AP ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE ECOLOGY Flashcards

This is vocabulary from Chapter 4 in Friedland and Relyea AP Environmental Science textbook.

5042938093	climate	the average weather that occurs in a given region over a long period (typically over reveral decades)	0
5042938094	troposphere	the layer closest to Earth's surface (roughly 10 miles above), where weather occurs and a great deal of circulation takes place. Most Nitrogen, Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide is in this layer.	1
5042938095	stratosphere	this layer extends roughly 10-31 miles above Earth's surface. The ozone layer is found in this layer.	2
5042938097	albedo	the percentage of incoming sunlight that is reflected from a surface	3
5042938099	adiabatic cooling	the process by which the temperature of an air mass decreases as the air mass rises and expands (basically, as air rises, pressure decreases, allowing for an expansion in volume and a lowering of temperature)	4
5042938100	adiabatic heating	when air sinks toward the Earth's surface, the pressure on it increases and this, the pressure forces the air to decrease in in volume (and then raise the temperature of the air)	5
5042938101	latent heat release	when water vapor in the atmosphere condenses into liquid water, energy is released	6
5042938102	hadley cells	the convection currents that cycle between the equator and 30 degrees N & S. Warm air rises from the equator and loses its moisture as rain. It then falls back to the Earth at 30 degrees as dry, cool air	7
5042938103	intertropical convergence zone	the area of the Earth that receives the most intense sunlight, where the ascending branches of the two Hadley cells converge	8
5042938104	polar cells	convection currents formed by air that rises at 60 degrees N & S and sinks at the poles ( 90 degrees N & S)	9
5042938105	coriolis effect	causes moving air and water to turn left in the southern hemisphere and turn right in the northern hemisphere due to Earth's rotation	10
5042938109	upwelling	the upward movement of deep, cold, and nutrient-rich water toward the surface	11
5042938113	tundra	a dry, cold, treeless environment with low-growing vegetation where soil is completely frozen in the winter [i.e. Russia, Alaska, Canada]	12
5042938114	permafrost	impermeable, permanently frozen layer of soil that prevent water from draining and roots from penetrating	13
5042938115	biome	group of ecosystems that have the same climate and dominant communities	14
5042938116	taiga	often called the boreal forest, this biome contain coniferous forests, cold winters, low precipitation and nutrient level. [i.e. Russia, North America, Europe]	15
5042938117	temperate rainforests	mild to moderate temperatures, lots of rainfall, redwoods, Douglas firs, and western cedars, with low diversity, [i.e California, Oregon, Washington and Canada, Western New Zealand	16
5042938119	chaparral	A biome characterized by hot, dry summers, and mild, rainy winters. 12 month growing season, adapted well to fires and droughts [i.e. California, Australia, South America]	17
5042938121	tropical rainforest	high productivity, rapid decmposition, lots of rainfall, nutrient poor soil, close to the equator, [i.e Central/ South America, Tropical islands, Africa, Southeast Asia and Northern Australia]	18
5042938122	savanna	warm with distinct wet and dry seasons, dominated by grasses and few trees, think of the Lion King landscape [ie Africa, South America, Southern Asia, Central America]	19
5042938123	hot desert	extremely hot temperatures, dry conditions, sparse vegetation [Southwestern United States, Africa, Middle East, Australia]	20
5042938141	Sustainability	the ability to meet the current needs of humanity without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs	21
5042938142	The Tragedy of the Commons	(1968 paper by ecologist Garret Hardin) "Freedom to breed" is bringing ruin to all. Global commons such as atmosphere & oceans are used by all and owned by none. When no individual has ownership, no one takes responsibility. Examples: overfishing in the oceans, over pumping of the Ogallala Aquifer	22
5042938145	Biotic and abiotic	living and nonliving components of an ecosystem	23
5042938146	Competition	a type of population interaction, usually over a limited resource - may be intraspecific or interspecific	24
5042938147	Producer/Autotroph	photosynthetic or chemosynthetic life; Chemotroph - organism undergoing chemosynthesis - usually carried out by sulfur bacteria in aphotic zones in the ocean (deep ocean vents, etc.)	25
5042938153	Biome	large distinct terrestrial region having similar climate, soil, plants & animals; terrestrial biomes determining factors are temperature and precipitation	26
5042938154	Carrying capacity	the number of individuals (size of the population) that can be sustained in an area (supported by available resources in the environment)	27
5042938155	R strategist	Short life span, Small body size, Reproduce quickly,Have many young, Little parental care	28
5042938156	K strategist	reproduce late in life; few offspring; care for offspring; tend to be specialists, longer lifespan	29
5042938157	Positive feedback	when a change in some condition triggers a response that intensifies the changing condition (warmer Earth - snow melts - less sunlight is reflected & more is absorbed, therefore warmer Earth)	30
5042938158	Negative feedback	when a changing in some condition triggers a response that counteracts the changed condition	31
5042966511	Immigration	movement of individuals into a population	32
5042967927	Emigration	Leaving a population	33
5042976956	J curve growth	what curve growth is humans? No limited resources	34