What Is Environmental Science?

1. Chapter 1: Our Island, Earth What Is Environmental Science? • The study of our planet’s natural systems and how humans and the environment affect one another • The environment includes all living and nonliving things with which organisms interact. • Understanding the interactions between humans and the environment is the first step to solving environmental problems. National Marine Fisheries Service scientists studying whether commercial boats are harming endangered killer whales

2. Chapter 1:Our Island, Earth Natural Resources • Natural resources are materials and energy sources found in nature that humans need to survive. • Renewable resources: Naturally replenished over short periods • Nonrenewable resources: Naturally formed more slowly than we use them. • Renewable resources can become nonrenewable if used faster than they are replenished.

3. Consumer and Corporate Responses Chapter 2: Economics • Changing consumer values can drive corporations to pursue sustainability. • Ecolabeling is an example of a corporate response to the call for sustainable goods and services. Did You Know?Organic farming is one of the fastest-growing segments of U.S. agriculture. Land devoted to growing organic has expanded by about 15% each year since 2002.

4. Chapter 2: International Environmental Policy and Approaches International Environmental Policy • Environmental issues often involve more than one nation. • International organizations promote cooperation between nations: • The United Nations • The European Union • The World Trade Organization • The World Bank

5. Chapter 3: Earth’s Spheres Tectonic Plates • There are three major types of plate boundary: • Divergent • Transform • Convergent

6. Chapter 3: Earth’s Spheres Divergent and Transform Plate Boundaries • Divergent boundaries: Rising magma pushes plates apart. • Transform boundaries: Plates slip and grind alongside one another. Divergent plate boundary Transform plate boundary

7. Chapter 3: Earth’s Spheres Convergent Plate Boundaries • Plates collide, causing one of two things to happen: • Subduction: One plate slides beneath another. • Mountain-building: Both plates are uplifted.

8. Chapter 3: Earth’s Spheres The Hydrosphere • Consists of Earth’s water • Most of Earth’s water (97.5%) is salt water. • Only 0.5% of Earth’s water is unfrozen fresh water usable for drinking or irrigation. • Earth’s available fresh water includes surface water and ground water. Greenlaw Brook, Limestone, Maine Did You Know?If it is depleted, groundwater can take hundreds or even thousands of years to recharge completely.

9. Chapter 3: Earth’s Spheres The Water Cycle

10. Chapter 3: Biogeochemical Cycles The Carbon Cycle

11. Chapter 3: Biogeochemical Cycles The Nitrogen Cycle

12. Chapter 4: Studying Ecology Biotic and Abiotic Factors • Biotic factors: Parts of an ecosystem that are living or used to be living • Abiotic factors: Parts of an ecosystem that have never been living Did You Know?Decaying organisms are biotic factors as long as their structure remains cellular.

13. Chapter 4:Studying Ecology Habitat • The specific environment in which an organism lives • Habitats provide an organism with resources—anything an organism needs to survive and reproduce, including food, shelter, and mates.

14. Population Distribution Chapter 4: Describing Populations • How organisms are arranged within an area: • Random distribution:Organisms arranged in no particular pattern • Uniform distribution:Organisms evenly spaced • Clumped distribution:Organisms grouped near resources; most common distribution in nature

15. Chapter 5: Species Interactions Predation (+/–) • The process by which a predator hunts, kills, and consumes prey • Causes cycles in predatory and prey population sizes • Defensive traits such as camouflage, mimicry, and warning coloration have evolved in response to predator-prey interactions. • Some predator-prey relationships are examples of coevolution, the process by which two species evolve in response to changes in each other. Rough-Skinned Newt Did You Know?A single rough-skinned newt contains enough poison to kill 100 people. Unfortunately for the newt, its predator, the common garter snake, has coevolved resistance to the toxin.

16. Chapter 5: Species Interactions Parasitism and Herbivory (+/–) • Parasitism: One organism (the parasite) relies on another (the host) for nourishment or for some other benefit • Herbivory: An animal feeding on a plant Hookworm (a parasite) Did You Know?One study of Pacific estuaries suggests that parasites play an important role in keeping these ecosystems healthy by controlling host populations.

17. Chapter 5: Species Interactions Mutualism (+/+) and Commensalism (+/0) • Mutualism: a relationship in which two or more species benefit • Commensalism: a relationship in which one species benefits while the other is unaffected Lichen: a symbiotic relationship between a fungus and a photosynthetic partner, such as an alga Did You Know?Symbiosis describes a long-lasting and physically close relationship between species in which at least one species benefits.

18. Chapter 5: Ecological Communities Numbers and Biomass in Communities • A trophic level’s biomass is the mass of living tissue it contains. • In general, there are more organisms and greater biomass at lower trophic levels than at higher ones. Trophic Pyramid

19. Chapter 5: Ecological Communities Food Chains and Webs • Food chain: Linear series of feeding relationships • Food web: Shows the overlapping and interconnected food chains present in a community