APES Cards 1
About this set
Created by:
KMBooker on April 7, 2011
Classes:
Booker's AP Environmental Science, Booker's Biology 1 Class
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118 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Aral Sea-why interesting | Soviet Union, north of china. Diverting water from the Aral sea and its two feeder rivers mostly for irrigation has created a major ecological, economic, and health disaster. It is shrinking since 1960. It was once highly fished and propseroused is now polluted and practically worthless. Badly polluted. |
| Bioaccumulation/ (Biomagnification) | refers to the accumulation of substances, such as pesticides, or other organic chemicals in an organism. Bioaccumulation occurs when an organism absorbs a toxic substance at a rate greater than that at which the substance is lost. (430) |
| biotic potential | Maximum rate at which the population of a given species can increase when there are no limits on its rate of growth. (162) |
| carnivore | animal that feeds on other animals. (60) |
| carrying capacity | (K) the maximum population of a given species that a particular habitat can sustain indefinitely without degrading the habitat. It's the limit to the popuation growth. Line at the top of the graph where the biotic potential cant go over. |
| CERCLA (Superfund) | this law created a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries and provided broad Federal authority to respond directly to releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances that may endagner public health or the environment. Pays for clean up ($ from taxes) |
| Coevolution | Evolution in which two or more species interact and exert selective pressures on each other that can lead each species to undergo adaptations. One species can lead to changes in the gene pool of another species. (plants and insects) |
| Cogeneration | production of two useful forms of energy, such as high- temperature heat or steam and electricity, from the same fuel source. (increase efficiency) |
| convergent evolution | the development of similar structures in organisms that do not share recent common ancestors. (unrelated relationship) dolphin and sharks |
| Decomposition/ decomposer | organisim that digests parts of dead organisms and cast-off fragments and wastes of living organisms by breaking down the complex organic molecules in those materials into simpler inorganic compounds and then absorbing the soluble nutrients. Decomposers consist of various bacteria and fungi. Complex simple |
| Denitrification | when nitrogen leaves the soil as specialized bacteria in waterlogged soil and in the bottom sediments of lakes, oceans, and swamps convert NH3 to NH4 back into nitrite and nitrate ions and then into nitrogen gas (N2) and nitrous oxide gas N2O. These gases are released into the atmosphere to begin the nitrogen cycle. (75) |
| detritus feeder | Organisms that extracts nutrients from fragments of dead organisms and their cast-off parts and organic wastes. Eat dead things on the ground. Not considered Decomposers |
| Detritus | Parts of dead organisms and cast-off fragments and wastes of living organisms. |
| divergent evolution | is the accumulation of differences between groups which can lead to the formation of new species, usually a result of diffusion of the same species to different and isolated environments which blocks the gene flow among the distinct populations allowing differentiated fixation of characteristics through genetic drift and natural selection. 2 Species split. SPECIATION |
| Ecosystem | A community where populations of different species interact with one another and with their nonliving environment of matter and energy. Biological and Physical Environment Living= biotic + Nonliving= abiotic |
| Eutrophication-natural and cultural | Physical, chemical, and biological changes that take place after a lake or estuary receives inputs of plant nutrients- mostly nitrates and phosphates- from natural erosions and runoff from surrounding land basins. |
| Eutrophication leads to HYPOXIA | Greening of a lake caused by fertilizer runoff. Algae dies, the bacteria spreads and soaks up all the oxygen which kills the fish and creates dead zones. |
| Cultural Eutrophication | human inputs of nutrients from the atmosphere and from nearby urban and agricultural areas can accelerate the eutrophication of lakes. |
| Floodplain | flat valley floor next to a stream channel. For legal purposes, the term often applies to any low area that has the potential for flooding, including certain costal areas. They are good farming because its very fertile land. Its constanly replenished with fresh slit washed down in a flood. SILT |
| Gross primary productivity | (GPP) rate at which an ecosystem's producers capture and store a given amount of chemical energy as biomass in a given length of time. Total energy plant stores |
| Net Primary Productivity | Net amount of primary production after cost of plant respieration is included. GPP-R= NPP |
| Gene pool | sum total of all genes found in the individuals of the population of a particular species. |
| Gasification | the heating and partial combustion of coal to release volatile gases, such as methane and carbon monoxide; after pollutants are washed out, these gases become efficient, clean-burning fuel. Makes fuel portable. Gas from coal |
| Hydrogen sulfide, H2S | Common chemical found in fluids of hydrothermal vents. When seawater is exposed to the sulfate in volcanic rock below the ocean floor, hydrogen sulfide is formed. |
| James Bay, Quebec | Bay that transports water. 16,000 megawatss of hydroelectricity. Dam works to generate electricity. Not a tall dam |
| K strategists | -fewer and larger offspring; - High parental care and protection of offspring; - later reproduction age; - most offspring lives to reproduce; - larger adults; - adapted to stable climate/environmental conditions; - lower population growth rate(r) ; - pop size is stable and close to carrying capacity; -specialist niche; - high ability to compete; - late successional species; |
| R strategists | Many small offspring; - little t no parenting/ protection; - early reproductive age; - most offspring don't live to reproduce; - small adults; adapted to unstable climate/environment ; Higher population growth rate(r) ; pop. Size changes above/below c.c; - generalist niche; - low ability to compete; - early successional species; |
| Kissimmee River, Florida | the physical effects of channelization, including alteration of the system's hydrologic characteristics, largely eliminated river and floodplain wetlands and degraded fish and wildlife values of the Kissimmee River ecosystem. Restoration project that is part of the everglades |
| limiting factor | too much or too little of any abiotic factor can limit or prevent growth of a population, even if all other factors are at or near the optimum range or tolerance. This is how population is controlled. |
| Lithosphere | is made up of two parts the crust and the mantle(upper and lower mantle). It contains nonrenewable fossil fuels and minerals we use as well as renewable soil chemicals needed for plant life |
| Methane, CH4 | a naturally occurring gas, which is associated with decomposition and with oil deposits. It is a greenhouse gas and burning it, or releasing it to the atmosphere will lead to the creation of carbon dioxide. Burning= CO2. Byproduct of decomposition |
| Methylation | connected to damaging DNA |
| mitigation banking | reduces greenhouse gas emissions to slow down the rate of temperature increase and buy time to learn more about how the earth's climate system works and to shift to other noncarbon energy options. Companies use it to make artificial wetlands |
| Mono Lake, California | desert lake with an unusually productive ecosystem, based on brine shrimp that grow in the lake, and critical nesting habitat for two million migratory birds that feed on the shrimp. Similar to Aral Sea. Deprived of water |
| NAFTA | North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement |
| Net primary productivity | the rate at which producers use photosynthesis to store energy minus the rate at which they use some of this stored energy through aerobic respiration. Net energy left after plants burn energy |
| Niche | way of life for a species |
| Generalist niche | wide niches Generalist species tolerate a wide range of condtions |
| Specialist niche | narrow niche specialist species can only tolerate a narrow range of condtions |
| Fundamental niche | the fully potential range of physical, chemical, and biological condtions and resources a species could theoretically use. (everything) |
| Realized niche | to survive and avoid competition, a species usually occupies only part of its fundamental |
| Nitrification | Happens when ammonia not taken up by plants may undergo nitrification. Two step process. is the biological oxidation of ammonia with oxygen into nitrite followed by the oxidation of these nitrites into nitrates. Chemical process |
| Nitrogen dioxide, NO2 | is the chemical compound with the formula NO2 |
| Nitrogen fixation | converation of atmospheric nitrogen gas into forms useful to plants by lightning, bacteria, and cyanobacteria; it is part of the nitrogen cycle. Nitrogen becomes ammonia |
| Nitrogen, N2 | Nitrogen occurs in all living organisms, and the nitrogen cycle describes movement of the element from air into the biosphere and organic compounds, then back into the atmosphere. Synthetically-produced nitrates are key ingredients of industrial fertilizers, and also key pollutants in causing the eutrophication of water systems. 78% of earth |
| Photosynthesis | Complex process that takes place in cells of green plants. Radiant energy from the sun is used to combine CO2 and H2O to produce O2 and carbohydrates such as glucose (C6H12O6) and other nutrient molecules |
| Population | Group of individual organisms of the same species living in a particular area |
| primary succession | ecological succession in a bare area that has never been occupied by a community of organisms. |
| Secondary succession | ecological succession in an area in which natural vegetation has been removed or destroyed but the soil is not destroyed. |
| Reclamation of mine land includes | restoring land, bringing in new top soil, grading/smoothing land, phytoremediation. (the glen) |
| Remediation | the action of remedying something, especially the reversal or stopping of damage to the environment. |
| restoration | Restoration ecology |
| Scavenger | Organism that feeds on dead organisms that were killed by other organisms or died naturally. Example |
| Species | Group of organisms that resemble one another in appearance, behavior, chemical makeup and processes, and genetic structure. Organisms that reproduce sexually are classified as members of the same species only if they can actually or potentially interbreed with one another and produce fertile offspring. |
| Species richness | number of different species contained in a community. |
| Sustainability | ability of earth's various systems, including human cultural systems and economies, to survive and adapt to changing environmental conditions indefinitely. |
| Synergism | occurs when two or more processes interact so that the combined effect is greater than the sum of their separate effects. 2 is greater than 1 |
| The Antarctic Treaty of 1961 | regulates international trade |
| The Clean Air Act of 1972 | one of a number of pieces of legislation relating to the reduction of smog and air pollution in general. The use by governments to enforce clean air standards has contributed to an improvement in human health and longer life spans. |
| The Montreal Protocol 1987 amended in 1990 and 1992re | CFCs |
| Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania | the nuclear power plant widely known for having been the site of the most significant accident in United States commercial nuclear energy, on March 28, 1979, when TMI-2 suffered a partial meltdown. |
| Tolerance | minimum and maximum limits for physical conditions and concentrations of chemical substances beyond which no members of a particular species can survive. |
| Transpiration | Process in which water is absorbed by the root systems of plants, moves up through the plants, passes through pores in their leaves or other parts, and evaporates into the atmosphere as water vapor. |
| trophic level | all organisms that are the same number of energy transfers away from the original source of energy that enter an ecosystem. 1st level= all producers 2nd level= all herbivores |
| symbiotic relationships | necessary for the survival of at least one of the organisms involved; associations in which one organism lives on another or where one partner lives inside the other. |
| Keystone species | control interactions in a community (species and numbers). Regulates what happens and if this species is lost the whole population changes. |
| Foundation species | control/create habitat. Elephants knock down tress to make a habitat. |
| Indicatior species | bright species, 1st to dissapear/damage (Bees) |
| Non-native species | Originally come from outside, migrate or introduced |
| Native species | Original, always been there |
| Generalists species | Broad niches |
| Specialists species | narrow niches |
| Predator | kills others |
| efficiencies of an average coal-fired power plant | 30-35% =efficiency of coal |
| What is CITES?- | Convention on International trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora an international agreement between the government aim control international trade of wild animals to make sure it doesn't endanger the it works |
| CITES Apendix 1 | Animals close to extinction. nearly all trade of these animals is illegal (pandas) |
| CITES Apendix 2 | Includes species not necessarily threatened with extinction, but locally rare. |
| Migratory Bird Act of 1918 | USA entered into agreements with 4 other nations(Canada, Mexico, Japan, and Russia)This law makes it illegal to hunt, kill, sell birds that are migratory Can't take any of the bird's feathers or nests |
| Lacey Act of 1900 | US law prohibits the transport of illegally captured animals across state lines -1st federal law protecting wildlife today its expanded to prevent the import of nonnatives |
| Habitat Fragmentation | Happens when one large continuous area of habitat is reduced in area and , species into smaller/isolated groups that divided into smaller more scattered, and isolated. This leads to diversity because it divides. |
| Biogeography | is the study of the distribution of species. Spatially and temporarily. |
| Island geography | -large islands= more species and -further away from main land= less diverse |
| Intrinsic values | aesthetics, see wildlife |
| Extrinsic values | sell/calculate ($) |
| What characteristics make species prone to extinction? | -low reproductive rate (k)- specialized niche -narrow distribution- feeds at high trophic level -fixed migratory patterns-rare -commercially valuable-large territories |
| .Local extinction | when a species is no longer found in an area it once inhabited but is still found elsewhere in the world. |
| Ecological Extinction | When so few members of a species are let that it can no longer play its ecological role in the biological communities where it is found. |
| Background Extinction | normal extinction of various species as a result of changes in local environmental conditions |
| Mass Extinction | A catastrophic, widespread often global event in which major groups of species are wiped out over a short time compared with normal (background extinction). |
| Biological evolution depends on | Must have enough genetic VARIABILITY for a trait to exist; The trait must be HERITABLE; Trait must lead to DIFFERENTIAL REPRODUCTION. It must enable individuals with the trait to leave more offsprirng than other members of the population. |
| doubling time formula. | Td= 70/ r (in percentage) |
| Mantle | Zone of the earth's interior between its core and its crust. most of it is solid rock Iron & Nickel - under its rigid outer part is the Asthenosphere - hot, partly melted pliable rock that flows and can be deformed like sot plastic |
| Core | inner zone of the earth. -extremely hot Hot iron radioactive - solid inner core liquid outer core |
| Lithosphere | Outer shell of the earthcomposed of crust rock and materials - rigid, most outer part of the mantle outside the asthenosphere- material found in the earth's plates |
| Where do we use bauxite for? | In the development of aluminum burned or melted -alluminum process= expensive- recycle aluminum saves 98% of energy |
| Where are methyl anhydrates found? | frozen rock found in deep sea - expensive and hard to get |
| Demographic transition | as countries become economically developed, their birth and death rates tend to decline. |
| Preindustrial Stage of the Demographic transition | Little population growth due to high infant mortality |
| Transitional Stage of the Demographic transition | Industrialization begins, death rate drops and birth rate remains high |
| Industrial stage of the Demographic transition | Birth rate drops and approaches death rate |
| Global warming | Warming of the earth's atmosphere because of increases in the concentrations of one or more greenhouse gases primarily as a result of human activities, melts glaciers, raises ocean levels, thermal expansion of oceans also raised ocean levels |
| Greenhouse effect | 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 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. |
| What processes remove/add CO2 to the earth's atmosphere? | Remove CO2 by growing plants, growing trees, dissolving CO2 in water Add burn things, drive cars, breathing |
| What is overfishing? ? | Harvesting so many fish of a species, especially immature fish, that not enough breeding stock is left to replenish the species and it becomes unprofitable to harvest them. -commercial depletion-extinction |
| Who are the whaling nations? | Japan, Iceland, Norweigh, Greenland,Russia, and more. |
| IWC | International whaling commission -an international body set up by the terms of the international convention for regulation of whaling which was signed in DC . Most people in this are largely opposed to the practice of whaling. |
| How does one explain the fluctuation of CO2 in the atmosphere on a yearly basis? - | deforestation -clearing grasslands -burning fossil fuels |
| What causes the seasons? | as earth makes its annual revolution around the sun on an axis tilted about 23.5, various regions are tipped toward or away from the sun. the resulting variations in the amount of solar energy reaching the earth create the seasons in the north and south hemispheres. |
| Coriollis effect | spinning of earth. Air isn't connected to earth so it gets pulled. Because of this effect the earth;s rotation deflects the movement of the air over different parts of the earth distributing heat and moisture in the troposphere. |
| Leaching | proves in which various chemicals in upper layers of soil are dissolved and carried to lower layers and, in some cases, to groundwater. |
| Soil horizion | horizontal zones that make up a particular mature soil. Each horizon has a distinct texture and composition that vary with different types of soil. |
| O horizon | the top layer, surface litter layer, it consists of freshly fallen undecomposed or partially decomposed leaves, twigs, crop wastes, animal waste, fungi, and other organic materials. Brown or black in color. |
| A horizon | top soil layer, is a porous mixture of the partially decomposed bodies of dead plants/animals called "humus" and inorganic materials such as clay, silt, and sand. Very fertile soil that produces high crop yields. |
| B/C horizon | B(subsoil) and C(parent material) contains most of a soil's inorganic matter, mostly broken down rock consisting of varying mixtures of sand, slit, clay, and gravel much of it transported by water from "a horizon". The "c horizion" lies on a base of unweathered parent material normally bedrock. |
| Carbon cycle | cyclic movement of carbon in different different chemical forms from the environment chemical forms from the environment to to organisms and then back to the environment |
| nitrogen cyclye | cyclic movement of nitrogen in organisms and back to the environment. |
| Water cycle | collects, purifies, distributes, and recycles the earth's fixed supply of water. Powered by energy from the sun that evaporates water into the atmosphere that comes back to earth because of gravity. |
| Sulfur cycle | cyclic movement of sulfur in various Chemical forms from the environment to organisms and back to the environment |
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