Exam #1

Question 1

Environment

Answer 1

The surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal and/or plant needs to survive

Question 2

Ecology

Answer 2

Focuses on the abundance and distribution of organisms in relation to their environment, and to each other

Question 3

Ecosystem

Answer 3

The combination of a community of organisms and its physical and chemical environment, functioning as an integrated ecological unit

Question 4

Negative feedback

Answer 4

Reverses the direction of change (introduction of wolves in an environment)

Question 5

Positive feedback

Answer 5

Accelerates the direction of change (more rain, more grass, more deer)

Question 6

Scientific method

Question 7

Tragedy of the commons

Answer 7

Decline and destruction of the natural resources shared in a community (nothing to prevent an individual from exploiting a resource)

Question 8

Triple bottom line

Answer 8

The ideal image for a company to have supports planet, people, and profit (goal is sustainability)

Question 9

Preservationist

Answer 9

Protecting and preserving public land in its pristine state (even if it helps, don’t touch it)

Question 10

Conservationist

Answer 10

Using the environment, but conserving biological life and ecosystems (ok to use if it helps humans, but don’t exploit it)

Question 11

Anthropocentric ethics

Answer 11

Only humans have intrinsic value (everything else has instrumental value bc it helps humans)

Question 12

Biocentric ethics

Answer 12

Other living things have equal value to humans (they don’t need to benefit us to have value)

Question 13

Ecocentric ethics

Answer 13

Communities of organisms and ecosystems have intrinsic value

Question 14

Environmental policy

Answer 14

Rules that guide decisions and actions that influence environmental conditions or processes (plan)

Question 15

Incentives

Answer 15

Encourage actions by offering something in return (tax credits for buying solar panels)

Question 16

Environmental law

Answer 16

The concern of the conservation, usage, and treatment of the natural world in government law (action)

Question 17

Cell

Answer 17

Basic unit of structure and function of all life (energy flows through cells)

Question 18

Prokaryotes

Answer 18

Single-celled organisms (bacteria, archaea) without a nucleus

Question 19

Eukaryotes

Answer 19

Humans and animals that do have a membrane-enclosed nucleus containing DNA

Question 20

Genotype

Answer 20

Genetic makeup of an organism

Question 21

Phenotype

Answer 21

How an organism looks, combination of genotype and environment

Question 22

Immigration

Answer 22

Moving in

Question 23

Emigration

Answer 23

Moving out

Question 24

Pull factors for immigration

Answer 24

Freedom, education, employment

Question 25

Push factors for emigration

Answer 25

War, famine, oppression, persecution

Question 26

Directional selection

Answer 26

Survival of individuals at one extreme end of range of variation (ex: larger seeds, larger bird beaks)

Question 27

Stabilizing selection

Answer 27

Selection favors traits falling in middle or range of variation (ex: human birth weight)

Question 28

Founder effect

Answer 28

Reduced genetic diversity resulting from the immigration of a small subset of a population (when populations are isolated over time, they follow different evolutionary pathways and become separate species)

Question 29

Disruptive selection

Answer 29

Traits that fall within extreme ends of range of variation survive (ex: contrasting environments, only small and large survive)

Question 30

Mutation

Answer 30

Random mistakes in the copying of genes or when cells are exposed to chemicals or environmental hazards that can be passed from parent to offspring (ex: Down syndrome)

Question 31

Population growth rate

Answer 31

% of change over time (ex: 100 individs. year 1, 110 individs. year 2 = 10% year)

Question 32

Exponential population growth

Answer 32

Number of new individuals in a generation is a multiple of number present in previous generation

Question 33

Survivorship curves

Answer 33

Plot of percentage of individuals of a pop. that survive to each age

Question 34

Carrying capacity

Answer 34

The rate at which resources are supplied limits the pop. growth

Question 35

Evolution

Answer 35

The process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth

Question 36

Survival of the fittest

Answer 36

Organisms with genes better suited to the environment are selected for survival and pass them to the next generation

Question 37

Natural selection

Answer 37

- Variation in the trait within the population - Trait determined by genetics and inheritable - Individuals with certain variants of the trait have higher fitness - Competition for survival and reproduction within a population

Question 38

Taxonomy

Answer 38

The classification of organisms through description, identification, and naming

Question 39

Demographers

Answer 39

Study the characteristics and consequences of human population growth

Question 40

Net migration rate

Answer 40

Difference between immigration and emigration rates

Question 41

Ecological footprint

Answer 41

The amount of land needed to supply the demand for ecological goods and services

Question 42

Biocapacity

Answer 42

Measure of the area and quality of land available to supply a population with resources

Question 43

Pre-agricultural period of human population growth

Answer 43

Ambiguous number of humans who existed, human growth was low, hunter/gatherer

Question 44

Agricultural period of human population growth

Answer 44

Population growth expanded because people were sedentary, domesticated plants and animals, and stored food

Question 45

Expanded carrying capacity of humans

Answer 45

Humans are special because we can expand the limits of carrying capacity (pop. growth is somewhat unlimited)

Question 46

What impacts birth rates?

Answer 46

Wealth and incentives

Question 47

What impacts death rate?

Answer 47

Amount of land, nutrients, access to medicine