Study of Ecology Flashcards
What is a natural resource?
Substance from the environment that is useful to an organism.
How can humans alter their environment?
Humans can remove organisms, replace existing organisms with new, and pollute environments, making them unusable for certain uses.
How can the economic principle of supply and demand apply to the environment?
Environments can supply natural resources; their availability and cost depends on demand.
What is cost-benefit analysis?
A decision-making tool that weighs the cost of an action with the benefit of taking that action.
What is risk assessment?
A decision-making process that predicts all possible outcomes from taking an action.
What is sustainability?
Actions that allow an environment to remain diverse and supply natural resources.
How does the environment affect human sustainability?
Natural Resources meet the needs and wants of humans in order for the species to continue to reproduce.
In a scientific experiment, what is a hypothesis?
The anticipated answer to a problem based on background research and written as a cause and effect statement.
In a scientific experiment, what is the experimental group?
A set-up of conditions in which one variable is changed to study the effects of the change.
In a scientific experiment, what is the control group?
A set-up of conditions in which none of the variables are manipulated and which acts as a standard of comparison to the experimental group.
What is a variable?
A measured condition that can have more than one value.
What societal value considers the artistic enjoyment and affect on personal mood of the environment?
Aesthetic value
What societal value considers the monetary cost or benefit of the environment?
Economic value
What societal value considers the wise use of resources?
Conservation value
What societal value considers knowledge gained from the study of the environment?
Education value
What societal value uses a universal concept to justify actions?
Ethical or Moral value
What societal value evaluates an action based on its effect on the human body?
Health value
What societal value uses human activities for enjoyment to evaluate an action?
Recreational value
What societal value uses interactions between individuals to evaluate an action?
Societal, Cultural, or Religious values
In statistics, how is the mean calculated?
All of the measured values are added together, then the total of the values is divided by the number of values.
In statistics, how is the median determined?
All the measured values are placed in order from smallest to largest; the median value is the middle value.
What is the null hypothesis in an experiment?
The prediction that a manipulated variable has no effect.
What is an alternative hypothesis?
A prediction that a manipulated variable will produce an anticipated result.
What are the steps in a typical decision-making model?
- Gather information 2. Consider values affected by action 3. Explore consequences of action 4. Make a decision
Why is cost-benefit analysis difficult to apply to environmental issues?
The benefits of an action may be hard to quantify. The people who benefit from an action may not be the same as those who pay the cost of the action.
How does government regulation affect environmental decisions?
Government regulation may limit the possible actions or influence the costs of an action.
What is a need?
Resources necessary for an individual to exist.
What is a want?
Something that an individual desires.
What is the Tragedy of the Commons?
Theory that unregulated use of common resources will result in irreparable damage or extinction of the resource.
What are three ways to possibly avoid the Tragedy of the Commons?
Private ownership of resources, cooperation between all common owners of the resource, or government regulation.
