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Midterm Review topics
Apes-2017
These are topics you should review from your notes, handouts and text to prepare for the midterm.
The date has been changed to Feb. 16 (Thursday, because this is a double period and will give you more
time) ** Know the Vocabulary throughout your notes that were highlighted as well!!
Topic 1-Intro to Environmental Science:
1. Three principles of sustainability: Solar energy, biodiversity, chemical cycling.
2. Major environmental problems:
a. global warming
b. energy generation
c. waste
d. clean water
e. biodiversity
f. over fishing
g. deforestation
h. invasive plants/animals
3. Causes of environmental problems
a. Exponential population growth (j curve)
b. Unsustainable resource use
c. Poverty
d. Excluding environmental costs into products
4. Tragedy of the Commons
5. The Story of Easter Island
6. Review basic Earth Science:
a. Earth formed 4.6 billion ya (Precambrian)
b. First forms of life 3.6 billion ya
c. Eukaryotes appear-1.5 billion ya
d. Dinosaurs extinct-65 mya (Mesozoic)
e. Seasons (caused by Earth’s tilt and revolution around sun)
f. Know dates of seasons in Northern Hemisphere and be aware of hours of day.
g. Be aware of Weather (Fronts, humidity, storms, high and low pressure)
h. Climate (what causes it)
i. Structure of the Earth
j. Plate Tectonics
k. Earthquakes, Volcanoes
7. El Nino –Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
8. Carbon Cycle and sinks
9. Historic levels of CO2
10. The greenhouse effect and gases
Topic 2 The Atmosphere and Air Pollution
1. Composition of the Atmosphere-Nitrogen 78%, Oxygen 21%, other gases 1 % approx)
2. Structure –Troposphere, Stratosphere (ozone layer) Mesosphere, Thermosphere
3. Major pollutants in the atmosphere:
a. Primary pollutants
b. Secondary pollutants
c. Sources of pollutants(industry, transportation and agriculture)
d. Carbon Monoxide (CO) from vehicle exhaust, smokestacks, fires. Know properties and how
it kills
e. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) released from burning of fossil fuels. Over 90% is formed naturally
during the carbon cycle. Linked to global warming-highest greenhouse gas.
f. Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) Forms during burning of fossil fuels (at high temp O2 +N2 NO)
Air to form NO2 both of which aid in the formation of photochemical smog and acid rain.
g. Nitrous Oxide-(N2O) laughing gas-4th largest greenhouse gas emitted from decay of nitrogen
based fertilizers and animal waste as well as burning fossil fuels.
h. Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) –mostly antropgenic) 66% forms from burning coal, oil refining, and
smelting of sulfide ores.
4. Ozone-O3- good in stratosphere but bad in troposphere. Major ingredient is photochemical
smog.
5. Photochemical smog-temperature inversions
6. Industrial smog
7. Acid Rain
8. Clean Air Act
Indoor air pollution
1. Developing countries (burning wood, crops, coal) particulate matter, CO NOx
2. Developed countries(traffic pollutants higher INSIDE the car than OUTSIDE!
Biggest indoor pollutants: Radon, tobacco smoke, formaldehyde and particulates
3. Sourcesa. Asbestos
b. Formaldehyde
c. Radon222
d. Mold
e. Biomass (indoor burning of fuel/firewood.
4. Sick Building syndrome
a. Dizziness, headaches, coughing, sneezing, shortness of breath, nausea etc.
b. One in 5 building in the US is considered sick.
Reducing Air Pollution emissions
1. Clean air act 1970
2. Ammended in 1990
3. Anthropogenic emissions-cars, electricity generation (largest emitter of SO2), particulate matter
Effects of Climate Change:
1. Melting Ice and Sea level rise
2. Acidification of oceans (loss of coral reefs)
3. Changes in weather and climates of locations around the globe
4. What happens to biodiversity?
Topic 3-Water Use
1. Dams-pros and cons
2. Ogalla
3. water supply of Earth-70% is ocean and 30% is land
a. 70% of freshwater is used to irrigate crops and raise livestock.(90%in arid areas)
4. hydrological cycle
5. Aquifers
6. Water shed
7. Domestic water use (flushing toilets, showers, laundry)
8. Desalinization
9. Clean Water Act
10. Sewage treatment-know the steps and process
Water Pollution
1. Point sources-easy to locate and measure(factory discharge from pipes, oil tankers
2. Non-point sources-originates over a region( watershed, farm fields)
Waste water pollution
1. Anthropogenic wastes from toilets, bathing, clothes and dishes
2. Eutrophication vs. Cultural Eutrophication (nitrate NO3 and phosphate PO4)
3. Dead Zones
4. E Coli-indicator species for human waste present and pathogens
5. Water pollution is considered and EXTERNAL COST
6. Thermal pollution
Clean Water Act 1972
1. Sets discharge limits for contaminants into a body of water
2. Must obtain a permit to discharge into a body of water
3. Gives EPA and states power to monitor and regulate with fines for rule breakers (DEC)
Sewage treatment plants
1. How they work
a. Primary
b. Secondary
c. Tertiary
Water Pollution Act 1972 (amendments called the Clean Water Act)
1. Permits required for point source discharge
2. EPA and State DEC’s set appropriate guidelines for discharge levels
3. Enforcement and fines to companies who did not meet effluent criteria
Ocean Pollution
1. Oil spills- Exxon and BP
Topic 4 Ecosystems
1. Rainforest degradation reasons: crops, grazing cattle, building houses and mining wood.
2. Negative effects: loss of biodiversity
3. Energy flow
4. Chemical cycling
5. Food chain/food web components
6. Biotic/abiotic factors
7. Producers, consumers, detritivores, decomposers
8. GPP, NPP
9. Water cycle, carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, phosphorous cycle, sulfur cycle
10. Algal blooms (eutrophication)
Topic 5 Evolution
1. Fossil record
2. Theory of evolution-who?
3. Natural selection
4. Genetic resistance
5. Mutation
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Convergent and divergent evolution
Speciation
Extinction
Biomes
Species Diversity
a. Species richness
b. Species eveness
Roles in an ecosystem:
1. Niches
2. Habitat
3. Types of species (generalist, specialist)
Native vs. exotic species
1. Native, invasive know some examples
2. Characteristics of invasive, how to remove
Indicator species
1. Birds
2. Lichens
3. Butterflies
Keystone species
1. Otters
2. Bees
3. Top predators
Foundation species
1. Elephants
2. Beaver
3. Alligator
Predator-prey relationships
Symbiotic relationships
1. Parasitism
2. Mutualism
3. Commensalism
Dispersion patterns
1. Clumps, uniform, random
Reproductive patterns
1. K Strategist
2. R Strategist
Population curves
1. Carrying capacity
2. Exponential growth-j curve
3. Logistic growth-s curve
4. Survivorship curve (type I humans)
Topic 6
1. History of human population-use notes
2. Rates of population growth
a. Crude birth rate CBR
b. Crude death rate CDR
c. Population change
3. Two types of fertility rates
a. Total fertility rate
b. Replacement fertility rate
c. Population momentum
4. Know the factors that affect total fertility rates and death rates
5. Current populations of major countries
6. Have an idea of projected populations
7. Demographic transition graph (make sure you copied notes from ppt into your notebook that
we did not finish in class)
8. Know the basic formulas for population math.
9. Doubling time
Age structure diagram diagrams-know them
New topic where we finish next Friday….