Attitides Toward Nature

Balance of Nature

• natural theology
• argument from design
• balance of nature
• limiting factors
• intrinsic limiting factors
• extrinsic limiting factors
• density-dependent limiting factors
• density-independent limiting factors
• biotic environment
• keystone predator
• exotic species

Earth Systems

• electromagnetic radiation
• EM spectrum
• energy flux
• wavelength
• frequency
• lithosphere
•     crust
•     mantle
•     core
• hydrosphere
• atmosphere
• biosphere
• continental drift
• biotic environment
• abiotic (physical) environment
• population
• biotic (or biological) community
• ecosystem
• biome
• system
• isolated system
• closed system
• open system
• steady state
• systems science
•     systems measurement
•     data analysis
•     systems modeling
•     system optimization
• self regulation
• feedback loop
• positive feedback
• negative feedback
• Gaia hypothesis

Cycles of Nutrients and Materials

• First Law of Thermodynamics
• Second Law of Thermodynamics
• entropy
• kinetic energy
• potential energy
• photosynthesis
• respiration
• glucose
• chemical bond
• adenosine diphosphate (ADP)
• adenosine triphosphate (ATP)
• autotroph (producer)
• heterotroph (consumer)
• water cycle
• runoff
• groundwater
• water table
• aquifer
• transpiration
• evaporation
• evapotranspiration
• carbon cycle
• fossil fuels
• nitrogen cycle
• ammonium
• nitrate
• nitrogen fixation
• nitrifying bacteria
• urea
• uric acid
• denitrification
• phosphate

Energy Flow and Ecosystem Structuure

• ecology
• natural history
• biological community
• habitat
• ecosystem
• niche
• food chain
• food web
• producers
• consumers
• autotroph
• heterotroph
• trophic levels
• predators
• prey
• pyramid of numbers
• pyramid of energy
• photosynthesis
• gross primary production (GPP)
• net primary production (NPP)
• endotherm
• ectotherm
• predator/prey ratio
• Charles Elton
• Raymond Lindeman

Equilibrium, Feedback, and Disturbance

• Frederick Clements
• community structure
• superorganism
• succession
• primary succession
• secondary succession
• climax community
• colonizers
• r selection
• Kselection
• life history strategies
• niche
• equilibrium theory
• non-equilibrium theory
• disturbance
• predator-prey cycles

History of Life

• open system
• steady state
• entropy
• emergent properties
• panspermia
• prokaryote (prokaryotic cell)
• Domain
• Archaea
• Bacteria
• Eukarya
• methanogens
• halophilic bacteria
• thermophilic bacteria
• cyanobacteria
• stromatolites
• banded-iron deposits
• red beds
• aerobic
• anaerobic
• fermentation (anaerobic respiration)
• oxygen revolution
• eukaryote (eukaryotic cell)
• organelles
• endosymbiosis
• Ediacaran fauna
• Cambrian explosion
• Burgess Shale
• Charles Doolittle Walcott
• Pikaia (your ancestor!)

Biodiversity and Extinction

• speciation
• extinction
• mass extinction
• background extinction
• Red Queen hypothesis
• Cuvier
• catastrophism
• uniformitarianism
• geographic isolation
• reproductive isolation
• gene flow
• mutations
• natural selection
• adaptation
• genetic bottleneck
• founder effect
• genetic drift
• species (biological species concept)
• generalists
• specialists
• periodic extinctions
• Oort Cloud
• Planet X
• Nemesis
• Pleistocene Blitzkrieg
• endangered species

Conservation I  - Ecosystems as Islands

• Dodo
• Passenger Pigeon
• Rachel Carson
• Silent Spring
• simplification (of ecosystems)
• exotic species (know examples also)
• land conversion
• habitat loss
• fragmentation
• deforestation (tropic vs. temperate pattern)
• theory of island biogeography
• dispersal ability
• waif dispersal
• rate of immigration
• rate of extinction
• equilibrium number of species
• Krakatoa
• neotropical migrant
• conservation biology
• game species
• non-game species
• resource management
• consumptive use
• non-consumptive use
• biodiversity
• alpha/beta/gamma diversity
• genetic diversity
• species diversity
• species richness
• species evenness
• species dominance
• ecological diversity

Conservation I  - Ecosystems as Islands

• area-sensitive species
• habitat heterogeneity
• biotic interactions
• secondary extinctions
• edge effect
• interior edge
• cowbirds
• brood parasitism
• Bubba Effect
• corridors
• metapopulation
• winking patches
• rescue effect
• Y2Y corridor
• MVP - minimum viable population
• 50/500 rule
• ISIS (zoos)
• ACRES (Audubon Institute)

Population Ecology

• Thomas Malthus
• population principle
• struggle for existence
• Poor Laws
• R - replacement rate
• seasonal breeders
• geometric model
• r - instantaneous growth rate
• exponential model
• birth rate
• death rate
• continuous breeders
• K - carrying capacity
• logistic model

Human Population

• carrying capacity
• overpopulation
• hunter-gatherers
• life expectancy
• biosphere
• fertility rate
• demographic transition
• age structure of popn.
• population projection
• net population growth (NPG)
• zero NPG
• Cairo Conference
• human footprint

Soil - Fertility and Degradation

• swidden agriculture
• soil degradation
• detritivore
• humus
• soil structure
• soil horizons
• soil profile
• O horizon
• A horizon
• top soil
• E horizon
• B horizon
• subsoil
• C horizon
• parent material
• no-till farming
• desertification
• salinization
• Dust Bowl
• windbreaks
• contour plowing

Agriculture, Food, and Water

• fisheries
• territorial limit
• Economic Exclusion Zone
• aquaculture
• tragedy of the commons
• factory fleet
• trawling
• rangeland
• pasture land
• cropland
• per capita harvest
• Green Revolution
• dwarf hybrid strains
• photosynthate
• per capita area of grain harvest
• malnutrition
• oil crops
• luxury crops
• irrigation
• water table
• aquifer
• recharge rate
• acre-foot (of water)
• drip irrigation

Fossil Fuels and their Global Impact

• electricity
• electric generator
• turbine
• water turbine (hydroelectricity)
• gas turbine
• steam turbine
• fossil fuels
• strip mining
• fracking (hydraulic fracturing)
  
• Black Lung disease
• conversion efficiency
• fluidized bed combustion
• synthetic fuels (synfuels)
• liquified natural gas
• OPEC
• Arab oil embargo
• Trans-Alaskan pipeline
• Standard Oil

Fossil Fuels - Alternate Sources of Energy

• Exxon-Valdez oil spill
• Persian Gulf War
• nuclear power
• breeder reactor
• nuclear fission
• Uranium
• isotopes
• U-235/U-238
• enrichment
• radioactive decay
• half-life
• chain reaction
• moderator
• heavy water
• graphite
• nuclear reactor
• reactor vessel
• fuel rods
• control rods
• containment building
• double loop
• nuclear meltdown
• radioactive wastes
• NIMBY
• Chelyabinsk-65
• Lake Karachay
• Tokaimura
• Three Mile Island
• Chernobyl
• nuclear fusion
• wind power
• water power (hydroelectricity)
• geothermal energy
• bioconversion
• solar power
• photovoltaic cell (PVC)
• electrolysis
• hydrogen fuel cells

Global Climate Change I

• global warming
• greenhouse effect
• greenhouse gases
• climate
• tilt of axis
• eccentricity (of orbit)
• precession
• Milankovitch Cycles
• pole star
• Polaris
• Thuban
• Vega
• isotopes
• oxygen isotope ratio
• ¹⁶O / ¹⁸O
• deep-sea sediment cores

Global Climate Change II

• climate aberration
• Younger Dryas
• Late Paleocene Thermal Maximum
• Medieval Warm Period
• Little Ice Age
• climate proxy records
• tree rings
• pollen grains
• coral growth rings
• geomorphology
• terminal moraine
• glacial erratic
• Ice Ages
• isotope
• isotope ratios
• ice cores
• deep-sea sediment cores
• oceanic conveyor belt
• climate forcing
• positive climate forcing
• negative climate forcing
• planetary albedo
• methane
• clathrate
• nitrous oxide

Global Climate Change III-IV

• EFF - environmental forcing factor
• residence time
• removal time
• ozone
• tropospheric ozone
• aerosol
• sulfate aerosol
• dust aerosol
• organic aerosol
• black carbon aerosol (soot)
• Year Without a Summer (1816)
• Twomey Effect
• carbon sink
• CO₂ fertilization
• water efficiency (plants)
• oceanic conveyor belt
• CFC's
• thermal expansion
• Kyoto Conference of 1997
• subsidence
• coastal marsh
• delta

Global Atmospheric Change

• Donoran Death Fog
• temperature inversion
• thermal inversion
• hydrocarbons
• primary pollutants
• secondary pollutants
• particulates
• volatile organic compounds (VOC’s)
• lead, leaded gasoline
• nitrogen oxides
• sulfur oxides
• carbon monoxide
• incomplete combustion
• smog
• industrial smog
• photochemical smog
• Clean Air Act of 1970
• atmosphere
• troposphere
• stratosphere
• ozone
• photochemical oxidant
• ozone layer
• ultraviolet radiation (UV)
• CFC’s (chlorofluorocarbons)
• ozone hole
• tropospheric ozone
• acid precipitation
• acid rain
• acid deposition
• acid
• base
• ion
• Hydroxide ion
• Hydrogen ion
• pH
• buffer

Global Change and Aquatic Systems

• point source
• nonpoint source
• runoff
• heavy metals
• bioaccumulation
• biomagnification
• Minamata Disease
• dissolved oxygen (DO)
• biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)
• eutrophication
• oligotrophic
• eutrophic
• turbidity
• benthic plants
• submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV)
• emergents
• phytoplankton
• cultural eutrophication

Talking Trash

• midden
• municipal solid waste (MSW)
• dumps
• incinerators
• landfills
• leachate
• biogas
• landfill gas plant
• landfill liner
• Univ. of Arizona Garbage Project
• garbologist
• lightweighting
• national bottle law

Louisiana - Polluter's Paradise: Environmental Racism

• Toxic Release Inventory (TRI)
• synergistic effects
• Chemical Corridor
• Cancer Alley
• aquifer
• injection well
  
• environmental racism
• environmental equity
• grass-roots activism
• Shintech
• carcinogen

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