Environmental Science: Population, Ecological Footprints, and Sustainable Practices
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130 Terms
What does carrying capacity mean?
The maximum population size that an environment can sustainably support
What is an ecological footprint?
A measure of how much land and water area is needed to supply the resources you use and absorb your waste.
What is ecologically productive land area?
Land and water that can produce resources and absorb waste (forests, farmland, fisheries).
What is biocapacity?
he Earth's (or a region's) capacity to regenerate resources and absorb wastes.
What is ecological overshoot?
When humans use resources faster than Earth can regenerate them.
What is virtual water?
The hidden water used to produce goods and services we consume.
What is an external water footprint?
Water used in other countries to produce the goods and services you consume
What is an internal water footprint?
Water used within your own country for your consumption.
What does an ecological footprint measure?
The environmental impact of a lifestyle, in terms of land/water required.
What does a water footprint measure?
Total direct and indirect water use of a person, population, or product.
Are we in ecological overshoot in the U.S.? How do we maintain our lifestyle?
Yes. We maintain it by importing resources and using stored natural capital (fossil fuels, groundwater).
In the U.S., which sectors use the most water?
Agriculture and energy/electricity production.
Q: What does carrying capacity mean?
:The maximum population size that an environment can sustainably support.
Q: What is an ecological footprint?
A measure of how much land and water area is needed to supply the resources you use and absorb your waste.
Q: What is ecologically productive land area?
Land and water that can produce resources and absorb waste (forests, farmland, fisheries).
Q: What is biocapacity?
The Earth's (or a region's) capacity to regenerate resources and absorb wastes.
Q: What is ecological overshoot?
When humans use resources faster than Earth can regenerate them.
Q: What is virtual water?
The hidden water used to produce goods and services we consume.
Q: What is an external water footprint?
Water used in other countries to produce the goods and services you consume.
Q: What is an internal water footprint?
Water used within your own country for your consumption.
Q: What does an ecological footprint measure?
The environmental impact of a lifestyle, in terms of land/water required.
Q: What does a water footprint measure?
Total direct and indirect water use of a person, population, or product.
Q: Are we in ecological overshoot in the U.S.? How do we maintain our lifestyle?
Yes. We maintain it by importing resources and using stored natural capital (fossil fuels, groundwater).
Q: In the U.S., which sectors use the most water?
Agriculture and energy/electricity production.
Q: What is the Malthusian Trap?
The idea that population grows faster than food supply, leading to famine and poverty.
Q: What is the Tragedy of the Commons? Give an example.
Overuse of shared resources by individuals acting in self-interest. Example: overfishing in the ocean.
Q: Name lifestyle factors that increase your ecological/water footprint.
Meat consumption, long showers, driving a lot, high energy use, buying lots of products, waste.
Q: Ways to reduce your ecological and water footprint?
Use less energy, eat less meat, reduce driving, conserve water, buy local, reduce/reuse/recycle.
Q: What is a J-curve / biotic potential?
Exponential population growth with no limits.
Q: What is an S-curve?
Logistic growth that levels off at carrying capacity.
Q: What is environmental resistance?
Factors that limit population growth, like disease, lack of food, or predation.
Q: What are density-independent resistance factors?
Factors that affect populations regardless of density, like natural disasters and extreme weather.
Q: What are density-dependent resistance factors?
Factors that become stronger at higher densities, such as disease and competition.
Q: What is bottom-up control in a food chain?
When producers (plants) control the abundance of higher trophic levels.
Q: What is top-down control?
When predators control the abundance of lower trophic levels.
Q: What is general growth rate?
Population change over time, including births, deaths, immigration, and emigration.
Q: What is Rate of Natural Increase (RNI)?
Birth rate minus death rate (ignores migration).
Q: What is Population Growth Rate (PGR)?
RNI plus net migration.
Q: What is doubling time?
The time it takes for a population to double in size.
Q: What is halving time?
The time it takes for a population to be reduced to half its size.
Q: What is fertility rate?
Average number of children per woman.
Q: What is replacement fertility rate?
The fertility rate needed to keep a population stable (about 2.1 in most developed countries).
Q: What trends contributed to rapid global population growth?
improvements in medicine, sanitation, and food production.
Q: What helps lower population growth rate?
Education (especially for women), access to family planning, economic development, and urbanization.
Q: What is monoculture?
Growing a single crop species over a large area.
Q: What is permaculture?
Diverse, sustainable agricultural systems that mimic natural ecosystems.
Q: What is eutrophication?
Nutrient enrichment of water leading to algal blooms and oxygen depletion.
Q: What are GMOs?
Organisms whose DNA has been genetically modified for specific traits.
Q: Advantages and disadvantages of monoculture?
Advantages: high efficiency, easy management. Disadvantages: low biodiversity, higher pest and disease risk.
Q: Advantages and disadvantages of permaculture?
Advantages: sustainable, high biodiversity, better soil health. Disadvantages: often more labor-intensive, possibly lower short-term yield.
Q: What causes eutrophication?
Excess nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers, sewage, and runoff.
Q: What are the outcomes of eutrophication?
Algal blooms, lower dissolved oxygen, fish kills, dead zones.
Q: Difference between bioaccumulation and biomagnification?
Bioaccumulation: contaminants build up in one organism. Biomagnification: contaminants increase in concentration as they move up the food chain.
Q: Advantages of GMOs?
Higher yields, pest or disease resistance, enhanced nutrition.
Q: Disadvantages of GMOs?
Potential impacts on biodiversity, cross-pollination with wild species, public concern and regulation issues.
Q: What is scalability in energy systems?
The ability of an energy source or technology to be expanded to meet large-scale demand efficiently.
Q: What are the top demand sectors for energy?
Transportation, industry, residential, and commercial sectors.
Q: Difference between renewable and nonrenewable energy?
Renewable: replenished on a human timescale (solar, wind, hydro). Nonrenewable: finite resources (coal, oil, natural gas).
Q: Do we rely more on renewable or nonrenewable energy in the U.S.?
Nonrenewable energy sources dominate (fossil fuels).
Q: What are some implications of relying heavily on nonrenewables?
Greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, resource depletion, and energy security concerns.
Q: What is hydraulic fracturing (fracking)?
Injecting high-pressure fluid into rock formations to release oil or natural gas.
Q: Advantages of fracking?
Increased domestic energy supply, lower fuel prices, jobs.
Q: Disadvantages of fracking?
Potential groundwater contamination, induced seismic activity, habitat disruption, large water use.
Q: What is point-source pollution?
Pollution from a single, identifiable source like a smokestack.
Q: What is nonpoint-source pollution?
Pollution from many diffuse sources, such as cars across a city.
Q: What is a primary pollutant?
A pollutant emitted directly into the air (like CO).
Q: What is a secondary pollutant?
A pollutant formed in the atmosphere from reactions of primary pollutants (like ozone).
Q: What is the Air Quality Index (AQI)?
A scale used to describe how clean or polluted the air is and associated health effects.
Q: Major sources of outdoor air pollution?
Vehicles, power plants, industry, and construction.
Q: Major sources of indoor air pollution?
Tobacco smoke, cleaning chemicals, building materials, mold, and combustion from stoves.
Q: What are the six criteria pollutants under NAAQS?
Carbon monoxide (CO), lead (Pb), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), ozone (O₃), and particulate matter (PM).
Q: Main factors that determine ground-level ozone levels?
Sunlight, temperature, and the presence of NOx and VOCs.
Q: Difference between stratospheric and ground-level ozone?
Stratospheric ozone protects from UV radiation ("good"), ground-level ozone is a harmful air pollutant ("bad").
Q: What is infrared radiation?
Heat energy emitted from Earth's surface and atmosphere.
Q: What is a greenhouse gas?
A gas that absorbs and re-emits infrared radiation, trapping heat in the atmosphere.
Q: What is the greenhouse effect?
The process by which greenhouse gases trap heat and warm Earth's surface.
Q: What is reflection?
Light bouncing off a surface without being absorbed.
Q: What is absorption?
Light taken in by a surface and converted to heat.
Q: What is albedo?
The reflectivity of a surface (high albedo = more reflection).
Q: What is carbon assimilation?
The process of plants and other organisms taking up CO₂ (usually via photosynthesis).
Q: What is a carbon source?
Anything that releases more carbon than it absorbs.
Q: What is a carbon sink?
Anything that absorbs more carbon than it releases.
Q: What is Net Primary Productivity (NPP)?
The net amount of carbon gained by plants (photosynthesis minus respiration).
Q: What does positive NPP mean? What about negative?
Positive: ecosystem is a carbon sink. Negative: ecosystem is a carbon source.
Q: Is TCU a carbon source or sink, and why?
A carbon source because emissions from campus activities exceed carbon assimilation by vegetation.
Q: Name five major greenhouse gases.
Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, Ozone, and water vapor.
Q: How have humans enhanced the greenhouse effect?
Burning fossil fuels, deforestation, agriculture, and industrial processes increasing GHG concentrations.
Q: Give an example of a positive feedback cycle related to warming.
Melting ice reduces albedo → more absorption of heat → more warming → more melting.
Q: What is biodiversity?
The variety of life at all levels (genes, species, ecosystems).
Q: What is ecology?
The study of how organisms interact with each other and their environment.
Q: What is species richness?
The number of different species present.
Q: What is species evenness?
How evenly individuals are distributed among species.
Q: What is heterogeneity?
Overall diversity that includes both richness and evenness.
Q: What is habitat fragmentation?
Breaking large, continuous habitat into smaller, isolated patches.
Q: What is a biological corridor?
A strip of habitat that connects isolated patches, allowing movement of organisms.
Q: What is a buffer zone?
An area around a protected core that reduces impacts from human activities.
Q: Why is biodiversity important?
It supports ecosystem stability, resilience, and provides goods and services (food, medicine, water filtration, pollination).
Q: What do Simpson's Diversity Index equations measure?
The biodiversity of a community; higher values generally indicate greater diversity.
Q: How do biological corridors and buffer zones affect biodiversity?
They reduce isolation and edge effects, supporting healthier, more diverse populations.
Q: What is CITES?
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, an international agreement regulating trade in endangered wildlife.