GEOG 316 Midterm Review

csun Geography 316

Cartography

Study of Maps

Conservation

Use within certain biological limits

Exploitation

abusing a locations resources

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

analyze relationships between population density and soil fertility

Gifford Pinchot

German Conservationist

Hetch Hetchy Valley

important issue to dam or not to dam

Human Geography

study of human or social phenomena

human environment geography

study of nature environment

John Muir

Preservationist- established the first national parks

Modifiable Areal Unit Problem

When modifying an area, biodiversity gets lowered

Net primary Productivity

Consuming an amount and then having to consume elsewhere because it ran out

non consumptive use

hiking, camping

Physical Geography

study of biophysical phenomena

politics of scale

political implications of the choice of scale preservation

remote sensing

sensing something without making direct contact. Eyes, aerial photography, satellite imagery

scale

the amount or size of something usually in relation to another

sustainable yield

annual growth increment

agenda 21

action plan for sustainable development at the Earth Summit

brown issues

pollution issues related to industrialization and urbanization

Brundtland Report

1987, Report from the World Commission on Environment and Development called Our Common Future

Cowboy Economics

Strip an area of resources and then move to the next one

development

improvement in the living standards of society

Desertification

leaving an environment barren

Dust Bowl

terrible windborne erosion in the US central grasslands

Earth Day

day to inspire awareness and understanding of Earth’s natural environment on April 22nd 1970

Earth Summit

second conference on environmental and development in 1992 in Rio

Environmental Kuznets Curve

With national wealth comes income inequality

Environmentalism

concern for human impacts on the environment

green issues

forestry, parks and wildlife issues

local food movement

shipping food around the world emits a ton of greenhouse gasses

Post Humanism

Philosophy that pushes beyond the scope of humans and includes non humans too

Socionature

removes lens between social and natural worlds

sustainability

idea that an activity could last indefinitely without resource depletion

sustainable development

development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs

UN Convention on Biological Diversity

Kept biodiversity of that top of the international environmental agenda

UN Framework Convention On Climate Change

1992 Earth Summit Where Climate change negotiations occurred

Biomes are primarily classified by the dominant faunal communities found there

False

What is an Ecosystem

structural and functional unit of ecology where the living organisms interact with each other and the surrounding environment

Wildlife, moisture, temperature

environmental controls

Water has a higher specific heat than land

True

Which Biome is characterized by Xerophytes

Desert

Kinds of Environments in which species are adapted to live in

habitat

What is a Biome

large recognizable assemblages of plants and animals living in a functional relationship with the environment

Define Ecology

Deals with the interrelationship of organisms and their environments

Air flows from areas of low pressure to high pressure

false

The concept that communities proceed through a predictable step by step change over time

Succession

In what hemisphere would be the highest daily solar insolation values in June

Northern hemisphere

Disturbance may have positive effects for certain species in an ecosystem

True

In Simple terms Physical Geography

deals with the how and why things are where they are and investigates the processes that made them so

Biome most likely found in equatorward margins of midlatitudes

Temperate Deciduous

Mechanism that drives wind and water currents as well as the climate

Differential Heating

In ecological terms, niche is

the role an organism plays in a community

Relative reflectivity or absorption properties of a surface

Albedo

The Hydrosphere in physical geography refers to

water in all its forms on earth

abiotic

non living

biotic

living

albedo

reflective power

angle of incidence

tilt of the Earth towards a particular direction of the sun

anthropogenic

human induced change

arid

true arid deserts get less than 250mm of rain

semi arid

semi arid deserts get 500mm of rain

aspect

direction towards which a hill or mountain slope faces

atmosphere

gaseous layer that surrounds the earth

Biogeography

study of patterns and relationships found in the living environment

Biome

plant and animal communities with distinct characteristics. Defined by dominant vegetation

Fauna

animals found in region

Flora

plant life found in region

Biosphere

Encompasses all living organisms on Earth

Bioturbation (of soils)

animal disturbance and mixing of soils

climax community

thought to be the endgame vegetation for the area and what a biome was based off of

community

assembly of all organisms living in a prescribed area

competition

mutually detrimental interaction between individuals in which they compete over a limited resource

Condensation

when dew cools even further and forms clouds

climate

average condition of weather over a long period of time)

weather

day to day state of the atmosphere

closed forest canopy

continuous forest cover

deciduous forest

found in hot lowlands with high rain

dew point

air warms and absorbs water then cools and air is saturated

disturbance

perturbations to the natural systems that are typically short lived

Ecology

interrelationships of organisms and their environments

Ecosystem

state of biotic and abiotic components in a given environment

Ecotone

transition zones of competition in which one biome interacts with another

Environmental lapse rate

Temperature change as a function of elevation. 6.4 C/km

Spring Equinox

March 21st

Fall Equinox

September 22nd

Summer Solstice

June 21st

Winter Solstice

December 21st

Evapotranspiration

water is transferred from land to atmosphere by evaporation from soil and transpiration from plants

Generalists

species that can live virtually anywhere

glacial period

repeated advance and retreat of ice sheets

global carbon cycle

source and a sink for carbon which has consequences for carbon exchange on earth

Hadley Cell Circulation

Air descends and creates downward drying winds

Holocene (epoch)

the last 12,000 years of human history

Hydrosphere

water in all its forms

ice ages

common name for glacial periods

interglacial period

warmer and wetter than the ice ages

Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)

located near the equator and has a very humid climate

keystone species

limit distribution and community structure of many species in an ecosystem through direct or indirect effects. Critical role in maintaining entire ecosystems

Krummholz

vegetation type common to transition areas between boreal forests and the tundra. Crooked wood in German

Landforms

things like hills and valleys