Environmental Science

Exam 1 review questions flashcards

History of environmental ideas people associated with the different periods of the environmental movement and the main ideas philosophy of the 4?

Henry David Thoreau: Thoreau believed people should live simply, spend time in nature, and avoid excessive materialism; he expressed these ideas in Walden.

George Perkins Marsh was one of the first people to emphasize that human activities can significantly alter and damage the natural environment and its resources.

John Muir: Muir supported preservation, meaning that natural areas and wilderness should be protected from human development because nature has value it itself.

Gifford Pinchot: Pinchot supported conservation, meaning natural resources should be managed and used wisely and sustainably for the benefit of people.

Aldo Leopold: Leopold developed the idea of land ethic, which says humans are members of the ecological community and have an ethical responsibility to care for the land and other living organisms.

Rachel Carson: Carson increased public awareness of the harmful effects of pesticides, especially DDT, on wildlife and ecosystems through her book Silent Spring.

Anthropocentrism: This philosophy places humans at the center and generally values nature based on how useful it is to people.

Eco centrism: This philosophy considers humans to be part of a larger ecological community and recognizes the value of ecosystems and other living organisms.

John Muir= Preservation: Protect nature from human development

Gifford Pinchot= Conservation: Use natural resources wisely and sustainably

What are ethics?

are principles or beliefs about what is right and wrong and how people should behave.

What are values?

are beliefs about what is important, desirable, or worthwhile.

What are ecocentric values?

values the entire ecosystem, including humans, animals, plants, organisms, and the physical environment, and emphasizes the health of the whole ecological system

What are biocentric values

values all living organisms and recognizes that plants, animals, and other living things have value beyond their usefulness to humans.

What are anthropocentric value?

places humans at the center and values the environment mainly because it provides resources or benefits for people.

What are the main causes of environmental problems?

Population growth, Resource consumption, Pollution, Industralization and technology, Agriculture, Deforestation and habitat destruction, and human values and decisions.

What is sustainable development?

is development that meets the needs of people today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

What is science?

is a systematic way of studying the natural world by making observations, asking questions, testing ideas, and using evidence to explain how nature works.

What is scientific thinking?

is the process of using observation, evidence, logical reasoning, and critical thinking to understand and explain natural phenomena.

What is manipulative experiment?

An experiment in which the researcher deliberately changes or manipulates one variable and observes how it affect another variable.

What is Natural experiment?

An experiment in which researchers observe the effects of a naturally occurring event or condition without deliberately manipulating the variables.

example of manipulative experiment

A scientist adds different amounts of fertilizer to several groups of plants and measures their growth.

example of natural experiment

A scientist compares plant growth in areas that naturally received different amounts of rainfall

What is positive feedback?

A charge in an ecosystem causes more change in the same direction, which can amplify or increase the original change.

What is negative feedback?

A change in an ecosystem causes change that counteract or reduce the original change, helping stabilize the ecosystem.

example of positive feedback

Warming temperatures melt ice, reducing Earth’s reflective surface; more sunlight is absorbed, causing additional warming.

example of negative feedback

If a plant population increases, competition for limited resources such as food, water, and space can increase, which can slow further population growth.

What is matter in ecosystems?

is anything that has mass and takes up space, and it is made up of elements and compounds.

What is energy in ecosystems?

is the ability to do work or cause change.

What is the law of conservation of matter?

states the matter cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be changed from one form to another or transferred from one place to another.

What is the example of Law of Conservation of Matter?

When wood burns, the matter in the wood is not destroyed; it is transformed into gases, ash, and other substances.

What is the 1st law of thermodynamics?

states that energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be transferred from one place to another or transformed from one form into another.

What is the example of thermodynamics?

Plants convert sunlight ( light energy) into chemical energy stored in sugars through photosynthesis.

What elements are found in the 4 types of organic biomolecules?

Carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, nucleic acids

What inorganic molecules do plants and algae need to absorb in order to make the 4 types of organic molecules?

Carbon dioxide (CO2), Water (H2O), Nitrate(NO3-), Phosphate(PO43-), Sulfate(SO42-)

How do atoms cycle in ecosystems?

cycle through ecosystems by moving between the nonliving environment and living organisms.

What is the second law of thermodynamics?

states that whenever energy is transferred or transformed, some energy is converted into heat and becomes less available to do work.

What is the example of second law of thermodynamics?

When a rabbit eats a plant, not all of the energy stored in the plant becomes energy available to the rabbit; some is released as heat during metabolism.

How does the second law of thermodynamics affect ecosystems?

affects ecosystems because energy is lost as heat whenever it is transferred or transformed, so less usable energy is available at each step of a food chain.

What are the trophic levels?

are the different feeding levels in a food chain or food web, based on how organisms obtain their energy.

What are decomposers?

are organisms, such as bacteria and fungi, that break down dead organisms and organic waste and return nutrients to the environment.

What is an example of decomposer?

Fungi breaking down a dead tree and releasing nutrients back into the soil.