Chapter 1

Question 1

Environment

Answer 1

the sum of all the conditions surrounding us that influence life

Question 2

Environmental Science

Answer 2

the field that looks at interactions among human systems and those found in nature

Question 3

System

Answer 3

any set of interacting components that influence one another by exchanging energy or materials

Question 4

Ecosystem

Answer 4

a particular location on Earth whose interacting component include living components and nonliving components

Question 5

Biotic

Answer 5

living

Question 6

Abiotic

Answer 6

nonliving

Question 7

Environmentalist

Answer 7

a person who participates on environmentalism

Question 8

Environmental Studies

Answer 8

includes additional subjects such as environmental policy, economics, literature, and ethics

Question 9

Ecosystem Services

Answer 9

the processes by which life-supporting resources such as clean water, timber, fisheries, and agricultural crops are produced

Question 10

Environmental Indicators

Answer 10

describe the current state of an environmental system

Question 11

Sustainability

Answer 11

living on Earth in a way that allows us to use its resources without depriving future generations of those resources

Question 12

Biodiversity

Answer 12

the diversity of life forms in an environment

Question 13

Species

Answer 13

a group of organisms that is distinct from other groups in its morphology (body form and structure), behavior, or biochemical properties

Question 14

Speciation

Answer 14

the evolution of a new species that typically happens very slowly

Question 15

Background Extinction Rate

Answer 15

the average rate at which species go extinct over the long term

Question 16

Greenhouse Gases

Answer 16

heat-trapping gases

Question 17

Anthropogenic

Answer 17

derived from human activities

Question 18

Development

Answer 18

defined as improvement in human well-being through economic advancement

Question 19

Sustainable Development

Answer 19

development that balances current human well-being and economic advancement with resource management for the benefit of future generations

Question 20

Biophilia

Answer 20

love of life

Question 21

Ecological Footprint

Answer 21

a measure of how much that person consumes, expressed in area of land

Question 22

Scientific Method

Answer 22

an objective way to explore the natural world, draw inferences from it, and predict the outcome of certain events, processes, or changes

Question 23

Hypothesis

Answer 23

a testable conjecture about how something works

Question 24

Null Hypothesis

Answer 24

a statement or idea that can be falsified, or proved wrong

Question 25

Replication

Answer 25

scientists typically take several sets of measurements

Question 26

Sample Size

Answer 26

the number of times a measurement is replicated (sometimes referred to as n)

Question 27

Accuracy

Answer 27

refers to how close a measured value is to the actual or true value

Question 28

Precision

Answer 28

how close to one another the repeated measurements of the same sample are

Question 29

Uncertainty

Answer 29

an estimate of how much a measured or calculated value differs from a true value

Question 30

Inductive Reasoning

Answer 30

the process of making general statements from specific facts of examples

Question 31

Deductive Reasoning

Answer 31

the process of applying a general statement to specific facts or situations

Question 32

Critical Thinking

Answer 32

question the source of the information, consider the methods or processes that were used to obtain the information, and draw your own conclusions

Question 33

Theory

Answer 33

a hypothesis that has been repeatedly tested and confirmed by multiple groups of researchers and has reached wide acceptance

Question 34

Natural Law

Answer 34

a theory to which there are no known exceptions and which has withstood rigorous testing

Question 35

Control Group

Answer 35

a group that experiences exactly the same conditions as the experimental group, except for the single variable under study

Question 36

Natural Experiment

Answer 36

occurs when a natural event acts as an experimental treatment in an ecosystem

Question 37

Environmental Justice

Answer 37

a social movement and field of study that works toward equal enforcement of environmental laws and the elimination of disparities, whether intended or unintended, in how pollutants and other environmental harms are distributed among the various ethnic and socioeconomic groups within a society