Ap-Environmental Exam 1

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Sustainability

Back 1

Ability of earth's various systems, including human cultural systems and economies, to survive and adapt to changing environmental conditions indefinitely.

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Natural Capital

Back 2

Natural resources and natural services that keep us and other species alive and support our economies.

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Ecological Footprint

Back 3

Amount of biologically productive land and water needed to supply a population with the renewable resources it uses and to absorb or dispose of the wastes from such resource use. It is a measure of the average environmental impact of populations in different countries and areas.

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Earth Equivalent

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Logistic Growth

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Pattern in which the exponential population growth occurs when the population is small, and population growth decreases steadily with time as the population approaches the carrying capacity.

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Exponential Growth

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Growth in which some quantity, such as population size or economic output, increases at a constant rate per unit of time. An example is the sequence 2, 4, 8, 16,31,64, and so on which increases by 100% at each interval. When the increase in quantity over time is plotted, this type of growth yields a curve shape like the letter J.

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Autotroph/Producers

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Organism that uses solar energy (green plants) or chemical energy (some bacteria) to manufacture the organic compound needs as nutrients from simple inorganic compounds obtained from it environment.

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Heterotroph/Consumer

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Organism that cannot synthesis the organic nutrients it needs and gets its organic nutrients by feeding on the tissues of producers or of other consumers; generally divided into primary consumers (herbivores), secondary consumers (carnivores), tertiary (higher level) consumers, omnivores, and detritivores (decomposers and detritus feeders).

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Decomposers

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Organism that digests parts of dead organisms and cast-off fragments and wastes of livin gorgainism by breaking down the complex organic molecules in those materials into simpler inorganic compounds and then absorbing the soluble nutrients. Producers return most of these chemicals to the soil and the water for reuse. Decomposers consist of various bacteria and fungi

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Detritivore

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Consumer organism that feeds on detritus, parts of dead organism, and cast-off fragments and wastes of living organism. Examples include earthworms, termites, and crabs.

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Food Web

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Complex network of many interconnected food chains and feeding relationships.

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Ecosystem

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One or more communities of different species interacting with one another and with the chemical and physical factors making up their nonliving environment.

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Biome

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Terrestrial regions inhabited by certain types of life, especially vegetation. Examples include various types of deserts, grasslands, and forests.

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Ecotone

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Ecoregion

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Biological Species Concept

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Natural Selection

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Process by which a particular beneficial gene (or set of genes) is reproduced in succeeding generations more than other genes. The result of natural selection is a population that contains a greater proportion of organism better adapted to certain environmental conditions.

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Artificial Selection

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Process by which humans select one or more desirable genetic traits in the population of a plant or animal species and then use selective breeding to produce populations containing many individuals with the desired traits.

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Genetic Diversity

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Variability in the genetic gene into an organism to give it a beneficial genetic trait.

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Biological Diversity

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Variety of different species (species diversity), genetic variability among individuals within each species (genetic diversity), variety of ecosystems (ecological diversity), and functions such as energy flow and matter cycling needed for the survival of species and biological communities.

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Germplasm

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Greenhouse Effect

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Natural effect that releases heat in the atmosphere (troposphere) near the earth's surface. Water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone, and other gases in the lower atmosphere (troposphere) absorb some of the infrared radiation (heat) radiated by the earth's surface. Their molecules vibrate and transform the absorbed energy into longer-wavelength infrared radiation (heat) in the troposphere. If the atmospheric concentrations of these greenhouse gases increase and other natural processes do not remove them, the average temperature of the lower atmosphere will increase gradually.

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Greenhouse Gases

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Gases in the earth's lower atmosphere (troposphere) that cause the greenhouse effect. Examples include carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, ozone, methane, water vapor, and nitrous oxide.

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Superfund

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Weather

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Short-term changes in the temperature, barometric pressure, humidity precipitation, sunshine, cloud cover, wind direction and speed, and other condition in the troposphere at a given place and time.

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Climate

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Physical properties of the troposphere of an area based on the analysis of its weather records over a long period (at least 30 years). The two main factors determining an area's climate are its average temperature, with its seasonal variations, and the average amount and distribution of precipitation.

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Climate Change

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Atmosphere

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Whole mass of air surrounding the earth.

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Troposphere

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Innermost layer of the atmosphere. It contains about 75% of the mass of earth's air and extends about 17 kilometers (11 miles) above sea level.

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Stratosphere

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Second layer of the atmosphere, extending about 17-48 kilometers (11-30 miles) above the earth's surface. It contains small amounts of gaseous ozone (O3), which filters out about 95% of the incoming harmful ultraviolet radiation emitted by the sun.

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Mesosphere

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Thermosphere

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Exosphere

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Ozone

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Colorless and highly reactive gas and a major component of photochemical smog. Also found in the ozone layer in the stratosphere.

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Ozone Layer

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Layer of gaseous ozone (O3) in the stratosphere that protects life on earth by filtering out most harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

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CFC, chlorofluorocarbons

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Organic compounds made up of atoms of carbon, chlorine, and fluorine. An example is Freon-12 (CCl2F2), which is used as a refrigerant in refrigerators and air conditioners and in making plastics such as Styrofoam. Gaseous CFCs can deplete the ozone layer when they slowly rise into the stratosphere and their chlorine atoms react with ozone molecules. Their use is being phased out.

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3 Types of Deserts

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3 Types of Grasslands

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3 Types of Forests

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Aquatic Systems

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Marine Systems

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Human Impacts on Marine System