APES unit 1, Questions and answers,
100% Accurate. Graded A+
enviornmental science - ✔✔-an interdisciplinary field of science that integrates natural science and
social science
How nature works
How the environment
...
APES unit 1, Questions and answers,
100% Accurate. Graded A+
enviornmental science - ✔✔-an interdisciplinary field of science that integrates natural science and
social science
How nature works
How the environment affects us
How we affect the environment
Causes of and solutions to environmental problems
enviornment - ✔✔-the sum total of all living and nonliving things that affect an organism
ecology - ✔✔-a biological science that studies the interrelationships between living organisms and their
environments
enviornmentalism - ✔✔-a social movement dedicated to protecting Earth's life-support systems for
humanity and all other species
natural capital - ✔✔-: the combination of natural resources and natural services that keep humans and
other species alive and support our economies
natural resources - ✔✔-air, water, land/soil, biodiversity, minerals (metals, etc.), renewable and
nonrenewable energy
natural services - ✔✔-air and water purification, water storage, soil renewal, nutrient recycling, food
production, conservation of biodiversity, waste treatment, population control, climate control these are
all things Earth does naturally and we depend on
solar capital - ✔✔-energy from the sun
perpetual resources - ✔✔-On a human time scale are continuous.
Solar energy
renewable resources - ✔✔-On a human time scale can be replenished rapidly (e.g. hours to several
decades).
Forests, grasslands, wild animals, soil, water
sustainable yeild - ✔✔-The highest rate at which a renewable resource can be used indefinitely without
reducing its available supply
nonrenewable resources - ✔✔-On a human time scale are in fixed supply.
Oil and natural gas
Become economically depleted when the costs of extracting and using what is left exceed its economic
value
sustainability - ✔✔-the ability of the earth's various systems to survive and adapt to changing
environmental conditions indefinitely
Includes human cultural systems and economics
trade-offs - ✔✔-example: must replant or protect forests in return for cutting down trees for paper
products
intrinsic values - ✔✔-organisms and natural capital have their own right to exist
4 scientific priciples of sustainability - ✔✔-Reliance on Solar Energy
Biodiversity
Population Control
Nutrient Recycling
enviornmentally sustainable society - ✔✔-meets the basic resource needs of its people in a just manner
without degrading or depleting natural capital
tragedy of the commons - ✔✔-Term coined by biologist Garrett Hardin to describe the degradation of
free-access renewable resources
Occurs when sustainable yield is exceeded
IPAT equation - ✔✔-Impact = Population x Affluence x Technology
Mathematical model to assess impact of different human actions
Can be used to work towards sustainability by identifying key problems and initiating development of
solutions
exponential growth - ✔✔-growth in which a quantity increases at a fixed percentage per unit time
Starts off slowly, but quickly grows to enormous numbers
Economic growth - ✔✔-an increase in the capacity of a country to provide people with goods and
services
Measured by the gross domestic product
gross domestic product (GDP) - ✔✔-annual value of all goods and services produced within a country
Economic development uses economic growth to improve living standards
Gross national product (GNP) - ✔✔-the value of all goods and services produced by a country in one
year from all national and international business
Per capita: divided by among the population
Flaw in that it assumes everyone has an equal share Changes in economic growth measured in per
capita GDP (per person)
Affluenza - ✔✔-unsustainable addiction to overconsumption and materialism
Wealth gap - ✔✔-Uneven distribution of wealth
Between developed and developing countries
Between upper and lower classes
Planetary management worldview - ✔✔-humans are separate from nature, nature exists to meet our
needs, economic growth is unlimited, technology will compensate for depletion
Stewardship worldview - ✔✔-earth can be managed for human benefit, but humans have an ethical
responsibility to be caring and responsible managers
Environmental wisdom worldview - ✔✔-humans are a part of and totally dependent on nature; nature
exists for all species; economic growth should be earth-sustainable
Null hypothesis (H0): - ✔✔-Assumes the variable you choose will have no effect or that there will be no
difference between the variables and the controls
(independent variable has no effect on dependent variable).
Alternate hypothesis (HA): - ✔✔-suggests there WILL be an effect, or an observable difference.
Variables - ✔✔-different factors that can influence the results of an experiment
A good experiment tests one variable at a time
Independent variable - ✔✔-also known as experimental or manipulated variable
Dependent variable - ✔✔-also known as responding variable
Statistical analysis - ✔✔-a quantitative method of analyzing data in order to disprove the null hypothesis
P-value - ✔✔-probability that your results are due to chance and that there is no correlation between
your independent and dependent variable
The p-value will be a number between 0 and 1
The higher the p-value, the higher the probability that your results are NOT meaningful
The "magic number" for p-values from ALL tests is 0.05
chi squared tests - ✔✔-(observed value-expected value)^2 divided by the expected value
Determine the number of degrees of freedom for your test by
taking the total number of terms (columns from data table)
and subtracting one
Paradigm shifts - ✔✔-massive revisions in scientific thought due to new discoveries or observations
Scientific consensus - ✔✔-sets of data, theories, and laws that are widely accepted by scientists
Closed system - ✔✔-all matter or energy in system stays within system
Open system - ✔✔-matter or energy is lost from the system
Matter - ✔✔-anything that has mass and takes up space
Matter usually cycles in closed systems
Mineral nutrients like phosphorous or nitrogen
Plant and animal life (biomass)
Pollutants to air, soil, and water
Energy - ✔✔-the ability to do work
Usually open systems
No mass or volume
Any form of electromagnetic radiation including heat, visible light, UV, gamma rays, microwaves, radio
waves, etc.
Kinetic energy - ✔✔-energy of motion
Includes heat: total kinetic energy from all moving atoms, ions, and/or molecules in a given substance
electromagnetic radiation - ✔✔-wave form of energy in which wavelength and frequency are inversely
related
Longer wavelength = lower energy
EM radiation categorized according to wavelength/frequency
Potential energy - ✔✔-stored by matter and potentially available for use
Biomass - ✔✔-chemical bonds in organic molecules are a form of potential energy
Chemical energy - ✔✔-Energy stored in bonds between atoms
Chemical reactions release that energy
Chem energy drives organic life
Photosynthesis creates the bonds as glucose/carbohydrates
High-energy bonds broken and replaced by low-energy bonds in respiration
Energy released; used to drive cellular/body functions in organisms
biomass - ✔✔-living matter
The First Law of Thermodynamics - ✔✔-states that energy can be neither created nor destroyed in any
chemical or physical process
Can be converted from one form to another
AKA "Law of Conservation of Energy"
Second Law of Thermodynamics - ✔✔-when energy changes from one form to another, some of the
useful energy is always degraded into a lower-quality, more dispersed, less useful energy
High-quality energy - ✔✔-concentrated and can perform useful work (electricity, chemical energy in
coal)-LIGHT
Low-quality energy - ✔✔-dispersed and has little ability t
[Show More]