NSCI 115 EXAM 1 Study Guide

What is Environmental science?

Interdisciplinary approach to solving environmental issues

What are biotic vs. abiotic factors?

Biotic is anything alive, abiotic is rocks, weather, water, etc.

What are the five key environmental indicators?

1. Biological diversity

2. Food production

3. Global temperatures

4. Human population

5. Resource depletion

What is entropy?

The amount of disorder

What is anthropocentrism?

Focused on humans

If everybody in the world used resources at the rate that people in the United States do, what would be the result?

We would run out of resources quickly

What is the shape of an exponential growth curve?

J-shaped curve

What are the three Es of environmental sustainability?

Environment, economy, equity

The Montreal Protocol of 1989 was designed to reduce global emissions of________.

CFCs Chlorofluorocarbons

What is the difference between intrinsic and instrumental value?

Intrinsic - value because it exists

Instrumental - provides a service

What is environmental justice?

Fair distribution of resources, not using poorer communities to build water facilities, factories, etc.

What is sustainability?

Living within our means, saving resources for future generations

What is an isotope?

Same number of protons, different number of neutrons

What are the states of matter? How does one state become another?

Solid, liquid, gas, plasma. Solid to liquid is melting, liquid to solid is freezing, gas to liquid is condensation, liquid to gas is evaporation, solid to gas is sublimation.

What is the difference between potential and kinetic energy?

potential energy - energy due to position

kinetic energy - energy due to motion

Define ecosystem, community, and population with respect to species.

ecosystem - environment and its biotic and abiotic factors

community - the variety of species in an area

population - the number of a given species

How does a food chain differ from a food web?

food chain is simple, linked like algae - bugs - fish - shark

food web is a complex linked system

Know the difference in the trophic levels - producer, consumer (primary, secondary, tertiary) as well as the difference between herbivore, carnivore, and omnivore.

producer - photosynthesizer; plants

primary consumer - herbivore (eats plants)

secondary consumer - carnivore (eats animals) or omnivore (eats plants and animals)

What is the 10% rule with respect to ecological pyramids?

10% of energy is passed from one trophic level to the next, 90% of energy is lost between each trophic level

Understand the basics of the hydrologic (water) cycle

evaporation - condensation and/or transpiration - precipitation - runoff

Which of the chemical cycles from the PPT has no atmospheric phase?

Phosphorus has no atmospheric phase

How do humans release sulfur into the atmosphere?

burning fossil fuels

How does phosphorous get into the atmosphere?

It doesn't

What is natural selection?

organisms with more favorable triads will naturally adapt to their environment

What is homology? (PPT)

similarities in anatomical structures

What are vestigial organs? (PPT)

organs contains by an organisms that have no use; likely had a use in the past

What is the driving force behind natural selection? i.e. what causes new, useful traits to appear?

Mutations

How does Darwin's theory of evolution differ from Lamarck's theory?

Lamarck thought that organisms could develop favorable traits by their own efforts. Darwin thought they were traits the organism was born with.

What types of organisms did Darwin study on the Galapagos Islands that helped solidify his ideas on natural selection? What were the specific features/traits that Darwin noticed?

finches - had different beaks based on the food supply

tortoises - had different necks based on the food supply on their particular islands

What is extinction?

when all of a particular species is gone

What is parasitism, commensalism, and mutualism?

parasitism - one organism lives on another and causes harm

commensalism - one organism benefits; the other is unaffected

mutualism - booths species benefit

How many species per year are we currently losing?

50,000 per year

What happens with inbreeding?

negative mutation; decreased genetic variety

What do the extinct, threatened, near-threatened categories mean?

extinct - no more of a specific species exists

threatened - could become extinct in the near future

near threatened - numbers are decreasing, could become threatened

What is HIPCO?

H - habitat loss
I - invasive species
P - pollution
C - climate change
O - overharvesting

How were bison affected in the 1800s?

They were hunted to near extinction as the European settlers took over areas belonging to Native Americans

What is the difference between genotype and phenotype?

genotype - genetic code

phenotype - outward expression of genetic code (what someone/something looks like)

What is carrying capacity?

Maximum number of people the planet can sustain

How is the sixth mass extinction different from previous mass extinction events on Earth?

Humans are causing it.