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environmental biology > environmental bioscience (14-19) > Flashcards

environmental bioscience (14-19) Flashcards

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1
Q

what is the definition of the anthropocene?

A

an unofficial unit of geological time, used to describe the most recent period in Earth’s history when human activity started to have a significant impact on the planet’s climate and ecosystems

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2
Q

what is the holocene?

A

the unit of geological time covering the origin of human society

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3
Q

why do some use 1945 as the start date of the anthropocene?

A

it was the first atmospheric detonation of a nuclear device
- 14C can be used to measure this date

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4
Q

how is environmental health defined?

A

it is concerned with preventing disease, death and disability by reducing exposure to adverse environmental conditions and promoting behavioural change

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5
Q

what 2 categories can environmental health be categorised into?

A
  • traditional hazards - related to poverty and the lack of development
  • modern hazards - caused by technological development, these prevail in industrialised countries where exposure to traditional hazards is low
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6
Q

how many people worldwide do not have access to safe drinking water?

A

1.1bn

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7
Q

how many deaths are attributed to indoor air pollution each year?

A
  • 1.6m (2.7% of global burden of disease)
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8
Q

how is HONO harmful?

A
  • it is a mutagenic substance - it converts exocyclic amino groups of DNA to carbonyl groups and forms interstrand crosslinks in duplex DNA
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9
Q

who is the most at risk of the consequences of malaria?

A
  • pregnant women are at high risk of malaria
  • non-immune pregnant women risk both acute and severe clinical disease, resulting in possible fetal loss
  • can also cause severe anemia and impaired fetal growth
  • an estimated 10,000 women and 200,000 infants die annually as a result of malaria infection during pregnancy
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10
Q

what is environmental toxicology?

A

the study of the health effects associated with exposure to toxic chemicals occurring in the natural, work, and living environments

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11
Q

what are the common routes of exposure to chemicals?

A
  • inhalation
  • skin or eye contact
  • ingestion
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12
Q

what is ‘an acute effect’

A

one that occurs rapidly after exposure to a large amount of that substance

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13
Q

why is BPA harmful to the body?

A
  • it mimics eostrogen, binding to eostrogen receptors and disrupting the endocrine system
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14
Q

what is bioremediation?

A

the use of microorganisms to degrade or transfer contaminants in order to clean up contaminated sites

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15
Q

what is biostimulation?

A

the modification of environmental conditions, such as the addition of nutrients of terminal electron acceptors, for the purpose of enhancing remediation or contaminants by indigenous microorganisms

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16
Q

what is bioaugmentation?

A

the introduction of specific microbes into contaminated sites for the purpose of enhancing the biological activity of the indigenous populations

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17
Q

is bioaugmentation dependent on donor survival?

A

nope

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18
Q

how does bioaugmentation facilitate the degradation of contaminants?

A

via conjugation, tranduction, and transformation

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19
Q

what is phytoremediation?

A

the direct use of plants for in situ remediation of contaminated soil, sludges, sediment, and ground water through contaminant removal, degradation, and containment

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20
Q

how many people worldwide work in agriculture?

A

around 2m

21
Q

what are the main causes of poverty?

A
  • lack of resources
  • unequal income distributions
  • conflict
  • hunger
22
Q

how does the weather influence poverty?

A
  • drought is a key factor affecting under-nourishment in parts of Sub-saharan africa
  • in a large number of countries, a large proportion of the poor live in areas that are both affected by conflict and facing high exposure to extreme weather conditions
23
Q

how does conflict influence poverty?

A
  • conflict in rural areas interferes with food production and distribution
  • in addition to impacting food systems, conflict also impacts the economy, driving up food prices and making it difficult to buy essential food
  • in areas of severe violence it may be difficult to deliver humanitarian aid to address hunger
24
Q

what is the definition of food security?

A

when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life

25
Q

describe what is meant by the phenomenon of a ‘food desert’

A

it is a phenomenon in which there are fewer grocery shops and more fast food restaurants in low-income neighbourhoods within cities in the USA and Canada

26
Q

how is soil health defined?

A

it is the capacity of soil to function as a living system, with ecosystem and land use boundaries, to sustain plant and animal production, maintain or enhance water and air quality, and promote plant and animal health

27
Q

what occurs in conventional farming systems?

A

it uses all available tools to maximise yield and quality

28
Q

what occurs in organic farming systems?

A

organic production systems avoid or largely exclude the use of synthetically compounded fertilisers, pesticides, growth regulators, and livestock feed additives

29
Q

what occurs in low-input agriculture?

A

it is a production activity that uses synthetic fertilisers or pesticides below rates commonly recommended, but does not mean eliminations of these materials

30
Q

what are the differences in environmental burden on organic vs conventional farming?

A
  • organic is likely to use more land for the same yield
  • organic may use more fuel
  • organic’s impacts of pesticides is generally less
31
Q

what is conservation agriculture?

A

it is an approach to managing agro-ecosystems for improved and sustained productivity, increased profits and food security, while preserving and enhancing the resource base and the environment

32
Q

what are the three linked principles of conservation agriculture?

A
  • continuous minimum mechanical soil disturbances
  • permanent organic soil cover
  • diversification of crop species in sequences and/or associations
33
Q

what is regenerative agriculture?

A

a system of farming principles and practises that increase biodiversity, enriches soils, improves watersheds, and enhances ecosystem services

34
Q

what are the benefits of genetic engineering in crops?

A
  • speeding up the breeding of resilient crops
  • novel approaches to managing pests and diseases
  • increasing nutritional content of food
35
Q

what are the risks of genetic engineering in crops?

A
  • spreading ‘unwanted’ genes into the wild population
  • loss of genetic diversity in crops
  • putting the commercial power into the hards of large corporations
36
Q

what are the main models used to predict climate trends?

A
  • atmosphere-ocean general circulation models
  • earth models of intermediate complexity
  • simple climate models
37
Q

what are the predictions for global surface temperature?

A
  • greatest temperature increases over land and in the high northern latitude
  • less warming over the southern oceans and North atlantic
38
Q

what are the prediction for future global precipitation?

A
  • greatest increases over the high northern temperate regions
  • decrease around tropics and sub-tropics
39
Q

what are the predictions for future weather extremes?

A
  • decrease in frost days
  • very likely that heatwaves will become more intense
  • minimum temperatures will rise faster than maximum
  • increase in growing season
40
Q

what are the likely impacts of climate change on oceans?

A
  • sinks of heat in deep waters may re-emerge, contributing to warming
  • warming increases sea level
  • warming decreases sea ice areas
  • large numbers of mass coral bleaching in recent history is likely to accelerate, linked to episodic increases in ocean surface temperatures
  • ocean acidification
41
Q

why are developing countries more at risk of the impacts of climate change?

A
  • developing countries are already more flood and drought prone and a large share of the economy is in climate sensitive sectors
  • they have a lower capacity to adapt because of a lack of financial institutional and technological capacity and access to knowledge
42
Q

how can agriculture overcome the impacts of climate change?

A
  • crop varieties can be bred that are more tolerant of heat, drought, and water logging from heavy rainfall or flooding
  • livestock can be protected from higher summer temperatures by providing more shade and improving air flow in barns
43
Q

define what is meant by climate change mitigation

A

the global responsibility to carry out actions that reduce the emissions that contribute to climate change

44
Q

define what is meant by climate change adaptation

A

the local responsibilities to enact actions that minimise or prevent the negative impacts of climate change

45
Q

what are some examples of climate change mitigation techniques?

A
  • sustainable transportation
  • energy conservation
  • building code changes to improve energy efficiency
  • renewable energy
  • expanding deep lake water cooling
  • improve vehicle fuel efficiency
  • capture and use landfill and digester gas
46
Q

what are some examples of climate change adaptation techniques?

A
  • infrastructure upgrades: sewers and culverts
  • residential programs: sewer backflow and downspout disconnection
  • health programs: Lyme disease, cooling centres, smog alerts
  • emergency and business continuity planning
  • help for vulnerable people
47
Q

what are some examples of techniques that are deemed both adaptation and mitigation?

A
  • geothermal
  • solar thermal
  • district heating
  • building design and natural ventilation
  • tree planting and care
  • local food production
  • water conservation
  • green roofs
48
Q

what are some mitigation techniques used surrounding energy efficiency?

A
  • improving energy efficiency performance of new and existing buildings and influencing behaviour of occupants
  • reducing the need to travel and ensuring good accessibility to public transport and other sustainable models of transport
  • promoting land use that acts as carbon sinks
  • encouraging development and use of renewable energy
  • reducing the amount of biodegradable waste which is landfilled
49
Q

what are some potential emission reduction strategies?

A
  • integrated policies
  • regulatory standards
  • taxes and fees
  • financial incentives
  • tradable permits
  • voluntary agreements
  • voluntary actions

environmental biology (3 decks)

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