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

  • 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.

  • 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

  • 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.

  • 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.