Moira Viola’s APES Flashcards

Abiotic/Biotic Factor / Abiotic Factors: Ecosystems that are made up of non-living things.
Biotic Factors: Living items in an ecosystem.
Qualitative Observation / Observations that are made using physical characteristics (not numbers) to describe an item.
Charles Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection / The process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspringand is now believed to be the main process that brings about evolution.
Estuary / A place where salt and fresh water mix.
Salinity / Measurement of how much salt is in a waterway.
Ecological/Biological Footprint / A measure of how much land you require to live on. The number includes all food consumed, storage area, and housing.
Phytoplankton / Small, usually microscopic plants (such as algae), found in lakes, reservoirs, and other bodies of water.
Carrion / Leftover food material from predators that scavengers usually eat.
Aerobic/Anaerobic Decomposition / Aerobic Decomposition: a type of decomposition that requires oxygen
Anaerobic Decomposition: a process in which microorganisms break down material in the absence of oxygen.
Primary/Secondary Succession / Primary Succession: A type of ecological succession that occurs in a virtually lifeless area, where there were originally no organisms and where soil has not yet formed caused by volcanic eruption.
Secondary Succession: Succession following a disturbance(forest fire, harvesting, hurricane) that destroys a community without destroying the soil.
Nitrogen Fixation / The natural process by which nitrogen in the atmosphere is converted into nitrite by bacteria.
Assimilation / The natural process by which nitrogen in the atmosphere is converted into amino acid by producers.
Ecotone / Transitional zone where two or more biomes meet.
Examples:
  • Local (Forest and Field)
  • Regional (Forest and Grassland)

Age Structure / The amount or number of people of each gender at of different age level in a population.
Triangle: Rapid Growth
Rectangle: Slow Growth
Inverted Triangle: No growth, ZPG
Biodiversity / The measure of how many species are in an area.
Permafrost / A thick subsurface layer of soil that remains frozen throughout the year that allows only small growing plants to survive in this harsh habitat. (Tundra)
Population Density / A measurement of population per unit area.
Population = Pop. Density
Area
Watershed / An area that is drained by a river.
Wetlands / Land consisting of marshes or swamps that is beneficial to fish because they can serve as breeding grounds.
Glacier / A giant block of moving ice and common in the tundra.
Flood Plains / Areas where the river floods. People build homes or grow crops in this area.
Discharge of a River / A place where the water passes a point in a given time.
Aquifer / An underground pool of water.
Fun Fact: The largest aquifer in the United States is the Ogallala aquifer.
Subsidence / The sudden collapse or sinking of an area of land. It can occur when water is withdrawn faster than replaced in an aquifer.
Water Cycle / The continuous circulation of water in systems throughout the planet, involving condensation, precipitation, runoff, evaporation, and transpiration.
Hydroelectricity / A type of energy that dams uses as water travels past the dams, turning the turbine, and generating electricity.
Fish Ladder / A device that helps fish travel upstream when a dam is in place.
Chisso Corporation / In 1932, the Chisso Corporation moved to Minimata, Japan and began producing acetaldehyde. A byproduct that was released into the bay was mercury.
Thermal Pollution / Pollution that occurs when an industry heats or cools the water.
Point Source of Pollution / One where you can identify where the water pollution is coming from. (Opposite from non-point source)
Sediment Pollution / A type of pollution that decreases photosynthesis which causes a loss of oxygen in the waterway.
Reservoir / The lake behind a dam.
Reclaimed Water / Water that has been treated at a water facility. Reclaimed water is used to water park grounds, lawns, and golf courses. The water is not drinkable.
Dams and Rivers / Three Gorges Dams found in Yangtze River in China
Hoover Dam found in the Colorado River in the United States
Turbidity / The measure of how many suspended particles are in a water sample.
Feces / The technical and scientific term for poop. 
Guano is bird or bat feces.
Biological Oxygen Demand (B.O.D.) / The amount of oxygen organisms required in a five day period.
Detritivores / An organism that break down dead organic material in the water.
Example: Shrimp
Dissolved Oxygen / The measure of oxygen in water by the process of photosynthesis. Phytoplanktons and algae perform this process.
Eutrophication / When nitrates and phosphates are placed in a waterway
pH Scale / The measurement of the acidity or basicity of a solution or water.
0 – 6 means the solution is acidic.
8 – 14 mean the solution is basic.
7 means the solution is neutral.
Algal Bloom / When algae begin to grow rapidly because of the addition of phosphates and nitrates in the water.
Clean Water Act of 1972 / An act that required water polluters of receive a permit from the EPA before they can release particles into a waterway and mandates that all cities must clean their sewage water up to secondary treatment.
Indiscriminant Method of Catching Fish / Trawling
Purse Seine
Drift Net
Long Line
Blue Revolution / A term that refers to our new ability to farm fish, by breeding them ourselves, by using fish farms to supply demands for fish.
Primary Treatment for Cleaning Water / The process of physically removing objects from sewage.
Example: grit/settling tank
Secondary Treatment for Cleaning Water / The process of removing material from sewage using chemical process.
Example: Aerobic Bacteria, ozone, UV light, Chlorine
Dysentery / A disease caused by Shigella bacteria. The disease causes bloody feces.
Exclusion device / A tool that is placed on a fishing net to allow sea turtles to escape trawl bags.
Particulate Matter / The largest type of air pollutant.
Examples: ash, dust, pollen
Sulfur Oxides / A class of air pollutants that are released primarily from burning coal. When sulfur oxide mixes with water in the atmosphere, the pollutant makes acid rain.
Secondary Pollutants / Pollutants that are created when air pollutants mix in the air to create a new air pollutant.
Examples: acid rain and photochemical smog
Fossil Fuels / A natural fuel such as coal, oil or natural gas, formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms
Volatile Organic Compound / An air pollutant composed of carbon and is highly reactive with chemicals in the atmosphere.
Example: Methane
Mold / An air pollutant that likes to grow in hot, humid places where it homes to its many spores.
The Kyoto Protocol / An international agreement in which countries agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Greenhouse Gases / Carbon Dioxide
Methane
Water Vapor
Nitrous Oxide
Ozone
Montreal Protocol / An international agreement in which countries agree to ban the use of ozone depleting substances.
Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) / An organic compound that contains carbon, chlorine, and fluorine and is used as aerosol cans and automobile air conditioning.
Environmental Disasters: Toxic Air
Bhopal, India / On December 2-3, 1984, an explosion occurred at an India Pesticide Plant. The plant released a toxic gas called “methyl isocynate” over the city. The air pollution contaminated air, water and food supplies.
Environmental Disasters: Oil Spill
Exxon Valdez, Alaska / On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker spilled 10.8 million gallons of crude oil into the Prince William Sound. Winds and tides moved the oil onto the South and beaches further south.
Biomes / Major climatic regions that share similar temperature and rainfall, and have similar species worldwide.
Examples: grasslands, tropical rainforests, desert, tundra, chaparral, temperate deciduous forest, taiga, savannah, estuary, intertidal zone
Nature of Ecology / Species:a group of interbreeding organisms that do not ordinarily breed with members of other groups.
Population: all the individuals of a given species in an area
Community: all the populations in an area
Ecosystem: communities of plants and animals living in their environments
Earth’s Life Support Systems / A life support system is any natural or human-engineered (constructed or made ) system that furthers the life of the biosphere in a sustainable fashion
Atmosphere
Hydrosphere
Lithosphere
Biosphere
Aerobic/Anaerobic Respiration / Aerobic Respiration: when oxygen is used to help convert oxygen to water and carbon dioxide.
Anaerobic Respiration: also known as fermentation, breaking down of glucose without oxygen. Decomposers do anaerobic respiration
Gaia Hypothesis / A theory stating that living organisms and inorganic material are part of a homeostatic system that helps life to persist and flourish on Earth.
Climate / A general pattern of weather conditions on a specific region in over long periods of time.
Weather / The temperature, heat, cloudiness, dryness, sunshine, wind, and rain at a place and time.
Ocean Currents / The steady flow of surface ocean water in a particular direction.
El Nino / El Nino is an abnormal warming of surface ocean waters in the eastern tropical Pacific. El Nino happens when weakening trade winds (which sometimes even reverse direction) allow the warmer water from the western Pacific to flow toward the east. This flattens out the sea level, builds up warm surface water off the coast of South America, and increases the temperature of the water in the eastern Pacific.
La Nina / La Niña is the opposite of El Niño.La Niña is the periodic cooling of ocean surface temperatures in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific that happens every 3 to 5 months. The cool water can suppress rain-producing clouds, which leads to dry conditions.
Desert Biome / A region of blazing heat, cold-bearing nights, little vegetation, and little water.
Savannah Biome
(Tropical Grasslands) / A region filled with many scattered trees and many herds of hoofed animals
Temperate Grassland Biome / A region filled with fertile soil, many crops, and grazing cattle and has very cold winters and hot, dry summers all year long.
Chaparral/ Mediterranean Biome / Also known as temperate shrublands
Regions with a moderate climate with dense thickets of very spiny shrubs and trees.
Tropical Rainforest Biome / A region near the equator and have humid air and heavy rainfall. This biome has a heavily diverse ecosystem.
Taiga / A region of subarctic, evergreen coniferous forest located in northern Eurasia.
Mountain Biome / A region with high elevation areas with snow-covered peaks.
Species Interaction / Parasitism: the relation between two different kinds of organisms in which one receives benefits from the other by causing damage to it
Mutualism: Symbiosis that is beneficial to both organisms involved.
Commensalism: An association between two organisms in which one benefits and the other derives neither benefit nor harm.
Thomas Malthus’ Hypothesis / Thomas Malthus was a British economist. His hypothesis states that the human population will grow exponentially over time and food production will be insufficient because food production grows only linearly.
Demographic Transition Stages / Pre-Industrial – high birth and death rate
Transitional – industrialization begins
Industrial – population growth slows down
Post-Industrial – pop. growth reaches ZPG