ACADEC Science + Social Science-2024

Environmental Science

The study of the impacts of human activities on environmental systems

Environment

The sum total of all the conditions and living and nonliving factors that surround an organism

Local Environment

An area immediately surrounding a person or organism

Global Environment

The sum total of all aspects of the Earth

Interdisciplinary

Something that covers multiple fields

Natural Resources

Something harvested or extracted from the natural world.

System

A set of living and/or nonliving components connects so that a change in one affects others

Environmental Indicator

A measure that reflects the environmental health of a system

Precipitation

Water that is a solid or liquid that has fallen from the atmosphere

Per Capita Food Production

Kilos of grain per person

Total Food Production

Kilograms of grain per hectare of land

Carbon Dioxide

Concentration in the air measured in ppm.

Global Temperature

Degrees Centigrade

Extinction Rate

Number of mammal species per 10,000 species per 100 years

Habitat Loss Rate

Land cleared of "lost" per year.

Infant Mortality Rate

Number of deaths of infants under age 1 per 1,000 live births

Overall Biological Diversity

Diversity of genes, species, habitats, and ecosystems on Earth

Habitats

An environment where a plant or animal lives with specific factors

Species

A group of organisms that is distinct from other groups in morphology (body type), physiology, or biochemical properties.

Known Species

1.8 million

Current Rate of Extinction

40,000 species per year

Mass Extinction

An event of simultaneous extinction of many species over a short period of time

Endangered Species

A species listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act

Keystone Species

A species in a community with an influence on a system is highly disproportionate to body mass

Environmental Quality

A notion related to the amount of stressors in an environment

Current Global Population

8 billion

Infants Born Each Day

Roughly 378,000 babies

People Die Every Day

Roughly 148,000 people

UN's Population Projection by 2150

8 to 12 billion people.

Foods Account for Half of Calories

Wheat, corn, and rice

Intensity in Agriculture

How much food is grown per hectare of land

High Intensity Agricultural Practice

Monoculture

Low Intensity Agricultural Practice

Polyculture

Developed Country

A country with organized economic infrastructure and high per capita GDP

Meat and Fish Consumption by Top 20%

Forty-five percent

Total Energy Consumption by Top 20%

Fifty-eight percent

Paper Consumption by Top 20%

Eighty-four percent

Meat and Fish Consumption by Bottom 20%

Five percent or less

Atmosphere

The envelope of gas surrounding Earth

Carbon Dioxide and Methane

Greenhouse gases

Anthropogenic

Human-caused

Substance Reporting Historic Temperatures

Ice

Annual Layers of Snow and Ice

Resemble tree rings

Chemical Symbol for Lead

Pb

Sensitive to Impacts of Lead

Fetuses and children

Years Mining of Lead Increased

Five thousand

Fossil Fuels with Trace Lead

Coal and oil

Unleaded Gasoline

Gasoline that does not contain lead

Lead Used in Gasoline

To improve engine performance

Legislation Stopping Leaded Gasoline

Clean air legislation beginning in 1975

Lead in Paint on Houses Built Before 1960s

50 percent

Experiment

A test or investigation to provide evidence for or against a hypothesis

First Step in Scientific Method

Observe the natural world

Second Step in Scientific Method

Generate a hypothesis

Third Step in Scientific Method

Make a preliminary determination on the hypothesis

Fourth Step in Scientific Method

Test the hypothesis with an experiment

Fifth Step in Scientific Method

Accept, revise, or reject the hypothesis

Sixth Step in Scientific Method

Report findings to others

Seventh Step in Scientific Method

Replicate the experiment

Variable

A changeable factor that affects some natural world phenomena

Changeable factor

A changeable factor that affects some natural world phenomena

Control group

A group left undisturbed during an experiment

Sample size

The number of individuals tested

Widely accepted hypothesis

A theory

Universal law

A widely accepted theory that appears to apply universally

First law of thermodynamics

Energy cannot be created or destroyed

Repetition of the experiment

How scientists test whether a finding is real and significant

Greatest challenge in environmental science

There is not another Earth to compare our Earth to

PCB in animals

Penguins

Unit of measurement for electricity

Kilowatt hours

Unit of measurement for gasoline

Gallons

Energy usage units

Watts or Amps

Imperial measurement of temperature

Fahrenheit

Metric measure of temperature

Celsius

Pool

The quantity of a variable at the beginning of a system analysis

Input

An addition to the pool

Output

A subtraction from the pool

Flux

A change in the pool over time

Flux rate

Flow per unit of time

Total flux equation

Inputs-Outputs = Total Flux

Mass balance analysis

A determination of the fluxes in a system by looking at inputs and outputs

Steady state

Inputs = Outputs

Age of Mono Lake

Between one and three million years old

Location of Mono Lake

About three hundred miles northeast of Los Angeles on the border between the Sierra Nevada Mountain range and the Great Basin Desert

Terminal lake

A lake at the lowest point in the landscape

Water source for Mono Lake

Tributaries bringing water from the Sierra Nevada Mountains

Original source of water for Mono Lake

Snowmelt

Second environmental system for Mono Lake

The salt-balance system

Chemical symbol for sodium

Na

Food chain

A hierarchical model of feeding relationships in an ecosystem

Energy source for green photosynthesizers

Sunlight

Final environmental system for Mono Lake

The water-use system

City drawing water from Mono Lake

Los Angeles

Gallons withdrawn from Mono Lake daily

80.4 million gallons

Water level drop in Mono Lake over forty years

Forty feet

Mean residence time

How long something stays in a pool

Mean residence time equation

MRT = (pool)/(flux in or out)

Pool state for mean residence time calculation

Steady State

Net flux equation

Net Flux = Inputs-Outputs

Feedback

Adjustments made by a system in response to behavior or events