ESS SL - unit 1 (DP1)

Bhopal

Chemical gas leak

Chernobyl

Nuclear plant explosion+meltdown

Minimata

Mercury poisoning - poison traveled up the food chain (people got sick from eating fish)

Silent spring

DDT pesticides - poison traveled up the food chain (birds died)

Anthropogenic disasters

Human caused disasters

Natural disasters

tsunami, tornado, hurricanes, landslide, volcano eruptions, comet/meteor

DDT

Dichlordiphenyltrichlorethan - sprayed on houses and crops to keep bugs away

Bioaccumulation

the accumulation of a substance and/or a contaminant

Biomagnification

the increase of concentration of a substance and/or a contaminant within animals/animal tissue at stages of the food chain

Characteristics of life

• made of cells

• can reproduce

• movement

• death

• nutrition

• respire

• growth

• homeostastis (responsiveness)

Levels of organization

cell - smallest living unit
tissue - skin
organs - liver
organ system - nervous
organism - cat
population - group of organisms from 1 species
community - all populations living together in an area
ecosystem - all living and non-living components of an area
biome - a large area characterized by its vegetation, soil, climate, and wildlife
biosphere - living layer of the earth

Biotic

living things

Abiotic

1. minerals (rock)

2. sun (energy)

3. water

4. O₂ and CO₂

Taxonomy

scientific classification of living things

Kingdom

plant, animal, fungi, bacteria, protist/algae

Phylum

vertebrates, invertebrates, endoskeleton, exoskeleton

Class

reptiles, mammals, avians

Order

primate

Family

hominid

Genus

homo

Species

sapiens

Estant

still exists

Extinct

does not exist anymore

Environmental gradient

change in an abiotic condition over a distance

• changing in elevation

• changing in depth

What are the two types of biodiversity?

richness and evenness

Richness

variety of species

Evenness

relative population of species

Disturbance - anthropogenic activity

• waste

• jogging (soil compaction)

Disturbance - natural disasters

• storms

• land slide

• fires

Pronatalist

want to increase birth rate (e.g. Sweden)

Anti-natalist

want to limit birth rate (e.g. China)

Natural income

valuable goods and services

Renewable (examples)

1. food sources

• trees, grains

Non-renewable (examples)

1. rock

• minerals and nutrients

2. nuke/uranium

3. fossil fuels

Replenishable (examples)

1. solar energy

2. wind energy

3. hydro power

What counts as a resource?

a resource is only a resource when it becomes useful to people

Renewable

living species/ecosystem which can be replaces by natural productivity as fast as they are being used

Replenishable

non-living resources which are continously restored by natural processes as fast as they are used up

Non-renewable

natural resources which cannot be replenished at the same rate at which they are being used

Processes of cellular energy (reactants--->products)

photosynthesis and cellurar respiration

In-organic (biological molecule) example

glucose

Organic example

carbon dioxide