Intro to Environmental Science: Exam 1

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exam 1

80 Terms

1

what is environmental science

the systematic study of our environment as well as our proper role in it

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2

what is the environment

the conditions that surround an organism or group of organisms

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3

what is an example of natural landscape

climate, soil, water supply, mineral resources

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4

what is the focus of environmental science

understanding and resolving environmental problems humans have created

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5

what is the human population (a number)

>8.1 billion

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6

what is the pragmatic/utilitarian resource conservation

think about what can sustain the greatest good, for the greatest number of people, for the longest time

aimed to prevent a shortage

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7

who lead the pragmatic resource conservation idea

gillford pinchot

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8

what was george perkins marsh’s book name

man and nature

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9

who did george perkins marsh inspire

theodore roosevelt and his conservation advisor gillford pinchot

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10

what are examples of cultural landscape

language, religion, agricultural patterns, food, music, etc.

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11

who is john muir

president of the sierra club

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12

what did john muir believe

believed in biocentric preservation

opposed pinchots, argued why men shouldn’t value himself more than creation, we are all one unit of creation

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13

what is biocentric preservation

opposed pinchot; why should men value himself more than creation, we are all one unit of creation

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14

What did Teddy Roosevelt believe in and what did he do

biocentric preservation and pragmatic resource conservation

national forests and parks

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15

who is aldo leopold

student of pinchots

wrote the land ethic

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16

what did the land ethic by aldo leopold say

it said we abuse the land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us

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17

what changed after WW2

population growth

military technology turned civilian

public concerned about contamination

-used the word environmentalism

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18

when did people first use the word environmentalism

after WW2

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19

what did rachel carson do

awakened the public to environmental threat posed by pesticides in her book silent spring

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20

what is rachel carsons book called

silent spring

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21

what is the goal of sustainable development

meet present needs and preserve for the future

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22

what was the moment that global awareness and international efforts started

1968: apollo 8, first photo of earth

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23

what were the four distinct stages

1) pragmatic resource conservation

2) moral and aesthetic nature preservation

3) concern about health and ecological damage “environmentalism”

4) global environmental citizenship “sustainable development”

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24

what were the four stage (important terms) and their main goals

1) resource conservation: economic and practical

2) nature preservation: biocentric and aesthetic

3) environmentalism: chemical and legal

4) sustainable development: global and social

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25

what is sustainable development

meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

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26

what are renewable resources

freshwater, plant, timber, animals; things that can regenerate

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27

how can resources be sustainably removed

if they are removed at a slower rate than they are replaced

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28

how are resources unsustainablely removed

if they are removed more rapidly than they are replaced

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29

what are nonrenewable resources

things that do not grow back; minerals, fossil fuel, metal

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30

what is ethics

concerned with what actions are right or wrong

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31

what is environmental ethics

moral obligations to the world around us

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32

what are world views

sets of basic beliefs, images, and understandings that shape how we see the world around us, determine valid questions

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33

what is moral extensionism

extending moral values to others

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34

what is value

a measure of worth of something

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35

what is inherent value

intrinsic right to exist or innate worth

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36

what is instrumental value

items of life forms have worth only because they are of use to or valued by another person

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37

what is stewardship

taking care of the resources we have temporary control over

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38

religious traditions calls for both_______

environmental stewardship and human domination over nature in most religions

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39

what is environmental justice

combines civil with environmental protection to demand a safe and healthy environment for everyone

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40

what is science

a process for producing knowledge methodically and logically

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41

what is a hypothesis, what is the plural

testable explanation, a question to test

hypotheses

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42

what is a theory

a description or explanation that is supported by a large number of tests

supported by facts

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43

what is probability

how likely something is to happen

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44

what is a natural experiment

involves observation of events that have already happened

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45

what is a manipulative experiment

conditions are deliberately altered for one variable and other variables are held constant

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46

what is a controlled study

comparing a treatment group to a control group which has not relived the treatment

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47

what is a blind experiment

researcher does not know which group has been treated until after the data has been analyzed

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48

what is a double-blind expirement

neither the subject nor the researcher knows who is in the treatment group

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49

in each study group there is one ___ and one or more ______

dependent variable

independent variable

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50

what is a model

a simple representation of phenomena, allows scientists to study complex systems

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51

what is a system

a network of interdependent components and processes with materials and energy flowing from one component to another

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52

what is a closed system

self contained, exchanges no matter or energy with outside

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53

what is an open system

exchanges matter and energy from surroundings

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54

what is a throughput

the energy and matter that flow into, through, and out of a system

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55

what is a positive feedback loop

self perpetuating, as an increase in a level leads to further increases; fire

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56

what is a negative feedback loop

suppresses change within a system, helps maintain stability in systems, use up all available oxygen

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57

what is equilibrium

dynamic state in which system is stable over time

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58

what is a disturbance

periodic destructive events such as fire or flood

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59

what is resilience

ability of system to recover quickly from disturbance

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60

what is a state shift

a severe disturbance in which the system does not return to normal but results in significant changes

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61

what is a scientific consensus

(general agreement among informed scholars) stems from a community of scientist who collaborate in a cumulative, self correcting process

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62

what is a paradigm shift

(great challenges in explanatory frameworks) occur when a majority of scientists agree that an old explanation no longer works as well as a new one

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63

what is a species

all organisms of the same kind that are genetically similar enough to breed in nature and produce fertile offspring

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64

what is a population

all members of a species living in a given area at the same time

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65

what is a biological community

all populations of organisms living and interacting in a particular area

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66

what is an ecosystem

the biological community and its physical environment ( water, climate, etc)

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67

what are producers

photosynthesizers like plants

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68

what is productivity

the amount of biomass produced in a given area in a given period of time

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69

what is photosynthesis called primary productivity

because it is basic to all other growth in an ecosystem

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70

what is secondary productivity

manufacture of biomass by organisms that eat plants

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71

what is a food chain

linked feeding series

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72

what is a food web

interconnected food chains, as must consumers have multiple food sources

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73

what is trophic level

an organism’s feeding status on the food web

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74

food web: what are plants

producers

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75

food web: what are animals

consumers

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76

food web: what are herbivores

primary consumers

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77

food web: what are carnivores/ omnivores

secondary consumers

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78

food web: what are decomposers/scavenger/detritivores

recycle dead bodies / waste

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79

what is the second law of thermodynamics

energy is lost at each level

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80

what is the 10% rule

100 kg clover

10kg rabbit

10kg fox

10% energy conversion

10% added to next level

90% lost from one level to the next

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