Exam 1

• Estuaries


  A bay or drowned valley where a river empties into the seathe tidal mouth of a large river, where the tide meets the stream.
• specialist species

  Species with a narrow ecological niche. They may be able to live in only one type of habitat, tolerate only a narrow range of climatic and other environmental conditions, or use only one type or a few types of food.
• generalist species

  Species with a broad ecological niche. They can live in many different places, eat a variety of foods, and tolerate a wide range of environmental conditions. Examples are flies, cockroaches, mice, rats, and human beings.
• ecological niche


  describes either the role played by a species in a biological community or the total set of environmental factors that determine a species' distribution.
• importance of genetic diversity

  Diverse gene pool gives a population more flexibility to survive in a changing environment.The more genetically diverse a population, the more ways it has to adapt.
• genetic drift


  A change in the allele frequency of a population as a result of chance events rather than natural selection.
• bottleneck effect


  A change in allele frequency following a dramatic reduction in the size of a population such as a natural disaster.
• founder effect


  change in allele frequencies as a result of the migration of a small subgroup of a population.
• conservation genetics


  scientific field that relies on species' genetics to inform conservation efforts.
• Teddy Roosevelt


  helped conserve national parks.
• Giford Pinchot


  advocated using natural resources, but exploiting them wisely, for the greatest good for the greatest number for the longest time.
• Wangari Maathai


  Woman who started the Green Belt movement to plant millions of trees and to organize poor rural African women to restore the local environment by planting trees, also promoting justice and equality.
• Rachel Carson

  awakened the public to the environmental threat posed by pesticides in her book Silent Spring (1962).
• Biocentric


  Life centered, all organisms have some intrinsic values and rights. Biodiversity is the highest ethical value in nature.
• Ecocentric


  The whole ecosystem is more important than the individuals andpopulations that make up the ecosystem.
• anthropocentric


  regarding humankind as the central or most important element of existence, especially as opposed to God or animals.
• factors of carbon footprint

  burning of oil, coal, and gas, as well as deforestation are the primary causes of the increased carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere.
• carbon footprint


  measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide.
• resource


  A substance in the environment that is useful to people, is economically and technologically feasible to access, and is socially acceptable to use.
• Sustainability


  The ability to keep in existence or maintain. A sustainable ecosystem is one that can be maintained.
• positive feedback loop


  -feedback loop that causes a system to change further in the same direction.-self perpetuating process,as an increase in a state variable leads to furtherincreases in it.
• negative feedback loop


  -A feedback loop that causes a system to change in the opposite direction from which it is moving-suppresses change.within a system, helps to maintain stability insystems.
• Law of Thermodynamics

  #1: Energy cannot be created nor destroyed. It can only be changed in form.

  #2: When energy changes, it is converted from a more useful more concentrated form to a less useful, less concentrated form
• Photosynthesis


  Plants use the sun's energy to convert water and carbon dioxide into sugars.
• Components of photosynthesis

  Light reactions

  Carbon reactions (Calvin cycle)

  Photorespiration

  Alternatives for carbon fixation
• open system


  exchanges matter and energy with surroundings.
• closed system

  self contained, exchanges no matter or energy with the outside.
• environmental justice


  A recognition that access to a clean, healthy environment is a fundamental right of all human beings.
• Stewardship


  responsibility for conserving and restoring the Earth's resources for future generations.
• Extrinsic Value


  the portion of the worth that has been assigned to an item by external factors.
• intrinsic value


  Value of an organism, species, ecosystem, or the earth's biodiversity based on its existence, regardless of whether it has any usefulness to us.
• preservation


  Maintenance of a resource in its present condition, with as little human impact as possible.
• conservation


  Protecting and preserving natural resources and the environment.
• conservation of matter


  the principle stating that matter is not created or destroyed during a chemical reaction.
• Levels of organization for life

  Life is organized• A living organism can adapt to changes inthe environment• It can regulate metabolism and maintainhomeostasis• It can grow• It is capable of reproducing
• ecological footprint


  the impact of a person or community on the environment, expressed as the amount of land required to sustain their use of natural resources.
• Scientific Methods


  A series of steps followed to solve problems including collecting data, formulating a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis, and stating conclusions.
• Fundamental basics of environmental science

  the systemic study of our environment & our place in it Natural and Social Science and humanities.
• competitive exclusion


  Strong competition can lead to local elimination of one of the species.
• Energy Exchange


  energy is exchanged between the system and surroundings through either heat exchange or work being done.