environmental test 1

Sustainability

Sustainability

Search for long term ecological stability and human progress

sustainable development

Meeting the needs if current generation without sacrificing the needs of future

ecological footprint

footprint of land needed to grow enough crops + housing for a certain group or being

ecological deficit

footprint is larger than biological capacity for replenishment

Relativism Ethics

Idea that ethics should be varied based on social context

Universalist Ethics

Idea that the notions of right or wrong remain the same across cultures and situations

Anthropocetrism

Only humans have rights. costs/benefits are measured by their impact on people

Biocentrism

Certain Living things have value. all life (human+ nonhuman, but excluding entire ecosystems) has ethical standing

Ecocentrism

Whole ecosystems have value

Pragmatic Utilitarian Conservation (1st stage)

One of the 4 Environmental stages:

• Belief in using resources wisely to advance economic development and benefit man

• Don't believe in saving nature for nature's sake

• George Perkins Marsh, Roosevelt, Pinchot, Muir

Moral & Aesthetic Nature Preservation (2nd stage)

One of the 4 Environmental stages:

• Saving nature for natures sake.

• Belief in the aesthetic and spiritual values of nature

• Aldo Leopold

Pollution Awareness & Focus on Ecological Damage (3rd stage)

One of the 4 Environmental stages:

• due to industrial growth following WWII, awareness of both resource issues and pollution issues

• Green collar economy, chemicals in pesticides

• Rachel Carson, Van Jones, Bill Mckibben

Global Environmental citizenship

One of the 4 Environmental stages:

• view of earth from space, global interconnections through transportation and communications create a global community

• Sustainable development

• Dr. Wangari Maathai

Empiricism

One of the 7 Basic Principles of science:

• Observations of real and observable phenomena can help us understand natural processes

uniformitarianism

One of the 7 Basic Principles of science:

• natural forces at work today are the same as those that shaped the world in the past

parsimony

One of the 7 Basic Principles of science:

• The simpler of 2 explanations is preferable

Uncertainty

One of the 7 Basic Principles of science:

• Knowledge can be updated to be more precise and accurate as new evidence is collected

Repeatability

One of the 7 Basic Principles of science:

• Inquiries should be reproducible

Proof is elusive

One of the 7 Basic Principles of science:

• New evidence can always improve scientific knowledge so no theory is ever considered finished

Testable Questions

One of the 7 Basic Principles of science:

• Questions must be testable by experiments or observation with some form of evidence that can be collected to support or disprove a prediction

List the steps of the Scientific method

1. Scientific Observation

2. Identify Question

3. Hypothesis

4. Develop a test for hypothesis (must be testable + falsifiable)

5. Collect data

6. Interpret results

What steps come after interpreting results in scientific method?

1. Restate Hypothesis

2. Accept or reject hypothesis

3. Support hypothesis with data

4. Address outliers

5. Discuss future studies

6. Report for peer review

What percent probability makes an explanation reliable/significant?

5% < probability

blind experiment

Type of experiment where the participant doesn't know what group they're in.

double-blind experiment

Type of experiment where the participant and researcher both don't know what group the participant is in.

Analytical thinking

facet of critical thinking: Break a problem down to its parts

Creative thinking

facet of critical thinking: ask, "how might I approach this in a new way?"

Logical thinking

facet of critical thinking: evaluate whether the structure of an argument makes sense

Reflective thinking

facet of critical thinking: ask, "what does it all mean?"

ecosystem

All of the living and nonliving things that make up an environment

state variables

store resources such as matter or energy or have the pathways through which these resources move from one state variable to another

Flows/transfers

When matter or energy moves from one store to another

open ecosystem

an ecosystem that receives inputs from the surrounding environment

closed ecosystem

an ecosystem that does not exchange nutrients with its surroundings

positive feedback loop

Causes a system to change further in the same direction.

negative feedback loop

A feedback loop that causes a system to change in the opposite direction from which it is moving

Species

A group of similar organisms that can breed and produce fertile offspring.

Population

A group of individuals that belong to the same species and live in the same area

Community

All the different populations that live together in an area

Amount of energy transferred between the trophic levels

10%

List the Trophic levels

1. primary producers

2. primary consumers

3. secondary consumers

4. tertiary consumers

(On every level, detrivores and decomposers are working)

Steps of the Hydrologic cycle

1. Evaporation

2. Condensation

3. Precipitation

4. Surface Water

5. Hydrologic cycle repeats

Steps of Carbon cycle

1. Carbon enters the atmosphere via carbon dioxide.

2. Carbon dioxide is absorbed and used as energy. (photosynthesis)

3. Carbon compounds enter the food chain when carbon-containing plants are consumed.

4. Carbon reenters the atmosphere via decomposition.

5. The carbon cycle repeats.

Steps of Nitrogen cycle

1. Plants acquire nitrogen from bacteria around their roots

2. bacteria add hydrogen giving ammonia or ammonium

3. more bacteria take those adding oxygen creating nitrates

4. 3rd group of bacteria convert nitrites to nitrates which plants absorb and use

5. Organisms die or urinate or shed and nitrogen is recycled

steps of Phosphorus cycle

1. Inorganic phosphorus is weathered

2. Producer organisms take in inorganic phosphorus and incorporate it into organic molecules

3. pass it on to consumers

(cycle takes thousands of years)

steps of Sulfur cycle

1. Sulfur is tied up in rocks in minerals, so erosion, weathering, deep sea floor vents, and volcanic eruptions lead to sulfur being released into the atmosphere

2. sulfur ends up back in the ocean typically through rain

Natural selection

belief that there is a linear progression of organisms-- they're not just placed on earth

3 main principles of natural selection

1. Organisms face a constant struggle to survive and reproduce

2. Organisms tend to produce more offspring than can survive to maturity

3. Individuals in a species vary in their attributes because of genes and the environment

mutations

• a change in the sequence of a DNA molecule in an organism

• can be helpful in survival and often allow organism to be successful

adaptations

anything that allows an animal to survive better leading it to be more likely to reproduce

Mimicry: Batesian

Type of Adaptation: mimicry in which an edible animal is protected by its resemblance to a noxious one that is avoided by predators.Type of adaptation:

Mimicry: Mullerian

Type of Adaptation: a form of mimicry in which two or more noxious animals develop similar appearances as a shared protective device, the theory being that if a predator learns to avoid one of the noxious species, it will avoid the mimic species as well.

warning coloration

Type of adaptation: conspicuous coloration or markings of an animal serving to warn off predators

Cypris/camouflage

Type of adaptation: coloration that prevents an animal's detection or recognition by other animals

Independent limiting factors

Limiting factors that affect the size of a population of living things regardless of the density of the population

dependent limiting factors

Limiting factors that operate more strongly on large populations than on small ones (ex. competition, predation, parasitism, crowding, stress).

tolerance limits

Chemical or physical factors that limit the existence, growth, abundance, or distribution of an organism.

ecological niche

A specific role of a species within an ecosystem, including its use of resources, and relationships with other species.

generalists

a species with a broad niche that can tolerate a wide range of conditions and can use a variety of resources

specialist

A consumer that primarily eats one specific organism or feeds on a very small number of organisms.

What principle argues that no two species can occupy the same ecological niche for long?

competitive exclusion principle

resource partitioning

the differentiation of niches that enables similar species to coexist in a community. often happens as a result of competitive exclusion principle

allopatric speciation

The formation of new species in populations that are geographically isolated from one another.

sympatric speciation

the evolution of one species into two, without geographic isolation

directional selection

Form of natural selection in which the entire curve moves; occurs when individuals at one end of a distribution curve have higher fitness than individuals in the middle or at the other end of the curve

stablizing selection

individuals with the average form of a trait have the highest fitness

disruptive selection

form of natural selection in which a single curve splits into two; occurs when individuals at the upper and lower ends of a distribution curve have higher fitness than individuals near the middle

Taxonomy

The scientific study of how living things are classified

intraspecific competition

competition between members of the same species

inter-specific competition

competition between different species

What kind of relationship is Mutualism?

+/+

What kind of relationship is commensalism?

+/0

What kind of relationship is Parasitism?

+/-

What kind of relationship is Predation?

+/-

What kind of relationship is competition?

+-/+-

What kind of relationship is herbivory?

+/-

keystone species

A species that influences the survival of many other species in an ecosystem

• removal can lead to trophic cascade

biotic potential

The maximum rate at which a population could increase under ideal conditions

exponential growth

Growth pattern in which the individuals in a population reproduce at a constant rate with no limits

• J curve

logistic growth

Growth pattern in which a population's growth rate slows or stops following a period of exponential growth

• S shape

what is the exponential growth equation

D(n)/dt=r(n)

D=change, n= number of individuals, t=time, r=rate of growth

carrying capacity

Largest number of individuals of a population that a environment can support

r-adapted species

Organisms whose population growth is regulated mainly by external factors. They tend to have rapid reproduction and high mortality of offspring.

K-selected species

Species that produce a few, often fairly large offspring but invest a great deal of time and energy to ensure that most of those offspring reach reproductive age.

random spatial distribution

• Individuals distributed without regard to others

• Neutral or little interaction between individuals and between individuals and local environment

Ordered/Uniform distribution

• evenly spaced out individuals

• usually arise from competition and territoriality

patchy distribution

• Nonrandom aggregations (and void) of organisms.

• Often result from a need for protection leading organisms to clump together in groups

core habitat

Areas deep in the interior of a habitat area and that core habitat has better conditions for specialized species than do edges

edge habitat

A habitat that occurs where two different communities come together, typically forming an abrupt transition

primary succession

An ecological succession that begins in an area where no biotic community previously existed

• pioneer species would be lichens

secondary succession

Succession following a disturbance that destroys a community without destroying the soil

• pioneer species would be grasses

disturbance-adapted species

species that depend on repeated disturbance for their survival and propagation

what are some effects of China’s one child policy?

• Growth rate dropped 2.8% to 0.5%

• Fertility rate dropped from 5.8 children to 1.6 children per woman

• population of males grew significantly greater

• sex crimes increased

• spread of aids increased

technological optimism

Type of perspective on population growth:

• The belief that technology can continually be improved and can improve the lives of people

• more geniuses will be born leading to more ideas ab environmental progress

Social Justice

Type of perspective on population growth:

• population growth fosters racism and blames the poor for environmental degradation

What's the formula for impact of human pop on environment?

I=PAT

I environmental impacts, P pop size, A affluence level, T technology level

Demography

The scientific study of population characteristics like birth, location, population size

Age class histograms

can show differences between different ages of people in a population and illustrate the social implications of population growth

zero population growth

when the birth rate equals the death rate

life span

oldest age a species is known to survive