Environmental Science Semester Study Guide

Matter and Energy in the Ecosystem (Chapter 4)

1.) Know the difference between producers, consumers, and
decomposers.
2.) What are trophic levels? Where are producers and consumers
located in these different levels?
3.) What are herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores?
4.) What is the difference between a food web and a food chain?
5.) How does diversity in an ecosystem relate to the stability of an
ecosystem?
6.) What is biological magnification?
7.) What is biomass? What is an ecological pyramid?
8.) Why is energy lost as it travels through a food web or food chain?
9.) Know the water, carbon, and nitrogen cycle.
10.) What is evaporation, transpiration, and condensation?
11.) Why are legumes important to the nitrogen cycle?
Interactions in the Ecosystem (Chapter 5)
12.) What is the difference between a habitat and a niche?
13.) What happens if two organisms try to occupy the same niche?
14.) What is competitive exclusion? What is a keystone predator?
15.) What is evolution?
16.) What is the difference between a specialized and generalized
species? Be able to provide an example.
17.) What is the difference between convergent and coevolution?
18.) What slows exponential growth in a population? What is carrying
capacity?

Ecosystem Balance (Chapter 6)

19.) What is the relationship between predator and prey populations?
20.) What is parasitism and be able to provide an example.
21.) What is symbiosis and be able to provide an example.
22.) Know the differences between the types of succession.
23.) What is a pioneer species? What is climax community?
24.) What is a biome? What are the 8 major biomes?
People and Their Needs (Chapter 12)
25.) How are Earths systems related to ecosystems?
26.) How has the human perception of Earth changed over time?
27.) What is the Gaia Hypothesis?
28.) The first human societies were typically what type of society?
Describe.
29.) What is the difference between an agricultural and industrial
society?
30.) What were some of the causes of the transition from the different
types of societies?
31.) What is the frontier ethic? Why is it incorrect?
32.) What is the sustainable development ethic?
33.) What is a renewable and nonrenewable resource? Be able to
provide examples for both.
Human Population (Chapter 13)
34.) Thomas Malthus suggested we do what to slow the human
population growth?
35.) What prevented early human societies from growing very large?

36.)What was the agricultural revolution?

37.) What effect did industry have on the population of humans? Why?
38.) What is the Germ Theory? What impact did it have on healthcare
and life expectancy of humans?
39.) The largest declines in the human population arose from what?
40.) What is doubling time? Be able to determine the growth rate of a
population given the birth rate, death rate, emigration, and
immigration.
41.) What is demography?
42.) What are the harmful aspects of human overpopulation?
43.) What can be done to control population size?
44.) Is technology a guarantee to fix our problems? Why or why not?
Feeding the World (Chapter 14)
45.) What are the major types of nutrients? What do they do for the
body?
46.) What carbohydrates made of? What two groups can carbs be
broken down into? What type of energy do they provide?
47.) What are proteins made of? What are proteins responsible for?
48.) What are fats made of? What are the types of fats?
49.) What are vitamins and minerals used for in the body?
50.) Describe the difference between malnourishment and
undernourished
51.) What is a calorie?
52.) What is the Green Revolution? What did it try to accomplish and
why did it fail?
53.) What is a cash crop?

54.) What is aquaculture and why has it become necessary?

55.) What is monoculture and why is it a dangerous practice to follow?
56.) Describe integrated pest management and why it is beneficial.
57.) What is sustainable agriculture?
58.) Why is reducing erosion important?
59.) How can erosion be prevented?
60.) What is crop rotation and why is it beneficial practice to follow by
farmers?
Habitat Destruction (Chapter 23)
61.) Describe the difference between extinction and a mass extinction?
62.) What is causing the current mass extinction? How are we doing
this?
63.) What is biodiversity?
64.) Describe habitat destruction and be able to give an example.
65.) What is an alien/invasive species? Be able to give an example.
66.) Why are areas of the rain forest being cut down? Three main
reasons
67.) Does all habitat destruction occur on land? Where and how else
can it occur?
68.) How does having a high biodiversity on Earth directly benefit
humans? Three main reasons
69.) What is a wilderness area?
70.) What is currently being done to protect what biodiversity we have
left?