Term
| Most important tool for early humans? |
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Definition
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Term
| For how much of our history were humans hunters and gathers? |
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Definition
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Term
| What was the most important use of fire by early humans? |
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Definition
| The ability to use fire to alter habitat and create "edges". |
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Term
| Why were humans in the old stone age considered super predators? |
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Definition
| The invention of the bow and arrow allowed them to make large animals such as mammoths, mastodons, saber tooth tigers and giant buffalo go extinct. |
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Term
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Definition
| A volcanic eruption at the end of the Paleolitic era that caused an small instant Ice Age. |
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Term
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Definition
| Where two habitats come together. Note they are now known as "kill zones". |
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Term
| When did humans come to the Near East, Australia, Europe and America? |
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Definition
| 90,000 YBP, 50,000 YBP, 40,000 YBP and 12,000 YBP respectively. |
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Term
| What is Swidden or Milpa agriculture? |
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Definition
| Slash and Burn agriculture, where forest are cut down and burned. Leads to quick erosion of soil. |
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Term
| What are the 4 distinct stages of environmentalism? |
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Definition
| Pragmatic resource conservation, moral and aesthetic nature preservation, health and ecological damage concerns and global environmental citizenship. |
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Term
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Definition
"Greatest good for the greatest number of of people for the longest time"
He was a Pragmatic Utilitarian Conservationist |
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Term
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Definition
| Founder of the Sierra Club. He had a Biocentric view of the world- we should preserve nature regardless of it's usefulness to humans. |
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Term
| What many people today live on less than one dollar a day? |
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Definition
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Term
| How many kilograms of raw material does it take the average American to get through a single day? |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| A subdivision of ecology that studies individual species and organisms. |
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Term
| What's an environmental reason for caring about Indigenous people? |
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Definition
| Their homelands harbor biodiversity, thus if you recognize native rights you can in many circumstances provide ecological safeguards. |
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Term
| What are the 4 main goals of environmental science? |
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Definition
1. Understand how nature works
2. To understand how we affect nature
3. To understand how nature affects us
4. to figure out how to live more sustainably. |
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Term
| Natural Capital is equal to: |
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Definition
| Natural Capital = Natural resources + Natural services |
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Term
| 1st and 2nd law of thermodynamics |
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Definition
1st: Energy is never created or lost.
2nd: when energy changes from one form to another, we always ends up with lower-quality or less usable energy that we started with. |
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Term
| Decomposers vs Detritivores |
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Definition
| organisms that break down and recycle Nutrients in out ecosystem vs Insects or scavengers that feed on dead things and waste. |
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Term
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Definition
| Resources that are continuous on a human time scale. |
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Term
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Definition
| Resources that can be replenished rapidly on a human time scale. |
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Term
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Definition
| Resources that on a human time scale are in fixed supply. Their lives can be extended by recycling and reusing them. |
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Term
| What are 3 major problems with pollution? |
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Definition
1. Can disrupt/degrade life support systems
2. can damage health and property.
3. Can be a nuisance with it's noise, smells and sights. |
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Term
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Definition
| People who believe that human ingenuity will always allow us to keep our environmental sustainable. |
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Term
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Definition
| People who believe that the environmental Situation is hopeless! |
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Term
| What did Aldo Leopold write? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is Basal Metabolic Rate? |
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Definition
| The minimal amount of energy one needs to stay alive. (doesn't account for any activity) |
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Term
| How did Ecology get it's name? |
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Definition
| From Earenst Haeckel in 1869. He used the greek word Oikos- home or place to live and the word Logos- study of to come come up with Ecology- the study of our home. |
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Term
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Definition
He is considered the Father of Ecology. Ecology is the study of structure and function of nature where,
Structure: abiotic components, physical factors and biotic components.
Function: Energy flow and Chemical cycling. |
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Term
| What is the human population doubling equation? |
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Definition
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Term
| Define Evolution vs Natural Selection vs Adaption: |
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Definition
Evolution: The process whereby earth's life changes overt time through changes in the genes of population.
Natural Selection: Traits that increase ability to survive and produce offspring become more prevalent in a future population
Adaption: Any heritable trait that enables an individual organism to survive through natural selection and to reproduce more than other individuals. |
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Term
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Definition
| intermixing of habitats that creates more edge. |
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Term
| What happens as you go from the universe to subatomic particles? |
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Definition
| You decrease variability and complexity. |
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Term
| Population vs Communities vs Ecosystem |
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Definition
Population: Members of a species interacting in groups in a given area and time.
Communities: Populations of different species living and interacting in a given area and time.
Ecosystem- a biological community interacting with its physical environment of matter and energy in a given area and time. |
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Term
| What does the Biosphere include? |
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Definition
| Air, Water, Soil, Minerals and Life |
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Term
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Definition
| Large major ecosystems on land |
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Term
| What did Shelford say about tolerance limits? |
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Definition
| Each environmental factor has both a minimum and maximum level beyond which a species cannot survive. |
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Term
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Definition
| Any system spontaneously becomes disordered |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| Primary, Gross Primary, Net, and Secondary Productivity |
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Definition
Primary: Rate at which radiant energy is store by organisms in the form of organic substances
GPP: Total rate of photosynthesis
Net Primary: GPP - Respiration
Secondary: Rate at which energy is stored at the consumer levels |
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Term
| Most productive ecosystems |
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Definition
| Rainforests, estuaries, swamps and marshes. |
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Term
| Macroconsumers vs Microconsumers |
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Definition
Macro: anything in the grazing food chain that eats something
Micro: anything in the Detritus food chain (dead things) |
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Term
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Definition
| Functional diversity, ecological diversity, species diversity and genetic diversity |
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Term
| What is the number one reason for extinction? |
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Definition
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Term
| Reservoir Pools vs Exchange Pools |
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Definition
Reservoir:
Large, slow moving, no biological components
Exchange: small, fast moving, biological, exchanges (between organisms and environment) |
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Term
| Gaseous Cycle vs Sedimentary Cycles |
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Definition
| Have atmospheric and hydrosphere reservoir vs crust reservior |
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Term
| Perfect vs Imperfect Cycles |
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Definition
Perfect: Respond very rapidly to changes to peturbances
Imperfect: respond very slowly |
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Term
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Definition
Perfect and Gaseous with Atmosphere as it's reservoir
** LOOK UP IN BOOK *** |
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Term
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Definition
| Imperfect and Sedimentary |
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Term
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Definition
| Bird poop, is collected in Galapagos for it's use a phosphorous fertlizer |
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Term
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Definition
| Bird poop, is collected in Galapagos for it's use a phosphorous fertilizer |
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Term
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Definition
| Species Richness- The number of different species in a community and Species Evenness- the abundance of individuals within each of those species |
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Term
| diversity and geological location |
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Definition
| Species Diversity is highest in the tropics and declines as you move towards the poles |
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Term
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Definition
| Canary Species, Species that serve as early warning signs of damage to a community or an ecosystem |
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Term
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Definition
Steno is Narrow and Eury Wide
Steno-haline, Eury-thermal |
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Term
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Definition
| help determine the types and numbers of other species in a community, there by helping to sustain it. |
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Term
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Definition
| Can create and enhance habitats that can benefit other species in a community |
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Term
| Batesian vs Mullerian Mimicry |
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Definition
| Harmless mimics Harmful vs Harmful mimics Harmful |
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Term
| Explain Proto-Cooperation vs Amensalism Vs Commensalism |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
The Gradual Change in species composition of a given area
** LOOK UP IN BOOK** |
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Term
| Stability- Inertia (persistence) vs Constancy vs Resilience |
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Definition
| resist being disturbed or altered and keeps its numbers within the limits imposed by available resources vs ability to bounce back and repair damage after disturbance |
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Term
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Definition
| Capacity for population growth under ideal conditions |
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Term
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Definition
| (K) max number of population of a given species. |
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Term
| Describe the Different Population Curves: |
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Definition
Stable: Fluctuates slightly above and below carrying capacity
Irruptive: Populations explode and then crash to a move stable level
Cyclic: populations fluctuate, regular cyclic or boom and bust cycle
Irregular: erratic changes possibly due to chaos or drastic change |
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Term
| Inductive vs. Deductive Reasoning |
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Definition
| Arrive a general statement vs Arrive at specific conclusion |
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Term
| 3 conditions necessary for biological evolution: |
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Definition
| Genetic Variability, traits must be inheritable, traits must lead to differential reproduction (survival of the fittest...) |
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Term
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Definition
| Multidimensional hyperspace man about graphing Niches. Talked about Stability Fields. |
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Term
| Fundamental Niche vs Realized Niche |
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Definition
Full range or habitat of species could exploit (if there was no competition)
vs the resources or habitat a species actually does exploit. |
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Term
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Definition
| Boundaries between adjacent communities. Sharp boundaries are a closed community and indistinct boundaries are an open community. |
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Term
| Advantages and Disadvantages of Sex |
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Definition
Advantages: Genetic Diversity and Offspring Protection
Disadvantages: males do not give birth, courtship and mating is costly, increases genetic errors and defects. |
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Term
| How we extended earth's carrying capacity? |
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Definition
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