Chapter 2: Frameworks For Understanding Apes

Front 1

Science

Back 1

a process for producing knowledge methodically and logically.

Front 2

Scientific method

Back 2

Identify question, form testable hypothesis, collect data to test hypothesis, interpret results, report to peer review, publish findings

Front 3

reproducibility

Back 3

being able to produce the same result consistently to be sure that your first outcome wasn't a fluke.

Front 4

replication

Back 4

repeating studies or test (not necessarily your own study, but someone elses)

Front 5

significant number

Back 5

a level of detail you actually know

Front 6

deductive reasoning

Back 6

from general to specific

Front 7

inductive reasoning

Back 7

reasoning from many observations to produce a general rule (from specific to general)

Front 8

hypothesis

Back 8

a testable explanation

Front 9

a scientific theory

Back 9

when an explanation has been supported by a large number of tests, and when a majority of experts have reached a general consensus that it is a reliable description or explanation then it is called a scientific theory

Front 10

probability

Back 10

a measure of how likely something is to occur

Front 11

What happens when a population (human or other) exceeds its resources?

Back 11

decrease in population, competition, anarchy, changes in behavior, migration, adapt, extinctions, and **massive environmental degradation (air, water, soil)**

Front 12

sustainable population growth and resource use

Back 12

sustain the needs of society without depletin or degrading its natural resources and thereby preventing current and future generations from not meeting their basic needs

Front 13

natural experiment

Back 13

an experiment that involves observation of events that have already happened

Front 14

manipulative experiment

Back 14

conditions are deliberately altered, and all other variables are held constant (usually in the laboratory)

Front 15

blind experiment

Back 15

to avoid experimenter bias; the researcher doesnt know which group is treated until after the data has been analyzed.

Front 16

double-blind experiment

Back 16

neither the subject (who receives the drug or placebo) nor the researcher knows who is in the treatment group and who is in the control group

Front 17

dependent/independent variables

Back 17

dependent is affected by the independent variables

Front 18

model

Back 18

a simple representation of something (usually numerical, or physical. there are often simulation models used as well)

Front 19

scientific consensus

Back 19

general agreement among informed scholars

Front 20

paradigm shifts

Back 20

occurs when a majority of scientists accept that the old explanation of something no longer explains new observations very well (Thomas Kuhn)

Front 21

pseudoscience - how do you decide which science is "sound" and which is unnecessary?

Back 21

usually political/economical debates over how money is spent on scientific research (Bush scandal)

Front 22

environmental science vs. environmentalism

Back 22

enviro sci = the use of scientific methods to study processes and systems in the environment ini which we live. environmentalism = working to influence attitudes and policies that affect our environment

Front 23

systems

Back 23

networks of interactions among many interdependent factors (ex: an ecosystem) -extremely complex

Front 24

System example: A fish tank.
Explain the components

Back 24

Plants grow using sunlight. As they grow, they store the solar energy and carbon (from CO2 dissolved in water) in their leaves. A fish grazes on the plant, taking energy and nutrients from the leaves. Waste from the fish fertilizes algae growing on the sides of the tank. A snail consumes the algae. the waste from the snail and the fish fertilizes the plants..which feed the fish...etc.

Front 25

positive feedback loop

Back 25

A feedback loop that, acting alone, will tend to enhance or augment any small change in any of the quantities in the feedback loop. Common expressions referring to a positive feedback loop include: vicious cycle, snowballing, or run-away situation.

fish tank example:
the plants grow faster than the fish can eat them, and if there is enough sunlight...the plants grow new stems, which grow more leaves..and eventually clog the tank with vegetation.

Front 26

negative feedback loop

Back 26

A feedback loop that, acting alone, will tend to conteract or resist any small change in any of the quantities in the feedback loop. Negative feedback loops are commonly associated with steady, constant, equilibrium situations that tend to resist change.

fish tank example:
fish reproduce after feeding on the plants..which leads to more fish, which graze more heavily. eventually..less food will be around, and reproduction will fail.

Front 27

equilibrium

Back 27

the system changes little over time, (ex the rate of flows or the relative size of storage compartments dont change)

dynamic equilibrium - the system undergoes disturbance but then returns to something similar to their previous state.

Front 28

disturbances

Back 28

periodic, destructive events (fire, floods) that are a natural part of systems

Front 29

resilience

Back 29

when systems recover quickly from disturbance (ex: floodplain, prairies, or lodgepole pine ecosystems)

Front 30

closed system

Back 30

entirely self-contained, in theory

Front 31

open system

Back 31

systems that take inputs from elsewhere.

Front 32

emergent properties

Back 32

characteristics of a whole, functioning system that are quantitatively or qualitatively greater than the sum of the system's parts.

ex: you. you are a system consisting of flows and compartments (store water, nutrients) but you are also able to sing, dance, talk, etc. these are the properties that emerge because you function well as a system

Front 33

ethics

environmental ethics

Back 33

a branch of philosophy concerned with what actions are right and wrong.

environmental ethics has to do with our moral obligations to the world around us.

Front 34

anthropocentric

Back 34

a view that sees the world with a focus on people and their needs

Front 35

utilitarian

Back 35

nature is provided for our use (gifford pincot, first head of the US forest service)

Front 36

biocentric

Back 36

believing that all living things have the right to exist

Front 37

preservationist

Back 37

usually concerned with natural resources- saying that some parts of nature should be preserved for their own sake, not consumed as resources.

Front 38

moral extensionism

Back 38

extending moral values to others

Front 39

inherent value

Back 39

an intrinsic or innate worth.

humans believe they have inherent value simply because they are human. they deserve moral consideration no matter who they are or what they do

Front 40

instrumental value

Back 40

tools that are worth something, only because they are valued by someone who matters