1 Environmental Science and Sustainability a Resources i Renewable 1 Any natural resource that can be replenished naturally with the GEO 1330 Exam 1 passage of time a Wood b Solar energy ii Non Renewable 1 Any natural resource which cannot be produced grown generated or used on a scale which can sustain its consumption rate a Fossil fuel b Ecological Footprint i The impact of a person or community on the environment ii Expressed as the amount of land required to sustain their use of natural resources c Easter Island i Over population can threaten an entire population ii Especially if the population attacks the sustainability of the habitat deforestation over hunting etc iii Sustainability 1 Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony that permit fulfilling the social economic and other requirements of present and future generations d Scientific Method i Method of procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century consisting in systematic observation measurement and experiment and the formulation testing and modification of hypotheses ii Hypothesis 1 a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation iii Experiment iv Observation 1 a scientific procedure undertaken to make a discovery test a hypothesis or demonstrate a known fact 1 the action or process of observing something or someone carefully or in order to gain information e Population Change i As of right now rural populations are larger than urban cities and ii However urban growth is increasing exponentially and will likely suburban areas outgrow rural populations iii Rural populations have been decreasing in growth and leveling out 2 Earth System a Eutrophication i Causes 1 Runoff from the land a Unnatural fertilizers b Grass clippings c Soil nutrients ii Symptoms 1 Thick growth on the surface of the water 2 Death of animal and plant species from lack of oxygen and other nutrients taken by the algae on the surface iii Potential solutions 1 More careful agricultural habits 2 Limit runoff 3 Limit the use of fertilizer around bodies of water b Photosynthesis i the process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water ii Photosynthesis in plants generally involves the green pigment chlorophyll and generates oxygen as a byproduct c Hydrological Cycle water cycle i ii evaporation 1 water to vapor iii transpiration 1 the passage of water through a plant from the roots through the vascular system to the atmosphere iv precipitation 1 vapor to liquid or ice if cold enough 2 rain snow hail sleet etc v runoff vi infiltration vii aquifer 1 the draining away of water or substances carried in it from the surface of an area of land a building or structure etc 1 the process by which water on the ground surface enters the soil 1 a body of permeable rock that can contain or transmit groundwater viii water reservoirs 1 the largest water reservoirs are in the poles trapped in glaciers 3 Ecosystem a Competition b Parasitism c Mutualism i An interaction between organisms or species in which the fitness of one is lowered by the presence of another i Non mutual relationship between organisms where one organism the parasite benefits at the expense of the other the host i The way two organisms of different species exist in a relationship in which each individual benefits d Keystone Species i A species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend such that if it were removed the ecosystem would change drastically ii Trophic Cascade 1 When predators in a food web suppress the abundance of their prey 2 Thereby releasing the next lower trophic level from predation or herbivory if the intermediate trophic level is an herbivore e Forests f SLOSS Dilemma i Forests are in greater danger in developing countries because they require more space and timber to build a country than to sustain one i The SLOSS Debate was a debate in ecology and conservation biology during the 1970s and 1980s as to whether Single Large of Several Small SLOSS reserves were a superior means of conserving biodiversity in a fragmented habitat i A group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of 4 Biodiversity a Species exchanging genes or interbreeding 1 Example the human population b Population place at the same time 1 Example the deer population c Speciation i A group of organisms of one species that interbreed and live in the same i The branching of an ancestral population into two or more populations with a greatly reduced or even flatlined interbreeding frequency ii Speciation occurs when subpopulations of the same ancestral stock start diverging 1 Geographical isolation of two subpopulations migration floods d Endemic Species i To be endemic a species must be unique to a particular geographic location a specific island habitat type nation etc ii Endemic species are more prone to extinction because if something were to happen to the population fire removal of habitat they can t repopulate somewhere else They re all gone e Carrying Capacity i The maximum number of individuals that a given environment can support without detrimental effects f Biodiversity i The variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem ii Biodiversity Loss 1 Habitat loss and destruction a Habitat loss is directly linked to human induced pressures on land a The introduction of exotic species that replace local and native 2 Invasive alien species species 3 Pollution and contamination a Biological systems respond slowly to changes in their surrounding environment 4 Alterations in ecosystem composition a In the event of alterations either within species groups or within the environment entire ecosystems can begin to change 5 Over exploitation a Over hunting b Over fishing c Over collecting 6 Global climate change a Species and populations may be lost permanently if they are not provided with enough time to adapt to changing climatic conditions g Extinction i The state or process of a species being or becoming extinct ii Human role in extinction 1 Humans driving extinction faster than species can evolve 5 Human Population a Temporal pattern of human population growth i A population with unlimited resources no competition and no predation displays j shaped population growth also known as exponential growth ii The population growth began