Bio Exam 1

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Environment

Back 1

Everything around us, living and non-living, with which we interact.

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Environmental science

Back 2

Interdisciplinary study of how humans interact with the living and non-living parts of their environment

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Three goals of environmental science

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1) Learn how nature works
2) Understand how we interact with the environment
3) find ways to deal with environmental problems and live more sustainably

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ecology

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biological science of how oransims interact with one another and the environment

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species

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group of organisms that have smiliar characteristics

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ecosystem

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set of organisms within a defined area interacting with one another and environment

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environmentalism

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social movement dedicated to protecting the earth's life-support systems for all forms of life.

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3 principals of sustainability

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1)reliance on solar energy
2)Biodiversity
3)chemical cycling (nutrient cycling)

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natural resources

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materials and energy in nature that are essential or useful to humans (renewable and non-renewable)

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Natural services

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processes in nature that support life and human economies (purification of air and water)

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nutrient cycling

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a vital natural service

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topsoil

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the upper layer of any soil in which plants can grow

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2 principals of sustainability

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1) nutrient cycling
2) Recognizing humans can Degrade natural capital (by using renewable resources faster than they can be restored by nature)
3) Solution

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resource

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anything obtained from the environment to meet or needs and wants

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perpetual resource

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continuous supply, such as the sun

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renewable resource

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Forrests, grasslands, fish population.
Takes nature anywhere from days to hudrends of years to replenish, as long as resources aren't used faster than can be renewed/

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Nonrenewable resources

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"Stock" in earth's cryst. energy resources like coal and oil, metallic mineral resources such as copperalumiinum, nonmetallic mineral resources such as salt and sand.

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reuse

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using a resoource over and over in the same form.

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recycling

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collecting waste materials and processing them into new materials.

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econominc growth

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increase in nation's output of goods and services

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gorss domestic product (GDP)

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annual maket value of all goods and services produced by all business operating withing a country.

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per capita GDP

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GDP divided by the total population at midyear.

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economic development

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the goal od using economic growth to imporve living standards

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environmental degredation
(natural capital degredation)

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entire process of living unsustainably by wasting, depleting, and degrading the earth's natural capital at an accelerating rate

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pollution

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any presence withing the environment of a chemical of other agent such as noise or heat at a level that is harmful to the health, survival, or activites of humans or other organisms.

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point sources

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single, identifiable sourves of
pollutants
(coal-burning smokestack, factory drainpipe)

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non-point sources

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Dispersed and difficultly identifiable pollutants.
(pesticides blown from air, fertilizer runoff)

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biodegradable pollutants

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harmful materials that natural proesses can break down over time (human sweage, newspapers)

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nondegradable pollutants

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harmful chemial that natural proccesses cannot break down (toxic chemicals such as lead, mercury, and arsenic)

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3 unwanted effects from pollutants

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1) disrupt or degrade life-support systems from humans and other species
2)can damage wildlife, humans health, and property,
3) can create nuisances such as noise and unpleasant smells, tastes, and sights.

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pollution cleanup
(output pollutiont control)

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involves cleaning or diluting pollutants after we have produced them

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pollution prevention
(input pollution control)

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reduces or eliminates the production ofpollutants.

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3 types of property or resource rights

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1) private property
2) common property
3) open-access renewable resources

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ecological footprint

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amount of biologically productive land and water needed to provide the people in a particular country or area with an indefinite supply of renewable resourcs and to absorb and recycle the wastes and pollution produced by such resource use.

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per capita ecological footprint

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average ecological footprint of an individual in a given country or area

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percentage of earth's ecological capacity

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Exceeds sustainability by 30%
88% in high-income countries (such as US)

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time delay

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the time between the unsustainable use of renewable resources and the resulting harmful environmental effects.

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ecological tipping point

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further change can cause an often irreversible shit in the behavior of a natural system

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ecological tipping points we face today

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1) collapse of certain fish populations (overfishing)
2) prematrue extinction of many species (overhunting or habitat reducing
3) long-term climate disruptiong (human-generated emiisions casing atmospheric warming)

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culture

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The whole of a society's knowledge, beliefs, technology, and practices.

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3 major cultural changes since hunter-gatherer society

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1) agricultural revolutiong (10-12,000 yrs ago)
2) industrial-medical revolution (275 yrs ago)
3) information-globalization revolution (50 yrs ago)

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sustainability revolution

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4gh major cultural change environmental scientists call for.

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major cause of pollution, environmental degredation, and other environmental problems

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1)population growth
2) wasteful and unstustainable resources
3) poverty
4) failure to include harmful environmental costs of producing and using goods and services

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exponential growth

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a quantity such and the human population increases at a fixes percentage per unit of time (2% a year)

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affluence

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wealth that rseults in high levels of consumption and the unnecessary waste of resouces

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poverty

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occurs when people are occurs when people are unable to fulfill thier basic needs for adequate food, water, shelter, health, and education

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environmental worldview

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your set of assumptions and values that reflect how you think the world works and what yu think your role in the world should be.

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environmental ethics

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beliefs about what is right and wrong with how we treat the environment

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planetary management worldview

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we are separate from and in charge of nature. Nature exists to meet our needs and increasing wants indefinitely.

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stewardship worlview

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we can and should manage the earth for our benefit, but still have an ethical responsibilty to care for it

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environmental wisdon worldview

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we are part of and depend on nature, which exits for all species. our success depends on learning how life on earth sustains itself.

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scientific hypothesis

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possible explanation of what they observe that they can test

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order of a scientific process

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1) Identify a problem
2) find out what is known about the problem
3) Ask a question to be investigated
4) Perform an experiment to answer the question
5) analyze data
6) propose a hypothesis
7) use hypothesis to make testable projections
8) perform experiment to test projections
9) accept hyp. OR revise hyp.
10) scientific theory OR make ttestable projections and test projections

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scientific law or law of nature

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well-tested and widely accepted description of what we find happening repeatedly in nature in the same way. (law of gravity)

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tentative science (frontier science)

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controversial scientific results because they have not been widely tested and accepted by peer review

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reliable science

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consisits of data, hypotheses, models, theories, and laws that are widely accepted by all or most of expert scientists