Intro Environmental Science Vocab.

Question 1

Agricultural Revolution

Answer 1

the shift around 10,000 years ago from a hunter-gather life-style in an agricultural way of life in which people began to grow crops and raise domestic animals

Question 2

Control

Answer 2

the portion of an experiment in which a variable has been left unmanipulated, to serve as a point of comparison with the treatment

Question 3

Controlled Experiment

Answer 3

an experiment in which a treatment is compared against a control in order to test the effect of a variable

Question 4

Correlation

Answer 4

a statistical association among variables

Question 5

Dependent Variable

Answer 5

the variable that is affected by manipulation of the independent variable in an experiment

Question 6

Ecological Footprint

Answer 6

the cumulative area of biologically productive land and water required to provide the raw materials a person or population consumes and to dispose of or recycle the waste that is produced

Question 7

Ecosystem Services

Answer 7

an essential service an ecosystem provides that supports life and makes economic activity possible. For example, ecosystems naturally purify air and water, cycle nutrients, provide for plants to be pollinated by animals, and receive and recycle the waste we generate.

Question 8

Experiment

Answer 8

an activity designed to test the validity of a hypothesis by manipulating variables

Question 9

Hypothesis

Answer 9

a statement that attempts to explain a phenomenon or answer a scientific question

Question 10

Independent Variable

Answer 10

the variable that the scientist manipulates in an experiment

Question 11

Industrial Revolution

Answer 11

the shift beginning in the mid-1700s from rural life, animal-powered agriculture, and manufacturing by craftsmen to an urban society powered by fossil fuels.

Question 12

Manipulative Experiment

Answer 12

an experiment in which the researcher actively chooses and manipulates the independent variable

Question 13

Natural Capital

Answer 13

Earth’s accumulated wealth of resources

Question 14

Natural Experiment

Answer 14

an experiment in which the researcher cannot directly manipulate the variables and therefore must observe nature, comparing conditions in which variables differ, and interpret the results

Question 15

Natural Resources

Answer 15

any of the various substances and energy sources that we take from our environment and that we need in order to survive

Question 16

Nonrenewable Resources

Answer 16

natural resources that are in limited supply and are formed much more slowly than we use them.

Question 17

Observational Science/Descriptive Science

Answer 17

research in which scientists gather basic information about organisms, materials, systems, or processes that are not yet well known

Question 18

Paradigm

Answer 18

a dominant philosophical and theoretical framework within a scientific discipline

Question 19

Peer Review

Answer 19

the process by which a manuscript submitted for publication in an academic journal is examined by specialists in the field, who provide comments and criticism(generally anonymously) and judge whether the work merits publication in the journal

Question 20

Prediction

Answer 20

a specific statement, generally arising from a hypothesis, that can be tested directly and unequivocally

Question 21

Renewable Natural Resources

Answer 21

natural resources that are virtually unlimited or that are replenished by the environment over relatively short periods(hours to weeks to years)

Question 22

Scientific Method

Answer 22

a formalized method for testing ideas with observations that involves a more-or-less consistent series of interrelated steps

Question 23

Sustainability

Answer 23

a guiding principle of environmental science, entailing conserving resources, maintaining functional ecological systems, and developing long-term solutions, such that Earth can sustain our civilization and all life for the future, allowing our descendants to live at least as well as we have lived

Question 24

Theory

Answer 24

a widely accepted, well-tested explanation of one or more cause-and-effect relationships that has been extensively validated by a great amount of research

Question 25

Treatment

Answer 25

the portion of an experiment in which a variable has been manipulated in order to test its effect

Question 26

Variables

Answer 26

in an experiment, a condition that can change