Key Terms and Definitions
Environmental Research and Data Skills
Human Population Dynamics
Causes and Consequences
100
The total amount of resources an area can sustainably support.
What is carrying capacity?
100
The type of sampling where every individual has the same chance of selection.
What is random sampling?
100
The stage of the demographic transition model with high birth and high death rates.
What is Stage 1?
100
A major cause of deforestation in tropical areas.
What is agriculture or logging?
200
A measure of the variety of species in an ecosystem.
What is biodiversity?
200
A bar chart showing the distribution of continuous data.
A: What is a histogram?
200
The population group defined as ages 0–14.
What is the youth-dependent population?
200
One environmental consequence of rapid population growth.
What is resource depletion, pollution, etc.?
300
The process by which a population increases at a rate proportional to its size.
What is exponential growth?
300
Identify the dependent variable: “Investigating how light intensity affects plant growth.”
What is plant growth?
300
Formula for dependency ratio.
300
Why is overfishing considered an unsustainable practice?
Because fish stocks cannot replenish at the rate they are harvested.
400
A broad, long-term comparison of environmental, economic, and social needs.
What is sustainability?
400
The equation used to calculate population density.
What is Population ÷ Area?
400
One social reason a country might have a declining birth rate.
What is increased female education / urbanization / family planning (any correct reason)?
400
Explain one cause of a concave shape in a population pyramid.
High death rates / disease / conflict / poor healthcare.
500
The global sum of all ecosystems on Earth.
What is the biosphere?
500
The term for a systematic error that skews data in one direction.
What is bias?
500
A sudden bulge in the middle of a population pyramid suggests what?
A baby boom or a large migration event.
500
A positive feedback loop that can accelerate climate change.
Melting ice → lower albedo → more absorption of sunlight → more warming.