Unit 1

Question 1

environment

Answer 1

is the sum of all the conditions surrounding us that influence life

Question 2

Environmental science

Answer 2

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

Question 3

ecosystem

Answer 3

a particular location on Earth with interacting biotic and abiotic components

Question 4

biotic

Answer 4

living (plants, animals, bacteria (E. coli, etc), eukaryotic microbes (amoebas, etc), and fungi (mushrooms, etc).

Question 5

abiotic

Answer 5

sunlight, water, air, humidity, pH, temperature, salinity, precipitation, altitude, type of soil, minerals, wind, dissolved oxygen, mineral nutrients present in the soil, air and water,

Question 6

the scientific method

Answer 6

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

Question 7

hypothesis

Answer 7

a testable conjecture about how something works

Question 8

null hypothesis

Answer 8

a prediction that there are no difference between the groups or conditions that are being compared “no relationship”

Question 9

accuracy

Answer 9

how close a measured value is to the actual value

Question 10

precision

Answer 10

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

Question 11

uncertainty

Answer 11

an estimate of how much a measured value differs from true values

Question 12

inductive reasoning

Answer 12

the process of making general statements from specific examples

Question 13

deductive reasoning

Answer 13

the process of applying general statements from specific facts

Question 14

theory

Answer 14

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

Question 15

natural law

Answer 15

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

Question 16

1st law of thermodynamics

Answer 16

states that energy is neither created nor destroyed

Question 17

2nd law of thermodynamics

Answer 17

the total entropy of an isolated system always increases over time or remains constant in ideal cases. All systems move toward increased entropy

Question 18

community ecology

Answer 18

the study of interactions among species

Question 19

symbiosis

Answer 19

two species loving in a close and long-term association with one another in a ecosystem

Question 20

biosphere

Answer 20

the region of planet where life resides (from bottom of ocean to mount) 20km (12miles)

Question 21

competition

Answer 21

the struggle of individuals, either within or between species to obtain a shared limiting resource

Question 22

competition exclusion principle

Answer 22

states the two species competing for the same limiting resource cannot coexist