Ch. 1 Review

Question 1

A nonrenewable natural resource, such as crude oil, natural gas, or coal, produced by the decomposition and compression of organic matter from ancient life

Answer 1

fossil fuel

Question 2

hydraulic fracturing, a method of oil and gas extraction that uses high-pressure fluids to force open cracks in rocks deep underground

Answer 2

fracking

Question 3

The sum total of our surroundings, including all of the living things and non-living things with which we interact

Answer 3

environment

Question 4

Is the study of how the natural world works, how our environment, affects us, and how we affect our environment

Answer 4

environmental science

Question 5

a particular location of Earth with interacting biotic and abiotic components

Answer 5

ecosystem

Question 6

living

Answer 6

biotic

Question 7

nonliving

Answer 7

abiotic

Question 8

A social movement dedicated to protecting the natural world, and by extension, people

Answer 8

environmentalism

Question 9

the field of study that includes environmental science and additional subjects such as environmental policy, economics, literature, and ethics

Answer 9

environmental studies

Question 10

An essential service an ecosystem provides that supports life and makes economic activity possible

Answer 10

ecosystem services

Question 11

an indicator that describes the current state of an environmental system

Answer 11

environmental indicator

Question 12

the diversity of life forms in an environment

Answer 12

biodiversity

Question 13

a measure of the genetic variation among individuals in a population

Answer 13

genetic diversity

Question 14

a group of organisms that is distinct from other groups in its morphology (body form and structure), behavior, or biochemical properties

Answer 14

species

Question 15

the number of species in a region or in a particular ecosystem

Answer 15

species diversity

Question 16

the evolution of new species

Answer 16

speciation

Question 17

the average rate at which species become extinct over the long term

Answer 17

background extinction rate

Question 18

gases in earth’s atmosphere that trap heat near the surface

Answer 18

greenhouse gases

Question 19

derived from human activities

Answer 19

anthropogenic

Question 20

amount per each person in a country or unit of population

Answer 20

per capita

Question 21

improvement in human well-being through economic advancement

Answer 21

development

Question 22

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

Answer 22

sustainability

Question 23

development that balances current human well-being and economic advancement with resource management for the benefit of future generations

Answer 23

sustainable development

Question 24

love of life

Answer 24

biophilia

Question 25

The cumulative area of biological 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

Answer 25

ecological footprint

Question 26

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

Answer 26

scientific method

Question 27

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

Answer 27

hypothesis

Question 28

In an experiment, a condition that can change

Answer 28

variable

Question 29

The variable that the scientist manipulates in an experiment

Answer 29

independent variable

Question 30

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

Answer 30

dependent variable

Question 31

a prediction that there is no difference between the groups or conditions that are being compared

Answer 31

null hypothesis

Question 32

the data collection procedure of taking repeated measurements

Answer 32

replication

Question 33

the number of times a measurement is replicated in data collection

Answer 33

sample size (n)

Question 34

how close a measured value is to the actual or true value

Answer 34

accuracy

Question 35

how close the repeated measurements of a sample are to one another

Answer 35

precision

Question 36

an estimate of how much a measured or calculated value differs from a true value

Answer 36

uncertainty

Question 37

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

Answer 37

theory

Question 38

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

Answer 38

control

Question 39

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

Answer 39

natural experiment

Question 40

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

Answer 40

natural resources

Question 41

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

Answer 41

renewable natural resources

Question 42

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

Answer 42

nonrenewable natural resources

Question 43

is a period of transition from the pre-agricultural period characterized by a Paleolithic diet, into an agricultural period characterized by a diet of cultivated foods; or a further transition from a living form of agriculture into a more advanced and more productive form of agriculture, resulting in further social changes

Answer 43

Agricultural revolution

Question 44

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

Answer 44

Industrial revolution

Question 45

The amount by which humanity's resource use, as measured by its ecological footprint, has surpassed earth's long-term capacity to support us

Answer 45

overshoot

Question 46

A field that borrows techniques from multiple traditional fields of study and brings together research results from these fields into a broad synthesis

Answer 46

interdisciplinary field

Question 47

Academic disciplines that study the natural world

Answer 47

natural sciences

Question 48

(1) An systematic process for learning about the world and testing our understanding of it. (2)The accumulated body of knowledge that arises from this dynamic process

Answer 48

science

Question 49

Research in which science gather basic information about organisms, materials, systems or processes that we are not yet well known

Answer 49

Observational/descriptive science

Question 50

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

Answer 50

Predictions

Question 51

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

Answer 51

experiment

Question 52

In an experiment, a condition that can change

Answer 52

variable

Question 53

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

Answer 53

controlled experiment

Question 54

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

Answer 54

treatment

Question 55

Information, generally quantitative information

Answer 55

data

Question 56

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

Answer 56

manipulative experiment

Question 57

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 and judge wether the work merits publication in the journal

Answer 57

peer review

Question 58

Problems complex enough to have no simple solution and whose very nature changes over time

Answer 58

wicked problems

Question 59

A dominant philosophical and theoretical framework within a scientific discipline

Answer 59

paradigm

Question 60

Earth's accumulated wealth of resources

Answer 60

natural capital