01. Environmental Systems and Sustainability Free Online FlashCards

Why is environmental science interdisciplinary?

Environmental science combines natural sciences with economics, sociology, political science, and ethics to understand environmental problems and their human consequences.

What is an ecosystem?

An ecosystem is a community of organisms together with its nonliving environment. It includes both biotic and abiotic components.

How does a niche differ from a habitat?

A niche includes an organism’s role, resource use, environmental requirements, and interactions; a habitat is simply the physical place where it lives.

What do decomposers contribute to ecosystems?

Decomposers chemically break down organic matter and release inorganic nutrients, making those nutrients available for reuse in ecosystems.

How does a food web differ from a food chain?

A food web shows many interconnected feeding relationships, whereas a food chain shows one simplified sequence of who consumes whom.

What is the difference between a stock and a flow?

A stock is the amount of matter or energy stored in a location; a flow is its movement into, out of, or within that stock.

How do positive and negative feedback differ?

A negative feedback counteracts a change and tends to stabilize a system, while a positive feedback reinforces a change and can accelerate it.

How do matter and energy behave differently?

Matter is conserved and recycled through biogeochemical cycles, while energy flows through systems and is eventually dispersed as heat.

What is the relationship between GPP and NPP?

Net primary productivity (NPP) equals gross primary productivity (GPP) minus the energy producers use for respiration: NPP = GPP − producer respiration.

What is nitrogen fixation?

Nitrogen fixation converts atmospheric nitrogen into biologically usable compounds. Most organisms cannot use atmospheric nitrogen gas directly.

What does sustainability mean?

Sustainability means that human and natural systems continue functioning without exhausting essential resources or causing unacceptable environmental damage.

What are ecosystem services?

Ecosystem services are benefits people obtain from ecosystems, including provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services.