Science and the Environment
Tools of Environmental Science
The Dynamic Earth
Ecosystems
Biomes
100
The study of how humans interact with the environment.
What is environmental science?
100
hypothesis
What is an educated guess?
100
biosphere
What is the narrow layer around Earth's surface in which life can exist?
100
biotic factors
What are the living and once living parts of an ecosystem?
100
tropical rain forest
What is the biome that has large amounts of precipitation, if very humid and warm, and has little vegetation in the understory?
200
Biodegradable
What is the type of pollutant that is broken down by natural processes?
200
the variable being studied
What is the difference between the control group and the experimental group?
200
asthenosphere
What is the layer of Earth that allows tectonic plates to move on top of it?
200
Flowering plants that produce seeds in fruit.
What is an angiosperm?
200
burying itself underground
What is an adaptation of the Spadefoot toad in the Desert?
300
ecological footprint
What is the productive area of Earth needed to support one person in a particular country?
300
correlations
What is a the word for reliable associations between tow or more events?
300
movement of tectonic plates
What is the cause of Earthquakes?
300
archaebacteria
What are single-celled organisms that live in swamps and produce methane gas? (it is a kingdom)
300
tundra and taiga
What are the two coldest biomes?
400
extinction
What is an important effect that hunter-gatherer societies may have had on the environment?
400
Risk
What is the probability of an unwanted outcome?
400
troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere
What are the four layers of the atmosphere?
400
pioneer species Ex. Lichens
What are the first organisms that colonize any newly available area and begin the process of ecological succesion?
400
coral polyp
What is the name of the tiny animal that creates coral reefs?
500
Industrial Revolution
What is the revolution that involved a shift from energy sources such as animal muscle and running water, to fossil fuels, such as coal and oil?
500
conceptual model
What is verbal or graphical explanation for how a system works or is organized?
500
greenhouse effect
What is the process in which gases trap heat near the Earth?
500
normal living
What is the majority of energy used for between trophic levels?
500
eutrophication
What is the name of the process caused by bacteria feeding on decaying plants and animals, and reducing the amount of oxygen dissolved in the water?
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