Unit 1 Environmental Test

Sustainability

development and use of resources from Earth that doesn't compromise future generations to meet their own needs

Environmental science

systemic study of our environment and our place in it

Themes of environmental science

1. Environmental Quality
2. Human population and well-being
3. Natural resources

Environmental quality

climate change, clean water, air quality

Human population

population growth, hunger and food, information and education

Natural resources

biodiversity loss, conservation, marine and energy resources

Progress in population

average number of children born per woman decreased by half, population will stabilize by 2050

Throughput

amount of resources we use and dispose of

Tragedy of the commons

how population growth inevitably leads to overuse and destruction of common resources

Poverty and environment

eliminating poverty and protecting our common environment are linked, and impoverished peoples are victims and agents of environmental degradation because people don't care about the environment if they can't survive

Affluence

access to resources, wealth

Indigenous peoples and environment

they possess valuable ecological wisdom and remain guardians of habitats to protect biodiversity

Human developmental index

provide largescale view of issues such as hunger, poverty, education, or health across time with a map

Science

process of producing knowledge based on observations, test theories and assume that the world is knowable so we can learn about it with observations

Parsimony

two of simpler explanations is preferable and probably best

Reproducibility

the aim of scientists to produce the same result of an experiment to prove an observation

Deductive reasoning

logical reasoning from general to specific

Inductive reasoning

many observations to produce a general rule

Probability

how likely something is to occur, not what will happen

Paradigm shifts

great changes in explanatory frameworks because a majority of scientists accept that the old explanation does not apply

George Perkins Marsh

published of Man and Nature as a beginning of environmental protection, warned of consequences to waste and destruction of resources (specifically timber supplies)

Utilitarian conservation

Roosevelt and conservation advisor Pinchot argued forests should be saved to provide homes and jobs for future generations, established national parks

John Muir

argued nature deserves to exist for its own sake because of aesthetics and beauty

Aldo Leopold

advocated for land ethic, planted trees aimed to restoring beauty and health of land

Rachel Carson

responded to pollution from chemical industries after WW2, awakened threats of toxic chemicals to humans

Van Jones and Bill McKibben

promoted idea of green collar economy for jobs to install solar energy systems, demanded change for political action on climate change

Maathai

supported sustainable development to improve poorest populations without devastating the environment in Kenya

System

network of interdependent components with materials and energy flowing from one component to another

Ecosystem

complex assemblage of animals, plants and their environment where materials and energy move

State variables

store resources such as energy, matter, or water

Flows

pathways which resources move from one state variable to another

Open system

receive inputs from their surroundings and produce outputs that leave system

Closed system

exchanges no energy or matter with its surroundings

Positive vs negative feedback loop

increase a process or component vs diminish

Emergent properties

characteristics of a whole system are greater than a sum of its parts

Isotopes

same element with different number of neutrons and differ in atomic mass

Ionic bond

electrical attraction and exchanging electrons

Covalent bond

sharing electrons

Methane

CH4

Organic compounds

skeleton composed of carbon chains and atoms, biomolecules and living organisms are made of this

Categories of organic compounds

lipids, carbohydrates, proteins, nucleic acids

Hydrocarbon

propane, C3H8

Sugar

glucose, C6H12O6

First law of thermodynamics

energy is conserved

Second law of thermodynamics

with each successive energy transfer, less energy is available to do work (trophic levels)

Entropy

disorder increases in all natural systems

Chemosynthesis

process which allows organisms to extract energy from inorganic chemical compounds

Ionizing radiation

solar radiation, UV, x rays, gamma rays (shorter wavelengths)

Chloroplasts

reside within plant cells, photosynthesis occurs here

Cellular respiration

reverse of photosynthesis, during yeast molasses lab

Species

all organisms of the same kind that can reproduce fertile offspring, genetically similar enough to breed

Population

all members of a species living in a given area

Community

all populations of organisms living in a given area

Ecosystem

biological community and its physical environment

Scavengers

vultures, clean up dead carcasses of larger animals

Detritivores

ants and beetles, consume litter and debris

Decomposer

micro-organisms such as fungi and bacteria, final breakdown of organic materials

Carbon cycle

-photosynthetic organisms take up CO2 in carbon fixation as it turns into sugar
-sugar absorbed into bloodstream for cellular respiration
-decays and recycled over a long period of time

Nitrogen cycle

-plants acquire N2 from nitrogen fixing bacteria around their roots
-those bacteria make ammonia (NH3) and ammonium (NH4)
-combines with O2 to make nitrites (NO2) and nitrates (NO3)
-plants use nitrates for amino acids and proteins
-consumed by animals and fungi decompose dead organisms to eventually release into atmosphere

Nodules of bean plant

N2 converted to useable forms, contain bacteria to convert this N2

Phosphorus cycle

-minerals available in rocks or salts
-producers take in inorganic P and pass it to consumers
-excess P in bodies of water stimulate growth of algae and upset ecosystem stability
-decomposers break down P into soil which is eventually formed into rocks

Sulfur cycle

-most of world's S is in rocks and minerals
-human activities release large quantities through fossil fuels, which contributes to acid precipitation
-phytoplankton release S into atmosphere which can reflect sunlight to cool Earth, sustain Earth's temperature

Adaptation

acquisition of traits to allow a species to survive in its environment, passed from one generation to the next

Natural selection

process of fittest individuals passing their traits to the next generation

Mutations

changes to DNA of individuals, most have little effect on fitness

Tolerance limits

limiting factor the keeps organism from expanding everywhere, each environmental factor has minimum and maximum levels beyond which a species cannot survive

Ecological niche

role played by species in a biological community, set of environmental factors that determine its distribution

Generalists

tolerate a wide range of conditions

Specialists

have a narrow ecological niche (ex vegans)

Competitive exclusion principle

no two species can occupy the same ecological niche for long

Resource partitioning

exploiting resources differently, new niche and marking of territory

Speciation

development of new species

Allopatric speciation

populations are geographically separated and create new species

Sympatric speciation

behavioral isolation that occurs within one geographic area

Directional selection

shift toward one extreme of a trait (graph shifts to one side)

Stabilizing selection

environmental conditions that reduce variation in one trait (graph increases curve up)

Disruptive selection

environmental conditions can cause traits to diverge to extremes (two different curves)

Taxonomy

study of types of organisms and their relationships, classified in three domains of life

Life classifications in domains

bacteria, archaea (prokaryotes with no nucleus, old), eukarya (prokaryotes, true bacteria)

Kingdoms of Eukarya

animals, plants, fungi, protists

Taxonomic level of humans

-Kingdom: animalia
-Phylum: chordata
-Class: mammalia
-Order: primates
-Family: hominidae
-Genus: homo
-Species: homo sapiens

Intraspecific competition

among members of the same species

Interspecific competition

between members of different species

Coevolution

close adaptation of two species, especially between predator and prey, caused by efficiency in survival and living

Batesian mimicry

certain harmless species resemble poisonous ones to gain protection against predators who remember a bad experience with the actual organism

Symbiosis

process where two or more species live intimately together, involve coevolution

Types of symbiotic relationships

mutualism, commensalism, parasitism

Mutualism

both species benefit

Commensalism

one member benefits and the other is neither benefited or harmed

Parasitism

one partner benefits while the other is harmed

Keystone species

play a critical role in the biological community, especially across trophic levels

Biotic potential

unrestrained biological reproduction of an organism, inherent rate of reproduction affect population size

Carrying capacity

suggests a limit of sustainability that an environment has in relation to the size of a species population

Logistic growth

S curved, realistically represents change in growth over time with carrying capacity that slows or stops growth

Density dependent factors

affected by population size, ex increased risk of disease

Density independent factors

limits to population that are nonbiological, ex weather

r-selected species

depend on high rate of reproduction and growth with a shorter lifespan, ex rabbits

K-selected species

longer generation times with late sexual maturity and fewer offspring

Survivorship curves

Type I: most individuals die late in life
Type II: individuals die at uniform rate
Type III: most individuals die at young age

Community structure

random, ordered, patchy