Environmental Science

Environment

The sum of all conditions surrounding an organism, including living and non-living things, that influence its life and development.

Environmental Science

The study of how humans interact with their environment, focusing on understanding and solving environmental problems.

Ecology

The study of how organisms interact with each other and with their physical environment.

Human Well-being

A state of health, happiness, and prosperity, often tied to access to clean water, food, and a healthy environment.

Sustainability

The ability to meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Triple-Bottom Line

A framework for measuring business success based on three key areas: people, planet, and profit.

Ecosystem

A community of living organisms (plants, animals, and microbes) interacting with their non-living environment.

Biotic

Pertaining to or caused by living organisms.

Abiotic

Pertaining to non-living factors in an ecosystem.

Ecosystem Integrity

The condition of an ecosystem that is healthy, stable, and able to continue its normal functions.

Ecosystem Services

The benefits that humans receive from ecosystems.

Provisioning Services

Products obtained from ecosystems.

Regulating Services

The benefits obtained from the regulation of ecosystem processes.

Cultural Services

Non-material benefits people obtain from ecosystems through spiritual enrichment, recreation, and aesthetic experiences.

Supporting Services

Services that are necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services.

Dynamic Homeostasis

The process by which a system maintains stability while also allowing for some change.

Negative Feedback

A response to a change in a system that counteracts the initial change, bringing the system back to a stable state.

Positive Feedback

A response to a change in a system that amplifies the initial change, pushing the system further away from its stable state.

Nonrenewable

A resource that exists in a fixed amount and cannot be replaced in a human lifetime.

Science

A systematic process for learning about the world and testing our understanding of it.

Hypothesis

A testable statement that explains a phenomenon or makes a prediction about a relationship between variables.

Predictions

Specific outcomes that are expected if the hypothesis is true.

Experiment

A specific test or series of tests designed to investigate a hypothesis.

Experimentation

A scientific procedure carried out to test a hypothesis.

Synthesis

The combination of different ideas, theories, or pieces of information into a new, coherent whole.

Theory

A well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that is based on a body of facts that have been repeatedly confirmed through observation and experiment.

Observation

The act of carefully watching and recording phenomena or data.

Variables

Factors that can be changed or measured in an experiment.

Correlations

The relationship between two or more variables, where a change in one is associated with a change in the other.

Treatment Group

The group in an experiment that receives the variable being tested.

Control Group

The group in an experiment that does not receive the variable being tested and is used as a baseline for comparison.

Precision

The degree to which repeated measurements show the same result.

Bias

A systematic preference for a particular outcome in a study.

Cytoplasm

The thick, clear, jelly-like substance present inside the cell membrane where most of the chemical reactions take place and cell organelles are suspended.

Prokaryote

Cells don't have nucleous

Eukaryote

Cells have nucleous

Organelle

A specialized structure within a cell that performs a specific function.

Photosynthesis

The process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy, which is stored in glucose.

Cellular respiration

Plants

Aerobic respiration

Humans

Anaerobic respiration

Fish

Genotype

The genetic makeup of an organism; the specific set of genes it possesses.

Phenotype

The observable physical or biochemical characteristics of an organism, which are determined by both genetic and environmental factors.

Asexual reproduction

A mode of reproduction in which an offspring arises from a single organism, and inherits the genes of that parent only.

Sexual reproduction

A mode of reproduction in which a new organism is created by combining the genetic information of two individuals of different types (sexes).

Mutation

A change in the DNA sequence of an organism.

Exponential growth

A growth pattern in which the population size increases at a constant rate, resulting in a J-shaped curve when graphed.

Arithmetic growth

A growth pattern in which the population size increases by a constant number over time, resulting in a straight line when graphed.

Population growth rate

The rate at which the number of individuals in a population increases in a given period of time.

Doubling time

The time it takes for a population to double in size, assuming a constant growth rate.

Birth rate

The number of live births per 1,000 individuals in a population per year.

Death rate

The number of deaths per 1,000 individuals in a population per year.

Mortality rate

The number of deaths in a population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time.

Immigration rate

The rate at which individuals enter a population from another area.

Emigration rate

The rate at which individuals leave a population to another area.

Survivorship

The proportion of individuals surviving to a given age.

Fertility rate

The average number of children born to a woman during her lifetime.

Age-specific fertility rate

The number of births per 1,000 women in a specific age group per year.

Total fertility rate

The average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if she were to experience the current age-specific fertility rates.

Generation time

The average time between the birth of a female and the birth of her first offspring.

Taxonomy

The science of naming, describing, and classifying organisms.

Genus

A principal taxonomic rank that is a subdivision of a family and a collection of closely related species.

Phylogenetic tree

A diagram that shows the evolutionary relationships among various biological species based upon similarities and differences in their physical or genetic characteristics.

Hierarchy

Cells, Organisms, Population, Ecosystem, Biosphere

Central Dogma of Molecular Biology

DNA copying is the flow of genetic information from DNA to RNA, thus creating new proteins

Positive Feedback

Elicits same outcome

Negative Feedback

Elicits opposite outcome

Correlation doesn’t equal…

causation

Marginal value

The value of one additional or one less unit of a good or service.

Travel-cost valuation

Estimates the value of a recreational site by calculating the travel expenses (transportation, time, fees, etc.) that visitors are willing to incur.

Hedonic valuation

Uses real estate data to determine the implicit value of environmental factors.

Contingent valuation

A survey-based method that asks people directly how much they would be willing to pay to preserve an environmental good or service.

Natural capital

The world's stocks of natural assets.

Ecological valuation

The process of assigning an economic value to ecological functions and services.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The total monetary value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country's borders.

Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI)

An alternative to GDP that includes environmental and social factors.

Binomial nomenclature

Genus species

DNA

Hereditary material

Evolution

How populations change over generations

Adaptogens

Inherited structures, functions, and behaviors for survival.

Fitness

Reproductive success

Natural Selection

Brown rabbits survive better than white rabbits in mud. Brown rabbits reproduce and white rabbits must adapt.

Genetic Drift

Random circumstances (i.e. extreme weather) kill off populations.

Speciation

Process of evolutionary change resulting in new species, likely to occur in reproductive isolation

Species

Two organisms that can produce viable offspring produce a species

Reproductive Isolation

1. Geographic (Place)

2. Temporal (Time)

3. Behavioral (Vibe)

4. Structural (Size)