Chapter 1

Question 1

environment

Answer 1

a sum of all the conditions around us that influence life

Question 2

environmental science

Answer 2

the field that looks at interactions between human and nature

Question 3

system

Answer 3

a set of interacting components that influence one another by exchanging material or energy

Question 4

ecosystem

Answer 4

the living and non-living components of a particular place on earth

Question 5

biotic

Answer 5

the living part of the Earth (animals, plants)

Question 6

abiotic

Answer 6

the nonliving part of the Earth (soil, air, water)

Question 7

environmental studies

Answer 7

includes environmental science, the study of interactions among human systems and those found in nature along with other subjects such as environmental policy, economics, literature, and ethics

Question 8

ecosystem services

Answer 8

environments provide life supporting services such as clean water, timber, fisheries, crops

Question 9

environmental indicators

Answer 9

describe the current state of the environment

Question 10

sustainability

Answer 10

living on the Earth in a way that allows us to use its resources without depriving future generations of those resources

Question 11

biodiversity

Answer 11

the diversity of life formed in an environment - genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity

Question 12

species

Answer 12

a group of organisms that is distinct from other groups in its morphology, behavior, or biochemical properties

Question 13

speciation

Answer 13

evolution of new species

Question 14

background extinction rate

Answer 14

average rate at which species go extinct over the long term

Question 15

species diversity

Answer 15

indicates the number of species in a region or in a particular type of habitat

Question 16

ecosystem diversity

Answer 16

a measure of the diversity of ecosystems or habitats that exist in a given region

Question 17

anthropogenic

Answer 17

derived from human activities

Question 18

development

Answer 18

improvement in human well-being through economic advancement

Question 19

sustainable development

Answer 19

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

Question 20

biolphilia

Answer 20

love of life

Question 21

ecological footprint

Answer 21

a measure of how much a person consumes, expressed in area of land

Question 22

scientific method

Answer 22

an objective way to explore the natural world, draw inferences from it, and predict the outcome of certain events, processes, or changes

Question 23

hypothesis

Answer 23

an educated guess that can be proved or disproved through controlled experimentation

Question 24

null hypothesis

Answer 24

statement or idea that can be falsified or proved wrong

Question 25

replication

Answer 25

repeating the measure many times

Question 26

sample size

Answer 26

the number of times the measurement is repeated

Question 27

uncertainty

Answer 27

an estimate of how much the measure differs from the true value

Question 28

inductive reasoning

Answer 28

the process of making general statements from specific facts or examples

Question 29

deductive reasoning

Answer 29

the process of applying a general statement to specific facts or situations

Question 30

theory

Answer 30

a hypothesis that has been repeatedly tested and confirmed by multiple groups of researchers and has reached wide acceptance

Question 31

natural law

Answer 31

a theory to which there are no known exceptions and which has withstood rigorous testing

Question 32

control group

Answer 32

a group that experiences exactly the same conditions as the experimental group, except for the single variable under study

Question 33

natural experiment

Answer 33

a natural event acts as an experimental treatment in an ecosystem

Question 34

environmental justice

Answer 34

a social movement and field of study that works toward equal enforcement of environmental laws and the elimination of disparities, in how pollutants and other environmental harms are distributed among various ethnic and socioeconomic groups in society