Exam 2 - Environmental Science

Chapters 5-10: Chapter 5:, Chapter 6:, Chapter 7:, Chapter 8:, Chapter 9:, Chaper 10:

Watershed

the land area that funnels water to a given body of water

Hypoxia

Chronic oxygen depleted water

System

Network of relationships among parts, elements, or components that interact with and influence one aother through the exchange of energy, matter, or information

Lithosphere

Rock and sediment beneath our feet, the planet’s most uppermost mantle and crust

Atmosphere

Composed of the air surrounding our planet

Hydrosphere

Encompasses all water - salt, or fresh, liquid, ice, or vapor - in surface bodies, underground, and in the atmosphere

Biosphere

Consists of all the planet’s orgnamisms and the abiotic portions of the environment with which they interact

Abiotic

Non-living things

Emergent properties

Characteristics not evident in the components alone

Ex: tree with its broken down parts won’t show the birds living in it and/or the other roles it plays in the environment

Feedback loop

A system’s output can sometimes serve as an input to that same system in a circular process

Can be positive or negative

Negative feedback loop

Output that results from a system moving in one direction acts as input that moves the system in the other direction.

Positive feedback loop

Drive the system further toward an extreme

Increased output from a system results in increased input, leading to further increased output, and so on

Dynamic equilibrium

In a system stabilized by negative feedback when processes move in opposing directions at equivalent rates so that their effects balance out

Homeostasis

The tendency of a system to maintain constant or stable internal conditions

Runoff

The precipitation that flows over land and enters waterways

Airshed

The geographic area that produces air pollutants that are likely to end up in a waterway

Eutrophication

The process of nutrien overenrichment, blooms of phytoplankton, increased production of organic matter, and subsequent ecosystem degradation

Ecosystem

Consists of all organisms and nonliving entities that occur and interact in a particular area at the same time

Estuary

A water body where rivers flow into the ocean, mixing fresh water with saltwater

Primary production

Autotrophs such as green plants and phytoplankton, convert solar energy to the energy of chemical bonds in sugar through the process of photosynthesis and perform this.

Gross Primary Production

The total amount of chemical energy produced by autotrophs

Net Primary Production

The energy that remains after respiration and that is used to generate biomass (such as leaves, stems, and roots)

Ecosystems whose plants convert solar energy to biomass rapidly are said to have high amounts of this

Secondary production

Some plant biomass is subsequently eaten by herbivores, which use the energy they gain from plant biomass for their own metabolism or to generate biomass in their bodies (such as skin, muscle, or bone) - termed this

Productivity

Ecosystems vary in the rate at which autotrophs covert energy to biomass. The rate at which this conversion occurs is called this

Nutrients

An element or compound that organisms consume and require for survival

Macronutrients

Elements and compounds required in relatively large amounts, such as nitrogen, carbon, and phosphorus

Micronutrients

Nutrients needed in small amounts, such as zinc, copper, and iron

Where is nitrogen and phosphorous found in water?

Marine - Nitrogen

Fresh water - Phosphorus

Dead Zones

Where there is no oxygen in the water so nothing can grow there

Ecotones

Areas where ecosystems meet may consist of transitional zones called this

Landscape ecology

Scientists study how landscape structure affects the abundance, distribution, and interaction of organisms

Patches

designated areas of ecosystems, communities, or habitats

Mosaic

Where patches are arrayed spatially over a landscape

Metapopulation

In such a network of subpopulations, some whom move among patches or mate with members of other patches - this phenomena is called this

Conservation biologists

Study of loss, protection, and restoration of biodiversity

Geographic Information System (GIS)

Computer software that takes multiple types of data (for instance, on geology, hydrology, topography, vegetation, plant and animal populations, and human infrastructure from both on-ground studies and satellite imagery) and combines them, layer by layer, on a common set of geographic coordinates.

Model

Simplified representation of a complicated natural process, designed to help us understand how the process occurs and to make predictions

Ecological modeling

Practice of constructing and testing models that aim to explain and predict how ecological systems function

Nutrient Cycles/Biochemical cycles

How nutrients move through ecosystems

That circulate chemical elements or molecules through the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere

Reservoir/Pool

Where nutrients and other materials move from

Move from one to another

Residence Time

The amount of time materials and nutrients stay in a reservoir for

Source

When a reservoir releases more materials than it accepts, it is called this

Sink

When a reservoir accepts more materials than it releases - it is called this

Flux

The rate at which materials move between reservoirs is termed this

Hydrologic cycle/ Water Cycle

Summarizes how water - in liquid, gaseous, or solid forms - flow through our environment

Evaporation

The conversion of a liquid to a gaseous form

Transpiration

The release of water vapor by plants through their leaves, or by evaporation from the surfaces of organisms, such as sweating in humans

Precipitation

When water vapor condenses and falls as rain or snow

Groundwater

Water found within the soil

Aquifers

Underground reservoirs

Porous regions of rock and soil that hold groundwater

Water table

The upper limit of groundwater held in an aquifer is referred to as this

Pago per Servicios Ambientales (PSA)

Payment for Environmental Services

PSA is a market- or policy-based economic incentive program. It provides financial compensation or rewards to landowners, farmers, or indigenous communities who manage their land or watersheds in ways that protect, restore, or maintain ecological services

Ethics

Branch of philosophy that involves the study of good and bad, of right and wrong

Also refers to the set of moral principles or values held by a person or a society

Economics

Study of how people decide to use potentially scarce resources to provide goods and services that are in demand

Culture

Can be defined as the ensemble of knowledge, beliefs, values, and learned ways of life shared by a group of people

Worldview

Together with personal experience and personal circumstance, culture influences each person;s perception of the world and his or her place within it - this is what this is called

Relativists

Those that believe ethics do and should vary with social context

Universalists

Who maintain that there exist objective notions of right and wrong that hold across cultures and contexts.

Ethical standards

The criteria that help differenitate right from wrong

Ex: categorical imperative / principle of utility

Principle of utility

The utilitarian principle holds that something is right when it produces the greatest practical benefits for the most people

Instrumental value / Utilitarian value

To value something for the pragmatic benefits it brings us if we put it to use

Intrinsic value / inherent value

Value something for its intrinsic worth, to believe that something has a right to exist and is valuable for its own sake

Anthropocentrism

People who have a human-centered view of our relationship with the environment display

Biocentrism

The perspective that ascribes intrinsic value to certain living things or to the biotic realm in general

Ecocentrism

People who judge actions in terms of their effects on whole ecological systems, which consist of livings and nonliving elements and the relationships among them

Transcendentalism

Transcendentalism is a 19th-century American philosophical, spiritual, and literary movement that began in New England in the late 1820s and 1830s. It taught that divine truth is known through individual intuition rather than religious dogma or scientific logic.

John Muir - Preservation Ethics

Scottish immigrant to the United States who made California’s Yosemite Valley his wilderness home.

Motivated by rapid deforestation and environmental degradation and associated with:

Preservation ethic: which holds that we should protect the natural environment in a pristine, unaltered state

Gifford Pinchot - Conservation Ethics

First professionally trained American forester

Made this theory: Which holds that people should put natural resources to use but that we have a responsibility to manage them wisely.

Development Ethic

Development ethics is a normative field of study that evaluates the moral ends, means, and real-world impacts of economic, social, and political development

Aldo Leopold - A Sand County Alamanac

Young forester and wildlike manager

Began his career in conservationist camp after graduating from Yale Forestry School

Wrote a popular essay called “The Land Ethic” in a popular book

Environmental Justice

The fair and equitable treatment of all people with respect to environmental policy and practice, regardless of their income, race, or ethnicity. This principle is a response to the perception that minorities and the poor suffer more pollution than the majority and the more affluent

Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1990

he Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) is a federal law signed into law on October 15, 1990, by President George H.W. Bush.

Core Purpose

• Provides one-time, lump-sum cash compensation to individuals who developed specific serious illnesses from radiation exposure linked to U.S. Cold War nuclear testing or uranium processing.

• Acts as a non-adversarial alternative to litigation, meaning claimants do not have to prove government negligence or causation, only a medical diagnosis and qualifying presence or work history.

Classical economics

When people pursue economic self-interest under these conditions, the marketplace will behave as if guided by “an invisible hand” to benefit society as a whole

Neoclassical economics

Examines the pscyhological factors underlying consumer choices, explaining market commodities

Cost-benefit analysis

Compares the estimated costs of a proposed action with the estimated benefits

External costs

A cost of a transaction that affects someone other than the buyer or seller

Aesthetic damage

Aesthetic damage related to the environment refers to visual, sensory, or structural declines in natural and built spaces—as well as physical skin damage caused by environmental stressors.

Depletion of resources

happens when humans consume natural resources faster than the environment can naturally regenerate or replace them

Discounting

Meant to reflect how people tend to grant more importance to present conditions than to future conditions

Economic growth

An increase in an economy’s production and consumption of goods and services

Cornucopians

Can we conclude then, that human ingenuity and technology will allow us to overcom all environmental constraints and continue to grow indefinitely? If yes then you are this type of person

Cassandras

Can we conclude then, that human ingenuity and technology will allow us to overcom all environmental constraints and continue to grow indefinitely? If you answer no, then you are this type of person

ecological economics

Economists in this field believe that sustainability requires far-reaching changes

Steady-state economies

An economy that does not grow or shrink but remains stable

Non-market value

A value that is not usually included in the price of a good or service

Use value vs. Existence value

Use value: utility or usefulness of a good or service

Existence value: economic non-use value that represents the benefit people get simply from knowing that a natural resource, species, or environment exists, even if they never see, use, or experience it directly

Option value

economic value or willingness to pay to preserve a natural resource or ecosystem for potential future use, even if there is no current plant or certainty of using it right

Aesthetic value

Perceieved beauty, emotional resonance, and sensory appeal that natural or modified landscapes, ecosystems, and wildlife evoke in humans

Scientific value

Usefulness, uniqueness, or importance of a natural object, species, ecosystem, or region for advancing scienific knowledge, research, and understanding of the natural world

Educational value

Capacity of ecological and environmental subjects to build critical thinking, problem-solving skills, scientific literacy, and a lifelong sense of responsibility or stewardship toward natural systems

Cultural value

Shared beliefs, customs, worldviews, and guiding principles of a group or society that shape how people percieve, interact with, and manage the natural world

Contingent valuation

Uses surveys to determine how much people are willing to pay to protect or restore a resource

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The total monetary value of final goods and services a nation produces each year

Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI)

Calculation

Beging with conventional economic activity and add to it positive contributions not paid for with money, such as volunteer work and parenting. We then subtract negative impacts, such as crime and pollution.

Full Cost Accounting

An example is GPI

It aims to account fully for all costs and benefits

Ecolabeling

Sellers who use sustainable practices in growing, harvesting, or manufacturing products advertise this fact on their labels, hoping to win appoval from buyers

Socially responsible investing

Entails investing in companies that have met criteria for environmental or social sustainability

Greenwashing

A public relations effort by a corporation or institution to mislead customers or the public into thinking it is acting more sustainability than it actually is

Sustainable development

Economic progress that maintains resources for the future

Triple bottom line

A trio of goals made up of economic advancement, environmental protection, and social equity