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39 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Humans have surpassed the Earth’s capacity to support us.
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Overshoot
- We are using 30% more of the planet’s resources than are available on a sustainable basis. |
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Scientists gather information about something not well known or that cannot be manipulated in experiments.
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Observational (descriptive) science
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Research that proceeds in a structured manner using experiments to test hypotheses through the scientific method.
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Hypothesis-driven science
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This type of experiment yield the strongest evidence.
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Manipulative experiments
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This type of experiment shows real-world complexity.
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Natural experiments
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A widely accepted explanation of one or more cause-and-effect relationships.
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Theory
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The study of good and bad, right and wrong.
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Ethics
- Relativists: ethics vary with social context. - Universalists: right and wrong remains the same across cultures and situations. |
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Application of ethical standards to relationships between human and non-human entities.
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Environmental ethics
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Involves the fair treatment of all people with respect to the environment, regardless of race, income, or ethnicity.
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Environmental Justice
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The accumulated wealth of Earth.
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Natural capital
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Which nation has the largest ecological footprint?
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U.S.A.
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What is the fastest growing cause that leads to a large ecological footprint?
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The burning of fossil fuels to release carbon dioxide.
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Do vegetarians have a smaller ecological footprint than meat eaters?
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Yes; Animals use the energy in their food for their metabolism, so only 10% of the calories they eat are available to the meat eater.
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Model that measures the impact in terms of pollution or resource consumption.
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IPAT model
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What is the hardest part of challenge of sustaining human well‐being?
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Resolving the energy-economy-environment dilemma
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Name three options to address climate change.
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1.Mitigation: reduce pace and magnitude of climate change.
2.Adaptation: reduce adverse impacts of changes. 3. Suffer the consequences. |
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Rank in the feeding hierarchy.
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Trophic levels
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Scavenge waste products or dead bodies.
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Detritivores
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Break down leaf litter and other non-living material.
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Decomposers
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A species with a strong or wide-reaching impact far out of proportion to its abundance.
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Keystone species
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A community changes in response to a disturbance, but later returns to its original state.
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Resilience
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The application of population ecology to the study of human populations
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Demography
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Less dense ice floats on liquid water which does what to aquatic species?
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Insulates water from cold so aquatic species can survive winter.
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Energy needed to change substance to higher energy state (calories/gram).
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Latent heat
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Name three types of polymers that are essential to life.
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1. Proteins
2. Nucleic acids 3. Carbohydrates - Lipids are not polymers, but are also essential. |
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Produce tissues, provide structural support, store energy, and transport substances.
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Proteins
- Can serve as enzyme: molecules that promote chemical reactions. |
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A chemically diverse group of compounds grouped together because they don’t dissolve in water.
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Lipids
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Energy can change forms, but cannot be created or destroyed.
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First Law of Thermodynamics
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The nature of energy changes from a more-ordered to a less-ordered state.
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Second Law of Thermodynamics
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Output resulting from a system moving in one direction acts as an input that moves the system in the other direction.
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Negative feedback loop
- Body temperature |
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Instead of stabilizing a system, it drives it further toward an extreme
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Positive feedback loop
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Where nutrients remain for varying amounts of time
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Pools (reservoirs)
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Movement of nutrients among pools.
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Flux
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Conversion of solar energy to chemical energy by autotrophs.
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Primary production
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Energy remaining after respiration, used to generate biomass.
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Net primary production
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Ecosystems whose plants rapidly convert solar energy to biomass.
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High net primary productivity
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Organisms that gain energy by feeding on others.
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Heterotrophs (consumers)
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Nitrogen gas is combined (fixed) with hydrogen by nitrogen-fixing bacteria or lightning to become ammonium.
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Nitrogen fixation
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Bacteria that convert ammonium ions first into nitrite ions then into nitrate ions.
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Nitrification
- Animals obtain nitrogen by eating plants or other animals. |