substance or situation and determining the potential adverse health or ecological effects.

Risk Management

The process of evaluating risks and deciding what to do about them.

What is El Niño?

A climate pattern that describes the unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.

What are the effects of El Niño?

Can cause increased rainfall across the southern tier of the US and drier conditions in the North. El Niño also tends to suppress hurricane activity in the Atlantic.

What is La Niña?

A climate pattern that describes the unusual cooling of surface waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.

What are the effects of La Niña?

Can cause drier conditions in the South and wetter conditions in the North. La Niña also tends to increase hurricane activity in the Atlantic.