SEE quiz one

Chapter 1,2,3,4?

The **environment**

consists of all the living and nonliving things around us.

**Environmental science**

the study of how the natural world works, how the environment affects us, and how we affect it.

•**What do we need to live?**

–C,N,O,H (Nutrients), Energy, Shelter

•In other words, we need resources to live/survive/thrive.

•All the complex systems that support modern life are derived from basic resources found in nature.

**Natural resources**

•the substances and energy sources that we take from the environment and rely upon to survive.

**Renewable natural resources**

replenished over short periods.

***inexhaustible***

Sunlight, wind, and wave energy are perpetually renewed and are considered

***exhaustible***

Timber, water, animal populations, and fertile soil take months to years to replenish, and are

**Nonrenewable natural resources**

formed much more slowly than we use them and are **no longer available once depleted.**

**ecosystem services**

such as air and water purification, cycling of nutrients, climate regulation, pollination, and waste recycling.

The human population has grown exponentially following

**agricultural revolution, industrial** \n **revolution**

**agricultural revolution**

people began to grow crops and domesticate animals

**industrial** \n **revolution**

shifted life toward \n an urban society \n powered by **fossil** \n **fuels**.

**ecological footprint**

cumulative area of land and water needed to provide resources and waste disposal for a typical person.

**overshoot**

we are surpassing Earth’s capacity to sustainably support our population

**natural capital**

its store of resources and ecosystem services, is like a bank account

**Conserving natural capital**

–If you leave the **principal** intact and only spend the **interest**, the account remains full.

Today’s society is globalized

a similar collapse would affect the entire world.

**interdisciplinary**

•brings techniques and research from multiple disciplines \n together.

**natural studies**

focus on how the natural world works

**social sciences**

address human interactions and institutions

**Environmental studies**

emphasize the social sciences

**Environmental science**

involves the scientific study of the environment and our interactions with it

**Environmentalism**

is a social movement dedicated to protecting the natural world from undesirable changes brought on by human actions.

**Science**

systematic process for learning about the world and testing our understanding about it (may also refer to the accumulated body of knowlede that arises from observing, questioning, testing, and discovery.

**Descriptive science**

involves researching organisms, materials, and systems that are new or not well-known

**Hypothesis-driven science**

uses experiments to test hypotheses as part of the scientific method

**scientific method**

formalized technique for testing ideas

**hypothesis**

A question arises from the observation, which the scientist then attempts to explain with a

*Quantitative data*

expressed in numbers, are especially valued because numbers are easy to compare

An experiment may

disprove or fail to disprove a hypothesis, but it never *proves* it to be true.

–If enough evidence accumulates to support the hypothesis, the scientist may eventually conclude that it is well-supported

***manipulative experiments***

researcher actively chooses and manipulates the **experimental conditions, or** ***variables,*** sometimes in a laboratory setting

***Natural experiments***

compare how different variables are expressed in naturally occurring, but different, contexts.

–The ‘experimental conditions’ vary naturally, and scientists search for **correlation**, or statistical association, between variables

Correlations

do not always indicate **cause and effect,** this sometimes requires other supporting research

*Line graphs*

show trends in a variable over time

*Bar graphs*

compare single measurements between groups, such as average algae surface coverage

*Scatter plots*

reveal any correlations between two variables

*Pie charts*

show percentage breakdowns of a measurement, such as algae species

**journal**

When a researcher’s work is complete, it is submitted to a

**peer review**

provide comments and criticism and judge whether it merits publication

**theory**

well-tested, widely accepted explanation of one or more cause-and-effect relationships that have been extensively validated by a great amount of testing

**Ethics**

branch of philosophy that studies how people decide what is good and bad, right and wrong

**Ethical standards**

criteria that help make this distinction

*categorical imperative*

advises us to treat others as we would prefer to be treated ourselves

*principal of utility*

something is right when it produces the greatest practical benefit for the most people

**Relativists**

believe that ethics vary with social context

**universalists**

believe ethics are consistent across all cultures and contexts

**environmental ethics**.

application of ethical standards to the relationships between humans and nonhuman entities

**Anthropocentrism**

human-centered view that evaluates costs and benefits of actions solely on their impact on people

**Biocentrism**

ascribes inherent value to both human and nonhuman life

Ecocentrism

judges actions based on their effects on ecological systems, which contain __both__ living and nonliving elements and relationships between them. (most hostile perspective)

**preservation ethic -** John Muir

environment should be protected in a pristine, unaltered state

**conservation ethic -**Gifford Pinochet

people should put natural resources to use, but have a responsibility to use them wisely

**ecocentric view**

healthy ecological systems depended on all of their interacting parts

**Sustainability**

guiding principle of modern environmental science and a concept you will encounter throughout this course

CAPTER

TWOOO

**watershed**

an area of land that drains into a body of water through rivers, delivers nutrients that sustained fields of underwater grasses

**nitrogen** and **phosphorus**

nutrients from fertilizing, animal manure, and fossil fuel combustion in the watershed

**hypoxia**

Decomposition of dead plankton has depleted the water, creating

**system**

network of relationships among parts that influence each other **through the exchange of energy, matter, or information**

spheres

Scientists divide the Earth’s components into

**lithosphere**

the rock and sediment in the planet’s upper mantle and crust

**atmosphere**

the air surrounding the planet

**hydrosphere**

encompasses all water – salty, fresh, solid, liquid, or vapor

**biosphere**

includes all of the living organisms of the Earth and the nonliving components that they interact with

**feedback loop**

system’s output may serve as input back into the same system, a process called a

**negative feedback loop**

•results when the system moving in one direction acts as an input that causes the system to move in the opposite direction.

(Negative feedback enhances stability in a system)

**dynamic equilibrium**

Negative feedback systems with processes that move in opposing directions at equivalent rates are in

**homeostasis**

This causes the system to tend towards maintaining stable internal conditions (within a range of ‘acceptable’ limits)

**Positive feedback loops**

•occur when increased output in a system leads to increased input, which further stimulates output

**Systems are not isolated**

they may exchange energy, matter, and information with other systems

**runoff**

precipitation that flows over land and into waterways

**Matter**

any material that has mass and occupies space

**Chemistry**

studies the interaction of matter

**law of conservation of matter**

matter can be transformed from one type of substance to another, but not created or destroyed

**Elements**

substances with specific properties that cannot be broken down into substances with other properties

**Atoms**

smallest units that still have all of the element’s chemical properties

**Protons**

positively charged and determine the element’s *atomic number*

**Neutrons**

have no charge

**Electrons**

negatively charged (orbit the nucleus)

***atomic mass***

**determined by its number of protons and neutrons**

**pH scale**

quantifies the acidity or alkalinity of a solution

–Pure water has an H+ concentration of 10−7 and a pH of 7.

–Acids have a pH of below 7.

Bases have a pH above 7

**Organic compounds**

made of carbon atoms joined together with covalent bonds

**hydrocarbons**

important class of organic compounds which only contain hydrogen and carbon

**polymers**

long chains of repeated molecules

**macromolecules**

Polymers and lipids are referred to as

**Proteins**

polymers made of amino acids

**Nucleic acids**

including deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), carry the hereditary information for organisms

**genes**

Regions of DNA that encode for specific proteins are called

**Carbohydrates**

include simple and complex sugars, such as: glucose, cellulose, chitin

**Lipids**

include a diverse group of molecules that do not dissolve in water: Fats and oils, waxes, steroids

**Energy**

the capacity to change the position, composition, or temperature of matter

**Potential energy**

the energy of position (water being held by dam)

**Kinetic energy**

the energy of motion (water rushing through dam)

**Chemical energy**

potential energy stored in the bonds among atoms

**first law of thermodynamics**

Energy can change from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed

**second law of thermodynamics**

The nature of energy tends to change from a more-ordered to a less-ordered state as it changes form

**SUN** **releases energy**

across a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum, but **much of it is filtered out by the atmosphere**

**visible light**

We can only detect the range of wavelengths known as

**autotrophs**

use the sun’s radiation directly to produce their own food using PHOTOSYNTHESIS to turn molecules with low-energy bonds (water and carbon dioxide) into sugar molecules with high-energy bonds.