Topic 1
The area of land and water required to sustainably provide all resources at the rate of consumption and absorb all generated waste for a specific population
What is an ecological footprint?
The maximum size of a population determined by competition for limited resources
What is carrying capacity?
habitat, species and genetic
what is biodiversity
The mass vertical movement of cold, nutrient-rich waters from the depths to the surface, supporting marine food webs
upwelling
several horizons (such as O, A, B, and C) produced by interactions over long periods of time
What is soil horizons
The right of all people to live in a pollution-free environment and have equitable access to natural resources, regardless of race, gender, or socio-economic status
What is environmental justice?
The total gain in biomass by an organism before any losses to cellular respiration are subtracted
What is gross productivity (GP)?
Sloth
Ms. Jennings favourite animal
A measure of the amount of dissolved oxygen required by microorganisms to decompose organic material in water, used to monitor water quality
What is Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)?
Loam
Ms. Jennings favourite soil
A holistic way of visualizing a complex set of interactions, which uses models showing storages and flows
What is a systems approach?
The process of one community being replaced by another in an area over time due to changes in biotic and abiotic variables
What is succession?
The generation of new species through evolution, which occurs when a population becomes isolated
What is speciation?
highest possible annual catch that can be sustained over time to prevent the collapse of a fishery
What is maximum sustainable yield (MSY)?
The physical and economic availability of food, allowing all individuals to get the balanced diet they need for an active and healthy life
What is food security?
This model describes nine processes regulating the stability of the Earth system and identifies limits of human disturbance to avoid abrupt and irreversible changes
What is the planetary boundaries model?
increasing concentration of non-biodegradable pollutants along a food chain due to the loss of biodegradable biomass through respiration
What is biomagnification?
Conservation strategies that take place outside a species' natural habitat, such as zoos, botanic gardens, and seed banks
What is ex situ conservation?
excessive growth of algae due to fertiliser run off
euthrophication
This 1950s and 1960s movement used high-yielding crops, synthetic fertilizers, and pesticides to increase food security, but has been heavily criticized for its environmental consequences
What is the Green Revolution?
This economic model serves as a framework for creating a regenerative and distributive economy, acting as a "safe and just space for humanity" bounded by a social foundation and an ecological ceiling
What is the doughnut economics model?
Organisms that sustain food webs in ecosystems with little or no light by using exothermic inorganic chemical reactions as an external energy source
What are chemoautotrophs?
The deliberate human act of choosing individual plants or animals for breeding, which reduces genetic diversity and consequently lowers species resilience
What is artificial selection?
water temperature and salinity
thermohaline circulation
This layer of soil, also known as the mixed layer or topsoil, is the most valuable for plant growth due to high organic matter and oxygen, but is the most vulnerable to erosion
What is the A horizon?