Review Sheet: Barron's AP Environmental Science 2023

Chapter 1: Ecosystems

• Ecosystem: Community of living organisms interacting with non-living components.
  • Organisms: A living thing that can function on its own.
  • Species: Organisms that resemble each other
  • Population: Same species occupying a specific area.
  • Community: Population of different species.
• Symbiosis: Any type of close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms of the same or different species.
  • Amensalism: One species suffers, other is not affeced.
  • Commensalism: One species benefits, and the other isn’t.
  • Competition: Rivalry of species over same resources.
  • Mutualism: Both species benefit.
  • Parasitism: One species benefits and the other is harmed.
  • Predation: Predator kills and eat their prey.
  • Saprottrophism: Organism that feeds on nonliving organic matter.
• Resource Partitioning
  • Morphological partitioning: Two species shares same resources; evolved slightly different structures.
  • Spatial partitioning: Species use same resource occupying different areas.
  • Temporal partitioning: Two species eliminate direct competition; utilizing same resource at diffrent times.
• Terrestrial Biomes
  • Deserts: An area that receives no more than 25 centimeters of rainfall a year.
  • Forests: Area with large number of trees.
  • Tropical Rainforests: Occurs in tropical areas of heavy rainfalls.
  • Temperate Deciduous Forests: Occurs in association of seasonally wet and dry or monsoon climates.
  • Temperate Coniferous Forests: Occurs in low levels of precipitation.
  • Taiga: A forest of the cold, subarctic region.
  • Southern Taiga: Also known as boreal forest.
  • Northern Taiga: Approaches tree line and tundra biome.
  • Grasslands: Lands dominated by grasses.
  • Savannas: A grassy plain with scattered individual trees.
  • Temperate Grasslands: Grasses are dominant vegetation, trees and shrubs are absent.
  • Tundra: A flat, treeless, Arctic region.
  • Arctic tundra: Circles North Pole extending South to the Taiga; cold, dry, desert-like.
  • Alpine tundra: Located in mountains where trees cannot grow.
• Aquatic Biomes
  • Antarctic: Cold, remote area in the Southern Hemisphere.
  • Oceans (Marines)
  • Ocean Zones
    • Littoral Zone (Intertidal): Closest to the shore.
    • Neretic Zone (Sublittoral): Extends to the edge of continental shelf.
    • Photic Zone: Uppermost layer of water.
  • Corals: Marine invertebrates that typically live in compact colonies.
  • Fringing Reefs: Grow near the coastline.
  • Barrier Reefs: Similar to the coastline but separated by deeper lagoons.
  • Attols: Rings of coral that create protected lagoons; found in the middle of the sea.
  • Lakes: Formed where precipitation or runoffs fills depressions in Earth’s surface.
  • Lake Zones
    • Benthic Zone: Bottom of the Lake.
    • Limnetic Zone: Well lit, open surface water.
    • Littoral Zone: Close to the shore that extends to depth penetrated by sunlight.
    • Profundal Zone: No light regions.
  • Types of Lakes
    • Oligotrophic: Young Lake; deep cold; nutrient poor.
    • Mesotrophic: Middle-Aged Lake; moderate nutrient content.
    • Eutrophic: Old lake; shallow, warm, large surface area.
  • Rivers and Streams
  • River Zones
    • Source Zones: Headwater streams; often begins as springs or snowmelt
    • Transition Zone: Slower, warmer, wider, and lower-elevation moving streams
    • Floodplain Zone: Result of large amounts of sediment and nutrients
  • Riparian Areas: Lands adjacent to creeks, lakes, rivers, and streams that support vegetation

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• Law of Tolerance: It states that the existence, abundance, and distribution of species depend on the tolerance level of each species to both physical and chemical factors.

  • Limiting Factor: Any abiotic factor that limits or prevents the growth of a population.

    

• Carbon Cycle: The process in which carbon atoms continually travel from the atmosphere to the Earth and then back into the atmosphere.

  

• Nitrogen Cycle: A process through which nitrogen is converted into many forms, consecutively passing from the atmosphere to the soil to organism and back into the atmosphere.

  

• Phosphorous Cycle: A cycle that describes the movement of phosphorus through the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere.

  

• Hydrologic Cycle: It involves the continuous circulation of water in the Earth-Atmosphere.

  

• Aquifer: Contains water in quantities sufficient to support a well or spring.

  • Recharge zone: The surface area above an aquifer that supplies water to the aquifer
  • Unsaturated zone: The zone immediately below the land surface.
  • Water table: The level below which the ground is saturated with water

• Pyramids

  • Biomass pyramid: It shows how much organic mass is within each trophic level.
  • Energy Pyramids: These show the proportion of energy passed from one trophic level to the next-level consumers in an ecosystem

• Photosynthesis

  

• Cellular respiration

  

• Gross primary production (GPP): The rate at which plants capture and fix a given amount of chemical energy as biomass in a given length of time.

• Net primary production (NPP): The remaining fixed energy is the rate at which all the plants in an ecosystem produce net useful chemical energy.

  

Chapter 2: Biodiversity

• Biodiversity: Variability among species, between species, and of ecosystems.
  • Genetic diversity: Range of all genetic traits.
  • Species diversity: Number of different species in a specific area.
  • Ecosystem diversity: Range of habitats in specific area.
• Species
  • Generalists: Live in different types of environments and have varied diets.
  • Specialists: Require unique resources and have limited diets.
  • Pioneer: Earlier successional plants; generalists.
  • Keystone: Their presence contributes to the diversity of life; their extinction could lead to the extinction of other life forms.
  • Indicator: Their presence, absence, or abundance reflects a specific environmental condition
• Ecosystem Services
  • Cultural Benefits: Supports recreational services.
  • Provisioning Benefits: Provides diversity of products.
  • Regulating Benefits: Provided that help moderate natural phenomena
  • Supporting Benefits: Provides more aid to the ecosystem.
• Island Biogeography: It examines the factors that affect the richness and diversity of species living in these isolated natural communities.
  • Island: A suitable habitat for a specific ecosystem that is surrounded by a large area of unsuitable habitat.
  • Theory of Island Biogeography: It proposes that the number of species found on an “island” is determined by immigration and extinction of isolated populations.
• Adaptations
  • Behavioral Adaptation: Instincts, mating behavior, vocalizations.
  • Physiological Adaptation: Methods of temperature control or how food are digested.
  • Structural Adaptation: Physical features.
  • Short Term Adaptations: Develops from environment’s temporary changes.
  • Long-term Adaptations: Develops over long period’s of time in response to natural selection.
• Ecological Succession
  • Facilitation: Species modifies the environment, meeting the needs of others.
  • Inhibition: Species modifies the environment, not suitable for the environment.
  • Tolerance: Species are not affected by the presence of others.
  • Primary Succession: Species first colonize a lifeless habitat.
  • Secondary Succession: Species recolonize a destroyed habitat.
• Earth system processes operate on a range of scales
  • Episodic Process: Occurring occasionally and at irregular intervals.
  • Periodic Process: Occurring at repeated intervals.
  • Random Process: Lacking a regular pattern.

Chapter 3: Populations

• Species

  • Generalists: Able to use a variety of environmental resources
  • Specialists: Use specific set of resources
  • K-Selected: Not endangered
  • R-Selected: Most endagered

• Carrying capacity (K): It refers to the number of individuals that can be supported sustainably in a given area.

• Survivorship Curve Table

  • Type I: Late Loss
  • Type II: Constant Loss
  • Type III: Early Loss

• Population Dispersal Patterns

  • Clumped: Some areas within a habitat are dense with organisms, while other areas contain few members.
  • Random: Occurs in habitats where environmental conditions and resources are consistent.
  • Uniform: Space is maximized between individuals to minimize competition.

  

• Curves

  • J-Curve: It occurs when an organism's population density grows exponentially or logarithmically in a new habitat, but then ceases abruptly due to environmental resistance or another issue.

  • S-Curve: It occurs when, in a new environment, the population density of an organism initially increases slowly but then stabilizes due to the finite amount of resources available.

    

• Feedback Loops

  • Positive Feedback: Change in a given direction causes additional change in the same direction.
  • Negative Feedback: Change in a given direction causes change in the opposite direction.

• Biotic potential: The maximum reproductive capacity of an organism under optimum environmental conditions.

  • Environmental Resistance: Any factor that inhibits an increase in the number of organisms in the population.

• Rule of 70: It helps to explain the time periods involved in exponential population growth occurring at a constant rate.

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• Important Population Formulas

  • Birth Rate (%) = [(total births/total population)] × 100

  • Crude Birth Rate (CBR) = [(b ÷ p) × 1,000]

  • Death Rate (%) = [(total deaths/total population)]× 100

  • Crude Death Rate (CDR) = [(d ÷ p) × 1,000]

  • Doubling Time = 70/% growth rate

  • Emigration = number leaving a population

  • Global Population Growth Rate (%) = [(CBR – CDR)]/10

  • Immigration = number entering a population

  • National Population Growth Rate (%) = [(CBR + immigration) – (CDR + emigration)]/10

  • Percent Rate of Change = [(new # - old #)/old #] × 100

  • Population Density = total population size/total area

  • Population Growth Rate (%) =

    

• Age-Structure Diagrams

  • Pyramid-shaped age-structure diagram: These are determined by birth rate, generation time, death rate, and sex ratios.
  • Bell shape age-structure diagram: It indicates that the population has high birth rates and the majority of the population is in the reproductive age group
  • Urn-Shaped age-structure diagram: It indicates that the post-reproductive group is largest and the pre-reproductive group is smallest, a result of the birth rate’s falling below the death rate, and is characteristic of declining populations

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• Demographic Transition
  • Stage 1: Pre-Industrial (High Stationary)
  • Stage 2: Transitional (Early Expanding)
  • Stage 3: Industrial (Late Expanding)
  • Stage 4: Post-Industrial (Low Stationary)
  • Stage 5: Sub-Replacement Fertility (Declining)

Chapter 4: Earth Systems and Resources

• Plate Tectonics

  • Plate Tectonic Theory: States that Earth’s lithosphere is divided into a small number of plates that float on and travel independently over the mantle.
  • Continental Drift Theory: States that all present-day continents originally formed one landmass called Pangaea.
  • Seafloor Spreading Theory: States that tectonic plates split apart from each other.

• Types of Boundaries

  • Convergent Boundaries: Two plates slides towards each other.
  • Divergent Boundaries: Two plates slide apart from each other.
  • Transform Boundaries: Two plates slide past each other in different directions.

• Soil Profile

  • Surface litter: Leaves and partially decomposed organic debris.
  • Topsoil: Organic matter, living organisms, and inorganic materials
  • Zone of leaching: Dissolved and suspended materials move downward.
  • Subsoil: Tends to be yellowish in color
  • Weathered parent material: Partially broken-down inorganic materials.

• Soil Erosion: Movement of weathered rock and/or soil components from one place to another caused by flowing water, wind, and human activity.

  • Landslides: These occur when masses of rock, earth, or debris move down a slope.
  • Mudslides: It is also known as debris flows or mudflows, are a common type of fast-moving landslide that tends to flow in channels.

• Rock types

  • Igneous rocks: These are formed by cooling and classified by their silica content.
  • Intrusive: Solidify deep underground, cool slowly, and have a large-grained texture.
  • Extrusive: Solidify on or near the surface, cool quickly, and have a fine-grained smooth texture.
  • Metamorphic rocks: These are formed by intense heat and pressure, high quartz content.
  • Sedimentary rocks: These are formed by the piling and cementing of various materials over time in low-lying areas.

• Soils: These are a thin layer on top of most of Earth’s land surface.

• Soil Components

  • Gravel: Coarse particles.
  • Sand: Sedimentary material coarser than silt.
  • Loam: Holds water but does not become waterlogged.
  • Silt: Sedimentary material consisting of very fine particles between the sizes of sand and clay.
  • Clay: Very fine particles.

• Components of Soil Quality

  • Aeration: Refers to how well a soil is able to absorb oxygen, water, and nutrients.
  • Degree of Soil Compaction: It is measured by dry unit weight and depends on the water content and compaction effort.
  • Nutrient-Holding Capacity: The ability of soil to absorb and retain nutrients so they will be available to the roots of plants.
  • Permeability: The measure of the capacity of the soil to allow water and oxygen to pass through it.
  • pH: It is the measure of how acidic or basic soil is.
  • Pore Size: Describes the space between soil particles.
  • Size of soil and particles: It determines the amount of moisture, nutrients, and oxygen that the soil can hold along with the capacity for water to infiltrate.
  • Water holding capacity: It is controlled primarily by the soil texture and the soil organic matter content.

• Atmosphere’s Current Composition

  • Nitrogen: Fundamental nutrient for living organisms.
  • Oxygen: Most abundant element by mass in Earth’s crust, making up almost half of the crust’s mass as silicates.
  • Water Vapor: Largest amounts are found near the equator, over oceans, and in tropical regions.
  • Carbon Dioxide: Produced during cellular respiration, the combustion of fossil fuels, and the decay of organic matter.

• Atmosphere Structure

  • Troposphere: The lowest portion of Earth’s atmosphere, 0–6 miles (0–10 km) above Earth’s surface.
  • Ozone Layer: Absorbs high-energy ultraviolet radiation from the sun and is broken down into atomic oxygen (O) and diatomic oxygen.
  • Stratosphere: It is located 6–30 miles (10–50 km) above Earth’s surface.

• Weather: It is caused by the movement or transfer of heat energy, which results from the unequal heating of Earth’s surface by the sun.

• Climate: The average weather conditions prevailing in an area in general or over a long period.

• Breezes

  • Land Breeze: It occurs during relatively calm, clear nights when the land cools down faster than the sea, resulting in the air above the land becoming denser than the air over the sea.

    

  • Sea Breeze: It occurs during relatively calm, sunny days, the land warms up faster than the sea, causing the air above it to become less dense.

    

• Coriolis Effect: A phenomenon wherein earth’s rotation on its axis causes winds to not travel straight, which causes prevailing winds in the Northern Hemisphere to spiral clockwise out from high-pressure areas and spiral counterclockwise toward low-pressure areas.

  

• Circulation Cells

  • Hadley Air Circulation: Low latitude overturning circulations that have air rising at the equator and air sinking at roughly 30° latitude.

  • Ferrel Air Circulation Cells: Air flows poleward and eastward near the surface and equatorward and westward at higher levels.

  • Polar Air Circulation Cells: Smallest and weakest cells which extend from between 60 and 70 degrees north and south, to the poles.

    

• Polar Vortex: A low-pressure zone embedded in a large mass of very cold air that lies atop both poles.

• Storms

  • Hurricanes: Term used in the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific.
  • Cyclones: Term used in South Pacific and Indian Ocean.
  • Typhoons: Term used in Northwest Pacific.
  • Storm Surge: A rise in sea level that occurs during tropical cyclones, typhoons, or hurricanes.

• Tornadoes: These are swirling masses of air with wind speeds close to 300 miles per hour (485 kph).

• Monsoons: These are strong, often violent winds that change direction with the season.

• Watershed: A land area that drains rainfall and snowmelt into a lake, ocean, or aquifer.

• Mountain ranges: These are barriers to the smooth movement of air currents across continents.

  • Rain Shadow Effect: The drier situation which is directly responsible for the plants that grow there, which in turn affects the animals that live there.

• El Niño: Above-average sea-surface temperatures that periodically develop across the east-central equatorial Pacific.

• La Niña: Periodic cooling of sea-surface temperatures across the east-central equatorial Pacific.

Chapter 5: Land and Water Use

• Clear-cutting: It occurs is when all of the trees in an area are cut at the same time.
• Edge Effect: It refers to how the local environment changes along some type of boundary or edge.
  • Forest edges: Created when trees are harvested, particularly when they are clear-cut.
  • Tree canopies: Provide the ground below with shade and maintain a cooler and moister environment below.
• Deforestation: It is the conversion of forested areas to non-forested areas
• Agricultural Practices
  • Desertification: It is the conversion of marginal rangeland or cropland to a more desert-like land type.
  • Overgrazing: Excessive grazing of grasslands.
  • Fertilizers: It provide plants with the nutrients needed to grow healthy and strong.
  • Inorganic Fertilizers: Mined from mineral deposits or manufactured from synthetic compounds.
  • Organic Fertilizers: Originates from an organic source, such as bone meal, compost, fish extracts, manure, or seaweed.
  • Slash-and-Burn Agriculture: Method of growing food or clearing land in which wild or forested land is clear-cut and any remaining vegetation is burned.
  • Genetically modified foods: Foods produced from organisms that have had changes introduced into their DNA.
  • Soil degradation: Decline in soil condition caused by its improper use or poor management.
  • Tillage: Surface is plowed and broken up to expose the soil
• Irrigation Methods
  • Ditch: Dug and seedlings are planted in rows.
  • Drip: Water is delivered at the root zone of a plant through small tubes that drip water at a measured rate.
  • Flood: Water is pumped or brought to the fields and is allowed to flow along the ground among the crops.
  • Furrow: Small parallel channels are dug along the field length in the direction of the predominant slope.
  • Spray: Uses overhead sprinklers, sprays or guns to spray water onto crops.
• Types of Pesticides
  • Biological Pesticides: Living organisms used to control pests.
  • Carbamates: Also known as urethanes
  • Fumigants: Used to sterilize soil and prevent pest infestation of stored grain.
  • Inorganic pesticides: broad-based pesticides; highly toxic.
  • Organic pesticides: natural poisons derived from plants
  • Organophosphates: extremely toxic but remain in the environment for only a brief time.
• POPs: Organic compounds can pass through and accumulate in living organisms' fatty tissues because they don't break down chemically or biologically.
• IPM: Ecological pest-control strategy that uses a combination of biological, chemical, and physical methods together; requires an understanding of the ecology and life cycle of pests.
• CAFO: Intensive animal feeding operation in which large numbers of animals are confined in feeding pens.
• Mining: Removing mineral resource from the ground.
  • Surface Mining
  • Contour mining: Removing overburden from the seam
  • Dredging: Mining below the water table
  • In situ: Small holes are drilled into the Earth
  • Mountaintop removal: Removal of mountaintops to expose coal seams
  • Open pit: Extracting rock or minerals from the Earth by their removal.
  • Strip mining: Exposes coal by removing the soil above each coal seam.
  • Underground Mining
  • Blast: Uses explosives to break up the seam.
  • Longwall: Uses a rotating drum with “teeth.”
  • Room and pillar: Approximately half of the coal is left in place as pillars to support the roof of the active mining area.
• Urbanization: Movement of people from rural areas to cities and the changes that accompany it.
  • Urban Sprawl: Expansion of human populations away from central urban areas into low-density and usually car-dependent communities.
  • Urban development: Designing and shaping the physical features of cities and towns with the goal of making urban areas more attractive, functional, and sustainable.
  • Urban runoff: It is surface runoff of rainwater created by urbanization.
• Ecological Footprint: A measure of human demand on Earth’s ecosystems and is a standardized measure of demand for natural capital that may be contrasted with the planet’s ecological capacity to regenerate.
• Sustainability: It refers to the capacity for the biosphere and human civilization to coexist through the balance of resources within their environment.
• Soil Conversion Techniques
  • Contour plowing: Plowing along the contours of the land in order to minimize soil erosion
  • No-till agriculture: Soil is left undisturbed by tillage and the residue is left on the soil surface
  • Planting perennial crops: Perennials live for several years
  • Strip cropping: Cultivation in which different crops are sown in alternate strips
  • Terracing: Make or form into a number of level flat areas resembling a series of steps
  • Windbreaks: Rows of trees that provide shelter or protection from the wind

Chapter 6: Energy Resources and Consumption

• Energy: Fundamental entity of nature.

• Forms of Energy

  • Chemical energy: Stored in bonds between atoms in a molecule.
  • Electrical energy: Results from the motion of electrons.
  • Electromagnetic energy: Energy travels by waves.
  • Mechanical energy: Potential and kinetic energies.
  • Potential Energy: Stored energy in any object.
  • Kinetic energy: Energy in motion.
  • Nuclear energy: Stored in the nuclei of atoms, and it is released by either splitting or joining atoms.
  • Thermal Energy: Energy an object has because of the movement of its molecules.

• Units of Energy/Power

  • British thermal unit (Btu): Amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water by 1°F.
  • Horsepower (HP): Unit used in automobile industries.
  • Kilowatt hour (kWh): A unit of power; a measure of energy used at a given moment.

• Law of Thermodynamics

  • First Law of Thermodynamics: The law of conservation of energy; energy can't be created nor destroyed.
  • Second Law of Thermodynamics: The total system work is always less than the heat supplied into the system.
  • Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics: If two bodies are each in thermal equilibrium with some third body, then they are also in equilibrium with each other.

• Energy Resources

  • Renewable Energy: Energy collected from resources that are naturally replenished on a human time scale.
  • Nonrenewable Energy: ot sustainable because their formation takes billions of years

• Fuel Types

  • Fossil Fuels: Fuels formed from past geological remains of living organisms.
  • Burning wood fuel: It creates the following by-products: carbon dioxide, heat, steam, water vapor, and wood ash.
  • Peat: It is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter
  • Coal: A sedimentary deposit composed predominantly of carbon that is readily combustible.
  • Lignite: fuel for electric power generation
  • Bituminous: fuel in steam-electric power generation
  • Anthracite: residential and commercial space heating
  • Natural Gas: Layers of buried plants and gases are exposed to intense heat and pressure
  • Oil: Decomposition of deeply buried organic material (plants) under high temperatures and pressure

• Law of Supply: All other factors being equal, as the price of a good or service increases, the quantity of goods or services that suppliers offer will increase

• Law of Demand: All other factors being equal, the quantity of the item purchased is inversely related to the price of the item.

• Combustion

  

• Nuclear Fuels

  • U-235: Less than 1% of all-natural uranium on Earth.
  • U-238: The most common isotope of uranium and has a half-life of 4.5 billion years.
  • Pu-239: It has a half-life of 24,000 years and is produced in breeder reactors from U-238.

• Nuclear Components

  • Core: Contains up to 50,000 fuel rods.
  • Fuel: Enriched (concentrated) U-235 is usually the fuel.
  • Control Rods: Move in and out of the core to absorb neutrons and slow down the reaction.
  • Moderator: It reduces the speed of fast neutrons, thereby allowing a sustainable chain reaction.
  • Coolant: Removes heat and produces steam to generate electricity.

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• Biomass: Biological material derived from living organisms that can be burned in large incinerators to create steam that is used for generating electricity.

  • Biofuel: A liquid fuel produced from living organisms.

• Solar energy: It consists of collecting and harnessing radiant energy from the sun to provide heat and/or electricity.

  • Passive solar heating: absorb heat and then release it slowly to maintain the temperature throughout the building.

  • Active solar heating: absorb heat and then release it slowly to maintain the temperature throughout the building.

    

• Geothermal Energy

  

• Hydrogen Fuel Cells

  

Chapter 7: Atmospheric Pollution

• Air Pollution: It occurs when harmful or excessive quantities of substances are introduced into Earth’s atmosphere.

  • Primary Pollutants: Emitted directly into the air.
  • Secondary pollutants: Result from primary air pollutants’ reacting together and forming new pollutants.
  • Point sources: Contaminant comes from an obvious source.
  • Non-point sources: Contaminant comes from a source that is not easily identifiable

• Atmospheric CO2 and Particulates

  • Carbon Monoxide: Produced from the partial oxidation of carbon-containing compounds.
  • Lead: Used in building construction, lead-acid batteries for vehicles, bullets.
  • Nitrogen Oxides: Generic term for nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide.
  • Ozone: Inorganic molecule with the chemical formula O3.
  • Peroxyacyl Nitrates: A component of photochemical smog, produced in the atmosphere when oxidized volatile organic compounds combine with nitrogen dioxide.
  • Sulfur Dioxides: Colorless gas with a penetrating, choking odor that readily dissolves in water to form an acidic solution.
  • Suspended Particulate Matter: Microscopic solid or liquid matter suspended in Earth’s atmosphere.
  • Volcanic Organic Compounds: Have a high vapor pressure at ordinary room temperature.

• Photochemical smog: Catalyzed by UV radiation, tends to be nitrogen-based.

• Thermal inversions: Occur when air temperature rises with height instead of falling.

• Catalytic converter: Exhaust emission control device that converts toxic chemicals in the exhaust of an internal-combustion engine into less harmful substances.

  • Catalyst: Stimulates a chemical reaction in which by-products of combustion are converted to less toxic substances by way of catalyzed chemical reactions.

• Three Way Converters converting the three main Pollutants

  • Oxidation of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide:

    

  • Oxidation of unburned hydrocarbons to carbon dioxide and water:

    

  • Reduction of nitrogen oxides to nitrogen and oxygen:

    

• Acid Deposition: Occurs when atmospheric chemical processes transform sulfur and nitrogen compounds and other substances into wet or dry deposits on Earth.

• Noise pollution: It is an unwanted human-created sound that disrupts the environment.

Chapter 8: Aquatic and Terrestrial Pollution

• Water pollution: It is the contamination of water bodies.
  • Point source pollution: Release pollutants from known locations
  • Non-point source pollution: Combination of pollutants from a large area rather than from specific identifiable sources
  • Thermal pollution: Degradation of water quality by any process that changes ambient water temperature.
• Great Pacific Garbage Patch: A large system of rotating ocean currents of marine litter in the central North Pacific Ocean
• Water quality: Measure of the condition of the water relative to the requirements of one or more biotic species and/or to any human need or purpose.
• Drinking Water Treatment Methods
  • Absorption: When one substance enters completely into another.
  • Adsorption: When one substance just hangs onto the outside of another.
  • Disinfection: Using chemicals and/or cleansing techniques that destroy or prevent the growth of organisms that are capable of infection.
  • Filtration: Removes clays, natural organic matter, precipitants, and silts from the treatment process.
  • Flocculation sedimentation: Combines small particles into larger particles that then settle out of the water as sediment
  • Ion exchange: Removes inorganic constituents.
• Endocrine System: A network of glands that make the hormones that help cells communicate with each other and is responsible for almost every cell, organ, and function in both humans and animals.
• Endocrine Disruptors
  • Bisphenol A (BPA): Used in plastic manufacturing and epoxy.
  • Dioxins: By-product of herbicide production and paper bleaching
  • Phthalates: Used to make plastics more flexible.
  • Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs): Used to make electrical equipment, heat transfer fluids and lubricants.
• Wetland: Place where the land is covered by water, which can be freshwater, saltwater, or brackish water.
  • Mangrove: Shrub or small tree that grows in slightly salty water formed by seawater mixing with freshwater in estuaries.
• Bioaccumulation: It is the increase in the concentration of a pollutant within an organism.
• Biomagnification: It is the increasing concentration of a substance in the tissues of organisms at successively higher trophic levels within a food chain.
• Types of Wastes
  • Municipal solid waste (MSW): Trash/garbage.
  • Hazardous Wastes: Paints, chemicals, pesticides, etc.
  • Organic Wastes: Kitchen wastes, vegetables, flowers, leaves, or fruits.
  • Radioactive Wastes: Spent fuel rods and smoke detectors.
  • Recyclable Wastes: Glass, metals, paper, and some plastics.
  • Soiled Wastes: Hospital wastes.
• Incineration: Waste treatment process that involves the combustion of substances contained in waste materials and the conversion of the waste into ash, flue gas, and heat.
• Hazardous Wastes
  • Radioactive wastes: Usually a by-product of nuclear power generation
  • Low-level radioactive wastes: Contain low levels of radiation and remain dangerous for a relatively short time.
  • High-level radioactive wastes: Contain high levels of radiation and remain dangerous for a very long time
  • Reactive wastes: Wastes that are unstable under normal conditions.
  • Source-specific wastes: Wastes from specific industries.
  • Teratogens: Substances found in the environment that can cause birth defects.
  • Toxic wastes: Wastes that are harmful or fatal when ingested or absorbed.
• Handling Hazardous Wastes
  • Landfill capping: forms a barrier between the contaminated media and the surface
  • Hazardous waste landfills: excavated or engineered sites for the final disposal of non-liquid hazardous waste are selected
  • Permanent storage: isolates hazardous waste from the environment by condensing or concentrating it.
• Methods Used to Isolate and Store Hazardous Wastes
  • Surface impoundments: used for temporary storage and/or for the treatment of liquid hazardous waste.
  • Injection wells: stores fluid deep underground in geologically stable, porous rock formations
  • Waste piles: non-containerized piles of solid, non-liquid hazardous waste that are used for temporary storage or treatment.
  • Reduction and cleanup of hazardous wastes: occur by producing less waste, converting the hazardous material to less hazardous
  • Brownfield: land that was previously used for industrial or commercial purposes

Chapter 9: Global Change

• Three Forms of UV Radiation
  • UVA: It is closest to blue light in the visible spectrum and is the form of ultraviolet radiation that usually causes skin tanning.
  • UVB: It causes blistering sunburns and is associated with skin cancer.
  • UVC: It is found only in the stratosphere and is largely responsible for the formation of ozone.
• Chemicals that affect Ozone
  • Chlorofluorocarbons: Nonflammable chemicals that contain atoms of carbon, chlorine, and fluorine.
  • Halocarbons: Organic chemical molecules that are composed of at least one carbon atom with one or more halogen atoms
• Ocean acidification: It occurs when atmospheric carbon dioxide reacts with seawater to form carbonic acid,
• Biodiversity and Species
  • Endangered Species: Species considered to be facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
  • Invasive Species: Animals and plants that are transported to any area where they do not naturally live.
• Important Protocols for Global Climate Change
  • Kyoto Protocol (2005): A plan created by the United Nations to reduce the effects of climate change, which results in a reduction in the pH of ocean water over an extended period of time.
  • Montreal Protocol (1987): An international treaty designed to phase out the production of substances that are responsible for ozone depletion.
  • Paris Agreement (2016): It deals with greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation.

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