ENVI 101 - Exam 1 Study Guide Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering core terms, concepts, and definitions across Lectures 1 through 10 of ENVI 101.

Environmental science

The interdisciplinary study of the natural and built world and how humans interact with their environment.

Biotic factors

Living or once-living components of an environment, such as organisms and organic matter.

Abiotic factors

Nonliving physical and chemical components of an environment, such as temperature, water, sunlight, soil, and nutrients.

Ecosystem

A community of organisms interacting with one another and with their nonliving physical environment.

Ecosystem services

Benefits that humans receive from functioning ecosystems, categorized into provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services.

Examples of ecosystem services

• Water

  • Habitats, foods, trade, water ways

• Trees

  • They are giving us oxygen

  • Sequester carbon - reducing effect of climate change

  • Thermoregulation

    • Evaporation

Inherent value

The ethical concept that nature has value in itself, regardless of its usefulness to people; also termed intrinsic value.

Instrumental value

The concept that nature is valued because it provides beneficial goods, services, or resources to humans.

Stewardship

The principle that humans have a responsibility to care for and manage the environment wisely.

Environmental justice

The principle that all communities deserve equal environmental protection and meaningful participation in environmental decision-making.

Examples of enviormemtal justice

Hazardous water landfills are predominated located in poor communities

Increasing pollution risks

Individuals in minority communities tend to have higher exposure to leading based paint, diesel fumes, bothersome odors and noise from factories, landfills, and other sources

People got sick in a black community and ignored the lead in Flint City

This was a result of systemic racism and point out environmental justice

Preservation

An environmental management philosophy aimed at protecting nature from human use and maintaining it in an undisturbed state

John Muir

Preservationist

• He established the National Parks

• He believed we should do nothing with the environment

Conservation

An environmental management philosophy focused on managing natural resources carefully so they remain available over time.

Gifford Pinchot and Theodore Roosevelt.

• Gifford Pinchot & Teddy Roosevelt

  • Utilitarian approach 

    • They wanted to manage these lands so that we can use the resources but also have sustainability conversing but not leaving them alone 

  • Gifford was the first chief of the forest service

Difference between Parks and Forests

• National forests

  • US Forest Service (Pinchot)

  • Resource extraction (lumber)

• National Parks

  • Park Service (Muir)

  • Much less development 

  • Recreation, preservation, low use of resources 

Land ethic

An ethical framework introduced by Aldo Leopold in Sand County Almanac stating that humans belong to an ecological community and owe duties to land, water, plants, and animals.

Aldo Leopold

• Helped found the U.S. Wilderness Society in 1935

• He worked for the US forest service 

• He wrote Sand County Almanac

Tragedy of the commons

A scenario described by Garrett Hardin where individuals acting in their short-term self-interest overuse a shared, open-access resource, causing ultimate depletion that harms everyone.

What did Hardin articulate as solutions to this problem?

• Private property- now they can keep other people off of it

  • Won’t destroy the land because they want to keep using it

• Government regulation

  • We can set rules and regulations

  • Limits

What are Ostrom’s ideas on this topic?

Elinor Ostrom- managing the commons

Political scientist and economist

In a sense refusing what hardin said

She said they are many societies or communities that were able to communities that manages their spaces more sustainably

Sustainable development

“Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”

• Ensuring equity and social justice

What is science?

• Science is a way of knowing

  • Discovering how nature works

  • The systematic examination of structure and functioning of the natural world, including both its physical and biological attributes 

Scientific method

The usual scientific-method sequence is observation -> question -> hypothesis -> prediction -> test or experiment -> analyze data -> conclusion. If the evidence does not support the hypothesis, revise it and test again. Scientists then communicate results, and other scientists evaluate, repeat, or extend the work.

Hypothesis

A testable and falsifiable explanation formulated for an observation.

Scientific theory

A broad explanation of natural phenomena supported by extensive evidence from many studies.

• This is always correct

• Example

  • Darwin’s Theory of Evolution (Natural Selection)

    • Organisms that are more adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and pass on the genes that aided their success. This process causes species to change and diverge over time.

Reading data on different graphs

Line, Bar, and Scatterplot

Line Graph

Best use: Show change through time or another continuous sequence; Key warning: Do not infer causes from a trend alone

Bar Graph

Best use: Compare categories or groups; Key warning: Check scale and whether averages hide variation

Scatterplot

Best use: Show the relationship between two quantitative variables; Key warning: Correlation does not prove causation

Independent variable

The factor intentionally changed or manipulated by an experimenter in a scientific study.

Dependent variable

The observed response or factor measured in an experiment.

Control group

The baseline group in an experiment that does not receive the experimental treatment.

Standard deviation

A statistical measure of how spread out data observations are relative to the mean.

Peer review

A evaluation process where independent experts assess a research manuscript's methods, reasoning, and evidence prior to publication.

Scientific consensus

Broad agreement among scientific specialists following the evaluation of a large body of evidence.

Transparent Methods

procedures must be documented well enough for evaluation and replication. 

Source evaluation

identify the author, evidence, publication, conflicts of interest, date, and whether claims match the data. 

Matter

anything that has mass and occupies space. 

Element

a substance that cannot be broken into simpler substances by ordinary chemical reactions. 

Atom

the smallest bit that retains the properties of an element

Proton

positive charge, locate din the nucleus

Neutron

no charge, located in the nucleus

Electron

• negative charge, located outside the nucleus and involved in chemical bonding

Atomic #

Number of protons

Mass #

Number of protons and neutrons

Isotope

a form of an element with the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons and therefore a different mass.

Molecule

two or more atoms joined by chemical bonds.

Ion

an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge because it gained or lost electrons. 

Organic Molecule

a carbon-based molecule; major biological molecules are organic.

Carbohydrates

Building block: Monosaccharides; Main roles and examples: Quick energy and structure; glucose, sucrose, starch, cellulose

Lipids

Building block: Glycerol and fatty acids; Main roles and examples: Long-term energy, membranes, insulation; hydrophobic

Proteins

Building block: Amino acids; Main roles and examples: Enzymes, structure, transport, signaling 

Nucleic Acids

Building block: Nucleotides; Main roles and examples: DNA stores information; RNA helps use instructions to build proteins 

First law of thermodynamics

The physical law stating that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred or transformed.

Energy

the capacity to do work. Kinetic energy is energy of motion; potential energy is stored energy.

Energy efficiency

the useful work produced per unit of energy input. 

Photosynthesis

The chemical process by which producers capture light energy and convert it to chemical energy stored in glucose: carbon dioxide + water + light -> glucose + oxygen.

Cellular respiration

The biological process by which cells break down glucose to release usable energy: glucose + oxygen -> carbon dioxide + water + usable energy and heat.

Producer/autotroph

makes organic matter from inorganic materials, usually by photosynthesis.

Consumer/ hetertroph

obtains energy by eating other organisms

Decomposer

down dead organic matter and recycles nutrients back into the ecosystem.

Trophic level

an organism's feeding position in a food chain or food web.

Primary productivity

The rate at which producers create organic biomass, typically through photosynthesis.

Ten percent rule

The general ecological approximation that only about $10\%$ of energy at one trophic level is converted into biomass available to the next trophic level.

Evolution

Heritable genetic change occurring within a population across generations.

Natural selection

The evolutionary process detailed by Charles Darwin in 1859 where environmental pressures favor heritable traits that enhance survival or reproduction, making those alleles more common in subsequent generations.

Charles Darwin

developed the theory that evolution occurs by natural selection and presented extensive evidence in On the Origin of Species, published in 1859.

Population

members of the same species living in the same area at the same time.

Gene pool

all alleles present in a population at a given time

gene

a segment of DNA that contributes to a functional product or trait.

Allele

an alternative form of a gene.

Genotype

an organism's genetic makeup.

Phenotype

observable traits produced by genotype and environmental influences.

Condiitons for Natural Selection

Individuals in a population vary in their traits. 

2. At least some variation is heritable. 

3. More offspring are produced than the environment can support, creating competition and other selection pressures. 

4. Individuals with traits better suited to current conditions survive or reproduce more successfully. 

5. Across generations, alleles associated with those traits become more common. 

Mutation

a random change in DNA. Mutations create new alleles and may be harmful, beneficial, or neutral depending on conditions.

Sexual reproduction

reshuffles existing alleles into new combinations.

Adaptation

A heritable physical or behavioral trait that improves an organism's survival or reproductive success in its environment.

Fitness

An organism's relative reproductive success within a specific environment.

Directional selection

A pattern of natural selection that favors one extreme phenotype, shifting the overall population average toward that extreme.

Stabilizing selection

A pattern of natural selection favoring intermediate phenotypes while selecting against extreme traits, narrowing population variation.

Disruptive selection

A pattern of natural selection that favors both extreme phenotypes over intermediate forms, potentially splitting population traits.

Peppered Moths and Changing Selection

Before industrial pollution, light moths were better camouflaged on light, lichen-covered trees. Soot darkened tree bark during industrialization, making dark moths less visible to predators and increasing their reproductive success. Pollution controls later lightened the trees and reversed the selective advantage. The example shows that no trait is universally best; the environment determines which heritable traits are favored. 

Antibiotics and Resistant

Antibiotics or pesticides do not cause organisms to mutate because they need resistance. Resistant variants may already exist or arise randomly; treatment kills susceptible individuals and leaves resistant ones to reproduce.

Phylogentic Tree

a hypothesis about evolutionary relationships and common ancestry. Nodes represent common ancestors; organisms sharing a more recent node are more closely related. 

Speciation

the formation of new species, often after gene flow is reduced and populations diverge genetically. 

Ecological niche

how a species uses its habitat, obtains resources, interacts with other organisms, and tolerates environmental conditions.

Fundamental niche

The full potential range of environmental conditions and resources a species can occupy in the absence of limiting biotic interactions.

Realized niche

The actual portion of environmental conditions and resources a species occupies after accounting for limiting biotic interactions such as competition and predation.

Resource partitioning

The evolutionary process where competing species divide resource use by space, time, or method to reduce direct competition.

Endemic species

A species native to and restricted exclusively to a specific, localized geographic area.

• Kangaroos in Australia

Indicator species

A species whose presence, absence, or health status reflects specific environmental conditions or overall ecosystem quality.

Lichens can indicate air quality because many are pollution-sensitive.

Weather

Short-term atmospheric conditions occurring in a specific place and time, such as temperature, precipitation, and wind.

Climate

The long-term average patterns and variability of atmospheric weather conditions in a geographic region.

• • Mean annual temperature generally decreases toward the poles because sunlight arrives at a lower angle and

  spreads across a larger area.

  • Climate is influenced by latitude, elevation, atmospheric and ocean circulation, topography, prevailing winds, and

  distance from large bodies of water.

Seasons

Earth rotates on its axis once in about 24 hours and revolves around the Sun once in about 365 days. Seasons result

from Earth's roughly 23.5-degree axial tilt as it revolves around the Sun, not from changing Earth-Sun distance.

A hemisphere tilted toward the Sun receives more direct sunlight and longer days; the opposite hemisphere receives less direct sunlight and shorter days.

Hadley Cells

1. Intense solar heating warms moist equatorial air.

2. The warm air rises, expands, and cools. Cooler air holds less water, so water condenses and heavy precipitation falls

near the equator.

3. The now-drier air moves poleward high in the atmosphere.

4. Air sinks near 30 degrees north and south, warms, and becomes relatively dry, helping create many subtropical

deserts.

5. Surface air flows back toward the equator, completing the circulation cell.

Plant Forms Used to Classify Biomes

Herbs, Shrubs, and Trees

Herb

Definition and investment: Photosynthetic tissue with little investment in permanent support tissue

Shrub

Definition and investment: Multiple persistent woody stems, no single central trunk, generally under 4 meters

Tree

Definition and investment: Substantial investment in a central woody stem and support tissue, gaining height and light access