Populations
Human Health
Biodiversity
Agriculture
Toss Up
100
This term describes the highest number of people or living organisms that an ecosystem can support without environmental degradation.
What is "carrying capacity"?
100
A measure of the toxicity of a chemical, this is the dose that is lethal to 50% of a test population.
What is the "LD50"?
100
This term refers to an organisms niche that is described as a narrow niche with incredibly specific needs (consistent climate, diet, habitat, etc.) in order to survive.
What is a "specialist"?
100
This class of chemicals is used to kill off insects, rodents, or other animals that may be eating crops or food stores, but often have unintended impacts on local biodiversity (such as bees, predators, etc.).
What are "pesticides"?
100
The type of plate boundary associated with two tectonic plates move past one another. The shear stress at these boundaries has the potential to generate strong earthquakes.
What is a "transform plate boundary"?
200
The probable number of years of survival of an individual of a given age.
What is the "life expectancy"?
200
This mosquito-borne pathogen disease caused by the protozoan Plasmodium is responsible for just over 1 million deaths each year, but can be prevented with proper pest control or treated with certain drugs.
What is "malaria"?
200
This term is used for an uncut or regenerated forest that has not been seriously disturbed by humans or natural disasters for hundreds of years.
What is an "old growth forest" or "primary forest"?
200
This term refers to relatively clean waste water from baths, sinks, washing machines, and other kitchen appliances that can be reused by homeowners to water plants in lawns and gardens.
What is "grey water"?
200
The specialized biome associated with a shrubland plant community in a Mediterranean climate with infrequent, high-intensity crown fires (much of California is in this biome).
What is "chaparral"?
300
This stage of demographic transition is associated with a lowering death rate, but the birth rate remains high.
What is "Stage 2"?
300
A secondary air pollutant that is found in photochemical smog, this highly reactive gas can cause chemical burns on delicate skin of respiratory system, causing chest pain, coughing, shortness of breath, throat irritation, etc.
What is "ozone" or "O3"?
300
Passed in 1973, this far-reaching act that provides protection for any species that is determined to be threatened with extinction, including strict enforcement of habitat protection, a ban on any activity which disturbs or endangers the life of a listed species, and a ban on the import or export of any individual organisms or product derived from that species.
What is the "Endangered Species Act"?
300
A period of technological advancements that greatly increase crop yield and food production volume to feed an exponentially growing population through industrialized agriculture: use of GMOs, artificial fertilizers, massive irrigation, monocultures, factory farms, etc.
What is a "Green Revolution"?
300
Any mass moving in a rotating system appears to experience a force acting perpendicular to the direction of motion and to the axis of rotation, known as this.
What is the "Coriolis Effect"?
400
The average number of children born per woman at which a population exactly replaces itself from one generation to the next, without migration.
What is "replacement level fertility rate"?
400
This occurs when an organism (including a human) absorbs and stores a toxin in its tissues, increasing in quantity over time due to longterm exposure.
What is "bioaccumulation?"
400
This term describes a species which has a disproportionately large effect on its natural environment relative to its abundance; without its presence in the ecosystem, diversity drops dramatically.
What is a "keystone species"?
400
A sustainable agriculture land use practice where pasture or crops are grown integrated with trees and shrubs.
What is "agroforestry"?
400
These are the three periods during the Mesozoic Era (from 250-65myo).
What are "Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous"?
500
This field ecology technique is used to estimate the population size where it is impractical to count every individual in a closed population.
What is the "Lincoln-Peterson Method" or the "mark-recapture technique"?
500
Sometimes also referred to as hormonally active agents, this group of chemicals that can interfere with the human body's ability to regulate its hormones, causing cancerous tumors, birth defects, and other developmental disorders. Example: BPA
What are "endocrine disruptors"?
500
This term refers to an area is the interface or buffer between land and a river or lake. Plant habitats and communities along the these margins and banks are characterized by hydrophilic plants and can hold back sediment from entering the waterway.
What is a "riparian zone"?
500
This is the first industrial chemical process that artificially combines nitrogen from the air with hydrogen derived mainly from natural gas into ammonia for producing synthetic fertilizers.
What is the "Haber-Bosch process"?
500
What year was the National Park Service officially established in the United States?
When is "1916"?
