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APES Midterm Exam SG

Terms in this set (59)

causes of environmental issues
., population growth, environmental degradation, exploitation of available resources
tragedy of the commons
When a resource is shared, an individual's personal share of profit from exploitation of the resource is usually greater than that individual's share of the resulting loss
A common is any resource owned publicly, with public access for private uses
natural capital
Refers to an expanded meaning of the factor of production land, including everything that is included in land plus additional natural resources occurring naturally in the environment such as air, biodiversity, soil quality, the ozone layer, and the global climate. - world's stocks of natural assets
ecosystem services
Important environmental benefits, such as clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and fertile soil in which to grow crops, that ecosystems provide -- all the regulations we did
key themes in environmental science
Human population growth, famine and food crisis, sustainability and carrying capacity, a global perspective, science and values
human population trends/ implications
o More than doubled in the last 50 years
In AD 1 - 100 Million people
In 1960 - 3 billion people
Today - 7.4 billion people
o Approx. 70 million people are added to Earth's population annually
o 10 Billion by 2050
o Took humans 2000 yrs. to get to 3 billion, only 40+ years to add 3 billion
human growth population implications
Earth has not grown any larger and abundance of it resources have not increased
age structure diagrams
...
biogeochemical cycles
Biogeochemical Processes
• Literal meaning
o Bio
"living"
o Geo
"rocks and minerals"
o Chemical
Processes and reactions
• 2 main type
o Pools, fluxes
o Global
o Involve biological and non-biological processes
o Driven by flow of energy through the ecosystem
o Most are tied to the water (or hydrologic) cycle
carbon cycle
Carbon is the element that anchors all organic substances
Carbon has gaseous phase
• Enters atmosphere (co2 and CH4) through respiration, fires, and diffusion
Removed from the atmosphere by photosynthesis
o Carbon occurs in the ocean in several forms
Dissolved Co2 carbonate, and bicarbonate
Marine organisms and their products, CaCO3
o Enters the ocean by
Simple diffusion then dissolves
Transfer from land in rivers as dissolved carbon
Wind
water cycle
o The transfer of water from oceans to the atmosphere to the land and back to the oceans
o Driven by solar energy
Evaporation of water from oceans
Precipitation of water on land
Transpiration of water by plants
Evaporation of water from land
Runoff from streams, rivers and subsurface groundwater
o Total water on earth = 1.3 billion km^3
97% in oceans
.76% in shallow groundwater
.013% in lakes and rivers
.001% in atmosphere
The rest in freshwater on land
o At the regional and local level, the fundamental unit of the landscape is the drainage basin, aka watershed or catchment
The area that contributes surface runoff to a particular stream or river
Vary greatly in size
Usually named for main stream or river
geologic cycle
o Rocks and soil
Continually created, maintained, changed, and destroyed over the last 4.6 billion years
Altered due to physical, chemical, and biological processes
o Geologic cycle - group of cycles
Tectonic
Hydrological
Rock
Biogeochemical
rock cycle
check notes

Consists of numerous processes that produce rocks and soils
Depends on the tectonic cycle for energy and the hydrologic cycle for water
Rocks classified as
• Igneous
• Sedimentary
• Metamorphic
Physical weathering (freeze, thaw) produces sediment such as gravel, sand, and silt
Chemical weathering occurs when weak acids in water dissolve
nitrogen cycle
o N essential to life because it is necessary for the production of proteins and DNA
o Free N2 makes up 78% of atmosphere
But most organisms can't use it directly
Relatively unreactive element must be converted to NO3- or NH4+
Performed by bacteria
o Nitrogen fixation
Process of converting atmospheric N to NO3 or NH4
o Denitrification
Process of releasing fixed N back to molecular N
o Almost all organisms depend on nitrogen-converting bacteria
Some have formed symbiotic relationships in the roots of plants or stomach in animals
o Industrial process can now convert molecular N into compounds usable by plants
Main component of N fertilizers
N in agricultural runoff potential sources of water pollution
o N combines with O at high temps.
Oxides of N are a source of air pollution
phosphorus cycle
o P one of the "big six" required for life
Often a limiting factor for plant and algae growth
o Does not have a gaseous phase
Rate of transfer slow
o Enters biota through uptake as phosphate by plants, algae and some bacteria
Returns to soil when plants die or is lost to oceans via runoff
Returned to land via ocean-feeding birds excrement (guano)
o Guano deposits major source of P for fertilizers
tectonic cycle
check notes

o Involves creation and destruction of lithosphere (outer layer of Earth)
100 km thick and broken into several plates
The slow movement of plates is called plate tectonics
• 2-15 cm /yr.
o Plate tectonics has large scale effects
Location and size of continents
Alterations in climate
Ecological islands
Areas of volcanic activity and earthquakes
water resource
...
interspecific competition
• Occurs b/t members of 2 or more species
o Leads to competitive exclusion or species coexistence
intraspecific competition
• Between members of same species
o High population density -= increased competition
predator/ prey relationships
Interaction between two organisms of different species in which one organism, called the predator, captures and feeds on parts or all of another organism, called the prey
invasive species
species that enter new ecosystems and multiply, harming native species and their habitats - not native

o Introductions of exotic have mixed results
Food sources, landscaping, pets
Some have disastrous ecological consequences
parasitic relationships
A relationship that is one-way and detrimental to one of the organisms over time
symbiotic relationships
mutualism - both species benefit
commensalism relationships
And association in which one symbiont benefits in the other is neither benefited nor harmed
carrying capacity - limiting resources, density-independent and dependent factors
Defined as the maximum number of individuals of a species that can be sustained by an environment without decreasing the capacity of the environment to sustain that same amount in the future
results of deforestation
loss of habitat, climate change, less trees to absorb greenhouse gases
causes of urban sprawl
lack of planning, rapid population growth, subsidized infrastructure improvements, consumer preferences
history of US environmental legislation
notes - envi reg and history notes
NEPA
Required all federal agencies to produce environmental impact statements (EIS - environmental impact statement)
RCRA
A 1976 law that regulates solid and hazardous waste disposal
"Cradle to the Grave" monitoring
CERCLA
A 1980 law that requires polluters to clean up abandoned sites ("brownfields")
Endangered Species Act
A 1973 law that was put into place to protect endangered species from extinction by protecting the ecosystems they live in
A 1973 law that regulates coal mining and enforces reclamation of altered land
Clean Air Act
Est. 1962
Law required EPA to protect the public from exposure to criteria and hazardous airborne pollutants
Clean Water Act
1972, 1977, 1988 act to restore all US surface water to navigate, swimmable, and fishable conditions
Montreal Protocol
1987 agreement to phase out ozone depleting chemicals by 2000/2005
Success with CFC's but new chemicals have been discovered to impact ozone
Superfund
CERCLA ???
Brownsfield Program
Created as an addendum to the Superfund legislation that helps cleanup sites that are not classified as Superfund
environmental decade
1964-1980
Henry David Thoreau
o Walden Pond (now a recreation area in MA) was where he lived while he wrote his book
o "Life in the Woods" - a reflection of simple living in natural surroundings
George Perkins Marsh
o 1st environmentalist
o Warned of the collapse of civilization in his publication "Man and Nature"
o Addressed deforestation and desertification
John Wesley Powell
o Powell Report - first advocate for the regulation of land use
o Later put into action by the establishment of the Reclamation Act
President Grant
Establish Yellowstone National Park in 1872
President Harrison
o Passed a law stating that the president could set aside lands for national parks and forest
o Important piece of legislation for future environmental regulations
John Muir
o Environmental philosopher and advocate for wilderness areas
o Founded the Sierra Club in 1892
o Petitioned Congress for National Park Bill (passed in 1890) establishing Yosemite
Gifford Pinchot
o 1st Chief US forester
o Established Forest Service which advocates for and protects US National Forest
Theodore Roosevelt
Established 40+ wildlife refuges and tripled forest reserves
Stephen Mather
1st appointed head of the National Park Service (est. 1916)
food webs
Food and energy links between the different plants and animals in an ecosystem
food chains
o Is a one path linkage that depicts who feeds on whom or how energy and materials are transferred
o Form the basis of food webs (multiple pathways)
o Species within an ecosystem can be classified according to their function (or way they get their energy)
Primary producers (autotrophs)
• Phytoplankton
Consumers
Herbivores
Carnivores
Omnivores
Decomposers
o Trophic levels are groupings within a food web that indicated the number of feeding levels away from the original energy source
trophic levels
o First trophic level
Use energy from the sun and carbon dioxide from the air to photosynthesize
Green plants, algae and certain bacteria
• Called autotrophs ("self-nourishing")
o Second trophic level
Heterotrophs ("other-nourishing")
Organisms that feed on autotrophs
• Called herbivores
o Third trophic level
Feed directly on herbivores
Called carnivores (meat -eaters)
o Fourth trophic level
Carnivores that feed on third level carnivores
o Decomposers
Feed on waste and dead organisms of all trophic levels
biomass
Total amount of living tissue within a given trophic level
producer
An organism that can make its own food.
consumer
An organism that obtains energy by feeding on other organisms
primary succession
An ecological succession that begins in an area where no biotic community previously existed
secondary succession
Succession following a disturbance that destroys a community without destroying the soil
abiotic ecosystem factors
non-living physical and chemical elements in the ecosystem. Abiotic resources are usually obtained from the lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere. Examples of abiotic factors are water, air, soil, sunlight, and minerals.
biotic system factors
non-living and living parts of an ecosystem. These can include everything from rocks to temperature, sunlight, clouds, and chemicals in the soil. - animals, birds, plants, fungi, and other similar organisms - dead
biome characteristics temperate forests, taiga, savanna, tundra, rain forests, prairie, grasslands, etc.
notes - ch 6
lorax, Energy flow in ecosystems & biogeochemical cycling, Primary and secondary succession
essay - pick 2 of 3
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