Spring BM2 Review APES Questions and Answers
Sustainability ✔✔meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs
Tragedy of the Commons ✔✔many common property and open access renewable resources have been
degraded due to lack of management
Ecological Footprint ✔✔the amount of biological productive land and water needed to supply the people
n a particular country or area with resources and to absorb and recycle the wastes and pollution
produced by such resource use
Nonpoint Source Pollution ✔✔dispersed and often difficult to identify
Ex: pesticides blown from the land into the air and the runoff of fertilizers and pesticides from farmlands,
lawns, gardens, and golf coerces into streams and lakes
Point Source Pollution ✔✔single, identifiable sources
Ex: the smokestack of a coal-burning power or industrial plant, the drainpipe of a factory, and the
exhaust pipe of an automobile
Positive Feedback Loop ✔✔Causes a system to change further in the same direction.
Negative Feedback Loop ✔✔A feedback loop that causes a system to change in the opposite direction
from which it is moving; stabilizing
green roof (living roof) ✔✔plants grown on top of buildings, provides insulation, absorbs rainfall to
reduce runoff, absorbs CO2, and can provide food; aka living roof
albedo ✔✔ability of earth's surface to reflect heat
,major greenhouse gases ✔✔water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, clorofluorocarbons,
tropospheric ozone
methane ✔✔chemical formula is CH4, 20x as potent as CO2
thermal expansion ✔✔the expansion of matter when it is heated; main cause of sea level rise
ocean acidification ✔✔decreasing pH of ocean waters due to absorption of excess atmospheric CO2
from the burning of fossil fuels
ice core sampling ✔✔A long cylindrical sample removed from an ice sheet or a high mountain glacier.
Since the ice forms from incremental buildup, past climate and air quality information is preserved in the
ice layers.
Hadley Cell ✔✔a system of vertical and horizontal air circulation predominating in tropical and
subtropical regions and creating major weather patterns.
ocean conveyor belt ✔✔Interconnected flow of currents that redistribute heat throughout the Earth;
based on temperature and salinity of the water
Ecosystem ✔✔A community of different species interacting with one another with their nonliving
environment of matter and energy
Biomes ✔✔Large region such as forests, deserts, and grasslands with distinct climate and certain species
adapted to them
Abiotic ✔✔Nonliving things
,Biotic ✔✔Living things
Range of Tolerance ✔✔a set of conditions in which an organism is best adapted to survive
Autotrophs ✔✔Make their own food
Limiting factor ✔✔Too much or too little of any abiotic factors can limit or prevent growth of a
population
Photosynthesis ✔✔Most producers capture sunlight to produce energy rich carbohydrates ; which is the
way energy enters most ecosystems
Producers ✔✔Make the nutrients they need from compounds and energy obtained from the
environment, base of the food pyramid
Trophic level ✔✔Feeding level
Aerobic respiration ✔✔form of cellular respiration that requires oxygen
Anaerobic respiration ✔✔form of cellular respiration that does not require oxygen; emits methane
Primary consumers ✔✔First level consumers;mostly rabbits, grasshoppers, deer and zoo plankton; eat
producers
Secondary consumers ✔✔Spiders, hyenas, birds, frogs; Feed on the flesh of herbivores
, Tertiary consumers ✔✔Third level consumer; carnivores such as lions, tigers, wolves
Biomass ✔✔The dry weight of all organic matter contained in its organism; producers have the most
biomass
Gross primary productivity ✔✔The rate at which ecosystems producers convert solar energy into
chemical energy as biomass found in their tissues
Net primary productivity ✔✔The rate at which producers use photosynthesis to produce and stored
chemical energy minus the rate at which they use some of the stored chemical energy for respiration
Hydrologic cycle ✔✔collects, purifies and distributes the earths fixed supply of water
Transpiration ✔✔evaporation from the leaves of plants
N Fixation ✔✔N2 gas to ammonia/ammonium
Nitrification ✔✔ammonia/ammonium to nitrites, then nitrates
Nitrates ✔✔the most usable form of nitrogen by plants
Assimilation ✔✔plants take up nitrates to make proteins
Denitrification ✔✔excess nitrates converted back to N2 gas
Sustainability ✔✔meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs
Tragedy of the Commons ✔✔many common property and open access renewable resources have been
degraded due to lack of management
Ecological Footprint ✔✔the amount of biological productive land and water needed to supply the people
n a particular country or area with resources and to absorb and recycle the wastes and pollution
produced by such resource use
Nonpoint Source Pollution ✔✔dispersed and often difficult to identify
Ex: pesticides blown from the land into the air and the runoff of fertilizers and pesticides from farmlands,
lawns, gardens, and golf coerces into streams and lakes
Point Source Pollution ✔✔single, identifiable sources
Ex: the smokestack of a coal-burning power or industrial plant, the drainpipe of a factory, and the
exhaust pipe of an automobile
Positive Feedback Loop ✔✔Causes a system to change further in the same direction.
Negative Feedback Loop ✔✔A feedback loop that causes a system to change in the opposite direction
from which it is moving; stabilizing
green roof (living roof) ✔✔plants grown on top of buildings, provides insulation, absorbs rainfall to
reduce runoff, absorbs CO2, and can provide food; aka living roof
albedo ✔✔ability of earth's surface to reflect heat
,major greenhouse gases ✔✔water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, clorofluorocarbons,
tropospheric ozone
methane ✔✔chemical formula is CH4, 20x as potent as CO2
thermal expansion ✔✔the expansion of matter when it is heated; main cause of sea level rise
ocean acidification ✔✔decreasing pH of ocean waters due to absorption of excess atmospheric CO2
from the burning of fossil fuels
ice core sampling ✔✔A long cylindrical sample removed from an ice sheet or a high mountain glacier.
Since the ice forms from incremental buildup, past climate and air quality information is preserved in the
ice layers.
Hadley Cell ✔✔a system of vertical and horizontal air circulation predominating in tropical and
subtropical regions and creating major weather patterns.
ocean conveyor belt ✔✔Interconnected flow of currents that redistribute heat throughout the Earth;
based on temperature and salinity of the water
Ecosystem ✔✔A community of different species interacting with one another with their nonliving
environment of matter and energy
Biomes ✔✔Large region such as forests, deserts, and grasslands with distinct climate and certain species
adapted to them
Abiotic ✔✔Nonliving things
,Biotic ✔✔Living things
Range of Tolerance ✔✔a set of conditions in which an organism is best adapted to survive
Autotrophs ✔✔Make their own food
Limiting factor ✔✔Too much or too little of any abiotic factors can limit or prevent growth of a
population
Photosynthesis ✔✔Most producers capture sunlight to produce energy rich carbohydrates ; which is the
way energy enters most ecosystems
Producers ✔✔Make the nutrients they need from compounds and energy obtained from the
environment, base of the food pyramid
Trophic level ✔✔Feeding level
Aerobic respiration ✔✔form of cellular respiration that requires oxygen
Anaerobic respiration ✔✔form of cellular respiration that does not require oxygen; emits methane
Primary consumers ✔✔First level consumers;mostly rabbits, grasshoppers, deer and zoo plankton; eat
producers
Secondary consumers ✔✔Spiders, hyenas, birds, frogs; Feed on the flesh of herbivores
, Tertiary consumers ✔✔Third level consumer; carnivores such as lions, tigers, wolves
Biomass ✔✔The dry weight of all organic matter contained in its organism; producers have the most
biomass
Gross primary productivity ✔✔The rate at which ecosystems producers convert solar energy into
chemical energy as biomass found in their tissues
Net primary productivity ✔✔The rate at which producers use photosynthesis to produce and stored
chemical energy minus the rate at which they use some of the stored chemical energy for respiration
Hydrologic cycle ✔✔collects, purifies and distributes the earths fixed supply of water
Transpiration ✔✔evaporation from the leaves of plants
N Fixation ✔✔N2 gas to ammonia/ammonium
Nitrification ✔✔ammonia/ammonium to nitrites, then nitrates
Nitrates ✔✔the most usable form of nitrogen by plants
Assimilation ✔✔plants take up nitrates to make proteins
Denitrification ✔✔excess nitrates converted back to N2 gas
