GEOG/ENST 1150/1170 Final Exam Prep

The ocean is the largest reservoir of water on Earth, containing the vast majority of the planet's water.

Eutrophication is the process where excessive nutrients, like phosphorus, enter a water body, leading to excessive plant growth, oxygen depletion, and harm to aquatic life.

Acid deposition is the process where acidic pollutants, mainly sulfur and nitrogen oxides, are released into the atmosphere and fall back to Earth, harming ecosystems.

The precautionary principle suggests taking action to prevent potential environmental harm, even if scientific certainty is lacking, especially when the potential consequences are severe.

Greenhouse gases are those that trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere, contributing to global warming. Examples include carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.

Climate change is expected to cause various impacts on forests, including reduced forest fires due to precipitation, dieback at southern margins, expansion of 'weedy' tree species, and impoverishment in productivity and diversity.

A carbon tax aims to create a financial disincentive for fossil fuel consumption by placing a price on carbon emissions, encouraging a shift toward cleaner energy sources.

Lakes hold the highest volume of water in Canada, accounting for 98% of the surface water available for human use.

The soft path approach to water management aims to improve water use efficiency through challenging consumption patterns, rather than relying on traditional water infrastructure.

Virtual water refers to the volume of water used in the production of a product, encompassing the water needed for agriculture, manufacturing, and other processes.

Ecosystem change can be caused by natural processes like climate change, rapid changes like forest fires, or human-induced factors like greenhouse gas emissions.

A climax community represents the theoretical final stage in the successional process, where a relatively stable and mature ecosystem has developed.

Resilience refers to an ecosystem's ability to withstand changes and disturbances, as well as its ability to recover to its original state following disruption.

A keystone species is a species that plays a critical role in maintaining the structure and function of an ecosystem, often disproportionate to their abundance.

r-strategists are species that prioritize rapid reproduction and development, often producing many offspring with a short lifespan.

The Green Revolution refers to the global intensification of agricultural production, driven by advancements in crop varieties, fertilizers, and irrigation, leading to increased yields and food security.

Genetic modification involves directly altering an organism's genetic makeup by introducing or modifying genes, creating new traits or enhancing existing ones.

Biofuels are fuels derived from organic matter, like plants or algae, offering a renewable alternative to fossil fuels but with potential drawbacks like land use competition.

The Livestock Revolution describes the rapid increase in global meat consumption, leading to intensive farm operations, reliance on industrial feedlots, and dependence on outside feed sources.

Bioaccumulation is the process where a substance, like a pesticide, builds up in the tissues of organisms over time as they absorb it from the environment.

Bioaccumulation is the buildup of a substance in an organism's body. Biomagnification is the increasing concentration of a substance as it moves up the food chain.

Demand management aims to improve water use efficiency by altering consumption patterns and promoting responsible use, challenging traditional water infrastructure projects.

The ecocentric view values all living things and ecosystems as inherently important, recognizing their intrinsic worth rather than solely their utility to humans.

Environmental indicators are measures used to track the state of the environment, identify pressures, assess impacts, and support policy development.

An ecological footprint measures the demands that humans place on nature, quantifying the land and resources needed to support their lifestyle and consumption.

Light living encourages minimizing our ecological footprint by consuming less, reducing waste, and making choices that are less demanding on the environment.

Nutrients are elements necessary for living things. Earth has 92 naturally occurring elements, but only some are essential for life.

Temperate grassland ecosystems experience the most rapid nutrient cycling between biomass and soil due to their fast decomposition rates.

Plants take up the most CO2 during spring and summer when photosynthesis is most active.

The sulfur cycle has an atmospheric component unlike phosphorus, meaning sulfur moves through the air.

The ocean holds the largest amount of Earth's water.

Limiting nutrient inputs, especially phosphorus, slows down eutrophication.

Eutrophication increases phytoplankton populations at the expense of benthic plants.

Acid deposition is mainly due to human interference in the sulfur and nitrogen cycles.

Acidic rainwater has a pH lower than 5.6.

Environmental planning and management aims to manage the interaction between humans and the environment. It encompasses managing natural resources and the environment itself.

Context is vital because economic, social, biophysical, political, and legal conditions vary over space and time.

Subsidiarity means allocating responsibilities to levels of government closest to where services are used or received

Units based on environmental functions , rather than political or administrative boundaries, are the most effective.

Co-management is an approach where local citizens are given responsibility and authority in resource and environmental management.

Recognizing that different target audiences have different levels of understanding is crucial for effective scientific communication.

Adaptive co-management includes integrating different knowledge systems, learning by doing, and collaboration and power-sharing.

Monitoring is essential for improving our knowledge of the resiliency and recuperative powers of ecosystems.

Climate is the composite of the variety of day-to-day weather conditions in a region.

Sulphur oxide is not a greenhouse gas.

Global warming risks include increased pressure on water resources, making plants more vulnerable to drought and heat stress.

'No-regrets' actions provide benefits regardless of climate change impacts.

Greenhouse gas intensity refers to the ratio of greenhouse gas emissions to economic output.

With current CO2 emissions levels, warming of 2 to 6 degrees Celsius is likely by the end of the 21st century.

Differences in heat and pressure between the poles and tropics fuel the global air circulation system.

Substantial increases in heavy rainfall events have not yet been observed as a conclusive indication of climate change.