Environmental Biology Test #2 Study Guide PDF

Environmental Biology Test #2 Study Guide 1. When birth rates equal death rates, what numerical value represents the amount of population growth? - The global growth rate is 1.06% 2. How is population growth rate defined? - The change in population size over time 3. What event 10,000 years ago...

Environmental Biology Test #2 Study Guide 1. When birth rates equal death rates, what numerical value represents the amount of population growth? - The global growth rate is 1.06% 2. How is population growth rate defined? - The change in population size over time 3. What event 10,000 years ago resulted in a dramatic growth spurt in global human population size? - Agricultural revolution. Another event that influenced human population growth that happened more recently is the Industrial Revolution. 4. An increase in human population has consequences for earth. Can you give some examples of negative outcomes that result from increases in human population? - Land degradation, water supply depletion, water pollution, and an impoverished environment. 5. How does overconsumption in developed countries, such as the United States, affect countries in other regions, such as Asia? - Whatever is on the ground will end up in the water, making the water supply undrinkable in less developed countries. We are also using water at 38% of the rate at which it is replenished. 6. Explain at least three ways to create a sustainable city. - Redirecting storm water to plants, rooftop gardens, create walkable citys, offer public transportation options 7. What factors lead to urban areas being environmentally unfriendly? - Examples include sewage overflow, traffic congestion, and importation of food and exportation of waste 8. What is the difference between bioaccumulation and biomagnification? - Bioaccumulation is the buildup of substances within one organism, while biomagnification involves those substances moving up the food chain as one organism eats another. 9. What is meant by the term sustainable? - Capable of being continued indefinitely 10. What are ecosystem services? - An essential ecological process that makes life on Earth possible 11. Why would nutrient cycling be considered such a valuable ecosystem service to humans? - To reduce the amount of waste produced and to save energy 12. What purpose does an ecological footprint serve? - It quantifies the impact humans have on the environment. 13. The IPAT equation is used to estimate the size of a population's ecological footprint and it includes the affluence, technology, and population in its equation. Be able to identify all the factors included in the IPAT equation from a list. - Impact= population+technology+affluence 14. What is cradle-to-cradle management? - Considering the entire life cycle of a product from raw materials to final disposal or recycling 15. What is the chemical formula for ozone? - O3 16. What part of the atmosphere is the majority of ozone found? - The stratosphere 17. Why should we care about ozone? - Ozone protects earth's surface from UV radiation 18. What was the major cause of the depletion of the ozone layer? - CFC’s 19. What type of policy is needed when an environmental problem extends across national boundaries? - International 20. Define the term "transboundary problem" and give an example. - Transboundary problems are ones that affect everyone regardless of country lines and borders. Examples include problem described as occurring in regions where human made boundaries do not matter, i.e. acid rain falling in Canada because of industrial emissions in the US. 21. Define "environmental policy” - Provides guidelines meant to restore or protect the natural environment and can help mitigate human impact on the environment 22. What does an environmental impact statement (EIS) accomplish? - It outlines the positive and negative impacts of a proposed action. 23. What is the order of the policy decision-making process? - Identify a problem — consider options — formulation — adoption — implementation — evaluation 24. Which factor(s) influence(s) U.S. environmental policy decision making? - Industry lobbyists, science, and congressional committees 25. What is political lobbying? In the United States, how does lobbying affect policy decisions? - Any attempt by groups or individuals to influence decisions of government. It affects policy decisions by allowing individual interests gain power and educate. 26. How is the term "waste" defined? - A human term used to describe things we throw away. 27. What does the law of conservation of matter state? - Matter can be neither created nor destroyed; it only changes form. 28. What happens to the majority of municipal solid waste produced in the United States? - Landfill 29. What is the cheapest and most common method of handling solid waste in developing (less developed) countries? - Open dumps 30. What is hazardous waste? - Waste that is toxic, flammable, corrosive, explosive, or radioactive. 31. Reducing, reusing, and recycling are all methods for behaving more environmentally conscious. How would you classify choosing to buy goods with minimal packaging? - Reducing 32. What are the four Rs to help an individual limit waste production? - Refuse, reduce, reuse, and recycle  33. What is an aquifer? - An underground region of permeable soil or rock saturated with water 34. Describe strategies that are cheap ways to maintain water supplies? - Use water-saving irrigation methods, limit waste, plant native species 35. Review infographic 6.1.2 to explain how salty ocean water can be recycled to become usable freshwater. - Solar energy heats water causing evaporation, and when it rains the water becomes useable freshwater.   36. Review infographic 5.2.1 and explain what happens to the chlorine atoms in the atmosphere that react with other ozone molecules - They break down and thin the ozone layer. 37. Review infographic 5.1.6B and be able to explain the difference between mainstream economics and environmental economics, aka linear economics versus donut economics - Linear economics is when resources are selected without care for how or if they will be renewed and circular is when resources are selected with their renewal in mind; some waste can produce energy; some decomposes in a way the natural environment can use. 38. Review infographic 5.1.1 in your textbook. What is the approximate value of services that affect human provisions? $809 billion