Download Topics for AP Environmental Science

Topics for AP Environmental Science
Weeks
1.5
weeks
2.0
weeks
2.5
weeks
1.5
weeks
1.5
weeks
Unit
1
2
3
4
5
Topic(s)
Introduction to Environmental Science
 The Three Themes of Environmental Science
 Tragedy of the Commons
 Elwha Ecosystem Restoration Project
 Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Value of Nature
 International Challenge Overcome: The Ozone Layer
World Biomes and Ecosystem Processes
 World Weather and Climate Patterns
 Biogeochemical Cycles
 Hubbard Forest Brook Experiment
 Importance of Microclimates and Soil Types
 Importance of Aspect and Elevation
 World Biomes and Ecosystems
 Ecosystems of North America
 Ecosystems of the Desert Southwest
 Primary and Secondary Succession
 Ecosystem Structure and Biodiversity
Forest Management and Fire Ecology
 Forest Management Practices
 Habitat Fragmentation and the Edge Effect
 Fire Adapted Ecosystems
 Fire Suppression and Fuel Loads
 Catastrophic Fires and Urban/Wildland Interface
 Current Techniques in Fire Regime Management
 Four Forests Restoration Initiative (4FRI - Arizona)
Ecological Processes
 Characteristics of Populations and Communities
 Food Chains/Webs
 Trophic Levels and Energy Movement
 Nutrient Cycling and Eutrophication
 Biomanipulation – Lake Vesijarvi, Finland
 Bioaccumulation/Biomagnification
 Plastics and Endocrine Disruptors
 Great Pacific Garbage Vortex
 Bioremediation – Mining/Industrial Site Reclamation
Community Ecology
 Fundamental and Realized Niches
 Competitive Exclusion and Resource Partitioning
 Competition and Symbiosis
 Species Richness and Biodiversity
 Mycorrhizal relationships
 Generalist and Specialist Species
 Indicator and Keystone Species
 Island Biogeography
 Allopatric and Sympatric Speciation
Labs and Activities
Activity: Tragedy of the
Commons
Movie: HOME
Lab: Soil Quality
Lab: Plant Adaptations
Field Trip: Walnut Canyon
National Monument
Project: Developing a
Comprehensive Forest
Management Plan
Lab: Pond Ecology
Movie: Plastic Paradise
Project: Community/
Keystone Species Poster
Demo: Island
Biogeography
Topics for AP Environmental Science
2.0
weeks
6
1.5
weeks
7
3.0
weeks
8
1.5
weeks
18 weeks
9
Changing Landscape Use Patterns
 Historic and Modern Land Use Patterns
 Homestead Act of 1862 and Railroad Grants
 External Threats to Protected Areas
 Habitat Corridors and Connectivity
 Impacts of Invasive Species –
Hairy-necked tiger beetle
 Predator Control and Removal
 History of Species Extinction and Extirpation
 Land Speculation/Tusayan and Development
Early History of Environmental Protection
 Early History of the Environmental Movement
 First National Parks: Yellowstone and Yosemite
 Key Players of the Early Environmental Movement:
John Muir, Thoreau, George Bird Grinnell, John Lacey,
Teddy Roosevelt, Stephen Mather, Gifford Pinchot
 The Antiquities Act of 1906, National Forests, and
National Park System.
 Major Environmental Laws of the Early Period
Demography and Population Growth
 Exponential and Logistic Growth
 r- and k- Strategies
 Carrying Capacity
 Predator-Prey Population Dependency Cycles
 Fertility (TFR) and Changing Death Rates
 Demographic Histograms
 Impacts of Rapid Population Growth on Societies
 Pop. Transition and Zero Population Growth
 Urbanization and Human Migration
Ecological Services and Human Health
 Urban Heat Island Effect
 Air Pollution and Inversion Layers
 Noise Pollution and Human Stress
 Ecological Services and Externalities
 Economic Value of Biodiversity
 Transmissible Diseases and Vaccinations
 Pandemics (1918 Influenza Epidemic, Bird Flu, H1N1,
SARS, Cholera, Ebola, etc.)
 Malaria Control Strategies
End of First Semester
Activity: Increasing
connectivity and
decreasing edge habitats
Case Study: Wolves in Italy
Movie: Ken Burns'
National Parks Series
Lab: Predator-Prey
Relationships
Activity: Analyzing
demographic histograms
Activity: Disease
Transmission Lab
Topics for AP Environmental Science
Beginning of Second Semester
Weeks
Unit
Topic(s)
Feeding the World
Labs and Activities
Omnivore’s Dilemma
must be read by January 5th
2.5
weeks
1.5
weeks
2.0
weeks
10
11
12
2.0
weeks
13
1.0
weeks
14
Impacts of Industrial Agriculture
 Irrigation and Soil Salinization
 Soil Nutrient Deficiency and Synthetic fertilizers
 Harvesting and Storage Techniques
 Genetic Engineering and GMOs
 Industrial Meat Production (CAFOs)
 Organic and Sustainable Farming
 Integrated Pest Management
 Overfishing and Sustainable Fishing Strategies
 Aquaculture and Fish Farming
Water Sources and Management
 Surface Water (Snowpack, Glaciers, and Rivers)
 Groundwater (Aquifers - confined and unconfined)
 Dams, Reservoirs, and Canals
 Water Distribution in the Desert Southwest
 Cone of Depression and Rates of Recharge
 Water Treatment and Desalinization
 Salt Water Intrusion
 Waste Water Management (use of reclaimed water)
Energy Resources, Consumption, and Pollution
Sources of Air and Water Pollution
 Point Source and Non-point Source Pollution
 History and Sources of Air Pollution
 History and Sources of Water Pollution
 Silent Spring, Pesticides, and DDT
 Case studies in Environmental Disasters
(Love Canal, PCBs, Minimata, Bhopal, etc)
The Modern Environmental Laws
 Cuyahoga River Fire of 1969
 Santa Barbara Oil Spill of 1969
 The Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act
 Creation of the EPA
 Other Major Laws (NEPA, Superfund Act, etc)
 Ocean Dumping Act of 1974
Solid Waste Disposal and Reduce/Reuse/Recycle
 Municipal Solid Waste
 Hazardous Materials Management
 Incineration, Landfills, Detoxifying Strategies
 Strategies to Reduce Consumption
 Recycling Strategies
Movie: Food, Inc.
Lab: Soil Salinity Lab
Activity: Understanding
Aquifers
Case Study: Aral Sea
Case Study: Colorado
River Compact
Lab: Determining LD50
Lab: Water Pollution Lab
Activity: Major
Environmental Laws of
the 20th Century
Activity: Evaluating
Ocean Trash
Case Study on Waste:
Naples, Italy
Movie: Garbage Dreams
Topics for AP Environmental Science
2.0
weeks
15
2.0
weeks
16
2.0
weeks
17
1.0 week
16 weeks
2.0
weeks
18
19
Energy Extraction and Mining Practices
 Mining (needs and problems)
 Balancing Economics and Culture (Resolution Copper)
 Coal, Oil, and Natural Gas Extraction Methods
 Hydraulic Fracturing and Tar Sands
 Pipelines and Oil Trains
 2005 Energy Policy Act
 Offshore Drilling and Subsidence in Louisiana
 Major Oil Spill Disasters (BP Deepwater Horizon,
Exxon Valdez, Santa Barbara, Ixtoc, Kuwait Oil Fires)
Energy Production and Consumption
 Fossil Fuel Sources of Electricity (coal, NG, and oil)
 Non-fossil Fuel Sources of Electricity Production
(nuclear, hydroelectric, geothermal)
 Alternative and Emerging Sources of Electricity
(wind, solar, tidal, OTEC, etc)
 Solar Revolution (leased solar, utilities revolt, passive
solar)
 Fuels for Transportation (diesel, petrol, NG, electric)
Global Change and Future Challenges
Global Climate Change
 The Greenhouse Effect
 Measurable Changes in CO2, CH4, and Temperature
 Impacts of Sea Ice Reduction
 Sea Level Changes and Ocean Currents
 Changes in Drought/Flood Cycles
 Desertification and Global Conflict
 Threats to Food Production
 Threats to Biodiversity
 Ocean Acidification
 Carbon Sequestration Options
Energy Efficiency and Sustainability
 In Your Home (lighting, vampire, insulation, etc)
 Industrial Efficiencies
 Transportation (fuel efficiency of ships, trains, trucks,
buses, personal autos)
 Emerging Transportation Options (hybrids, all-electric
autos, CAFE standards, etc.)
 Building Smart Cities and Urban Renewal
 Happiness Scales and Life Satisfaction Indexes
AP Environmental Science Exam
 End of Year Service Project
End of Second Semester
Movie: Burning the
Future
Activity: Oil Spill
Remediation
Movie: Gasland
Activity: Personal
Footprint and Wealth
Gap
Activity: Personal and
School Energy Audit
Movie: Chasing Ice
Project: Building a
Sustainable Home
May 2nd
Service Project:
15% of final grade
Topics for AP Environmental Science
Major Case Studies To Know by the AP Exam:
Case Study
Topic
Tragedy of the Commons
We are all in it together
Minimata, Japan
Biomagnification of Mercury
Siuslaw Hairy-necked tiger beetle
Invasive species impacts
Lake Vesijarvi, Finland
Biomanipulation
Hubbard Brook Forest Experiment
Effects of Development on Nutrient Cycling
Cuyahoga River Fire
River in Cleveland caught fire
Love Canal, NY
Building on Toxic Sites
Santa Barbara Oil Spill
First major oil spill in U.S.
BP Oil Spill
Largest oil spill in U.S. history
Montreal Protocol
Banned CFC’s worldwide to protect ozone
layer
Banned Persistent Organic Pollutants
worldwide
Worth chemical accident in history
Stockholm Convention
Bhopal, India
Earth Day
Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone
Wolves in Italy and the U.S.
Haiti and Egypt
Millions gathered to protest state of the
environment
Eutrophication
Different management policies have
different results
Societies unravel under demographic
pressure
Aral Sea
5th largest lake dried up
Grand Banks of Newfoundland
World’s greatest fishery collapses
Hurricane Katrina
Major hurricane destroys New Orleans
Fukishima and Chernobyl
Everglades
Nuclear disasters
Greatly altered hydrologic processes
Elwha River
Removing outdated dams to restore
salmon
Most important aquifer in the world for
agriculture
Ogallala Aquifer
Colorado River Compact
More water allocated than exists in river
Keystone Pipeline
Tar Sands
Risks of major oil pipeline in sensitive areas
Dirtiest form of energy in the world
Mountaintop Removal
Destruction of Appalachian mountains for
coal
Lesson Learned
Without regulation of a shared resource,
we all suffer
Dumping of even small amounts of toxic
substances have had dramatic impacts as it
moves up the food chain
Invasive species can complicate native
species conservation
Removing or adding one trophic level can
completely alter an ecosystem
Without vegetation to take up and store
nutrients, it can all wash out of the soils
Woke America up to the state of our
polluted waterways
The effects of dumping toxic waste can be
devastating even decades later
Grabbed America’s attention about the
risks of offshore drilling
Reminded America about the risks of
offshore drilling and the lack of progress on
cleanup technology
First major worldwide environmental
problem solved
Worldwide problem solved through
negotiations
Dangers of out-sourcing our environmental
regulations
That people can push policies and change
the laws
The effects of small amounts of pollution
can add up to a big problems hundreds of
miles away
Predators and livestock can co-exist when
managed properly
When there are too many children in a
society, the weight of that burden can
cause economic collapse and politican
chaos
Poor water management can dry up even
major waterways
Even seemingly limitless supplies can be
overused
The effects that subsidence, rising sea
levels, and warming waters will have on
coastal regions
The risks of nuclear power
We can lose our national treasures without
careful management
That mistakes of the past can be fixed and
ecosystems restored
We depend economically and nutritionally
on water and any risks to that could be
devastating
Be careful to understand the system before
you start claiming the resource
Will history repeat itself?
How desparate are we for oil and can we
wean ourselves of the addiction?
Is the destruction of the most biodiverse
temperate ecosystem on Earth worth
cheap energy?