Unit 1 key questions and concepts

Question 1

what are three principles of sustainability?

Answer 1

1-1 nature has sustained itself for billions of years by relying on solar energy, biodiversity, and nutrient recycling 1-1bOur lives and economies depend on energy from the sun and on natural resources and natural services provided by the earth

Question 2

how are our ecological footprints affecting the earth?

Answer 2

1-2 as our ecological footprints grow, we are depleting and degrading more of the earths natural capital.

Question 3

why do we have environmental problems?

Answer 3

1-3 Major causes of environmental problems are population growth, wasteful and unsustainable resource use.

Question 4

Environment

Answer 4

Page 6 everything around us

Question 5

Ecology

Answer 5

Page 6 The biological science that studies how organisms interact with one another and their environment

Question 6

what is an environmentally sustainable society

Answer 6

1-4 living sustainably means living off the earth’s natural income without depleting or degrading the natural capital that supplies it.

Question 7

biodiversity

Answer 7

the astounding variety of organisms, the natural systems in which they exist and interact, and the natural services that these organisms and living systems provide (renewal of topsoil, pest control, and air/water purification).

Question 8

Chemical cycling

Answer 8

AKA nutrient cycling this circulation of chemicals from the environment through organisms and back to the environment is necessary for life

Question 9

Natural capital

Answer 9

the natural resources and natural services that keep us and other forms of life alive and support our human economies

Question 10

Point sources

Answer 10

single, identifiable sources of pollution EX. smoke stack of a coal plant

Question 11

Non-point sources

Answer 11

pollutants that are dispersed and often difficult to indentify EX: pesticides blown from the land into the air, fertilizers that have runnoff

Question 12

IPAT

Answer 12

I= P x A x T Impact (I)= Population (P) x Affluence (A) x Technology (T)

Question 13

Ecological tipping point

Answer 13

point at which an environmental problem reaches a threshold level, which causes an often irreversible shift ing the behavior of a natural system

Question 14

exponential growth

Answer 14

occurs when a quantity such as the human population increases at a fixed percentage per unit of time, like 4%per year

Question 15

poverty

Answer 15

occurs when people are unable to fulfill their basic needs for adequate food, water, shelter, health, and education.

Question 16

3-1

What keeps us and other organisms alive?

Answer 16

3-1 A

the four major components of the earth’s life-support system are the atmosphere (air), the hydrosphere (water), the geosphere (rock, soil, and sediment), and the biosphere (living things).

3-1 B

Life is sustained by the flow of energy from the sun through the biosphere, the cycling of nutrients within the biosphere, and gravity

Question 17

Concept 3-2

What are the major components of an ecosystem?

Answer 17

Concept 3-2

some organisms produce the nutrients they need, others et the nutrients they need by consuming other organisms, and some recycle nutrients back to producers by decomposing the wastes and remains of other organisms

Question 18

Concept 3-3

What happens to energy in an ecosystem?

Answer 18

Concept 3-3

As energy flows through ecosystems in food chains and webs, the amount of chemical energy available to organisms at each successive feeding level decreases.

Question 19

Concept 3-4

What happens to matter in an ecosystem?

Answer 19

concept 3-4

Matter, in the form of nutrients, cycles within and among ecosystems and the biosphere, and human activities are altering these chemical cycles.

Question 20

Concept 3-5

How do scientists study ecosystems?

Answer 20

Concept 3-5

Scientists use both field research and laboratory research, as well as mathematical and other models to learn about ecosystems.

Question 21

Chapter 3

Biosphere

Answer 21

parts of the earth’s air, water, and soil where life is found

Question 22

Chapter 3

Ecosystem

Answer 22

A community of different species interacting with one another and with their nonliving environment of matter and energy

Question 23

Chapter 3

Community

Answer 23

populations of different species living in a particular place, and potentially acting with each other

Question 24

Chapter 3

Population

Answer 24

A group of individuals of the same species living in a particular place

Question 25

Chapter 3

Organism

Answer 25

An individual living being

Question 26

Chapter 3

Ecology

Answer 26

Biological science that studies the relationships between living organisms and their environment.

Question 27

Chapter 3

Fermentation/anaerobic respiration

Answer 27

forms of cell respiration in which some decomposers get the energy they need through the breakdown of glucose in the absence of oxygen

Question 28

Chapter 3

Food Chain

Answer 28

series of organisms in which each eats of decomposes the preceding one

Question 29

Chapter 3

Biomass

Answer 29

organic matter produced by plants and other photosynthetic producers; total dry weight of all living organisms that can be supported at each trophic level in a food chain or web