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101 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What is environmental science? |
The scientific study of how the natural world functions, how it affects us, and how we affect it. |
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How is environmental science interdisciplinary? |
Because it brings techniques, perspectives, and research from multiple different disciplines, such as natural science and social science *(Ethics, ecology, history, oceanography, economics, social justice, engineering, political science, geology, and anthropology) |
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What are ecosystem services? |
Processes that naturally result from the normal functioning of ecological systems and from which human beings draw benefits. Examples include nutrient cycling, air and water purification, climate regulation, pollination, and waste recycling. |
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Why are ecosystems services important? |
The services of a healthy ecosystem clean our water, purify our air, maintain our soil, recycle nutrients, regulate the climate, and provide us with food. |
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Agricultural revolution |
The shift around 10k years ago from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to a science/practice of farming way of life, where people began to grow crops and raise domestic animals. |
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How the Agricultural revolution led to population growth |
It allowed people to produce more food that would meet their nutritional needs, and gave them the chance to have more children. |
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Industrial Revolution |
The shift beginning in the mid-1700s from rural life, animal-powered agriculture, and manufacturing by artisans to an urban-centered society powered by fossil fuels. |
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How the Industrial Revolution led to population growth |
It brought dramatic advances in technology, sanitation, and medicine, as well as enhanced food production through the use of fossil-fuel-powered equipment and synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. |
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What is an ecological footprint? |
A concept that measures the increasing area of biologically productive land and water required to provide the resources a person or population consumes and to dispose of or recycle the waste the person or population produces. |
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What is an overshoot? |
The amount by which humanity’s resource use, as measured by its ecological footprint, has surpassed Earth’s long-term capacity to support human life |
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What is the scientific method? |
A formalized method for testing ideas with observations that involves a more-or-less consistent series of interrelated steps. |
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What is a hypothesis? |
A statement that attempts to explain a phenomenon or answer a scientific question. |
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What is the difference between independent and dependent variables? |
Independent variables are the variables manipulated in an experiment, whereas dependent variables are affected by the independent variable's manipulation. They are dependent on the independent variable. |
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What is the scientific process? |
1. Observe. 2. Question. 3. Form a hypothesis. 4. Prediction. 5. Experiment. 6. Report results. 7. Write a scientific paper 8. If paper is accepted after peer review, public it in a scientific journal 9. Further research by scientific community |
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Manipulative v. Natural experiments |
A manipulative experiment is one in which the researcher actively chooses and manipulates the independent variable, whereas a natural experiment is an empirical study in which individuals (or clusters of individuals) are exposed to the experimental and control conditions that are determined by nature or by other factors outside the control of the investigators |
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What is a scientific theory? |
A widely accepted, well tested explanation of one or more cause-and-effect relationships that has been extensively validated by a great amount of research. |
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How can a scientific theory lead to a paradigm shift? |
By causing people to change their world view, such as the discovery that the Earth is round. |
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What is sustainability and why is it important? |
A guiding principle of environmental science entailing conserving resources, maintaining functional ecological systems, and developing long-term solutions such that Earth can sustain our civilization and all life for the future. It's important because it will help us ensure that future generations will live just as well, if not better than we have. |
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What is a species? |
A population or group of populations of a particular type of organism whose members uniquely share certain characteristics and can breed freely with one another and produce fertile offspring. |
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What is natural selection? |
A process where traits that help an organism survive and further breed within their environment are passed down to future generations more than those that are not. Natural selection is a primary driver of evolution. |
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What is artificial selection? |
Natural selection conducted under human direction. Examples include the selective breeding of crop plants, pets, and livestock. |
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What are the three requirements for natural selection? |
The struggle for existence, variation, and inheritance. |
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How did natural selection result in many species of birds withdifferent beak sizes |
The difference in environment required different traits to survive and further reproduce, such as eating different kinds of food, thus giving different species of birds different beak sizes |
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Why is understanding evolution important? |
Because it is the very foundation of modern biology. |
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How does speciation happen? |
When a mutation arises in the DNA of an organism in newly isolated population(s), making it unable to spread to the other populations. Over time, each population will independently accumulate its own set of mutations. The populations thereby diverge and may eventually become so different that their members can no longer mate with one another and produce viable offspring. |
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Allopatric speciation |
Physical separation of populations over a large geographic distance |
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Why are some endemic species vulnerable to extinction? |
Because when some event influences their region, it may affect all members of the species. |
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How is the current extinction rate different from background extinction rates |
Current extinction rates are 1,000 times higher than natural background rates of extinction |
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What is a niche? |
The functional role of a species in a community |
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What is the difference between a specialist and a generalist? |
A specialist is a species that can survive only in a narrow range of habitats or that depends on very specific resources, whereas a generalist is a species that can survive across a wide array of habitats or that can use a wide array of resources |
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What impacts population growth rate? |
Birth rate, death rate, immigration rate, and emigration rate. (Birth rate - death rate) + (immigration rate - emigration rate) = population growth rate |
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Exponential growth |
The increase of a population (or of anything) by a fixed percentage each year. This results in a J-shaped curve on a graph. |
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Limiting factor |
A physical, chemical, or biological characteristic of the environment that restrains population growth |
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Carrying capacity |
The maximum population size of a given organism that a given environment can sustain |
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Density dependent vs density independent factors affecting population size |
Density-dependent is the condition of a limiting factor whose effects on a population become stronger or weaker depending on the population density, where as density-independent is the condition of a limiting factor whose effects on a population are independent of (not affected by) population density. |
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What is a feedback loop? |
A circular process in which a system's input serves as the output for the same system |
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What is the difference between a positive feedback loop and a negative feedback loop? |
In a positive feedback loop, an input that acts as an output drives the system forward. In a negative feedback look, the output and input move the system in the opposite direction and effectively neutralize it. |
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Is a positive feedback loop better than a negative feedback loop? |
No. Negative feedback loops are the best kinds of feedback because they stabilize a system. |
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What is eutrophication? |
Bacteria deplete oxygen from water through respiration, causing other organisms to leave or suffocate. |
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What is a runoff? |
The water from precipitation (the process of water coming down in the form of crystals) that flows into rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, and in many cases, eventually the ocean. |
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What are the impacts of a runoff? |
Runoff can cause excess nitrogen to enter waterways, causing eutrophication |
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What is the significance of nutrients in high amounts? |
The arrival of a large amount of nutrients can cause an overpopulation of pythoplankton, which leads to a high mortality rate because of the high population density. |
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What is hypoxia? |
The condition of extremely low dissolved oxygen concentrations in a body of water |
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What results from hypoxia? |
Bodies of water that are hypoxic are referred to as dead zones because they go through eutrophication. |
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What is primary production? |
The conversion of solar energy into chemical bonds in sugars during photosynthesis, performed by autotrophs |
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What is gross primary production? |
The energy that results when autotrophs convert solar energy to energy of chemical bonds in sugars through photosynthesis. Autotrophs use a portion of this production to power their own metabolism, which entails oxidizing organic compounds by cellular respiration |
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What is net primary production? |
The energy or biomass that remains in an ecosystem after autotrophs have metabolized enough for their own maintenance through cellular respiration. Net primary production is the energy or biomass available for consumption by heterotrophs. |
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What are the differences between primary, gross primary, and net primary productions? |
Primary production is the conversion of solar energy to sugars, gross primary production is the energy that results from it, and net primary production is the energy/biomass available for consumption by heterotrophs. |
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Why do ecosystems have different levels of productivity? |
Because not all ecosystems have plants that convert solar energy to biomass rapidly. Freshwater wetlands, tropical forests, coral reefs, and algal beds tend to have the highest net primary productivities, whereas deserts, tundra, and open ocean tend to have the lowest. |
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Habitat |
A specific environment in which an organism lives, whether it is living or nonliving. |
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What is an environmental system? |
Networks of relationships including the atmosphere (air), biosphere (living organisms), hydrosphere (water), cryosphere (ice), pedosphere (soil), and the lithosphere (rock) |
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How does energy flow through ecosystems? |
Energy flows in one direction from the sun to the plants (photosynthesis), when the plants are eaten by animals or by bugs, when animals and/or bugs are eaten by other animals, and when chemical energy is metabolized and released as heat in a one-way flow back into the system. |
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How does matter flow through an ecosystem? |
Matter doesn't so much as flow as it does recycle in ecosystems. Chemical nutrients are recycled because when an organisms dies and decays, the matter that comprises their body remains in the system. |
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How are nitrogen and phosphorus limiting nutrients? |
Photosynthetic organisms need nitrogen and phosphorus to grow, but they struggle for it because there isn't as much of it as water, sunlight, and carbon dioxide, therefor nitrogen and phosphorus limit the growth of photosynthetic organisms. |
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What is a biogeochemical cycle? (Aka nutrient cycle) |
The comprehensive set of cyclical pathway by which a given nutrient moves through an environment. |
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What is the difference between a source and a sink? |
A sink and a source are both reservoirs that accept and release energy. While a sink accepts more energy than it releases, a source releases more energy than it accepts. |
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Hydrologic cycle |
The flow of water-in liquid, gaseous, and solid forms-through our biotic and abiotic environment. |
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Evaporation |
The conversion of a substance from a liquid to a gaseous form |
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Transpiration |
The release of water vapor by plants through their leaves |
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Precipitation |
Water that condenses out of the atmosphere and falls to Earth in droplets or crystals |
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Carbon cycle |
A major nutrient cycle consisting of the routes that carbon atoms take through the nested networks of environmental systems |
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Reservoir |
(1) An artificial body of water behind a dam that stores water for human use. (2) A location in which nutrients in a biogeochemical cycle remain for a period of time before moving to another reservoir. |
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Carbon Cycle |
A major nutrient cycle consisting of the routes that carbon atoms take through the nested networks of environmental systems. |
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How does carbon cycle through the environment? |
Photosynthesis (when plants pull carbon out of the air and surface water), respiration (when plants release it back as CO2), food webs (plants being eaten by primary consumers, which are then eaten by other animals), and volcanism |
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Why is the carbon cycle significant to climate change? |
Carbon in recent times has been moved from the lithosphere to the atmosphere through the practice of mining fuel, using oil, coal, and combusting fossil fuels. |
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The nitrogen cycle |
A major nutrient cycle consisting of the routes that nitrogen atoms take through the nested networks of environmental systems |
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How does nitrogen cycle through the environment? |
Through lightning, highly specialized bacteria, and human intervention. |
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Nitrogen Fixation |
The process by which inert nitrogen gas combines with hydrogen to form ammonium ions, which are chemically and biologically active and can be taken up by plants. This process can come about through the intense energy of lightning strikes, or when the nitrogen in the air comes into contact with particular types of nitrogen-fixing bacteria. It is important because it is apart of the nitrogen cycle. |
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Nitrogen-fixing bacteria |
Bacteria that live independently in the soil or water, or those that form mutualistic relationships with many types of plants and provide nutrients to the plants by converting gaseous nitrogen to a usable form. It is important because it is apart of the nitrogen cycle. |
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Haber-Bosch process |
A process to synthesize ammonia on an industrial scale. Developed by German chemists Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch, the process has enabled humans to double the natural rate of nitrogen fixation on Earth and thereby increase agricultural productivity, but it has also dramatically altered the nitrogen cycle |
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What are the implications of the Haber-Bosch process on the population? |
That altering the nitrogen cycle is fine for increasing agricultural productivity |
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Why is Costa Rica's PSA program so successful? |
Because it resulted in the regaining of forested areas on the country, and it knew that doing so would benefit the entirety of their environment, including humans, mainly for the rainforest's ecosystems |
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How do culture and worldview affect our choices about the environment? |
Because many factors, such as the view of proper government or religious beliefs, can affect our overall judgement. |
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Environmental Ethics |
The application of ethical standards to environmental questions and to relationships between people and nonhuman entities |
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Relativist |
An ethicist who maintains that ethics do and should vary with social context. |
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Universalist |
An ethicist who maintains that there exist objective notions of right and wrong that hold across cultures and situations. |
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Anthropocentrism |
A human-centered view of our relationship with the environment; nonhuman things are given little to no intrinsic value. |
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Biocentrism |
A philosophy that ascribes relative values to actions, entities, or properties on the basis of their effects on all living things or on the integrity of the biotic realm in general. The biocentrist evaluates on action in terms of its overall impact on living things, including-but not exclusively focusing on-human beings. |
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Ecocentrism |
A philosophy that considers actions in terms of their damage or benefit to the integrity of whole ecological systems, including both living and nonliving elements. For an ecocentrist, the well-being of an individual is less important than the long-term well-being of a larger integrated ecological system |
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Instrumental value vs intrinsic value |
Instrumental value is the value ascribed to something for the pragmatic benefits it brings us, whereas intrinsic value is value ascribed to something for its intrinsic worth; the notion that the thing has a right to exist and is valuable for its own sake. |
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Environmental Justice |
The fair and equitable treatment of all people with respect to environmental policy and practice, regardless of their income, race, or ethnicity. |
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Classical economics |
Founded by Adam Smith, the study of the behavior of buyers and sellers in a capitalist market economy |
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Neoclassical Economics |
A mainstream economic school of thought that explains market prices in terms of consumer preferences for units of particular commodities and that uses cost-benefit analysis. |
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Supply vs Demand |
Supply is the amount of a product offered for sale at a given price, and demand is the amount of a product people will buy at a given price if free to do so. |
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Consequences of neoclassical economics |
Ecosystem services and goods are treated as endless and abundant and the market imposes no penalty for depleting them, external costs (a person paying the cost tho they were not involved in the transaction), and discounting. |
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External costs |
A cost borne by someone not involved in an economic transaction |
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Discounting |
A practice in neoclassical economics by which short-term costs and benefits are granted more importance than long-term costs and benefits. |
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Economic growth |
An increase in an economy’s activity-that is, an increase in the production and consumption of goods and services |
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Environmental economics |
A school of economics that modifies the principles of neoclassical economics to address environmental challenges. |
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What is the difficulty of assigning monetary value to nonmarket values |
Because we do not generally pay money for something like looking at a beautiful landscape, its value is hard to quantify and appears in no traditional measure of economic worth. |
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Greenwashing |
A public relations effort by a corporation or institution to mislead customers or the public into thinking it is acting more sustainably than it actually is. |
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Sustainable Development |
Development that satisfies our current needs without compromising the future availability of natural capital or our future quality of life. Sustainable development is an economic pursuit shaped by policy and informed by science. It is also an ethical pursuit because it asks us to manage our resource use so that future generations can enjoy similar access to resources. |
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Triple Bottom Line |
An approach to sustainability that attempts to meet environmental, economic, and social goals simultaneously |
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Process of Eutrophication |
Fertilizer used in plants; when it rains the nitrogen and phosphorous in the plants get taken into other bodies of water; algae and pythoplankton start to over populate because nitrogen and phospherous, their food, are now raining down on them; bacteria starts feasting on the dead algae, breathing in the oxygen in the water as they feast and grow, which results in hypoxia; |
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Ecosystem |
A community that consists of all organisms, living or nonliving, that interact with each other |
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Ecological systems |
Communities that only consist of living organisms |
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aquifer |
a pool of water underground |
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residence time |
the time a material stays in one reservoir until it moves on to another |
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What is the largest reservoir for carbon? |
Sedimentary rock, which includes fossil fuels. |
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What is the main problem the Chesapeake bay is experiencing? |
Nutrient enrichment: increases in nitrogen and phosphorus as a result of industry and agricultural polution, which soon leads to hypoxia and eutrophication. |
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Costa Rica's Rainforests' main ecosystems |
cleaning of water, richness in biodiversity, scenic beauty which attracted ecotourists, and carbon sequestration |
