ISB 202 Test 1 Study Guide

Introduction, Sustainability & Natural Capital Ch 1, Ch 11 (229-230), Ch 23 (516-517,

520-521)

Environmental science - the systematic study of 1. how the earth works 2. how we are affecting the earth 3. how we might deal with environmental problems we face Levels of organization Earth Biosphere Ecosystem Communities Populations Organism Organ Systems Organs Tissues Cells Cell Organelles Molecules Atoms/Elements Subatomic Particles Biosphere

Global Citizenship we are a part of a large global community, we should carry ourselves with a sense of awareness & responsibility as global stewards Current conditions Human population > 6.9 billion Water quality/quantity issues may be the most crucial issues of 21st century Food is inequitably distributed across the globe & 2/3 of agricultural lands show signs of degradation Fossil fuel reserves are diminishing & pollution is causing global warming Air quality has decreased in many areas Loss of biodiversity at a rapid rate

component of planet where life is able to exist Atmosphere + Hydrosphere + Distribution of Global Wealth Lithosphere = Biosphere Principles 5% of the planets population controls Holoceonotic (inter-related), 80% of the wealth on planet self adjusting and never static Energy flows through the Ecological Footprint biosphere and is continually measures how much land/water area a supplied by the sun human population requires to produce Quantity of matter in the the resources it consumes & to absorb biosphere is finite & must be its wastes under prevailing recycled for life to exist technologies Homosapiens are animals & are a part of the biosphere Globalization Gaia Hypothesis James Lovelock: English atmospheric chemist Levels of organization of the universe Inter-relatedness (Holoceonosis) Earth is a single, self-regulating super organism it is occurring! Human nature: improve standard of living 2 major problems: overpopulation of developing nations, overconsumption of developed nations Historic Ecological Ethic myth of inexhaustibility violating sustainable yield

ISB 202 Test 1 Study Guide Tragedy of the Commons - Garrett Hardin Short sighted use of natural resources for immediate economic gain with no consideration for long term sustainability Sustainability & Materials Ecosystem services the processes by which the environment produces resources that we often take for granted Ethics Water Treatment Plants of life for the average person can be maintained over the long term does not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs Global Environmentalism a concern for and action to help solve global environmental problems

Riverside, CA: restored wetlands and Moral Value successfully saved $8 million NYC 1997: new water filtration plant value of worth of something based on $6 billion + $250 million annually moral principles Instead spent $350 million buying land & encouraging sustainable Moral extensionism farming practices expansion of our understanding of inherent value or rights to persons, Utilitarian conservation organisms, or things that might not be forests should be saved not because considered worthy of value or rights they are beautiful but only to under some ethical philosophies provide homes/jobs for people Roosevelt, Pinchot Inherent value Biocentric preservation nature deserves to exist for its own sake, regardless of usefulness Muir Environmentalism intrinsic/essential characteristic of a thing or class of things simply because they exist Instrumental value satisfy needs/wants of moral agents can be used as a means to some desirable end

branch of philosophy concerned with right/wrong

concerns both environmental resources as well as pollution LULU's Rachel Carson Silent Spring Locally Unwanted Land Uses book, 1962 Toxic Waste Dumps, Incinerators, Smelters, Airports Sustainable development economic improvement for the worlds poorest populations is possible w/o devastating environment real increase in well-being & standard Environmental racism decisions that restrict certain people/groups of people to polluted

ISB 202 Test 1 Study Guide environments on the basis of race Toxic colonialism shipping toxic wastes to a weaker/poorer nation Extinction Elimination of a species can be normal process Invasive species thrive in new territory free of predators, diseases, resource limitations Overharvesting harvesting so much of a resource that its existence is threatened Endangered species In imminent danger of extinction Threatened species still abundant but has declined significantly in total #'s verge of extinction Vulnerable species naturally rare #'s reduced by human activities verge of threatened/endangered Habitat conservation plans (HCP's) agreements where property owners are allowed to harvest resources or develop land habitat must be conserved or replaced in ways that benefit resident endangered species in long run

Ecological Economies Ch 23
Biosphere II Created to try to understand how things are related, how they function, oxygen Ecological Economies FAILURE Economic solution to improve 21% air is oxygen dropped to environmental quality 15% FULL COST PRICING CO2 levels shot up Internal costs (Direct factors shows that we need to do more which drive the market price) + research External costs (Indirect harmful effects passed on) GNP & GDP Standardized method to compare Measuring well being economic output of nations Genuine Progress Index Problems? takes into account real per capita Ignores harmful environment income, distributional equality, and social effects of producing natural resource depletion & goods and services environment damage doesn't include degradation/depletion of natural capital (ecosystem) tells nothing of income distribution or economic justice

ISB 202 Test 1 Study Guide Human Development Index Used by the UN, life expectancy, education, standard of living Gender Development Index Adjusted for inequality between men & women Cap & Trade Mandate upper limits on pollution companies cut more than required can sell their credits lowers amount of pollution Fair Trade Sustainable produces receive fair price no child labor Microlending Tiny loans can aid the poor Grameen Bank founded by Dr. Muhammad Yunus, has assisted millions of people Green Business During 1st Industrial Revolution, raw materials seen as inexhaustibile socially responsible + sustainable = profit efficiency starts with product design

Science, Matter, and Energy Ch 2, Ch 14 (299-303)

Science Looking at the world in a systematic way in order to understand it using the scientific method Scientific Process/Method Scientific consensus General agreement among informed scholars, stems from a community of scientists who collaborate in a cumulative, self correcting process

Geocentric theory Observation looking in a way to The earth is the center of the universe understand Hypothesis testable statement, supported through ptolmeic algebra explains observation FALSIFIED by technology Experiment test of hypothesis using Pure science control for comparison of results Conclusion summary of results based Research done simply to answer a on experimental results theoretical question Publish making results available to the world Applied science Rule of Falsification Observation can support hypothesis observations to the contrary can disprove or falsify Use of knowledge gained from pure science for some functional purpose Systems Networks of interactions among many independent factors Composed of processes

ISB 202 Test 1 Study Guide Characteristics of systems positive feedback loop - flow leads to compartment changes that further enhance the flow negative feedback loop dampens flow equilibrium dynamic state in which system is changing little over time disturbance periodic destructive events such as fire, flood resilience ability of system to recover quickly from disturbance

Ecosystems and Soil Ch 3 (52-65), Ch 10 (198-202)

2 Most Important resources for a sustainable human culture Fresh, clean water Soil, fertile Soil is a mixture of mineral particles, organic matter, water, and air that is capable of supporting plant life Soil is crucial to ecological studies ... Provides all/part of all essential factors for plant growth except light rooting materials for the plants: the platform on which trophic levels of the ecosystem are built contains most of the decomposers that recycle energy & nutrients of the ecosystem contain history of the site, which can be interpreted through paleoecological reconstructions soil is an ecosystem in itself Services soil provides Decomposition of organic matter nutrition for food webs water purification sequester carbon

Ecosystem Components Producers green plants (chlorphyll) autotrophs (self-feeders) photosynthesis respiration Consumers heterotrophs respiration primary consumers herbivores secondary consumers carnivores/omnivores Decomposers highly evolved & efficient respiration critical to biogeological cycles eukaryotic

Biogeochemical Cycles
Structure of the planet

Ch 3 (65-71)

Terra Firma

Core solid, nickel, uranium, Greek for Solid Earth thermonuclear reactions, produces heat The 3 Great Processe mantle molten liquid rock crust solid, composed of plates, igneous, metamorphic, granite, shale, 1. Gradation (down-cutting) marble Involves weathering (disintegration

ISB 202 Test 1 Study Guide of rock 2 types, 1. Mechanical, 2. Chemical) Erosion Transport Deposition Sedimentary Rock Sandstone, Limestone, Shale 2. Diastrophism (uplift) Movement of solid rock plates colliding folds, faults, wraps metamorphic rock (heat & pressure) Quartzite, marble, slate crust consumed as 1 plate dives under another Hydrologic Cycle Path of water through the environment solar energy continually evaporates water stored in oceans & land distributes water vapor around globe condenses over land surfaces, supporting all terrestrial systems responsible for cellular metabolism, nutrient flow in ecosystems, global distribution of heat/energy The SUN drives the water cycle Nitrogen Cycle Needed to make proteins and nucleic acids such as DNA Plants take up inorganic nitrogen from the environment and build protein molecules which are later eaten by consumers Nitrogen fixing bacteria change nitrogen to a more useful form by combining it with hydrogen to make ammonia. Other bacteria convert ammonia to nitrites/nitrates which can be taken up by plants to make proteins Legumes have nitrogen fixing bacteria living in roots Haber-Bosch Process Synthesizes ammonia from N & H gas 1% of worlds energy used for this process Phosphorus Cycle Needed to make DNA, ATP, biomolecules leached from rocks/minerals & transported in aqueous form taken in, incorporated by producers consumers, returned to environment by decomposers

3. Volcanism (uplift) Movement of liquid rock lava on surface magma below surface Plate Tectonics Convection current theory Geologic active zones Fossil Evidence Sea Floor spreading Challenger Oil Exploration, Harry Hess (1906-1969), Isotopic Dating No Oceanic plate older than 300 mill. Years

Types of plates Oceanic Plates more dense because they have a smaller crystal structure Continental Plates less dense because they have a larger crystal structure Types of boundaries Divergent new crust generated as plates pull away Convergent

ISB 202 Test 1 Study Guide Carbon Cycle Involved in both photosynthesis and respiration begins with intake of CO2 during photosynthesis. Carbon incorporated into sugar, released by cellular respiration Aerobic respiration in the presence of oxygen, produces CO2, heat is a waste product Anaerobic respiration Sometimes carbon not recycled for a long time. SEQUESTORED = locked up, kept out of atmosphere... Carbon Sinks Carbon Source - carbon released when burned

Evolution, Communities and Species Interactions Ch 4

Ecology Investigates how organisms interact with the biotic (living) and abiotic (nonliving) factors of an environment Population Group of 1 species Species A group of organisms who have the potential to interbreed and produce fertile offspring in nature Range of Tolerance 2 Key Metabolic Processes Photosynthesis Takes in: carbon dioxide and water, and energy from the sun Produces/releases: sugar (glucose) with stored energy, oxygen 6CO2 + 12H2O + light C6H12O6 + 6O2 + 6H2O Respiration Takes in: sugar (glucose) and oxygen Releases: carbon dioxide, water, heat C6H12O6+6O2 6CO2 + 6H2O + 12e- + energy

Organisms live in optimal range If a certain factor is too much/too little, Trophic levels organisms die and fall into the zone of Organisms can be identified by the type intolerance of food they consume Herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, Limiting factor principle scavengers, etc. Too much/little of any single abiotic factor can limit or prevent growth of a Remember that in Photosynthesis... population, even if all other factors are The OXYGEN does NOT come from at optimum range of tolerance the atmosphere, it comes from the water molecule in H2O being split Elements of life Carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, sulfur, sodium, magnesium, chlorine, potassium, calcium Food chain vs Food web CHAIN - Linked feeding series WEB most consumers have multiple food sources

ISB 202 Test 1 Study Guide Energy exchange in ecosystems 1st Law of Thermodynamics

Sun gives continuous supply of energy, Energy can neither be w/o it photosynthesis & survival would created/destroyed be impossible It can only be converted from 1 form to Remember that at each stage, another ENERGY IS LOST AS HEAT 2nd Law of Thermodynamics 10% energy lost at each trophic level No energy conversion 100% efficient In any conversion there is a net loss of energy

Plant of the Day

Cymbopogan Plant Lemon Grass Herb used in flavoring natural pesticide Strong odors to protect themselves People used to eat & use them to preserve foods such as meat used as ornamental Bioremediation purify air pollutants Possible invasive species Ginkgo biloba Maidenhair Tree Living fossil: over 270 million years old Thought to be extinct Rediscovered in China some as old as 1500 years Excellent tree in cityscapes because of tolerance to air pollutants Sedum spp Crassulaceae Cam plant Many types used in green roofs

Musa spp, Banana 1 tree makes 1 banana Acacia collinsii: Bull-Horn Acacia Tree Symbiotic relationship with ants provides home and food to ants Setcreasea pupurea Purple Queen Commelinaceae Native to Mexico

ISB 202 Test 1 Study Guide