The Living World (Units 1 & 2)
Primary source of energy in most ecosystems
What is the sun?
Carrying Capacity
What is the maximum population size an environment can sustainably support?
Cause of Earth's Seasons
What is axial tilt?
Clear Cutting
What is removing all trees from an area at once, which can lead to soil erosion and habitat loss?
Point source pollutant and example
What is pollution from a single, identifiable source like a factory pipe?
An ecosystem
What is a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment?
Type I survivorship
What is high survival early and mid-life often as a result of parental care, then steep decline (e.g., humans)?
Area of land that drains into a single river or stream
What is a watershed
Two environmental impacts of urbanization
What are increased runoff/air pollution/deforestation/decreased infiltration or ground water recharge/habitat destruction/biodiversity loss etc?
Causes acid rain. Give two pollutants and their sources
What are sulfur dioxide/carbon dioxides and nitrogen oxides from burning fossil fuels (cars/power plants/ factories) mixing with water in the atmosphere?
Three main types of biodiversity
What are genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity?
R-selected vs K-selected species
What is r-selected reproduce quickly with many offspring; K-selected reproduce slowly with fewer, more cared-for offspring?
Three soil horizons and what is typically found in each.
What are O (organic matter), A (topsoil), and B (subsoil/minerals)?
Two pro and two cons of using coal for energy
What is cheap/abundant/easy/proven/reliable(pro), acid rain/smog/global warming gasses/SOx/CO2/non-renewable (con)?
Biomagnification and an example
What is the increasing concentration of toxins in organisms at higher trophic levels?
Ex. PCBs, DDT, dioxins
The 10% rule in energy transfer?
*Eating lower on the food chain more environmentally friendly
What is that only 10% of the energy is passed from one trophic level to the next?
*Organisms lower on the food chain are more efficient, they require fewer calories in for calories out, require less land per calorie etc
Two factors that affect population growth rate.
What are birth rate and death rate (or immigration and emigration)?
Three main types of plate boundaries and give one example of what each causes.
What are convergent (mountains/volcanoes), divergent (ridges), and transform (earthquakes)?
4 negatives of Industrial Agriculture
What are carbon emissions, chemical runoff, monoculture, GMO, loss of genetic diversity, air pollution, loss of soil/turbidity/erosion, habitat loss
Two effects of climate change on ecosystems
What are habitat loss/ocean acidification/sea level rise/sea ice loss/glacier retreat/disease vector spread and altered migration patterns?
GPP and NPP
*Include formulas in your response
What is Gross Primary Productivity is total energy captured; Net Primary Productivity is GPP minus energy used for respiration?
Doubling time of a population with a 2.5% growth rate.
What is 28 years? (70 ÷ 2.5 = 28)
El Niño its cause and effect
What is a climate pattern involving warmer Pacific Ocean waters caused by warm water pooling off the coast of South America, resulting in disrupted weather and fishery collapse in South America?
Explaination of how fracking works
What is injecting fluid to fracture rocks for oil/gas; concern: groundwater contamination?
Three greenhouse gases ranked by order of their global warming potential from least to most
CO2, CH4, NOX, CFC