Basha High School Fall 2015

Name ______

Basha High School Fall 2015

115

COURSE OUTLINE: (this is not necessarily the order we go in)

1) Earth Systems and Resources (10%)

a) The Basics of Earth

i) Earth structure and dynamics

ii) Geologic time

iii) Seasons and solar intensity

b) Our Atmosphere

i) Composition and structure

ii) Coriolis Effect and its impact on air/ocean circulation

iii) Climate, weather and weather patterns

c) Water

i) Types of fresh water

ii) Water shortages

iii) Damming water and transferring water

iv) Desalinization

v) Irrigation

vi) Solutions to overuse of water

vii) Flooding and floodplain management

d) Soils

i) Soil formation, composition and properties

ii) Types of soil

iii) Erosion and conservation

2) The Living World (15%)

a) Ecosystems: Components, Energy Flow, and Matter Cycling

i) Populations, communities, food chains and webs

ii) Biomes

iii) Ecological pyramids and productivity

iv) Biogeochemical cycles

b) Community Ecology, Structure, Species Interaction, and Succession

i) Nonnative or exotic species

ii) Indicator species and keystone species

iii) Interspecific and intraspecific competition

iv) Competition and symbiosis

v) Immigration and emigration

vi) Succession

c) Evolution and Biodiversity

i) Micro and macroevolution

ii) Niches – generalists and specialists

d) Sustaining biodiversity

i) The species approach

(1) Effects of humans on biodiversity

(2) Value of biodiversity

(3) Causes and types of extinctions

(4) Laws and treaties to prevent extinction

ii) The ecosystem approach

(1) Types of land use

(2) Managing forests sustainably

(3) Managing tropical forests

(4) Sustaining National Parks, wilderness areas, reserves

(5) Ecological restoration

3) Populations (15%)

a) Population Dynamics, Carrying Capacity and Conservation Biology

i) Exponential versus logistic growth

ii) Biotic potential and environmental resistance

iii) Characteristics of R-strategists and K-strategists

iv) Survivorship curves

b) Human Population Dynamics

i) History and Global Distribution

ii) Carrying Capacity- Local, Regional, Global

iii) Cultural and Economic Influences

iv) Cultural and Economic Impacts

c) Urbanization

i) Urban development, urban sprawl

ii) Transportation (influences and impacts)

4) Land (10%)

a) Agriculture

i) Food production and nutrition

(1) Increasing crop production (genetic engineering and irrigation)

(2) Meat production

(3) Aquaculture and fishing

ii) Pesticides and pest control

(1) Types of pesticides

(2) Pros and cons of pesticide use

(3) Pesticide regulation in the US

(4) Alternatives to pesticides

(5) Integrated pest management

d) Forestry

e) Rangelands

f) Public and Federal Lands

g) Urban Use

h) Land conservation

i) Global Economic Impacts

5) Energy Resources and Consumption (15%)

a) Energy Consumption (historical, present and future)

b) Nonrenewable Sources of energy

i) Indentifying, locating, and removing nonrenewable mineral resources

(1) Types of mining

(2) Environmental effects of mineral extraction

ii) Oil extraction, refining and use

iii) Natural gas

iv) Coal

v) Nuclear energy

c) Renewable Sources of Energy

i) Passive and active solar energy

ii) Hydroelectric power

iii) Wind power

iv) Biomass

v) Geothermal energy

vi) Energy efficiency and sustainable energy use

6) Pollution (25%)

a) Water pollution

i) Types and measurements of water pollutants

ii) Point and nonpoint sources

iii) Stream pollution

iv) Groundwater pollution

v) Ocean pollution

vi) Wastewater management

b) Air pollution

i) Outdoor air pollution

(1) Photochemical and industrial smog

(2) Inversions

(3) Acid deposition

ii) Indoor air pollution

(1) Types and sources

(2) Effects on human health

iii) Solutions to air pollution

c) Noise pollution

d) Solid and Hazardous Waste

e) Impact on Human Health

i) Risks and Hazards

ii) Toxicology

(1) Bioaccumulation and biomagnifications

(2) Poisons

iii) Chemical hazards

iv) Transmissible diseases

v) Risk analysis

7) Global Change (10%)

i) Natural greenhouse effect

ii) Global climate change

iii) Possible solutions

iv) Ozone depletion (causes and effects on human health)

8) Sustaining Human Societies

This topic is worked throughout the year as other topics are covered.

i. Economic Forces

1. Cultural and Aesthetic Considerations

2. Environmental Ethics

3. Environmental Laws and Regulations

4. Issues and Options

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Introduction

The AP Envrionmental Science course is designed to be the equivalent of a one-semester, introductory college course in environmental science. Unlike most other introductory-level college science courses, environmental science is offered from a wide variety of departments, including geology, biology, environmental studies, environmental science, chemistry and geography. Depending on the department offering the course, different emphases are placed on various topics. Some courses are rigorous science courses that stress scientific principles and analysis and that often include a laboratory component; other courses emphasize the study of environmental issues from a sociological or political perspective rather than a scientific one. The AP Environmental Science course has been developed to be like the former; as such, it is intended to enable students to undertake, as first-year college students, a more advanced study of topices in environmental science or, alternatively, to fulfill a basic requirement for a laboratory science and thus free time for taking other courses.

The AP Course Description and AP Exam have been prepared by environmental scientisits and educators who serve as members of the AP Environmental Science Development Committee. In both breadth and level of detail, the content of the course reflects what is found in many introductory college courses in environmental science. The exam is representative of such a course and is therefore considered appropriate for the measure of skills and knowledge in the field of environmental science.

The Course

The goal of the AP Environmental Science course is to provide studnets with the scientific principles, conceptes and methodologies required to understand the interrelationships of the natural world, to indentify and analyze environmental problems both natural and human-made, to evaluate the relative risks associated with these problems and to examine alternative solutions for resolving or preventing them.

Environmental science is interdiscilinary; it embraces a wide variety of topics from different areas of study. Yet there are several unifying constructs, or themes, that cut across the many topics included in the study of environmental science.

1. What keeps us alive? What is an environmentally sustainable society?

2. How fast is the human population growing?

3. What is the difference between economic growth, economic development, and environmentally sustainable economic development?

4. What are the harmful environmental effects of poverty and affluence?

5. What three major human cultural changes have taken place since humans arrived?

6. What are the four scientific principles of sustainability and how can we use them and shared visions to build more environmentally sustainable and just societies during this century?

7. What are the three pillars of sustainability?

Chapter 1 Vocabulary List
You will need to be familiar with these words and definitions for the exam.
1. affluenza
2. biodiversity
3. conservation
4. doubling time
5. ecological footprint
6. environmental degradation
7. environmental ethics
8. environmental movement
9. environmental revolution
10. Environmentally sustainable economic development
11. EPA
12. Exponential growth
13. Free-access resource
14. Non-point resource
15. nonrenewable resource
16. perpetual resource
17. point source
18. renewable resource
19. sustainability
20. sustainable development
21. sustainable living
22. tragedy of the commons

Chapter 1 Lecture Notes, Case Studies and Activities

1. Start by reading the case study. In your own words, describe what this graphic is showing.

______

2. So you have signed up to take this class called environmental science. But what does that mean? What does it mean to study environmental science?

______

v Sustainability, is the ability of earth’s various systems to survive and adapt to environmental conditions indefinitely.

v The three pillars of sustainability

Ø People (social equality)

Ø Planet (environmental)

Ø Profit (economics)

v Environmentally sustainably societies are able to meet the basic needs of its people without depleting the natural capital.

§ Natural Capital = ______+ ______

§ Give examples of each of the above:

v Economic growth provides people with more goods and services.

v Measured in gross domestic product (GDP) and purchasing power parity (PPP).

v Economic development uses economic growth to improve living standards.

v The world’s countries economic status (developed vs. developing) are based on their degree of industrialization and GDP-PPP.

v How long does it take to double the world’s population or economic growth? What equation would you use and how would you use it?

v Resource

v Anything we obtain from the environment to meet our needs

v Some directly available for use: sunlight

v Some not directly available for use: petroleum

v Perpetual: On a human time scale are ______.

v Renewable: On a human time scale can be ______(e.g. hours to several decades).

v Nonrenewable: On a human time scale are in ______.

The above diagram references the eco footprint for various countries. What exactly does this measure? What does it mean for the projected footprint to be unsustainable versus sustainable?

v I = P x A x T

• I = Environmental impact

• P = Population

• A = Affluence

• T = Technology

v Pollution:

o Point Source: ______

o Non Point Source: ______

v What are major causes of pollution?

v Describe the effect that each of the following had on the environment:

o Agriculture revolution

o Industrial-medical revolution

o Information-globalization revolution

v The book suggests that the four principles of sustainability are reliance on solar energy, biodiversity, population control and nutrient recycling. But our book was published in 2007. Today we hear that the three pillars of sustainability are people (social equality), planet (environmental), and profit (economics). Come up with a logical explanation for the shift in thinking (paradigm shift).

Chapter 2: Science, Systems, Matter and Energy

vocabulary list

You will need to be familiar with these terms for your exam.

Paradigm shifts
System
Feedback loop
Positive feedback loop
Negative (corrective) feedback loop
Organic compound
Inorganic compound
Eukaryotic
Prokaryotic
Macromolecules
Genes
Material efficiency
Physical change
Chemical change
Law of Conservation of Matter
Persistence
Degradable pollutant
Biodegradable pollutant
Slowly degradable pollutant
Nondegradable pollutant
Nuclear change
Nuclear fission
Natural radioactive decay
Chain reaction
Nuclear fusion
Kinetic energy
Heat
Electromagnetic radiation
Potential energy
High-quality energy
Low-quality energy
Law of Conservation of Energy
Second Law of Thermodynamics
Energy efficiency

Chapter 2 Lecture Notes, Case Studies and Activities

The Nature of Science

Ø What do scientists do?

l Collect data.

l Form hypotheses.

l Develop theories, models and laws about how nature works.

Testing Hypotheses

Ø Scientists test hypotheses using controlled experiments and constructing mathematical models.

l Variables or factors influence natural processes

l Single-variable experiments involve a control and an experimental group.

l Most environmental phenomena are multivariable and are hard to control in an experiment.

• Models are used to analyze interactions of variables.

Scientific Reasoning and Creativity

Ø Inductive reasoning

l Involves using specific observations and measurements to arrive at a general conclusion or hypothesis.

l Bottom-up reasoning going from specific to general.

Ø Deductive reasoning

l Uses logic to arrive at a specific conclusion.

l Top-down approach that goes from general to specific.

Limitations of Environmental Science

Ø Inadequate data and scientific understanding can limit and make some results controversial.

l Scientific testing is based on disproving rather than proving a hypothesis.

• Based on statistical probabilities.

MODELS AND BEHAVIOR OF SYSTEMS

Ø Usefulness of models

l Complex systems are predicted by developing a model of its inputs, throughputs (flows), and outputs of matter, energy and information.

l Models are simplifications of “real-life”.

l Models can be used to predict if-then scenarios.

Feedback Loops: How Systems Respond to Change

Ø Outputs of matter, energy, or information fed back into a system can cause the system to do more or less of what it was doing.

l Positive feedback loop causes a system to change in the (e.g. erosion)

l Negative (corrective) feedback loop causes a system to change ______(e.g. seeking shade from sun to reduce stress).

Ø Negative feedback can take so long that a system reaches a and .

l Prolonged delays may prevent a negative feedback loop from occurring.

Ø Processes and feedbacks in a system can (synergistically) interact to amplify the results.

l E.g. smoking exacerbates the effect of asbestos exposure on lung cancer.

Reading Assignment Pages 34-39

TYPES AND STRUCTURE OF MATTER

Ø Elements and Compounds

l Matter exists in chemical forms as ______and ______

• Elements (represented on the periodic table) are the distinctive building blocks of matter.

• Compounds: two or more different elements held together in fixed proportions by chemical bonds.

Ions

Ø An ion is an atom or group of atoms with one or more ______or ______electrical charges.

Ø The number of positive or negative charges on an ion is shown as a superscript after the symbol for an atom or group of atoms

l Hydrogen ions (H+), Hydroxide ions (OH-)

l Sodium ions (Na+), Chloride ions (Cl-)

Ø The pH (potential of Hydrogen) is the ______of ______ions in one liter of solution.

Compounds and Chemical Formulas

Ø Chemical formulas are shorthand ways to show the atoms and ions in a chemical compound.

l Combining Hydrogen ions (H+) and Hydroxide ions (OH-) makes the compound H2O (dihydrogen oxide, a.k.a. water).

l Combining Sodium ions (Na+) and Chloride ions (Cl-) makes the compound NaCl (sodium chloride a.k.a. salt).

Organic Compounds: Carbon Rules

Ø Organic compounds contain carbon atoms combined with one another and with various other atoms such as H+, N+, or Cl-.

Ø Contain at least two carbon atoms combined with each other and with atoms.

l Methane (CH4) is the only exception.

l All other compounds are inorganic.

Ø ______: compounds of carbon and hydrogen atoms (e.g. methane (CH4)).

Ø ______: compounds of carbon, hydrogen, and chlorine atoms (e.g. DDT (C14H9Cl5)).