Untitled Flashcards Set

Unit 1- The Living World: Ecosystems

1.1- Intro to Ecosystems

1.4- The Carbon Cycle

→ What are anthropogenic carbon sources?

Human activities, like the burning of fossil fuels, that cause carbon pollution. The main ones are transportation, industrial sources, and energy production. 

→ What are natural sources of carbon?

Volcanic eruptions, decomposing biomass, naturally occurring wildfires 

→ Which processes sequester carbon?

Photosynthesis: removes CO2 from atmosphere and transforms it into living plant tissue

Soil also captures and stores soil

→ How does the combustion of fossil fuels contribute to an imbalance in the carbon cycle?

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is rapidly rising as a result of burning fossil fuels, contributing to the greenhouse effect and global warming. 

→ What is the role of decomposition in the carbon cycle?

Plants and animals decomposing release carbon into the air, soil and water. Living things capture this liberated carbon to build new life.

1.7- The Water Cycle

→ What are the different processes in the Water Cycle?

evaporation, condensation, precipitation, sublimation, transpiration, runoff, and infiltration

→ Be able to describe how a change in one of the processes could impact others

Increasing temperature results in  more evaporation, which causes  more water in the air so storms can produce more intense rainfall events in some areas.This can cause more rain and flooding – a risk to the environment and human health.

Unit 2- The Living World: Biodiversity

2.1- Intro to Biodiversity

2.2- Ecosystem Services

→ What are ecosystem services (be able to provide examples)?

Ecosystem services are the direct and indirect benefits that ecosystems provide humans. Some examples are climate regulation, water purification, flood control, disease regulation, and pollination

2.7- Ecological Succession

→ What is the difference between primary and secondary succession?

Primary succession: newly exposed or newly formed rock is colonized by living things for the first time

Secondary succession: an area previously occupied by living things is disrupted, and then recolonized following the disturbance.

→ What happens during the different phases of succession?

the mix of species and habitat in an area changes over time. Gradually, these communities replace one another until a “climax community”—like a mature forest—is reached, or until a disturbance, like a fire, occurs.

→ What is a pioneer species?

The first organism to colonize an area. They can withstand harsh environmental conditions with few available resources.

Unit 3- Population

3.2- K-selected and r-selected Species

→ What are K and r-selected species, and examples of each?

K-selected species: typically  larger, live longer, and produce fewer offspring

R-selected species: generally smaller, have shorter lifespans, and produce a larger number of offspring

3.3- Survivorship Curves

→ Be able to determine what type of survivorship curve an organism is most likely to have

Type I survivorship: exhibit high survivorship throughout their life cycle (k-selected) 

Type II survivorship: constant proportion of individuals dying over time. 

Type III survivorship: have very high mortality at young ages (r-selected). 

3.5- Population Growth and Resource Availability

→ What are density-dependent and density-independent factors that control population size?

Density-dependent:  regulation can be affected by factors that affect birth and death rates such as competition and predation. 

Density-independent: regulation can be affected by factors that affect birth and death rates such as abiotic factors and environmental factors (severe weather and conditions such as fire) 

→ What is carrying capacity?

the maximum population that a given area can sustain

→ What is overshoot?

When the demands made on a natural ecosystem exceed its regenerative capacity

3.8- Human Population Dynamics

Unit 4- Earth Systems and Resources

4.2- Soil Formation and Erosion

→ What are some agricultural practices that can lead to soil degradation?

Tilling: The agricultural practice of prepping the soil through digging, stirring, and overturning. Tillage fractures the soil, disrupting soil structure, which accelerates  surface runoff and soil erosion.

Monocropping, livestock overgrazing 

→ What are some agricultural practices that can mitigate soil erosion?

No-till farming 

Crop rotation: different plants have different nutrient needs, so by rotating crops, farmers can reduce the risk of soil-borne diseases and pests that can build up in the soil over time

4.3- Soil Composition and Properties

→ What are ways to decrease the water saturation in soils?

Increasing organic matter and compost in the soil, using mulch, shifting planting dates to when it's less wet. 

Unit 5- Land and Water Use

5.1- Tragedy of the Commons

→ What is the tragedy of the commons?

a situation in which individuals with access to a public resource—also called a common—act in their own interest and, in doing so, ultimately deplete the resource

→ Be able to look at multiple scenarios and determine which is an example of TOC

For example, in fishing, if fishing provides an income, then each fisherman would have his or her own best interest in mind and try to catch as many fish as possible even if all the other fishers are doing the same thing.

5.5- Irrigation Methods

→ Know what the following irrigation methods are as well as their advantages/disadvantages: 

• Drip: allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of plants, either fro[m above the soil surface or buried below the surface. 

  • Saves time, money, and water because the system is so efficient.

  • Requires more frequent maintenance and hard to repair

• Flood: flooding land with water to grow crops

  • Cheaper, deep-watering source, evaporates less than water from sprinklers, requires less frequent watering

  • Least efficient form of irrigation. More water loss from evaporation, infiltration, and runoff

• Furrow: irrigation water is pumped or brought to the fields and is allowed to flow by gravity to transport water 

  • lower initial investment of equipment and lower pumping costs

  • greater labor costs, and lower application efficiency as it's hard for the water to be evenly distributed 

• Spray: uses a network of sprinklers to water 

  • evenly distributes water can protect your crops from pests by including pesticides in the irrigation system, convenient 

  • high operation expenses due to the energy needed for pumping, large investment in equipment, sensitivity to wind, causing evaporation losses.

5.6- Pest Control Methods

5.7- Meat Production Methods

→ What gaseous emissions is livestock production responsible for?

Methane: primary contributor to ground-level ozone, a hazardous air pollutant and greenhouse gas, contributes to warming the environment 

→ What are advantages and disadvantages to CAFOs?

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) are agricultural meat, dairy, or egg facilities where animals are kept and raised in confinement

Advantages: 

• lower production costs than smaller farms

• Can help consumers by lowering prices for produce

• High productivity 

Disadvantages: 

• Animal welfare concerns 

• Large amounts of waste, which may pollute nearby water sources or emit greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change

• Risk of disease outbreaks 

5.8- Impacts of Overfishing

→ What are some fishing practices that can promote the sustainability of fish populations?

• Prevent overfishing.

• Rebuild depleted stocks.

• Minimize bycatch :the unwanted fish and other marine creatures caught during commercial fishing (are often thrown back dead)

• Identify and conserve essential fish habitat.

5.10- Impacts of Urbanization

5.12- Intro to Sustainability

5.13- Methods to Reduce Urban Runoff

→ What are ways to decrease urban runoff?

• Redirect Downspouts

• Use a rain barrel to capture rain from your roof

• Plant more  trees

• install permeable pavement

• green roof

5.15- Sustainable Agriculture

→ What are advantages and disadvantages to GMO crops?

Advantages: added nutrients, fewer pesticides, and cheaper prices. Disadvantages: allergic reactions or increased antibiotic resistance

→ What is terrace farming?

A technique in which steps are carved into mountainous regions to create farmable land.

→ What is monocrop farming? 

The practice of growing a single crop year after year on the same land. Commonly done with corn and wheat. 

→ What is integrated pest management?

Strategy that focuses on long-term prevention of pests or their damage through a combination of techniques such as biological control, habitat manipulation, modification of cultural practices, and use of resistant varieties.

→ What is slash-and-burn agriculture?

A widely used method of growing food in which wild or forested land is clear cut and any remaining vegetation burned. The resulting layer of ash provides the newly-cleared land with a nutrient-rich layer to help fertilize crops.

→ What are some agricultural practices that can lead to the degradation of agricultural land? AND what are some solutions to this?

• Overgrazing: excessive grazing by livestock removes vegetation and exposes soil to erosion

  • Implement rotational grazing to allow vegetation to recover

• Monocropping: growing a single crop repeatedly depletes soil nutrients and increases chance for disease 

  • Alternate crops to restore soil nutrients and reduce pest cycles

• Deforestation: clearing forests results in loss of topsoil and biodiversity

  • Restore forests and replant to improve soil stability and keep water stored 

→ What are some solutions that will allow us to grow MORE food with LESS land? What are advantages/disadvantages to these solutions?

• Vertical farming: growing crops in stacked layers indoors

  • Requires less land, year-round production, seasons dont affect crops

  • High initial costs, energy-intensive, limited crop variety 

• GMOs: genetically modified organisms 

  • Increased productivity, pest resistance, bigger/better crops for consumers

  • Public concern over safety, environmental risks (could be harmful to animals) 

5.17- Sustainable Forestry

→ What are ways to mitigate deforestation? What are the advantages/disadvantages to all methods?

• Reforestation : planting new trees

  • Restores ecosystems, Absorbs co2, improves biodiversity

  • Takes time, requires land/resources 

• Sustainable logging: selective logging and reduced impact methods

  • Preserves forest, maintains ecosystem services

  • Slower timber production, higher costs

• Protective areas: national parks and reserves

Unit  7- Atmospheric Pollution

7.1- Intro to Air Pollution

→ How did the Clean Air Act help reduce air pollution?

(US law that regulated air pollution by setting standards to limit emissions) 

 It set limits on harmful emissions from factories, vehicles, and power plants. It requires industries to use cleaner technologies, reduce pollutants like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, and promote cleaner fuels. This improved air quality, reduced smog, and reduced health problems. 

7.2- Photochemical Smog

→ What must be present in order to create photochemical smog?

Nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) reacting to sunlight

7.4- Atmospheric CO2 and Particulates

7.7- Acid Rain

→ What causes acid rain? 

Acid rain is caused by a chemical reaction that begins when compounds like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are released into the air. These substances can rise very high into the atmosphere, where they mix and react with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form acid rain. 

→ What are some ways to mitigate the impacts of acid rain?

Less fossil fuel use: renewable energy sources help reduce acid rain because they produce much less pollution.

→ What type of environment could neutralize acid rain/lessen its impacts on waterways?

An environment with limestone, as it acts as a natural buffer, neutralizing acidity in rainwater and preventing it from lowering pH of streams, rivers, etc. 

7.8- Noise Pollution

→ How can noise pollution impact humans and animals?

It can scare animals from their habitats, raise stress hormones, alter their feeding behavior, or affect how they care for their young.

For humans: stress related illnesses, high blood pressure, speech interference, hearing loss, sleep disruption, and lost productivity

Unit  8- Aquatic and Terrestrial Pollution

8.4- Human Impacts on Wetlands and Mangroves

→ What are some ecosystem services that wetlands provide?

Protecting and improving water quality, providing fish and wildlife habitats, storing floodwaters, and maintaining surface water flow during dry periods.

8.6- Thermal Pollution

8.12- Lethal Dose 50% (LD50)

→ What is LD50?

Toxicology term that refers to the amount of substance required to kill 50% of a test population. Lower value = more toxic substance 

→ Given multiple LD50s for different substances be able to compare toxicity levels

A substance with LD50 of 10 mg/kg is more toxic than 500 mg/kg, because a smaller dose is needed to cause harm. 

Unit  9- Global Change

9.1- Human Impacts on Biodiversity

→ What are impacts of habitat loss and/or fragmentation?

• Loss of biodiversity, as species lose habitats/recourses

• Disruption of ecosystems, food chains, nutrient cycles

• Increase vulnerability to extinction 

• Reduced genetic diversity, harming species adaptability

→ What are ways humans decrease habitat size or cause habitat fragmentation?

• Urbanization and infrastructure development

• Agriculture and deforestation 

• Mining and resource extraction 

• Pollution

• Dam construction

→ How can you measure biodiversity of an ecosystem?

•  assess species richness of an ecosystem, which is the total number of distinct species within a local community.

  • evenness also needs to be considered

9.4- Increases in the Greenhouse Gases

→ What is the largest source of N2O emissions?

Agriculture:

• specifically synthetic fertilizers: they release nitrous oxide when microbes in the soil break down nitrogen compounds 

• Livestock manure and farming practices like tilling also contributes 

9.5- Global Climate Change

→ What are the main impacts of global climate change (both aquatic and terrestrial)?

heat-trapping greenhouse gases are have widespread effects on the environment: glaciers and ice sheets shrinking, river and lake ice is breaking up earlier, plant and animal geographic ranges are shifting, plants and trees are blooming sooner, longer &  more intense heat waves

9.7- Ocean Acidification

→ What is the impact of CO2 on the pH of oceans?

When CO2 is absorbed by seawater, a series of chemical reactions occur resulting in the increased concentration of hydrogen ions. This increase causes the seawater to become more acidic and the pH decreases

→ What is the impact of temperature on dissolved gases in water?

More gas can dissolve in cold water than in hot water.

→ How can a decrease in pH impact marine organisms?

Ocean acidification can create conditions that eat away at the minerals used by oysters, clams, lobsters, shrimp, coral reefs, and other marine life to build their shells and skeletons.

9.8- Invasive Species

→ What impact do invasive species have on biodiversity?

Through predation, competition for resources like food and water and transmission of diseases, invasive species are causing the decline of native species and disrupting the important interactions that contribute to healthy native ecosystems.

→ What are some possible unintended consequences when invasive species are introduced to ecosystems?

Invasive species can lead to the extinction of native plants and animals, destroy biodiversity, and permanently alter habitats

Unit 1- The Living World: Ecosystems

1.1- Intro to Ecosystems

1.4- The Carbon Cycle

→ What are anthropogenic carbon sources?

Human activities, like the burning of fossil fuels, that cause carbon pollution. The main ones are transportation, industrial sources, and energy production. 

→ What are natural sources of carbon?

Volcanic eruptions, decomposing biomass, naturally occurring wildfires 

→ Which processes sequester carbon?

Photosynthesis: removes CO2 from atmosphere and transforms it into living plant tissue

Soil also captures and stores soil

→ How does the combustion of fossil fuels contribute to an imbalance in the carbon cycle?

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is rapidly rising as a result of burning fossil fuels, contributing to the greenhouse effect and global warming. 

→ What is the role of decomposition in the carbon cycle?

Plants and animals decomposing release carbon into the air, soil and water. Living things capture this liberated carbon to build new life.

1.7- The Water Cycle

→ What are the different processes in the Water Cycle?

evaporation, condensation, precipitation, sublimation, transpiration, runoff, and infiltration

→ Be able to describe how a change in one of the processes could impact others

Increasing temperature results in  more evaporation, which causes  more water in the air so storms can produce more intense rainfall events in some areas.This can cause more rain and flooding – a risk to the environment and human health.

Unit 2- The Living World: Biodiversity

2.1- Intro to Biodiversity

2.2- Ecosystem Services

→ What are ecosystem services (be able to provide examples)?

Ecosystem services are the direct and indirect benefits that ecosystems provide humans. Some examples are climate regulation, water purification, flood control, disease regulation, and pollination

2.7- Ecological Succession

→ What is the difference between primary and secondary succession?

Primary succession: newly exposed or newly formed rock is colonized by living things for the first time

Secondary succession: an area previously occupied by living things is disrupted, and then recolonized following the disturbance.

→ What happens during the different phases of succession?

the mix of species and habitat in an area changes over time. Gradually, these communities replace one another until a “climax community”—like a mature forest—is reached, or until a disturbance, like a fire, occurs.

→ What is a pioneer species?

The first organism to colonize an area. They can withstand harsh environmental conditions with few available resources.

Unit 3- Population

3.2- K-selected and r-selected Species

→ What are K and r-selected species, and examples of each?

K-selected species: typically  larger, live longer, and produce fewer offspring

R-selected species: generally smaller, have shorter lifespans, and produce a larger number of offspring

3.3- Survivorship Curves

→ Be able to determine what type of survivorship curve an organism is most likely to have

Type I survivorship: exhibit high survivorship throughout their life cycle (k-selected) 

Type II survivorship: constant proportion of individuals dying over time. 

Type III survivorship: have very high mortality at young ages (r-selected). 

3.5- Population Growth and Resource Availability

→ What are density-dependent and density-independent factors that control population size?

Density-dependent:  regulation can be affected by factors that affect birth and death rates such as competition and predation. 

Density-independent: regulation can be affected by factors that affect birth and death rates such as abiotic factors and environmental factors (severe weather and conditions such as fire) 

→ What is carrying capacity?

the maximum population that a given area can sustain

→ What is overshoot?

When the demands made on a natural ecosystem exceed its regenerative capacity

3.8- Human Population Dynamics

Unit 4- Earth Systems and Resources

4.2- Soil Formation and Erosion

→ What are some agricultural practices that can lead to soil degradation?

Tilling: The agricultural practice of prepping the soil through digging, stirring, and overturning. Tillage fractures the soil, disrupting soil structure, which accelerates  surface runoff and soil erosion.

Monocropping, livestock overgrazing 

→ What are some agricultural practices that can mitigate soil erosion?

No-till farming 

Crop rotation: different plants have different nutrient needs, so by rotating crops, farmers can reduce the risk of soil-borne diseases and pests that can build up in the soil over time

4.3- Soil Composition and Properties

→ What are ways to decrease the water saturation in soils?

Increasing organic matter and compost in the soil, using mulch, shifting planting dates to when it's less wet. 

Unit 5- Land and Water Use

5.1- Tragedy of the Commons

→ What is the tragedy of the commons?

a situation in which individuals with access to a public resource—also called a common—act in their own interest and, in doing so, ultimately deplete the resource

→ Be able to look at multiple scenarios and determine which is an example of TOC

For example, in fishing, if fishing provides an income, then each fisherman would have his or her own best interest in mind and try to catch as many fish as possible even if all the other fishers are doing the same thing.

5.5- Irrigation Methods

→ Know what the following irrigation methods are as well as their advantages/disadvantages: 

• Drip: allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of plants, either fro[m above the soil surface or buried below the surface. 

  • Saves time, money, and water because the system is so efficient.

  • Requires more frequent maintenance and hard to repair

• Flood: flooding land with water to grow crops

  • Cheaper, deep-watering source, evaporates less than water from sprinklers, requires less frequent watering

  • Least efficient form of irrigation. More water loss from evaporation, infiltration, and runoff

• Furrow: irrigation water is pumped or brought to the fields and is allowed to flow by gravity to transport water 

  • lower initial investment of equipment and lower pumping costs

  • greater labor costs, and lower application efficiency as it's hard for the water to be evenly distributed 

• Spray: uses a network of sprinklers to water 

  • evenly distributes water can protect your crops from pests by including pesticides in the irrigation system, convenient 

  • high operation expenses due to the energy needed for pumping, large investment in equipment, sensitivity to wind, causing evaporation losses.

5.6- Pest Control Methods

5.7- Meat Production Methods

→ What gaseous emissions is livestock production responsible for?

Methane: primary contributor to ground-level ozone, a hazardous air pollutant and greenhouse gas, contributes to warming the environment 

→ What are advantages and disadvantages to CAFOs?

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) are agricultural meat, dairy, or egg facilities where animals are kept and raised in confinement

Advantages: 

• lower production costs than smaller farms

• Can help consumers by lowering prices for produce

• High productivity 

Disadvantages: 

• Animal welfare concerns 

• Large amounts of waste, which may pollute nearby water sources or emit greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change

• Risk of disease outbreaks 

5.8- Impacts of Overfishing

→ What are some fishing practices that can promote the sustainability of fish populations?

• Prevent overfishing.

• Rebuild depleted stocks.

• Minimize bycatch :the unwanted fish and other marine creatures caught during commercial fishing (are often thrown back dead)

• Identify and conserve essential fish habitat.

5.10- Impacts of Urbanization

5.12- Intro to Sustainability

5.13- Methods to Reduce Urban Runoff

→ What are ways to decrease urban runoff?

• Redirect Downspouts

• Use a rain barrel to capture rain from your roof

• Plant more  trees

• install permeable pavement

• green roof

5.15- Sustainable Agriculture

→ What are advantages and disadvantages to GMO crops?

Advantages: added nutrients, fewer pesticides, and cheaper prices. Disadvantages: allergic reactions or increased antibiotic resistance

→ What is terrace farming?

A technique in which steps are carved into mountainous regions to create farmable land.

→ What is monocrop farming? 

The practice of growing a single crop year after year on the same land. Commonly done with corn and wheat. 

→ What is integrated pest management?

Strategy that focuses on long-term prevention of pests or their damage through a combination of techniques such as biological control, habitat manipulation, modification of cultural practices, and use of resistant varieties.

→ What is slash-and-burn agriculture?

A widely used method of growing food in which wild or forested land is clear cut and any remaining vegetation burned. The resulting layer of ash provides the newly-cleared land with a nutrient-rich layer to help fertilize crops.

→ What are some agricultural practices that can lead to the degradation of agricultural land? AND what are some solutions to this?

• Overgrazing: excessive grazing by livestock removes vegetation and exposes soil to erosion

  • Implement rotational grazing to allow vegetation to recover

• Monocropping: growing a single crop repeatedly depletes soil nutrients and increases chance for disease 

  • Alternate crops to restore soil nutrients and reduce pest cycles

• Deforestation: clearing forests results in loss of topsoil and biodiversity

  • Restore forests and replant to improve soil stability and keep water stored 

→ What are some solutions that will allow us to grow MORE food with LESS land? What are advantages/disadvantages to these solutions?

• Vertical farming: growing crops in stacked layers indoors

  • Requires less land, year-round production, seasons dont affect crops

  • High initial costs, energy-intensive, limited crop variety 

• GMOs: genetically modified organisms 

  • Increased productivity, pest resistance, bigger/better crops for consumers

  • Public concern over safety, environmental risks (could be harmful to animals) 

5.17- Sustainable Forestry

→ What are ways to mitigate deforestation? What are the advantages/disadvantages to all methods?

• Reforestation : planting new trees

  • Restores ecosystems, Absorbs co2, improves biodiversity

  • Takes time, requires land/resources 

• Sustainable logging: selective logging and reduced impact methods

  • Preserves forest, maintains ecosystem services

  • Slower timber production, higher costs

• Protective areas: national parks and reserves

Unit  7- Atmospheric Pollution

7.1- Intro to Air Pollution

→ How did the Clean Air Act help reduce air pollution?

(US law that regulated air pollution by setting standards to limit emissions) 

 It set limits on harmful emissions from factories, vehicles, and power plants. It requires industries to use cleaner technologies, reduce pollutants like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, and promote cleaner fuels. This improved air quality, reduced smog, and reduced health problems. 

7.2- Photochemical Smog

→ What must be present in order to create photochemical smog?

Nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) reacting to sunlight

7.4- Atmospheric CO2 and Particulates

7.7- Acid Rain

→ What causes acid rain? 

Acid rain is caused by a chemical reaction that begins when compounds like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are released into the air. These substances can rise very high into the atmosphere, where they mix and react with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form acid rain. 

→ What are some ways to mitigate the impacts of acid rain?

Less fossil fuel use: renewable energy sources help reduce acid rain because they produce much less pollution.

→ What type of environment could neutralize acid rain/lessen its impacts on waterways?

An environment with limestone, as it acts as a natural buffer, neutralizing acidity in rainwater and preventing it from lowering pH of streams, rivers, etc. 

7.8- Noise Pollution

→ How can noise pollution impact humans and animals?

It can scare animals from their habitats, raise stress hormones, alter their feeding behavior, or affect how they care for their young.

For humans: stress related illnesses, high blood pressure, speech interference, hearing loss, sleep disruption, and lost productivity

Unit  8- Aquatic and Terrestrial Pollution

8.4- Human Impacts on Wetlands and Mangroves

→ What are some ecosystem services that wetlands provide?

Protecting and improving water quality, providing fish and wildlife habitats, storing floodwaters, and maintaining surface water flow during dry periods.

8.6- Thermal Pollution

8.12- Lethal Dose 50% (LD50)

→ What is LD50?

Toxicology term that refers to the amount of substance required to kill 50% of a test population. Lower value = more toxic substance 

→ Given multiple LD50s for different substances be able to compare toxicity levels

A substance with LD50 of 10 mg/kg is more toxic than 500 mg/kg, because a smaller dose is needed to cause harm. 

Unit  9- Global Change

9.1- Human Impacts on Biodiversity

→ What are impacts of habitat loss and/or fragmentation?

• Loss of biodiversity, as species lose habitats/recourses

• Disruption of ecosystems, food chains, nutrient cycles

• Increase vulnerability to extinction 

• Reduced genetic diversity, harming species adaptability

→ What are ways humans decrease habitat size or cause habitat fragmentation?

• Urbanization and infrastructure development

• Agriculture and deforestation 

• Mining and resource extraction 

• Pollution

• Dam construction

→ How can you measure biodiversity of an ecosystem?

•  assess species richness of an ecosystem, which is the total number of distinct species within a local community.

  • evenness also needs to be considered

9.4- Increases in the Greenhouse Gases

→ What is the largest source of N2O emissions?

Agriculture:

• specifically synthetic fertilizers: they release nitrous oxide when microbes in the soil break down nitrogen compounds 

• Livestock manure and farming practices like tilling also contributes 

9.5- Global Climate Change

→ What are the main impacts of global climate change (both aquatic and terrestrial)?

heat-trapping greenhouse gases are have widespread effects on the environment: glaciers and ice sheets shrinking, river and lake ice is breaking up earlier, plant and animal geographic ranges are shifting, plants and trees are blooming sooner, longer &  more intense heat waves

9.7- Ocean Acidification

→ What is the impact of CO2 on the pH of oceans?

When CO2 is absorbed by seawater, a series of chemical reactions occur resulting in the increased concentration of hydrogen ions. This increase causes the seawater to become more acidic and the pH decreases

→ What is the impact of temperature on dissolved gases in water?

More gas can dissolve in cold water than in hot water.

→ How can a decrease in pH impact marine organisms?

Ocean acidification can create conditions that eat away at the minerals used by oysters, clams, lobsters, shrimp, coral reefs, and other marine life to build their shells and skeletons.

9.8- Invasive Species

→ What impact do invasive species have on biodiversity?

Through predation, competition for resources like food and water and transmission of diseases, invasive species are causing the decline of native species and disrupting the important interactions that contribute to healthy native ecosystems.

→ What are some possible unintended consequences when invasive species are introduced to ecosystems?

Invasive species can lead to the extinction of native plants and animals, destroy biodiversity, and permanently alter habitats

Unit 1- The Living World: Ecosystems

1.1- Intro to Ecosystems

1.4- The Carbon Cycle

→ What are anthropogenic carbon sources?

Human activities, like the burning of fossil fuels, that cause carbon pollution. The main ones are transportation, industrial sources, and energy production. 

→ What are natural sources of carbon?

Volcanic eruptions, decomposing biomass, naturally occurring wildfires 

→ Which processes sequester carbon?

Photosynthesis: removes CO2 from atmosphere and transforms it into living plant tissue

Soil also captures and stores soil

→ How does the combustion of fossil fuels contribute to an imbalance in the carbon cycle?

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is rapidly rising as a result of burning fossil fuels, contributing to the greenhouse effect and global warming. 

→ What is the role of decomposition in the carbon cycle?

Plants and animals decomposing release carbon into the air, soil and water. Living things capture this liberated carbon to build new life.

1.7- The Water Cycle

→ What are the different processes in the Water Cycle?

evaporation, condensation, precipitation, sublimation, transpiration, runoff, and infiltration

→ Be able to describe how a change in one of the processes could impact others

Increasing temperature results in  more evaporation, which causes  more water in the air so storms can produce more intense rainfall events in some areas.This can cause more rain and flooding – a risk to the environment and human health.

Unit 2- The Living World: Biodiversity

2.1- Intro to Biodiversity

2.2- Ecosystem Services

→ What are ecosystem services (be able to provide examples)?

Ecosystem services are the direct and indirect benefits that ecosystems provide humans. Some examples are climate regulation, water purification, flood control, disease regulation, and pollination

2.7- Ecological Succession

→ What is the difference between primary and secondary succession?

Primary succession: newly exposed or newly formed rock is colonized by living things for the first time

Secondary succession: an area previously occupied by living things is disrupted, and then recolonized following the disturbance.

→ What happens during the different phases of succession?

the mix of species and habitat in an area changes over time. Gradually, these communities replace one another until a “climax community”—like a mature forest—is reached, or until a disturbance, like a fire, occurs.

→ What is a pioneer species?

The first organism to colonize an area. They can withstand harsh environmental conditions with few available resources.

Unit 3- Population

3.2- K-selected and r-selected Species

→ What are K and r-selected species, and examples of each?

K-selected species: typically  larger, live longer, and produce fewer offspring

R-selected species: generally smaller, have shorter lifespans, and produce a larger number of offspring

3.3- Survivorship Curves

→ Be able to determine what type of survivorship curve an organism is most likely to have

Type I survivorship: exhibit high survivorship throughout their life cycle (k-selected) 

Type II survivorship: constant proportion of individuals dying over time. 

Type III survivorship: have very high mortality at young ages (r-selected). 

3.5- Population Growth and Resource Availability

→ What are density-dependent and density-independent factors that control population size?

Density-dependent:  regulation can be affected by factors that affect birth and death rates such as competition and predation. 

Density-independent: regulation can be affected by factors that affect birth and death rates such as abiotic factors and environmental factors (severe weather and conditions such as fire) 

→ What is carrying capacity?

the maximum population that a given area can sustain

→ What is overshoot?

When the demands made on a natural ecosystem exceed its regenerative capacity

3.8- Human Population Dynamics

Unit 4- Earth Systems and Resources

4.2- Soil Formation and Erosion

→ What are some agricultural practices that can lead to soil degradation?

Tilling: The agricultural practice of prepping the soil through digging, stirring, and overturning. Tillage fractures the soil, disrupting soil structure, which accelerates  surface runoff and soil erosion.

Monocropping, livestock overgrazing 

→ What are some agricultural practices that can mitigate soil erosion?

No-till farming 

Crop rotation: different plants have different nutrient needs, so by rotating crops, farmers can reduce the risk of soil-borne diseases and pests that can build up in the soil over time

4.3- Soil Composition and Properties

→ What are ways to decrease the water saturation in soils?

Increasing organic matter and compost in the soil, using mulch, shifting planting dates to when it's less wet. 

Unit 5- Land and Water Use

5.1- Tragedy of the Commons

→ What is the tragedy of the commons?

a situation in which individuals with access to a public resource—also called a common—act in their own interest and, in doing so, ultimately deplete the resource

→ Be able to look at multiple scenarios and determine which is an example of TOC

For example, in fishing, if fishing provides an income, then each fisherman would have his or her own best interest in mind and try to catch as many fish as possible even if all the other fishers are doing the same thing.

5.5- Irrigation Methods

→ Know what the following irrigation methods are as well as their advantages/disadvantages: 

• Drip: allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of plants, either fro[m above the soil surface or buried below the surface. 

  • Saves time, money, and water because the system is so efficient.

  • Requires more frequent maintenance and hard to repair

• Flood: flooding land with water to grow crops

  • Cheaper, deep-watering source, evaporates less than water from sprinklers, requires less frequent watering

  • Least efficient form of irrigation. More water loss from evaporation, infiltration, and runoff

• Furrow: irrigation water is pumped or brought to the fields and is allowed to flow by gravity to transport water 

  • lower initial investment of equipment and lower pumping costs

  • greater labor costs, and lower application efficiency as it's hard for the water to be evenly distributed 

• Spray: uses a network of sprinklers to water 

  • evenly distributes water can protect your crops from pests by including pesticides in the irrigation system, convenient 

  • high operation expenses due to the energy needed for pumping, large investment in equipment, sensitivity to wind, causing evaporation losses.

5.6- Pest Control Methods

5.7- Meat Production Methods

→ What gaseous emissions is livestock production responsible for?

Methane: primary contributor to ground-level ozone, a hazardous air pollutant and greenhouse gas, contributes to warming the environment 

→ What are advantages and disadvantages to CAFOs?

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) are agricultural meat, dairy, or egg facilities where animals are kept and raised in confinement

Advantages: 

• lower production costs than smaller farms

• Can help consumers by lowering prices for produce

• High productivity 

Disadvantages: 

• Animal welfare concerns 

• Large amounts of waste, which may pollute nearby water sources or emit greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change

• Risk of disease outbreaks 

5.8- Impacts of Overfishing

→ What are some fishing practices that can promote the sustainability of fish populations?

• Prevent overfishing.

• Rebuild depleted stocks.

• Minimize bycatch :the unwanted fish and other marine creatures caught during commercial fishing (are often thrown back dead)

• Identify and conserve essential fish habitat.

5.10- Impacts of Urbanization

5.12- Intro to Sustainability

5.13- Methods to Reduce Urban Runoff

→ What are ways to decrease urban runoff?

• Redirect Downspouts

• Use a rain barrel to capture rain from your roof

• Plant more  trees

• install permeable pavement

• green roof

5.15- Sustainable Agriculture

→ What are advantages and disadvantages to GMO crops?

Advantages: added nutrients, fewer pesticides, and cheaper prices. Disadvantages: allergic reactions or increased antibiotic resistance

→ What is terrace farming?

A technique in which steps are carved into mountainous regions to create farmable land.

→ What is monocrop farming? 

The practice of growing a single crop year after year on the same land. Commonly done with corn and wheat. 

→ What is integrated pest management?

Strategy that focuses on long-term prevention of pests or their damage through a combination of techniques such as biological control, habitat manipulation, modification of cultural practices, and use of resistant varieties.

→ What is slash-and-burn agriculture?

A widely used method of growing food in which wild or forested land is clear cut and any remaining vegetation burned. The resulting layer of ash provides the newly-cleared land with a nutrient-rich layer to help fertilize crops.

→ What are some agricultural practices that can lead to the degradation of agricultural land? AND what are some solutions to this?

• Overgrazing: excessive grazing by livestock removes vegetation and exposes soil to erosion

  • Implement rotational grazing to allow vegetation to recover

• Monocropping: growing a single crop repeatedly depletes soil nutrients and increases chance for disease 

  • Alternate crops to restore soil nutrients and reduce pest cycles

• Deforestation: clearing forests results in loss of topsoil and biodiversity

  • Restore forests and replant to improve soil stability and keep water stored 

→ What are some solutions that will allow us to grow MORE food with LESS land? What are advantages/disadvantages to these solutions?

• Vertical farming: growing crops in stacked layers indoors

  • Requires less land, year-round production, seasons dont affect crops

  • High initial costs, energy-intensive, limited crop variety 

• GMOs: genetically modified organisms 

  • Increased productivity, pest resistance, bigger/better crops for consumers

  • Public concern over safety, environmental risks (could be harmful to animals) 

5.17- Sustainable Forestry

→ What are ways to mitigate deforestation? What are the advantages/disadvantages to all methods?

• Reforestation : planting new trees

  • Restores ecosystems, Absorbs co2, improves biodiversity

  • Takes time, requires land/resources 

• Sustainable logging: selective logging and reduced impact methods

  • Preserves forest, maintains ecosystem services

  • Slower timber production, higher costs

• Protective areas: national parks and reserves

Unit  7- Atmospheric Pollution

7.1- Intro to Air Pollution

→ How did the Clean Air Act help reduce air pollution?

(US law that regulated air pollution by setting standards to limit emissions) 

 It set limits on harmful emissions from factories, vehicles, and power plants. It requires industries to use cleaner technologies, reduce pollutants like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, and promote cleaner fuels. This improved air quality, reduced smog, and reduced health problems. 

7.2- Photochemical Smog

→ What must be present in order to create photochemical smog?

Nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) reacting to sunlight

7.4- Atmospheric CO2 and Particulates

7.7- Acid Rain

→ What causes acid rain? 

Acid rain is caused by a chemical reaction that begins when compounds like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are released into the air. These substances can rise very high into the atmosphere, where they mix and react with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form acid rain. 

→ What are some ways to mitigate the impacts of acid rain?

Less fossil fuel use: renewable energy sources help reduce acid rain because they produce much less pollution.

→ What type of environment could neutralize acid rain/lessen its impacts on waterways?

An environment with limestone, as it acts as a natural buffer, neutralizing acidity in rainwater and preventing it from lowering pH of streams, rivers, etc. 

7.8- Noise Pollution

→ How can noise pollution impact humans and animals?

It can scare animals from their habitats, raise stress hormones, alter their feeding behavior, or affect how they care for their young.

For humans: stress related illnesses, high blood pressure, speech interference, hearing loss, sleep disruption, and lost productivity

Unit  8- Aquatic and Terrestrial Pollution

8.4- Human Impacts on Wetlands and Mangroves

→ What are some ecosystem services that wetlands provide?

Protecting and improving water quality, providing fish and wildlife habitats, storing floodwaters, and maintaining surface water flow during dry periods.

8.6- Thermal Pollution

8.12- Lethal Dose 50% (LD50)

→ What is LD50?

Toxicology term that refers to the amount of substance required to kill 50% of a test population. Lower value = more toxic substance 

→ Given multiple LD50s for different substances be able to compare toxicity levels

A substance with LD50 of 10 mg/kg is more toxic than 500 mg/kg, because a smaller dose is needed to cause harm. 

Unit  9- Global Change

9.1- Human Impacts on Biodiversity

→ What are impacts of habitat loss and/or fragmentation?

• Loss of biodiversity, as species lose habitats/recourses

• Disruption of ecosystems, food chains, nutrient cycles

• Increase vulnerability to extinction 

• Reduced genetic diversity, harming species adaptability

→ What are ways humans decrease habitat size or cause habitat fragmentation?

• Urbanization and infrastructure development

• Agriculture and deforestation 

• Mining and resource extraction 

• Pollution

• Dam construction

→ How can you measure biodiversity of an ecosystem?

•  assess species richness of an ecosystem, which is the total number of distinct species within a local community.

  • evenness also needs to be considered

9.4- Increases in the Greenhouse Gases

→ What is the largest source of N2O emissions?

Agriculture:

• specifically synthetic fertilizers: they release nitrous oxide when microbes in the soil break down nitrogen compounds 

• Livestock manure and farming practices like tilling also contributes 

9.5- Global Climate Change

→ What are the main impacts of global climate change (both aquatic and terrestrial)?

heat-trapping greenhouse gases are have widespread effects on the environment: glaciers and ice sheets shrinking, river and lake ice is breaking up earlier, plant and animal geographic ranges are shifting, plants and trees are blooming sooner, longer &  more intense heat waves

9.7- Ocean Acidification

→ What is the impact of CO2 on the pH of oceans?

When CO2 is absorbed by seawater, a series of chemical reactions occur resulting in the increased concentration of hydrogen ions. This increase causes the seawater to become more acidic and the pH decreases

→ What is the impact of temperature on dissolved gases in water?

More gas can dissolve in cold water than in hot water.

→ How can a decrease in pH impact marine organisms?

Ocean acidification can create conditions that eat away at the minerals used by oysters, clams, lobsters, shrimp, coral reefs, and other marine life to build their shells and skeletons.

9.8- Invasive Species

→ What impact do invasive species have on biodiversity?

Through predation, competition for resources like food and water and transmission of diseases, invasive species are causing the decline of native species and disrupting the important interactions that contribute to healthy native ecosystems.

→ What are some possible unintended consequences when invasive species are introduced to ecosystems?

Invasive species can lead to the extinction of native plants and animals, destroy biodiversity, and permanently alter habitats

Unit 1- The Living World: Ecosystems

1.1- Intro to Ecosystems

1.4- The Carbon Cycle

→ What are anthropogenic carbon sources?

Human activities, like the burning of fossil fuels, that cause carbon pollution. The main ones are transportation, industrial sources, and energy production. 

→ What are natural sources of carbon?

Volcanic eruptions, decomposing biomass, naturally occurring wildfires 

→ Which processes sequester carbon?

Photosynthesis: removes CO2 from atmosphere and transforms it into living plant tissue

Soil also captures and stores soil

→ How does the combustion of fossil fuels contribute to an imbalance in the carbon cycle?

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is rapidly rising as a result of burning fossil fuels, contributing to the greenhouse effect and global warming. 

→ What is the role of decomposition in the carbon cycle?

Plants and animals decomposing release carbon into the air, soil and water. Living things capture this liberated carbon to build new life.

1.7- The Water Cycle

→ What are the different processes in the Water Cycle?

evaporation, condensation, precipitation, sublimation, transpiration, runoff, and infiltration

→ Be able to describe how a change in one of the processes could impact others

Increasing temperature results in  more evaporation, which causes  more water in the air so storms can produce more intense rainfall events in some areas.This can cause more rain and flooding – a risk to the environment and human health.

Unit 2- The Living World: Biodiversity

2.1- Intro to Biodiversity

2.2- Ecosystem Services

→ What are ecosystem services (be able to provide examples)?

Ecosystem services are the direct and indirect benefits that ecosystems provide humans. Some examples are climate regulation, water purification, flood control, disease regulation, and pollination

2.7- Ecological Succession

→ What is the difference between primary and secondary succession?

Primary succession: newly exposed or newly formed rock is colonized by living things for the first time

Secondary succession: an area previously occupied by living things is disrupted, and then recolonized following the disturbance.

→ What happens during the different phases of succession?

the mix of species and habitat in an area changes over time. Gradually, these communities replace one another until a “climax community”—like a mature forest—is reached, or until a disturbance, like a fire, occurs.

→ What is a pioneer species?

The first organism to colonize an area. They can withstand harsh environmental conditions with few available resources.

Unit 3- Population

3.2- K-selected and r-selected Species

→ What are K and r-selected species, and examples of each?

K-selected species: typically  larger, live longer, and produce fewer offspring

R-selected species: generally smaller, have shorter lifespans, and produce a larger number of offspring

3.3- Survivorship Curves

→ Be able to determine what type of survivorship curve an organism is most likely to have

Type I survivorship: exhibit high survivorship throughout their life cycle (k-selected) 

Type II survivorship: constant proportion of individuals dying over time. 

Type III survivorship: have very high mortality at young ages (r-selected). 

3.5- Population Growth and Resource Availability

→ What are density-dependent and density-independent factors that control population size?

Density-dependent:  regulation can be affected by factors that affect birth and death rates such as competition and predation. 

Density-independent: regulation can be affected by factors that affect birth and death rates such as abiotic factors and environmental factors (severe weather and conditions such as fire) 

→ What is carrying capacity?

the maximum population that a given area can sustain

→ What is overshoot?

When the demands made on a natural ecosystem exceed its regenerative capacity

3.8- Human Population Dynamics

Unit 4- Earth Systems and Resources

4.2- Soil Formation and Erosion

→ What are some agricultural practices that can lead to soil degradation?

Tilling: The agricultural practice of prepping the soil through digging, stirring, and overturning. Tillage fractures the soil, disrupting soil structure, which accelerates  surface runoff and soil erosion.

Monocropping, livestock overgrazing 

→ What are some agricultural practices that can mitigate soil erosion?

No-till farming 

Crop rotation: different plants have different nutrient needs, so by rotating crops, farmers can reduce the risk of soil-borne diseases and pests that can build up in the soil over time

4.3- Soil Composition and Properties

→ What are ways to decrease the water saturation in soils?

Increasing organic matter and compost in the soil, using mulch, shifting planting dates to when it's less wet. 

Unit 5- Land and Water Use

5.1- Tragedy of the Commons

→ What is the tragedy of the commons?

a situation in which individuals with access to a public resource—also called a common—act in their own interest and, in doing so, ultimately deplete the resource

→ Be able to look at multiple scenarios and determine which is an example of TOC

For example, in fishing, if fishing provides an income, then each fisherman would have his or her own best interest in mind and try to catch as many fish as possible even if all the other fishers are doing the same thing.

5.5- Irrigation Methods

→ Know what the following irrigation methods are as well as their advantages/disadvantages: 

• Drip: allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of plants, either fro[m above the soil surface or buried below the surface. 

  • Saves time, money, and water because the system is so efficient.

  • Requires more frequent maintenance and hard to repair

• Flood: flooding land with water to grow crops

  • Cheaper, deep-watering source, evaporates less than water from sprinklers, requires less frequent watering

  • Least efficient form of irrigation. More water loss from evaporation, infiltration, and runoff

• Furrow: irrigation water is pumped or brought to the fields and is allowed to flow by gravity to transport water 

  • lower initial investment of equipment and lower pumping costs

  • greater labor costs, and lower application efficiency as it's hard for the water to be evenly distributed 

• Spray: uses a network of sprinklers to water 

  • evenly distributes water can protect your crops from pests by including pesticides in the irrigation system, convenient 

  • high operation expenses due to the energy needed for pumping, large investment in equipment, sensitivity to wind, causing evaporation losses.

5.6- Pest Control Methods

5.7- Meat Production Methods

→ What gaseous emissions is livestock production responsible for?

Methane: primary contributor to ground-level ozone, a hazardous air pollutant and greenhouse gas, contributes to warming the environment 

→ What are advantages and disadvantages to CAFOs?

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) are agricultural meat, dairy, or egg facilities where animals are kept and raised in confinement

Advantages: 

• lower production costs than smaller farms

• Can help consumers by lowering prices for produce

• High productivity 

Disadvantages: 

• Animal welfare concerns 

• Large amounts of waste, which may pollute nearby water sources or emit greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change

• Risk of disease outbreaks 

5.8- Impacts of Overfishing

→ What are some fishing practices that can promote the sustainability of fish populations?

• Prevent overfishing.

• Rebuild depleted stocks.

• Minimize bycatch :the unwanted fish and other marine creatures caught during commercial fishing (are often thrown back dead)

• Identify and conserve essential fish habitat.

5.10- Impacts of Urbanization

5.12- Intro to Sustainability

5.13- Methods to Reduce Urban Runoff

→ What are ways to decrease urban runoff?

• Redirect Downspouts

• Use a rain barrel to capture rain from your roof

• Plant more  trees

• install permeable pavement

• green roof

5.15- Sustainable Agriculture

→ What are advantages and disadvantages to GMO crops?

Advantages: added nutrients, fewer pesticides, and cheaper prices. Disadvantages: allergic reactions or increased antibiotic resistance

→ What is terrace farming?

A technique in which steps are carved into mountainous regions to create farmable land.

→ What is monocrop farming? 

The practice of growing a single crop year after year on the same land. Commonly done with corn and wheat. 

→ What is integrated pest management?

Strategy that focuses on long-term prevention of pests or their damage through a combination of techniques such as biological control, habitat manipulation, modification of cultural practices, and use of resistant varieties.

→ What is slash-and-burn agriculture?

A widely used method of growing food in which wild or forested land is clear cut and any remaining vegetation burned. The resulting layer of ash provides the newly-cleared land with a nutrient-rich layer to help fertilize crops.

→ What are some agricultural practices that can lead to the degradation of agricultural land? AND what are some solutions to this?

• Overgrazing: excessive grazing by livestock removes vegetation and exposes soil to erosion

  • Implement rotational grazing to allow vegetation to recover

• Monocropping: growing a single crop repeatedly depletes soil nutrients and increases chance for disease 

  • Alternate crops to restore soil nutrients and reduce pest cycles

• Deforestation: clearing forests results in loss of topsoil and biodiversity

  • Restore forests and replant to improve soil stability and keep water stored 

→ What are some solutions that will allow us to grow MORE food with LESS land? What are advantages/disadvantages to these solutions?

• Vertical farming: growing crops in stacked layers indoors

  • Requires less land, year-round production, seasons dont affect crops

  • High initial costs, energy-intensive, limited crop variety 

• GMOs: genetically modified organisms 

  • Increased productivity, pest resistance, bigger/better crops for consumers

  • Public concern over safety, environmental risks (could be harmful to animals) 

5.17- Sustainable Forestry

→ What are ways to mitigate deforestation? What are the advantages/disadvantages to all methods?

• Reforestation : planting new trees

  • Restores ecosystems, Absorbs co2, improves biodiversity

  • Takes time, requires land/resources 

• Sustainable logging: selective logging and reduced impact methods

  • Preserves forest, maintains ecosystem services

  • Slower timber production, higher costs

• Protective areas: national parks and reserves

Unit  7- Atmospheric Pollution

7.1- Intro to Air Pollution

→ How did the Clean Air Act help reduce air pollution?

(US law that regulated air pollution by setting standards to limit emissions) 

 It set limits on harmful emissions from factories, vehicles, and power plants. It requires industries to use cleaner technologies, reduce pollutants like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, and promote cleaner fuels. This improved air quality, reduced smog, and reduced health problems. 

7.2- Photochemical Smog

→ What must be present in order to create photochemical smog?

Nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) reacting to sunlight

7.4- Atmospheric CO2 and Particulates

7.7- Acid Rain

→ What causes acid rain? 

Acid rain is caused by a chemical reaction that begins when compounds like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are released into the air. These substances can rise very high into the atmosphere, where they mix and react with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form acid rain. 

→ What are some ways to mitigate the impacts of acid rain?

Less fossil fuel use: renewable energy sources help reduce acid rain because they produce much less pollution.

→ What type of environment could neutralize acid rain/lessen its impacts on waterways?

An environment with limestone, as it acts as a natural buffer, neutralizing acidity in rainwater and preventing it from lowering pH of streams, rivers, etc. 

7.8- Noise Pollution

→ How can noise pollution impact humans and animals?

It can scare animals from their habitats, raise stress hormones, alter their feeding behavior, or affect how they care for their young.

For humans: stress related illnesses, high blood pressure, speech interference, hearing loss, sleep disruption, and lost productivity

Unit  8- Aquatic and Terrestrial Pollution

8.4- Human Impacts on Wetlands and Mangroves

→ What are some ecosystem services that wetlands provide?

Protecting and improving water quality, providing fish and wildlife habitats, storing floodwaters, and maintaining surface water flow during dry periods.

8.6- Thermal Pollution

8.12- Lethal Dose 50% (LD50)

→ What is LD50?

Toxicology term that refers to the amount of substance required to kill 50% of a test population. Lower value = more toxic substance 

→ Given multiple LD50s for different substances be able to compare toxicity levels

A substance with LD50 of 10 mg/kg is more toxic than 500 mg/kg, because a smaller dose is needed to cause harm. 

Unit  9- Global Change

9.1- Human Impacts on Biodiversity

→ What are impacts of habitat loss and/or fragmentation?

• Loss of biodiversity, as species lose habitats/recourses

• Disruption of ecosystems, food chains, nutrient cycles

• Increase vulnerability to extinction 

• Reduced genetic diversity, harming species adaptability

→ What are ways humans decrease habitat size or cause habitat fragmentation?

• Urbanization and infrastructure development

• Agriculture and deforestation 

• Mining and resource extraction 

• Pollution

• Dam construction

→ How can you measure biodiversity of an ecosystem?

•  assess species richness of an ecosystem, which is the total number of distinct species within a local community.

  • evenness also needs to be considered

9.4- Increases in the Greenhouse Gases

→ What is the largest source of N2O emissions?

Agriculture:

• specifically synthetic fertilizers: they release nitrous oxide when microbes in the soil break down nitrogen compounds 

• Livestock manure and farming practices like tilling also contributes 

9.5- Global Climate Change

→ What are the main impacts of global climate change (both aquatic and terrestrial)?

heat-trapping greenhouse gases are have widespread effects on the environment: glaciers and ice sheets shrinking, river and lake ice is breaking up earlier, plant and animal geographic ranges are shifting, plants and trees are blooming sooner, longer &  more intense heat waves

9.7- Ocean Acidification

→ What is the impact of CO2 on the pH of oceans?

When CO2 is absorbed by seawater, a series of chemical reactions occur resulting in the increased concentration of hydrogen ions. This increase causes the seawater to become more acidic and the pH decreases

→ What is the impact of temperature on dissolved gases in water?

More gas can dissolve in cold water than in hot water.

→ How can a decrease in pH impact marine organisms?

Ocean acidification can create conditions that eat away at the minerals used by oysters, clams, lobsters, shrimp, coral reefs, and other marine life to build their shells and skeletons.

9.8- Invasive Species

→ What impact do invasive species have on biodiversity?

Through predation, competition for resources like food and water and transmission of diseases, invasive species are causing the decline of native species and disrupting the important interactions that contribute to healthy native ecosystems.

→ What are some possible unintended consequences when invasive species are introduced to ecosystems?

Invasive species can lead to the extinction of native plants and animals, destroy biodiversity, and permanently alter habitats

Unit 1- The Living World: Ecosystems

1.1- Intro to Ecosystems

1.4- The Carbon Cycle

→ What are anthropogenic carbon sources?

Human activities, like the burning of fossil fuels, that cause carbon pollution. The main ones are transportation, industrial sources, and energy production. 

→ What are natural sources of carbon?

Volcanic eruptions, decomposing biomass, naturally occurring wildfires 

→ Which processes sequester carbon?

Photosynthesis: removes CO2 from atmosphere and transforms it into living plant tissue

Soil also captures and stores soil

→ How does the combustion of fossil fuels contribute to an imbalance in the carbon cycle?

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is rapidly rising as a result of burning fossil fuels, contributing to the greenhouse effect and global warming. 

→ What is the role of decomposition in the carbon cycle?

Plants and animals decomposing release carbon into the air, soil and water. Living things capture this liberated carbon to build new life.

1.7- The Water Cycle

→ What are the different processes in the Water Cycle?

evaporation, condensation, precipitation, sublimation, transpiration, runoff, and infiltration

→ Be able to describe how a change in one of the processes could impact others

Increasing temperature results in  more evaporation, which causes  more water in the air so storms can produce more intense rainfall events in some areas.This can cause more rain and flooding – a risk to the environment and human health.

Unit 2- The Living World: Biodiversity

2.1- Intro to Biodiversity

2.2- Ecosystem Services

→ What are ecosystem services (be able to provide examples)?

Ecosystem services are the direct and indirect benefits that ecosystems provide humans. Some examples are climate regulation, water purification, flood control, disease regulation, and pollination

2.7- Ecological Succession

→ What is the difference between primary and secondary succession?

Primary succession: newly exposed or newly formed rock is colonized by living things for the first time

Secondary succession: an area previously occupied by living things is disrupted, and then recolonized following the disturbance.

→ What happens during the different phases of succession?

the mix of species and habitat in an area changes over time. Gradually, these communities replace one another until a “climax community”—like a mature forest—is reached, or until a disturbance, like a fire, occurs.

→ What is a pioneer species?

The first organism to colonize an area. They can withstand harsh environmental conditions with few available resources.

Unit 3- Population

3.2- K-selected and r-selected Species

→ What are K and r-selected species, and examples of each?

K-selected species: typically  larger, live longer, and produce fewer offspring

R-selected species: generally smaller, have shorter lifespans, and produce a larger number of offspring

3.3- Survivorship Curves

→ Be able to determine what type of survivorship curve an organism is most likely to have

Type I survivorship: exhibit high survivorship throughout their life cycle (k-selected) 

Type II survivorship: constant proportion of individuals dying over time. 

Type III survivorship: have very high mortality at young ages (r-selected). 

3.5- Population Growth and Resource Availability

→ What are density-dependent and density-independent factors that control population size?

Density-dependent:  regulation can be affected by factors that affect birth and death rates such as competition and predation. 

Density-independent: regulation can be affected by factors that affect birth and death rates such as abiotic factors and environmental factors (severe weather and conditions such as fire) 

→ What is carrying capacity?

the maximum population that a given area can sustain

→ What is overshoot?

When the demands made on a natural ecosystem exceed its regenerative capacity

3.8- Human Population Dynamics

Unit 4- Earth Systems and Resources

4.2- Soil Formation and Erosion

→ What are some agricultural practices that can lead to soil degradation?

Tilling: The agricultural practice of prepping the soil through digging, stirring, and overturning. Tillage fractures the soil, disrupting soil structure, which accelerates  surface runoff and soil erosion.

Monocropping, livestock overgrazing 

→ What are some agricultural practices that can mitigate soil erosion?

No-till farming 

Crop rotation: different plants have different nutrient needs, so by rotating crops, farmers can reduce the risk of soil-borne diseases and pests that can build up in the soil over time

4.3- Soil Composition and Properties

→ What are ways to decrease the water saturation in soils?

Increasing organic matter and compost in the soil, using mulch, shifting planting dates to when it's less wet. 

Unit 5- Land and Water Use

5.1- Tragedy of the Commons

→ What is the tragedy of the commons?

a situation in which individuals with access to a public resource—also called a common—act in their own interest and, in doing so, ultimately deplete the resource

→ Be able to look at multiple scenarios and determine which is an example of TOC

For example, in fishing, if fishing provides an income, then each fisherman would have his or her own best interest in mind and try to catch as many fish as possible even if all the other fishers are doing the same thing.

5.5- Irrigation Methods

→ Know what the following irrigation methods are as well as their advantages/disadvantages: 

• Drip: allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of plants, either fro[m above the soil surface or buried below the surface. 

  • Saves time, money, and water because the system is so efficient.

  • Requires more frequent maintenance and hard to repair

• Flood: flooding land with water to grow crops

  • Cheaper, deep-watering source, evaporates less than water from sprinklers, requires less frequent watering

  • Least efficient form of irrigation. More water loss from evaporation, infiltration, and runoff

• Furrow: irrigation water is pumped or brought to the fields and is allowed to flow by gravity to transport water 

  • lower initial investment of equipment and lower pumping costs

  • greater labor costs, and lower application efficiency as it's hard for the water to be evenly distributed 

• Spray: uses a network of sprinklers to water 

  • evenly distributes water can protect your crops from pests by including pesticides in the irrigation system, convenient 

  • high operation expenses due to the energy needed for pumping, large investment in equipment, sensitivity to wind, causing evaporation losses.

5.6- Pest Control Methods

5.7- Meat Production Methods

→ What gaseous emissions is livestock production responsible for?

Methane: primary contributor to ground-level ozone, a hazardous air pollutant and greenhouse gas, contributes to warming the environment 

→ What are advantages and disadvantages to CAFOs?

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) are agricultural meat, dairy, or egg facilities where animals are kept and raised in confinement

Advantages: 

• lower production costs than smaller farms

• Can help consumers by lowering prices for produce

• High productivity 

Disadvantages: 

• Animal welfare concerns 

• Large amounts of waste, which may pollute nearby water sources or emit greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change

• Risk of disease outbreaks 

5.8- Impacts of Overfishing

→ What are some fishing practices that can promote the sustainability of fish populations?

• Prevent overfishing.

• Rebuild depleted stocks.

• Minimize bycatch :the unwanted fish and other marine creatures caught during commercial fishing (are often thrown back dead)

• Identify and conserve essential fish habitat.

5.10- Impacts of Urbanization

5.12- Intro to Sustainability

5.13- Methods to Reduce Urban Runoff

→ What are ways to decrease urban runoff?

• Redirect Downspouts

• Use a rain barrel to capture rain from your roof

• Plant more  trees

• install permeable pavement

• green roof

5.15- Sustainable Agriculture

→ What are advantages and disadvantages to GMO crops?

Advantages: added nutrients, fewer pesticides, and cheaper prices. Disadvantages: allergic reactions or increased antibiotic resistance

→ What is terrace farming?

A technique in which steps are carved into mountainous regions to create farmable land.

→ What is monocrop farming? 

The practice of growing a single crop year after year on the same land. Commonly done with corn and wheat. 

→ What is integrated pest management?

Strategy that focuses on long-term prevention of pests or their damage through a combination of techniques such as biological control, habitat manipulation, modification of cultural practices, and use of resistant varieties.

→ What is slash-and-burn agriculture?

A widely used method of growing food in which wild or forested land is clear cut and any remaining vegetation burned. The resulting layer of ash provides the newly-cleared land with a nutrient-rich layer to help fertilize crops.

→ What are some agricultural practices that can lead to the degradation of agricultural land? AND what are some solutions to this?

• Overgrazing: excessive grazing by livestock removes vegetation and exposes soil to erosion

  • Implement rotational grazing to allow vegetation to recover

• Monocropping: growing a single crop repeatedly depletes soil nutrients and increases chance for disease 

  • Alternate crops to restore soil nutrients and reduce pest cycles

• Deforestation: clearing forests results in loss of topsoil and biodiversity

  • Restore forests and replant to improve soil stability and keep water stored 

→ What are some solutions that will allow us to grow MORE food with LESS land? What are advantages/disadvantages to these solutions?

• Vertical farming: growing crops in stacked layers indoors

  • Requires less land, year-round production, seasons dont affect crops

  • High initial costs, energy-intensive, limited crop variety 

• GMOs: genetically modified organisms 

  • Increased productivity, pest resistance, bigger/better crops for consumers

  • Public concern over safety, environmental risks (could be harmful to animals) 

5.17- Sustainable Forestry

→ What are ways to mitigate deforestation? What are the advantages/disadvantages to all methods?

• Reforestation : planting new trees

  • Restores ecosystems, Absorbs co2, improves biodiversity

  • Takes time, requires land/resources 

• Sustainable logging: selective logging and reduced impact methods

  • Preserves forest, maintains ecosystem services

  • Slower timber production, higher costs

• Protective areas: national parks and reserves

Unit  7- Atmospheric Pollution

7.1- Intro to Air Pollution

→ How did the Clean Air Act help reduce air pollution?

(US law that regulated air pollution by setting standards to limit emissions) 

 It set limits on harmful emissions from factories, vehicles, and power plants. It requires industries to use cleaner technologies, reduce pollutants like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, and promote cleaner fuels. This improved air quality, reduced smog, and reduced health problems. 

7.2- Photochemical Smog

→ What must be present in order to create photochemical smog?

Nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) reacting to sunlight

7.4- Atmospheric CO2 and Particulates

7.7- Acid Rain

→ What causes acid rain? 

Acid rain is caused by a chemical reaction that begins when compounds like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are released into the air. These substances can rise very high into the atmosphere, where they mix and react with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form acid rain. 

→ What are some ways to mitigate the impacts of acid rain?

Less fossil fuel use: renewable energy sources help reduce acid rain because they produce much less pollution.

→ What type of environment could neutralize acid rain/lessen its impacts on waterways?

An environment with limestone, as it acts as a natural buffer, neutralizing acidity in rainwater and preventing it from lowering pH of streams, rivers, etc. 

7.8- Noise Pollution

→ How can noise pollution impact humans and animals?

It can scare animals from their habitats, raise stress hormones, alter their feeding behavior, or affect how they care for their young.

For humans: stress related illnesses, high blood pressure, speech interference, hearing loss, sleep disruption, and lost productivity

Unit  8- Aquatic and Terrestrial Pollution

8.4- Human Impacts on Wetlands and Mangroves

→ What are some ecosystem services that wetlands provide?

Protecting and improving water quality, providing fish and wildlife habitats, storing floodwaters, and maintaining surface water flow during dry periods.

8.6- Thermal Pollution

8.12- Lethal Dose 50% (LD50)

→ What is LD50?

Toxicology term that refers to the amount of substance required to kill 50% of a test population. Lower value = more toxic substance 

→ Given multiple LD50s for different substances be able to compare toxicity levels

A substance with LD50 of 10 mg/kg is more toxic than 500 mg/kg, because a smaller dose is needed to cause harm. 

Unit  9- Global Change

9.1- Human Impacts on Biodiversity

→ What are impacts of habitat loss and/or fragmentation?

• Loss of biodiversity, as species lose habitats/recourses

• Disruption of ecosystems, food chains, nutrient cycles

• Increase vulnerability to extinction 

• Reduced genetic diversity, harming species adaptability

→ What are ways humans decrease habitat size or cause habitat fragmentation?

• Urbanization and infrastructure development

• Agriculture and deforestation 

• Mining and resource extraction 

• Pollution

• Dam construction

→ How can you measure biodiversity of an ecosystem?

•  assess species richness of an ecosystem, which is the total number of distinct species within a local community.

  • evenness also needs to be considered

9.4- Increases in the Greenhouse Gases

→ What is the largest source of N2O emissions?

Agriculture:

• specifically synthetic fertilizers: they release nitrous oxide when microbes in the soil break down nitrogen compounds 

• Livestock manure and farming practices like tilling also contributes 

9.5- Global Climate Change

→ What are the main impacts of global climate change (both aquatic and terrestrial)?

heat-trapping greenhouse gases are have widespread effects on the environment: glaciers and ice sheets shrinking, river and lake ice is breaking up earlier, plant and animal geographic ranges are shifting, plants and trees are blooming sooner, longer &  more intense heat waves

9.7- Ocean Acidification

→ What is the impact of CO2 on the pH of oceans?

When CO2 is absorbed by seawater, a series of chemical reactions occur resulting in the increased concentration of hydrogen ions. This increase causes the seawater to become more acidic and the pH decreases

→ What is the impact of temperature on dissolved gases in water?

More gas can dissolve in cold water than in hot water.

→ How can a decrease in pH impact marine organisms?

Ocean acidification can create conditions that eat away at the minerals used by oysters, clams, lobsters, shrimp, coral reefs, and other marine life to build their shells and skeletons.

9.8- Invasive Species

→ What impact do invasive species have on biodiversity?

Through predation, competition for resources like food and water and transmission of diseases, invasive species are causing the decline of native species and disrupting the important interactions that contribute to healthy native ecosystems.

→ What are some possible unintended consequences when invasive species are introduced to ecosystems?

Invasive species can lead to the extinction of native plants and animals, destroy biodiversity, and permanently alter habitats

Unit 1- The Living World: Ecosystems

1.1- Intro to Ecosystems

1.4- The Carbon Cycle

→ What are anthropogenic carbon sources?

Human activities, like the burning of fossil fuels, that cause carbon pollution. The main ones are transportation, industrial sources, and energy production. 

→ What are natural sources of carbon?

Volcanic eruptions, decomposing biomass, naturally occurring wildfires 

→ Which processes sequester carbon?

Photosynthesis: removes CO2 from atmosphere and transforms it into living plant tissue

Soil also captures and stores soil

→ How does the combustion of fossil fuels contribute to an imbalance in the carbon cycle?

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is rapidly rising as a result of burning fossil fuels, contributing to the greenhouse effect and global warming. 

→ What is the role of decomposition in the carbon cycle?

Plants and animals decomposing release carbon into the air, soil and water. Living things capture this liberated carbon to build new life.

1.7- The Water Cycle

→ What are the different processes in the Water Cycle?

evaporation, condensation, precipitation, sublimation, transpiration, runoff, and infiltration

→ Be able to describe how a change in one of the processes could impact others

Increasing temperature results in  more evaporation, which causes  more water in the air so storms can produce more intense rainfall events in some areas.This can cause more rain and flooding – a risk to the environment and human health.

Unit 2- The Living World: Biodiversity

2.1- Intro to Biodiversity

2.2- Ecosystem Services

→ What are ecosystem services (be able to provide examples)?

Ecosystem services are the direct and indirect benefits that ecosystems provide humans. Some examples are climate regulation, water purification, flood control, disease regulation, and pollination

2.7- Ecological Succession

→ What is the difference between primary and secondary succession?

Primary succession: newly exposed or newly formed rock is colonized by living things for the first time

Secondary succession: an area previously occupied by living things is disrupted, and then recolonized following the disturbance.

→ What happens during the different phases of succession?

the mix of species and habitat in an area changes over time. Gradually, these communities replace one another until a “climax community”—like a mature forest—is reached, or until a disturbance, like a fire, occurs.

→ What is a pioneer species?

The first organism to colonize an area. They can withstand harsh environmental conditions with few available resources.

Unit 3- Population

3.2- K-selected and r-selected Species

→ What are K and r-selected species, and examples of each?

K-selected species: typically  larger, live longer, and produce fewer offspring

R-selected species: generally smaller, have shorter lifespans, and produce a larger number of offspring

3.3- Survivorship Curves

→ Be able to determine what type of survivorship curve an organism is most likely to have

Type I survivorship: exhibit high survivorship throughout their life cycle (k-selected) 

Type II survivorship: constant proportion of individuals dying over time. 

Type III survivorship: have very high mortality at young ages (r-selected). 

3.5- Population Growth and Resource Availability

→ What are density-dependent and density-independent factors that control population size?

Density-dependent:  regulation can be affected by factors that affect birth and death rates such as competition and predation. 

Density-independent: regulation can be affected by factors that affect birth and death rates such as abiotic factors and environmental factors (severe weather and conditions such as fire) 

→ What is carrying capacity?

the maximum population that a given area can sustain

→ What is overshoot?

When the demands made on a natural ecosystem exceed its regenerative capacity

3.8- Human Population Dynamics

Unit 4- Earth Systems and Resources

4.2- Soil Formation and Erosion

→ What are some agricultural practices that can lead to soil degradation?

Tilling: The agricultural practice of prepping the soil through digging, stirring, and overturning. Tillage fractures the soil, disrupting soil structure, which accelerates  surface runoff and soil erosion.

Monocropping, livestock overgrazing 

→ What are some agricultural practices that can mitigate soil erosion?

No-till farming 

Crop rotation: different plants have different nutrient needs, so by rotating crops, farmers can reduce the risk of soil-borne diseases and pests that can build up in the soil over time

4.3- Soil Composition and Properties

→ What are ways to decrease the water saturation in soils?

Increasing organic matter and compost in the soil, using mulch, shifting planting dates to when it's less wet. 

Unit 5- Land and Water Use

5.1- Tragedy of the Commons

→ What is the tragedy of the commons?

a situation in which individuals with access to a public resource—also called a common—act in their own interest and, in doing so, ultimately deplete the resource

→ Be able to look at multiple scenarios and determine which is an example of TOC

For example, in fishing, if fishing provides an income, then each fisherman would have his or her own best interest in mind and try to catch as many fish as possible even if all the other fishers are doing the same thing.

5.5- Irrigation Methods

→ Know what the following irrigation methods are as well as their advantages/disadvantages: 

• Drip: allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of plants, either fro[m above the soil surface or buried below the surface. 

  • Saves time, money, and water because the system is so efficient.

  • Requires more frequent maintenance and hard to repair

• Flood: flooding land with water to grow crops

  • Cheaper, deep-watering source, evaporates less than water from sprinklers, requires less frequent watering

  • Least efficient form of irrigation. More water loss from evaporation, infiltration, and runoff

• Furrow: irrigation water is pumped or brought to the fields and is allowed to flow by gravity to transport water 

  • lower initial investment of equipment and lower pumping costs

  • greater labor costs, and lower application efficiency as it's hard for the water to be evenly distributed 

• Spray: uses a network of sprinklers to water 

  • evenly distributes water can protect your crops from pests by including pesticides in the irrigation system, convenient 

  • high operation expenses due to the energy needed for pumping, large investment in equipment, sensitivity to wind, causing evaporation losses.

5.6- Pest Control Methods

5.7- Meat Production Methods

→ What gaseous emissions is livestock production responsible for?

Methane: primary contributor to ground-level ozone, a hazardous air pollutant and greenhouse gas, contributes to warming the environment 

→ What are advantages and disadvantages to CAFOs?

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) are agricultural meat, dairy, or egg facilities where animals are kept and raised in confinement

Advantages: 

• lower production costs than smaller farms

• Can help consumers by lowering prices for produce

• High productivity 

Disadvantages: 

• Animal welfare concerns 

• Large amounts of waste, which may pollute nearby water sources or emit greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change

• Risk of disease outbreaks 

5.8- Impacts of Overfishing

→ What are some fishing practices that can promote the sustainability of fish populations?

• Prevent overfishing.

• Rebuild depleted stocks.

• Minimize bycatch :the unwanted fish and other marine creatures caught during commercial fishing (are often thrown back dead)

• Identify and conserve essential fish habitat.

5.10- Impacts of Urbanization

5.12- Intro to Sustainability

5.13- Methods to Reduce Urban Runoff

→ What are ways to decrease urban runoff?

• Redirect Downspouts

• Use a rain barrel to capture rain from your roof

• Plant more  trees

• install permeable pavement

• green roof

5.15- Sustainable Agriculture

→ What are advantages and disadvantages to GMO crops?

Advantages: added nutrients, fewer pesticides, and cheaper prices. Disadvantages: allergic reactions or increased antibiotic resistance

→ What is terrace farming?

A technique in which steps are carved into mountainous regions to create farmable land.

→ What is monocrop farming? 

The practice of growing a single crop year after year on the same land. Commonly done with corn and wheat. 

→ What is integrated pest management?

Strategy that focuses on long-term prevention of pests or their damage through a combination of techniques such as biological control, habitat manipulation, modification of cultural practices, and use of resistant varieties.

→ What is slash-and-burn agriculture?

A widely used method of growing food in which wild or forested land is clear cut and any remaining vegetation burned. The resulting layer of ash provides the newly-cleared land with a nutrient-rich layer to help fertilize crops.

→ What are some agricultural practices that can lead to the degradation of agricultural land? AND what are some solutions to this?

• Overgrazing: excessive grazing by livestock removes vegetation and exposes soil to erosion

  • Implement rotational grazing to allow vegetation to recover

• Monocropping: growing a single crop repeatedly depletes soil nutrients and increases chance for disease 

  • Alternate crops to restore soil nutrients and reduce pest cycles

• Deforestation: clearing forests results in loss of topsoil and biodiversity

  • Restore forests and replant to improve soil stability and keep water stored 

→ What are some solutions that will allow us to grow MORE food with LESS land? What are advantages/disadvantages to these solutions?

• Vertical farming: growing crops in stacked layers indoors

  • Requires less land, year-round production, seasons dont affect crops

  • High initial costs, energy-intensive, limited crop variety 

• GMOs: genetically modified organisms 

  • Increased productivity, pest resistance, bigger/better crops for consumers

  • Public concern over safety, environmental risks (could be harmful to animals) 

5.17- Sustainable Forestry

→ What are ways to mitigate deforestation? What are the advantages/disadvantages to all methods?

• Reforestation : planting new trees

  • Restores ecosystems, Absorbs co2, improves biodiversity

  • Takes time, requires land/resources 

• Sustainable logging: selective logging and reduced impact methods

  • Preserves forest, maintains ecosystem services

  • Slower timber production, higher costs

• Protective areas: national parks and reserves

Unit  7- Atmospheric Pollution

7.1- Intro to Air Pollution

→ How did the Clean Air Act help reduce air pollution?

(US law that regulated air pollution by setting standards to limit emissions) 

 It set limits on harmful emissions from factories, vehicles, and power plants. It requires industries to use cleaner technologies, reduce pollutants like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, and promote cleaner fuels. This improved air quality, reduced smog, and reduced health problems. 

7.2- Photochemical Smog

→ What must be present in order to create photochemical smog?

Nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) reacting to sunlight

7.4- Atmospheric CO2 and Particulates

7.7- Acid Rain

→ What causes acid rain? 

Acid rain is caused by a chemical reaction that begins when compounds like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are released into the air. These substances can rise very high into the atmosphere, where they mix and react with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form acid rain. 

→ What are some ways to mitigate the impacts of acid rain?

Less fossil fuel use: renewable energy sources help reduce acid rain because they produce much less pollution.

→ What type of environment could neutralize acid rain/lessen its impacts on waterways?

An environment with limestone, as it acts as a natural buffer, neutralizing acidity in rainwater and preventing it from lowering pH of streams, rivers, etc. 

7.8- Noise Pollution

→ How can noise pollution impact humans and animals?

It can scare animals from their habitats, raise stress hormones, alter their feeding behavior, or affect how they care for their young.

For humans: stress related illnesses, high blood pressure, speech interference, hearing loss, sleep disruption, and lost productivity

Unit  8- Aquatic and Terrestrial Pollution

8.4- Human Impacts on Wetlands and Mangroves

→ What are some ecosystem services that wetlands provide?

Protecting and improving water quality, providing fish and wildlife habitats, storing floodwaters, and maintaining surface water flow during dry periods.

8.6- Thermal Pollution

8.12- Lethal Dose 50% (LD50)

→ What is LD50?

Toxicology term that refers to the amount of substance required to kill 50% of a test population. Lower value = more toxic substance 

→ Given multiple LD50s for different substances be able to compare toxicity levels

A substance with LD50 of 10 mg/kg is more toxic than 500 mg/kg, because a smaller dose is needed to cause harm. 

Unit  9- Global Change

9.1- Human Impacts on Biodiversity

→ What are impacts of habitat loss and/or fragmentation?

• Loss of biodiversity, as species lose habitats/recourses

• Disruption of ecosystems, food chains, nutrient cycles

• Increase vulnerability to extinction 

• Reduced genetic diversity, harming species adaptability

→ What are ways humans decrease habitat size or cause habitat fragmentation?

• Urbanization and infrastructure development

• Agriculture and deforestation 

• Mining and resource extraction 

• Pollution

• Dam construction

→ How can you measure biodiversity of an ecosystem?

•  assess species richness of an ecosystem, which is the total number of distinct species within a local community.

  • evenness also needs to be considered

9.4- Increases in the Greenhouse Gases

→ What is the largest source of N2O emissions?

Agriculture:

• specifically synthetic fertilizers: they release nitrous oxide when microbes in the soil break down nitrogen compounds 

• Livestock manure and farming practices like tilling also contributes 

9.5- Global Climate Change

→ What are the main impacts of global climate change (both aquatic and terrestrial)?

heat-trapping greenhouse gases are have widespread effects on the environment: glaciers and ice sheets shrinking, river and lake ice is breaking up earlier, plant and animal geographic ranges are shifting, plants and trees are blooming sooner, longer &  more intense heat waves

9.7- Ocean Acidification

→ What is the impact of CO2 on the pH of oceans?

When CO2 is absorbed by seawater, a series of chemical reactions occur resulting in the increased concentration of hydrogen ions. This increase causes the seawater to become more acidic and the pH decreases

→ What is the impact of temperature on dissolved gases in water?

More gas can dissolve in cold water than in hot water.

→ How can a decrease in pH impact marine organisms?

Ocean acidification can create conditions that eat away at the minerals used by oysters, clams, lobsters, shrimp, coral reefs, and other marine life to build their shells and skeletons.

9.8- Invasive Species

→ What impact do invasive species have on biodiversity?

Through predation, competition for resources like food and water and transmission of diseases, invasive species are causing the decline of native species and disrupting the important interactions that contribute to healthy native ecosystems.

→ What are some possible unintended consequences when invasive species are introduced to ecosystems?

Invasive species can lead to the extinction of native plants and animals, destroy biodiversity, and permanently alter habitats

Unit 1- The Living World: Ecosystems

1.1- Intro to Ecosystems

1.4- The Carbon Cycle

→ What are anthropogenic carbon sources?

Human activities, like the burning of fossil fuels, that cause carbon pollution. The main ones are transportation, industrial sources, and energy production. 

→ What are natural sources of carbon?

Volcanic eruptions, decomposing biomass, naturally occurring wildfires 

→ Which processes sequester carbon?

Photosynthesis: removes CO2 from atmosphere and transforms it into living plant tissue

Soil also captures and stores soil

→ How does the combustion of fossil fuels contribute to an imbalance in the carbon cycle?

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is rapidly rising as a result of burning fossil fuels, contributing to the greenhouse effect and global warming. 

→ What is the role of decomposition in the carbon cycle?

Plants and animals decomposing release carbon into the air, soil and water. Living things capture this liberated carbon to build new life.

1.7- The Water Cycle

→ What are the different processes in the Water Cycle?

evaporation, condensation, precipitation, sublimation, transpiration, runoff, and infiltration

→ Be able to describe how a change in one of the processes could impact others

Increasing temperature results in  more evaporation, which causes  more water in the air so storms can produce more intense rainfall events in some areas.This can cause more rain and flooding – a risk to the environment and human health.

Unit 2- The Living World: Biodiversity

2.1- Intro to Biodiversity

2.2- Ecosystem Services

→ What are ecosystem services (be able to provide examples)?

Ecosystem services are the direct and indirect benefits that ecosystems provide humans. Some examples are climate regulation, water purification, flood control, disease regulation, and pollination

2.7- Ecological Succession

→ What is the difference between primary and secondary succession?

Primary succession: newly exposed or newly formed rock is colonized by living things for the first time

Secondary succession: an area previously occupied by living things is disrupted, and then recolonized following the disturbance.

→ What happens during the different phases of succession?

the mix of species and habitat in an area changes over time. Gradually, these communities replace one another until a “climax community”—like a mature forest—is reached, or until a disturbance, like a fire, occurs.

→ What is a pioneer species?

The first organism to colonize an area. They can withstand harsh environmental conditions with few available resources.

Unit 3- Population

3.2- K-selected and r-selected Species

→ What are K and r-selected species, and examples of each?

K-selected species: typically  larger, live longer, and produce fewer offspring

R-selected species: generally smaller, have shorter lifespans, and produce a larger number of offspring

3.3- Survivorship Curves

→ Be able to determine what type of survivorship curve an organism is most likely to have

Type I survivorship: exhibit high survivorship throughout their life cycle (k-selected) 

Type II survivorship: constant proportion of individuals dying over time. 

Type III survivorship: have very high mortality at young ages (r-selected). 

3.5- Population Growth and Resource Availability

→ What are density-dependent and density-independent factors that control population size?

Density-dependent:  regulation can be affected by factors that affect birth and death rates such as competition and predation. 

Density-independent: regulation can be affected by factors that affect birth and death rates such as abiotic factors and environmental factors (severe weather and conditions such as fire) 

→ What is carrying capacity?

the maximum population that a given area can sustain

→ What is overshoot?

When the demands made on a natural ecosystem exceed its regenerative capacity

3.8- Human Population Dynamics

Unit 4- Earth Systems and Resources

4.2- Soil Formation and Erosion

→ What are some agricultural practices that can lead to soil degradation?

Tilling: The agricultural practice of prepping the soil through digging, stirring, and overturning. Tillage fractures the soil, disrupting soil structure, which accelerates  surface runoff and soil erosion.

Monocropping, livestock overgrazing 

→ What are some agricultural practices that can mitigate soil erosion?

No-till farming 

Crop rotation: different plants have different nutrient needs, so by rotating crops, farmers can reduce the risk of soil-borne diseases and pests that can build up in the soil over time

4.3- Soil Composition and Properties

→ What are ways to decrease the water saturation in soils?

Increasing organic matter and compost in the soil, using mulch, shifting planting dates to when it's less wet. 

Unit 5- Land and Water Use

5.1- Tragedy of the Commons

→ What is the tragedy of the commons?

a situation in which individuals with access to a public resource—also called a common—act in their own interest and, in doing so, ultimately deplete the resource

→ Be able to look at multiple scenarios and determine which is an example of TOC

For example, in fishing, if fishing provides an income, then each fisherman would have his or her own best interest in mind and try to catch as many fish as possible even if all the other fishers are doing the same thing.

5.5- Irrigation Methods

→ Know what the following irrigation methods are as well as their advantages/disadvantages: 

• Drip: allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of plants, either fro[m above the soil surface or buried below the surface. 

  • Saves time, money, and water because the system is so efficient.

  • Requires more frequent maintenance and hard to repair

• Flood: flooding land with water to grow crops

  • Cheaper, deep-watering source, evaporates less than water from sprinklers, requires less frequent watering

  • Least efficient form of irrigation. More water loss from evaporation, infiltration, and runoff

• Furrow: irrigation water is pumped or brought to the fields and is allowed to flow by gravity to transport water 

  • lower initial investment of equipment and lower pumping costs

  • greater labor costs, and lower application efficiency as it's hard for the water to be evenly distributed 

• Spray: uses a network of sprinklers to water 

  • evenly distributes water can protect your crops from pests by including pesticides in the irrigation system, convenient 

  • high operation expenses due to the energy needed for pumping, large investment in equipment, sensitivity to wind, causing evaporation losses.

5.6- Pest Control Methods

5.7- Meat Production Methods

→ What gaseous emissions is livestock production responsible for?

Methane: primary contributor to ground-level ozone, a hazardous air pollutant and greenhouse gas, contributes to warming the environment 

→ What are advantages and disadvantages to CAFOs?

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) are agricultural meat, dairy, or egg facilities where animals are kept and raised in confinement

Advantages: 

• lower production costs than smaller farms

• Can help consumers by lowering prices for produce

• High productivity 

Disadvantages: 

• Animal welfare concerns 

• Large amounts of waste, which may pollute nearby water sources or emit greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change

• Risk of disease outbreaks 

5.8- Impacts of Overfishing

→ What are some fishing practices that can promote the sustainability of fish populations?

• Prevent overfishing.

• Rebuild depleted stocks.

• Minimize bycatch :the unwanted fish and other marine creatures caught during commercial fishing (are often thrown back dead)

• Identify and conserve essential fish habitat.

5.10- Impacts of Urbanization

5.12- Intro to Sustainability

5.13- Methods to Reduce Urban Runoff

→ What are ways to decrease urban runoff?

• Redirect Downspouts

• Use a rain barrel to capture rain from your roof

• Plant more  trees

• install permeable pavement

• green roof

5.15- Sustainable Agriculture

→ What are advantages and disadvantages to GMO crops?

Advantages: added nutrients, fewer pesticides, and cheaper prices. Disadvantages: allergic reactions or increased antibiotic resistance

→ What is terrace farming?

A technique in which steps are carved into mountainous regions to create farmable land.

→ What is monocrop farming? 

The practice of growing a single crop year after year on the same land. Commonly done with corn and wheat. 

→ What is integrated pest management?

Strategy that focuses on long-term prevention of pests or their damage through a combination of techniques such as biological control, habitat manipulation, modification of cultural practices, and use of resistant varieties.

→ What is slash-and-burn agriculture?

A widely used method of growing food in which wild or forested land is clear cut and any remaining vegetation burned. The resulting layer of ash provides the newly-cleared land with a nutrient-rich layer to help fertilize crops.

→ What are some agricultural practices that can lead to the degradation of agricultural land? AND what are some solutions to this?

• Overgrazing: excessive grazing by livestock removes vegetation and exposes soil to erosion

  • Implement rotational grazing to allow vegetation to recover

• Monocropping: growing a single crop repeatedly depletes soil nutrients and increases chance for disease 

  • Alternate crops to restore soil nutrients and reduce pest cycles

• Deforestation: clearing forests results in loss of topsoil and biodiversity

  • Restore forests and replant to improve soil stability and keep water stored 

→ What are some solutions that will allow us to grow MORE food with LESS land? What are advantages/disadvantages to these solutions?

• Vertical farming: growing crops in stacked layers indoors

  • Requires less land, year-round production, seasons dont affect crops

  • High initial costs, energy-intensive, limited crop variety 

• GMOs: genetically modified organisms 

  • Increased productivity, pest resistance, bigger/better crops for consumers

  • Public concern over safety, environmental risks (could be harmful to animals) 

5.17- Sustainable Forestry

→ What are ways to mitigate deforestation? What are the advantages/disadvantages to all methods?

• Reforestation : planting new trees

  • Restores ecosystems, Absorbs co2, improves biodiversity

  • Takes time, requires land/resources 

• Sustainable logging: selective logging and reduced impact methods

  • Preserves forest, maintains ecosystem services

  • Slower timber production, higher costs

• Protective areas: national parks and reserves

Unit  7- Atmospheric Pollution

7.1- Intro to Air Pollution

→ How did the Clean Air Act help reduce air pollution?

(US law that regulated air pollution by setting standards to limit emissions) 

 It set limits on harmful emissions from factories, vehicles, and power plants. It requires industries to use cleaner technologies, reduce pollutants like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, and promote cleaner fuels. This improved air quality, reduced smog, and reduced health problems. 

7.2- Photochemical Smog

→ What must be present in order to create photochemical smog?

Nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) reacting to sunlight

7.4- Atmospheric CO2 and Particulates

7.7- Acid Rain

→ What causes acid rain? 

Acid rain is caused by a chemical reaction that begins when compounds like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are released into the air. These substances can rise very high into the atmosphere, where they mix and react with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form acid rain. 

→ What are some ways to mitigate the impacts of acid rain?

Less fossil fuel use: renewable energy sources help reduce acid rain because they produce much less pollution.

→ What type of environment could neutralize acid rain/lessen its impacts on waterways?

An environment with limestone, as it acts as a natural buffer, neutralizing acidity in rainwater and preventing it from lowering pH of streams, rivers, etc. 

7.8- Noise Pollution

→ How can noise pollution impact humans and animals?

It can scare animals from their habitats, raise stress hormones, alter their feeding behavior, or affect how they care for their young.

For humans: stress related illnesses, high blood pressure, speech interference, hearing loss, sleep disruption, and lost productivity

Unit  8- Aquatic and Terrestrial Pollution

8.4- Human Impacts on Wetlands and Mangroves

→ What are some ecosystem services that wetlands provide?

Protecting and improving water quality, providing fish and wildlife habitats, storing floodwaters, and maintaining surface water flow during dry periods.

8.6- Thermal Pollution

8.12- Lethal Dose 50% (LD50)

→ What is LD50?

Toxicology term that refers to the amount of substance required to kill 50% of a test population. Lower value = more toxic substance 

→ Given multiple LD50s for different substances be able to compare toxicity levels

A substance with LD50 of 10 mg/kg is more toxic than 500 mg/kg, because a smaller dose is needed to cause harm. 

Unit  9- Global Change

9.1- Human Impacts on Biodiversity

→ What are impacts of habitat loss and/or fragmentation?

• Loss of biodiversity, as species lose habitats/recourses

• Disruption of ecosystems, food chains, nutrient cycles

• Increase vulnerability to extinction 

• Reduced genetic diversity, harming species adaptability

→ What are ways humans decrease habitat size or cause habitat fragmentation?

• Urbanization and infrastructure development

• Agriculture and deforestation 

• Mining and resource extraction 

• Pollution

• Dam construction

→ How can you measure biodiversity of an ecosystem?

•  assess species richness of an ecosystem, which is the total number of distinct species within a local community.

  • evenness also needs to be considered

9.4- Increases in the Greenhouse Gases

→ What is the largest source of N2O emissions?

Agriculture:

• specifically synthetic fertilizers: they release nitrous oxide when microbes in the soil break down nitrogen compounds 

• Livestock manure and farming practices like tilling also contributes 

9.5- Global Climate Change

→ What are the main impacts of global climate change (both aquatic and terrestrial)?

heat-trapping greenhouse gases are have widespread effects on the environment: glaciers and ice sheets shrinking, river and lake ice is breaking up earlier, plant and animal geographic ranges are shifting, plants and trees are blooming sooner, longer &  more intense heat waves

9.7- Ocean Acidification

→ What is the impact of CO2 on the pH of oceans?

When CO2 is absorbed by seawater, a series of chemical reactions occur resulting in the increased concentration of hydrogen ions. This increase causes the seawater to become more acidic and the pH decreases

→ What is the impact of temperature on dissolved gases in water?

More gas can dissolve in cold water than in hot water.

→ How can a decrease in pH impact marine organisms?

Ocean acidification can create conditions that eat away at the minerals used by oysters, clams, lobsters, shrimp, coral reefs, and other marine life to build their shells and skeletons.

9.8- Invasive Species

→ What impact do invasive species have on biodiversity?

Through predation, competition for resources like food and water and transmission of diseases, invasive species are causing the decline of native species and disrupting the important interactions that contribute to healthy native ecosystems.

→ What are some possible unintended consequences when invasive species are introduced to ecosystems?

Invasive species can lead to the extinction of native plants and animals, destroy biodiversity, and permanently alter habitats