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Environmental Science, - Coggle Diagram
Environmental Science
Environment:All things and factors external to organism
Environmental Studies: an emphasis on environmental issues, ethics, economics, policy, social aspects, and environmentalism
Environmental Science: multidisciplinary branch of science concerned with environmental issues
Studied by environmental scientists
Sound Science
: Knowledge gained through critical thinking and the scientific method about the natural world
Critical Thinking: Process of examining research findings for inconsistencies and biases
Ordered thinking
Sound vs. Junk Science
Differences between valid and questionable science
Examples of junk science from news
The Scientific Method
(1) Observation (2) Hypothesis (3) Experiment (4) Data Collection (5) Conclusion
Experimentation
Snapping turtle behavior
Legume growth with rhizobiu, bacteria inoculation
Use of modern technology (TEM for nanoparticles)
Controversial
Sustainability:
The ability to continue a process or system indefinitely withour depleting resources
Sustainable Development: meeting the needs of the present without compromising future generations
Key Ideas: population growth, resource management, biodiversity loss, climate change
Sustainability Transitions: population transition, resource transition, technology transition, political & sociological transitions, community transition
Stewardship:
Responsible management of natural resources and human well-being for the greater good
Conservation: balancing resource use and preservation, actions to conserve ecosystems
Becoming better environmental stewards (reducing waste, advocating)
Challenges: "Business as usual" is not sustainable
Environmentalist's Paradox: human well-being improved in the past 40 years, BUT natural ecosystems providing goods and services have declined
State of the Planet
Population Growth
Ecosystem Degradation
Biodiversity Loss
Global Climate Change
Environmentalists: those with a strong focus on environment and environmental concerns
Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs)
Environmental Movement
Rachel Carson: Advanced environmental movement + marine conservation
John Muir: Father of the National Parks, Preservation of natural landscapes
Wangari Maathai: Founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental non-governmental organization focused on the planting of trees, environmental conservation, and women's rights.
Muhammad Yunus: Social and environmental stewardship through microfinance
Garret Hardin: Addressed ecological responsibility in “The Tragedy of the Commons”
Aldo Leopold: Land ethic and conservation
Teddy Roosevelt: Conservation efforts and national parks
Economics
: social science involving production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services with theory and management of economic
Economic Systems
DIctatorship: Centrally planned
Capitalism: Free market
Sustainable Economy
Tenets of a green economy
Produced, natural, and intangible capital
Renewable and nonrenewable resources
Economic Measurements
GNP, GDP, GPI
Public Policy: means by which a government maintains order or addresses needs of citizens through actions defined by its constitution - developed in sociopolitical context called politics
Environmental Policy
Requires 3 branches of US government
(2) Executive: President, Vice President, Cabinet, Administrative Agencies
(3) Judicial: Supreme Court, Federal Courts, Circuir and District Courts
(1) Legislative/Congress: House of Representatives, Senate
US Policies
2 Policy Options
Market Approach
Command and Control
Federeal Level Policies
State and local level policies
Environmental Protection
Protect and restore planet
Does not diminish wealth
Creates industry jobs
Cost-Benefit Analysis: Ecamines need and cost-effectiveness of proposed regulations
Economic Effects
Pollution costs add value, few job layoffs environmentally related, environmental regulation related to job growth, healthier workers are more productive
Impact on Environmental Policy
Special interest group, political administrations, the public, individuals
Policy Life Cycle: Predictable course of policy development in democratic societies
Ecology:
Study of distribution and abundance of organisms and processes that influence this, their interactions, and their environment
Require food source and area for reproduction - niche
Ecological Hierarchy
Linnaean Taxonomy: classifies organisms by 8 levels of taxa (categories), helps distinguish between closely related species
(1) Domain (2) Kingdom (3) Phylum (4) Class (5) Order (6) Family (7) Genus (8) Species
System: consists of components that interact to produce patterns of behavior over period of time
Ecosystem: interactive communities and abiotic environment affecting them
Ecotone: transitional region between ecosystems
Landscape: clusters of ecosystems that interact
Biomes: large area with same climate and similar vegetation
Biosphere: system of all living things (Earth)
Environmental Factors
2 Categories
Abiotic: non-living
Conditions: temperature, lightm, humidity, pH levels, salinity
Resources: water, nutrients, oxygen, CO2
Biotic: living
Conditions: presence of other organisms
Resources: food, shelter
Limiting factors: factors that limit growth (Law of Limiting Factors)
Liebig's Law of the Minimum: local yield of terrestrial plants should be lmited by the nutrients present in the least quantity relative to its demands for plant growth
Synergistic Effects: 2+ factors interacting cause much greater effect than two acting separately
Matter: anything that occupues space and has mass. Made up of: atoms, elements, molecules, compounds
Habitat: area particular species is adapted to live in, defined by plant community and physical environment
Niche: sum of all conditions and resources under which species can live
Population (group of species living in certain areas that can reproduce)
Population Dynamics (Understanding wildlife populations)
Examine pattern of change equation, carrying capacity (K): upper limit of species an ecosystem can support)
Model analyzation (Population growth curves: Constant, Exponential, Logistic growth)
Biotic Potential (# of offspring under ideal conditions)
Reproductive strategies (R vs K strategies)
Environmental Resistance (biotic vs. abiotic factors thata cause mortalirt and limit population increase)
Limits
Density (Individual species/unit area)
Density dependence (limits increases as population density increases)
Density Independence (populations limited by abiotic factors regardless of number)
Population Regulation
Top-down Regulation (control of population by predation)
Bottom-up Regulation (control of population due to resource scarcity)
Critical Number (minimum population for species to survive in environment)
Sharp Decline (threatened)
Below Critical # (endangered classification)
Extinction (species no longer exists in the wild)
Community Interaction Types
Symbiosis (2 species lives are connected (positive or negative))
Competition (2 organisms, same species or different, relying on same resource)
Intraspecific (competition for resources between same species)
Interspecific (competition for resources between different species)
Mutualism (both species benefit)
Commensalism (one species benefits and other is unaffected)
Amensalism (one species unaffected and other is harmed)
Neutralism (neither species harmed or benefit)
4 Environmental Spheres ecompassed within planet
Pedosphere: soil
Biosphere: living organisms
Lithosphere: outermost layer of Earth's crust
Atmosphere: air
Hydrosphere: water