APES In-Class Notes Cornicopian Belief: No matter what happens, human ingenuity will overcome the problems Neomalthusian:

Resources needed will eventually Industrial Revolution boosted populations Environmental Impact = population x consumption per person x technological impact (can be negative or positive) Open System: Takes inputs and gives outputs Earth is an open system to sunlight and radiation 1-3% of sunlight is absorbed by plants and we radiate back useless heat We are a closed system to metals and atoms (effectively) Matter cycles in the earth, energy flows Ratio of carbon-14/carbon-12 lets you carbon date 10 half-lives: When a radioactive material is safe b/c its emissions are less than the background emission CH4 is natural gas and a clean source of energy Greenhouse Gases: CO2 and CO UV has low wavelength and is an ionizing radiation because it hits electrons Aquatic systems are more efficient than terrestrial ecosystems The pH of seawater is 8 Weather is an open system and a systems of analysis of weather would be inputs, outputs, and changes in this open system. It is an open system b/c it is powered by the sun Nitrogen is the most required element by humans Productivity is measured in Calories per meter2 per year Phosphorus is most often the limiting factor in aquatic ecosystems, nitrogen is for land Molecule: Any two atoms Compounds: Any two ELEMENTS Inorganic compounds: No C-C or C-H bounds Energy = power x time Energy efficiency = work done/total energy

Steady state: input = output Primary consumers are herbivores *** Energy of an ecosystem is measured through biomass Standing Crop: Amount of biomass present in an ecosystem at a particular time Disturbance: An event caused by physical, chemical or biological agents that results in a change in population size or community composition Watershed: All of the land in a given landscape that drains into a particular body of water Resistance: A measure of how much a disturbance can affect its flow of energy and matter Resilience: The rate at which an ecosystem returns to its original state after a disturbance Restoration ecology: A new scientific discipline that is interested in restoring damaged ecosystems The intermediate disturbance hypothesis: Ecosystems experiencing intermediate levels of disturbance are more diverse than those with low or high disturbance Provisions: Goods that humans can use directly Regulation services: The service provided by natural systems that regulate environmental conditions Support Systems: The support services that natural ecosystems provide such as pollination, natural filters, and pest control Resilience: Resilience of an ecosystem ensures that it will continue to provide benefits to humans. This greatly depends on species diversity Cultural services: Ecosystems provide cultural or aesthetic benefits to many people Rule of 70: Time it takes to double = 70/annual growth rate