Environmental Science and Ethics
What term describes meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs?
Sustainability
What is the variable that a scientist deliberately changes during an experiment?
Independent variable
What term describes an organism that makes its own food through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis?
Producer (autotroph)
What term describes the variety of life within an ecosystem?
Biodiversity
What is the gradual change in the species composition of an ecosystem over time called?
Ecological succession
What term describes the current period in which human activities have become a major influence on Earth's ecosystems?
Anthropocene
What is the variable that a scientist measures in response to a change?
Dependent variable
What is the difference between a primary consumer and a secondary consumer in a food chain?
A primary consumer eats producers (such as plants), while a secondary consumer eats primary consumers.
What is the term for the number of different species present in a community?
Species Richness
What type of succession begins in an area without soil, such as newly exposed rock?
Primary succession
What environmental problem occurs when individuals overuse a shared resource for personal benefit?
Tragedy of the Commons
What is the purpose of collecting baseline data before making a change in an experiment?
To establish a starting point for comparison.
Approximately what percentage of energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next?
10%
Which type of species can survive in a wide range of habitats and use many different food sources?
Generalist Species
What are the first organisms to colonize an area during ecological succession called?
Pioneer species
Which environmental worldview places the greatest value on human needs and interests?
Anthropocentric worldview
Why should scientists change only one independent variable at a time in a controlled experiment?
To isolate the effect of that variable on the dependent variable.
What type of species interaction benefits one organism while harming the other, without typically killing it immediately?
Parasitism
What is the difference between species richness and species evenness?
Richness is the number of species; evenness describes how equally individuals are distributed among those species.
Why is secondary succession generally faster than primary succession?
Secondary succession begins with existing soil, nutrients, and often surviving seeds or organisms.
What is the difference between conservation and preservation?
Conservation involves responsible management and sustainable use of resources; preservation emphasizes protecting nature from human use or disturbance.
A scientist conducts an experiment and discovers that their results do not support their original hypothesis. What should the scientist do with these results, and why?
Report the results accurately, even if they do not support the hypothesis, because scientific investigations rely on evidence rather than proving a hypothesis correct.
Why are there generally fewer organisms and less available energy at higher trophic levels?
Energy is lost at each transfer through metabolism, heat, and waste, leaving less energy to support higher trophic levels.
Two habitats contain five species each. Habitat A has roughly equal numbers of each species, while Habitat B is dominated by one species. Which has greater species evenness?
Habitat A
During succession, how do total biomass and species diversity generally change as an ecosystem develops?
Both generally increase during early succession, although patterns may level off or vary as the community matures.