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73 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Any precipitation that does not evaporate, flow into waterways, or get taken up by organisms.
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Groundwater
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Porous sponge-like formations of rock, sand, or gravel that hold groundwater .
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Aquifer
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Bodies of open, standing water.
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Lake or Pond
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An area that extends along the entire bottom of a water body.
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Benthic zone
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Ecosystems that combine elements of freshwater and dry land.
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Wetlands
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Long, raised mounds of earth to control the flow of water.
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Levee
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The removal of salt from seawater or other water of marginal quality.
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Desalinization
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The release of matter or energy into the environment that causes undesirable impacts on the health of living organisms.
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Pollution
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Well-lighted top layer of marine water body that supports high primary production.
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Photic zone
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Water with few dissolved salts.
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Freshwater
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Environmental contaminants that mimic hormones in animals and are associated with some pesticides and synthetic chemicals.
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Endocrine Disruptors
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Toxicants concentrate in top predators.
- Near extinction of peregrine falcons, bald eagles, and brown pelicans. |
Biomagnification
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Best defined as substances that cause birth defects.
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Teratogens
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Why may carcinogens be difficult to identify?
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There is a long lag time between exposure to the agent and the appearance of cancer.
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An estrogen (hormone) mimic that is used in plastic manufacturing.
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Bisphenol-A
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Transport of airborne toxicants, a specific problem in agricultural environments, is called what?
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Toxic drift
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Why are aquatic animals such as fish and frogs especially good indicators of environmental toxins?
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Most chemicals are water soluble so they enter the animals through skin, drinking or eggs.
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Interactive impacts that are more than or different from the simple sum of their constituent effects.
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Synergistic effects
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Why are the effects of toxicants on fetuses and young children greater?
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Is greater because of their rapid growth and smaller mass.
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What are four reasons why the prevalence of many diseases is increasing?
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- Increased resistance to antibiotics.
- Habitat alteration that affects the abundance, distribution, and movement of disease vectors. - Increased mobility of human populations. - Warmer winter temperatures due to climate change. |
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What is the effect of acid rain?
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Leach nutrients from the topsoil, removing availability to plants.
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Which layer of the atmosphere is the bottommost layer closest to the ground and contains ¾ of the atmosphere’s mass?
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Troposphere
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What are two effects of the 'Brown Cloud of Asia'?
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- It has reduced the effect of global warming because it blocks sunlight.
- It causes widespread health problems in populations. |
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What is one reason that coral reefs are in decline?
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Increased atmospheric carbon dioxide is resulting in a decline in marine calcium carbonate.
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What are considered criteria pollutant by the U.S. environmental protection agency?
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Carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide.
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What is the most common gas in the atmosphere?
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Nitrogen
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What is the result of industrial smog?
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Combustion of coal or oil.
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The great ocean conveyor has what effect on the world?
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It carries warm ocean water from the tropics to Europe resulting in a warmer climate.
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Where is ozone that blocks UV radiation from reaching the surface of the earth found?
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Stratosphere
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What is a stable layer of cool air that occurs under a layer of warm air and often traps pollutants near the ground called?
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Thermal inversion
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A sickness produced by indoor pollution due to unspecified causes.
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Sick building syndrome
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Carbon containing chemicals emitted by vehicle engines and industrial processes
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Volatile organic compounds
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What does the phrase ‘fishing down the food chain’ refers to?
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A shift from large, desirable fish species to smaller, less desirable ones due to scarcity.
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What are two indoor air pollutants?
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- Carbon monoxide
- Radon |
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Are directly harmful and can react to form harmful substances.
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Primary pollutants
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Assesses environmental factors that influence human health and quality of life.
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Environmental health
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What are the 4 major types of environmental hazards?
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- Physical
- Chemical - Biological - Cultural |
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Occur naturally in our environment.
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Physical hazard
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Synthetic chemicals such as pesticides, disinfectants, pharmaceuticals.
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Chemical hazards
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Result from ecological interactions from viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens.
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Biological hazards
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Other species parasitize humans, fulfilling their ecological roles.
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Infectious (communicable, ortransmissible)disease
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Result from the place we live, our socioeconomic status, our occupation, our behavioral choices
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Cultural (lifestyle) hazards
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An organism that transfers pathogens to a host.
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Vector
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What are four reasons why diseases increasing?
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- Our mobility spreads diseases.
- Some diseases are evolving resistance to antibiotics. - Climate change will expand the range of diseases. - Habitat alteration affects the abundance, distribution, and movement of disease vectors. |
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A highly toxic, colorless, undetectable radioactive gas.
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Radon
- Builds up in basements - Can cause lung cancer |
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Damages organs, learning problems, behavior abnormalities, death and are from lead pipes and paint.
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Lead poisoning
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Insulates against heat, cold, sounds, and fire
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Asbestos
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Scarred lungs don’t function.
- Also causes a type of lung cancer. |
Asbestosis
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Has fire-retardant properties.
- Used in computers, televisions, plastics, and furniture. - The European Union banned them in 2003. - U.S. EPA published project plan of assessment Dec 2008 |
Polybrominateddiphenylethers (PBDEs)
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The study of the effects of poisonous substances on humans and other organisms
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Toxicology
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The degree of harm a chemical substance can cause.
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Toxicity.
- “The dose makes the poison”: toxicity depends on the combined effect of the chemical and its quantity. |
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Any toxic or poisonous agent
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Toxicant.
- During the past century, we have produced many new chemicals. |
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What is environmental toxicology and what does it focus on?
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- Deals with toxic substances that come from or are discharged into the environment.
- Focuses mainly on humans, using other animals as test subjects. |
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What four things have chemicals contributed to our high standards of living?
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- Food
- Medicine - Materials - Convenience |
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Began public debate over chemicals.
- Published in 1962 by Rachel Carson. |
Silent Spring
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This book by Theo Colburn shocked many readers by talking about how synthetic chemicals may be altering hormones.
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Our Stolen Future
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What may contribute to the shocking drop in men’s sperm counts?
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Endocrine disruptors
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Toxicants build up in animal tissues.
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Bioaccumulation
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Large-scale comparisons between groups of people.
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Epidemiological studies
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Measures how much effect a toxicant produces at different doses.
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Dose-response analysis
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The amount of toxicant required to kill (affect) 50% of the study animals used.
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LD50/ED50
- A high LD50/ED50 indicates low toxicity |
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High exposure for short periods of time to a hazard.
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Acute Exposure
- Easy to recognize - Stem from discrete events: ingestion, oil spills, nuclear accident. |
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Low exposure for long periods of time to a hazard.
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Chronic exposure
- More common but harder to detect and diagnose - Affects organs gradually: lung cancer, liver damage - Cause and effect may not be easily apparent. |
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Interactive impacts that are more than or different from the simple sum of their constituent effects.
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Synergistic effects
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A smaller river slowing into a larger one.
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Tributary
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A smaller river slowing into a larger one
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Tributary
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Area of land drained by a river and its tributaries
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Watershed
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Fertile areas that a river floods periodically
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Floodplain
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Riverside areas that are productive and species-rich
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Riparian
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Region ringing the edge of a water body
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Littoral zone
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Open portions of the lake or pond where the sunlight penetrates the shallow waters
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Limnetic
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Water that sunlight does not reach
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Profundal
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The world’s largest known aquifer
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The Ogallala Aquifer
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