Environmental Science 2nd Nine Weeks Exam Study Guide:
1. Kingdoms:
Archaebacteria
Cell Type
Cell
Structure
Prokaryotic
Have cell walls
Eubacteria
Prokaryotic
Have cell walls
made of
peptidoglycan
unicellular
2. Water cycle:

Fungi
Eukaryotic
Have nucleus,
mitochondria;
some have
chloroplasts
unicellular
Body
Structure
Mode of
Nutrition
Examples
Protista
Plantae
Eukaryotic
Animalia
Eukaryotic
Eukaryotic
Have cell walls made
of chitin have nucleus
and mitochondria; no
chloroplasts
Mostly multicellular
Have cell walls
made of
cellulose: have a
nucleus
multicellular
Have a nucleus
and
mitochondria;
no
chloroplasts
multicellular
Mostly unicellular
some are colonial
Autotrophic or
heterotrophic
Autotrophic or
heterotrophic
Autotrophic or
heterotrophic
heterotrophic
Autotrophic
heterotrophic
Methanogens
halophiles
thermophiles
true algae
E. coli
Salmonella
botulism
Amoeba,
paramecium.
seaweeds
Mushroom
yeasts
athlete’s foot
molds
Ferns,
flowering
plants
trees
aquatic plants
Corals, fish
duck, sponges,
insects
humans
Radiation: Emission of energy as electromagnetic waves or as moving sub atomic particles,
especially high energy particles that cause ionization. (Releases heat)

Evaporation: Changing of a liquid into a gas. (Takes in heat)

Transpiration: The process of water movement through a plant and it's evaporation from
leaves and stems. (Takes in heat)

Condensation: The conversion of a vapor or a gas to a liquid. (Releasing heat)

Precipitation: Rain, snow, sleet, or hail that falls to the ground. (Releases heat)
3. Layers of the Atmosphere




Troposphere: extends about 18 km above Earth, almost all weather occurs here, densest layer, temperature
decreases as altitude increases, heated from the ground up
Stratosphere: extends from 18 km – 50 km, temperature increases as altitude increases, absorbs sun’s UV
energy and warms air, ozone layer is here
Mesosphere: extends to 80 km, coldest layer, temperature as low as -93 degrees C
Thermosphere: farthest from Earth’s surface, Nitrogen and Oxygen absorb solar radiation, temp above 2, 000
degrees C, so thin that little heat is transferred
4. Photosynthesis: Process by which green plants and some other organisms
use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water producing glucose and oxygen
5. Bioaccumulation/Biomagnification: refers to tendency of pollutants to concentrate as they move from one trophic
level to the next. Toxins can easily enter a food chain involving fish and contaminate them.
6.
Carbon Cycle: when carbon is cycled between the atmosphere, land, water, and organisms.
Plants convert carbon dioxide to carbohydrates during photosynthesis. Consumers eat producers,
consumers obtain carbon from carbohydrat4es. As the consumers break down the food, some of
the carbon is released back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide as they breathe out or as waste.
Formation of limestone: limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of minerals and of skeletal
fragments of marine organisms such as coral.
7. Historical delta lobes of the Mississippi River: Formed over the last 7,000 years. Delta lobes are
created over a period of around 1000-2000 years, as the river carries sediment from the interior of the
continent and deposits them near its mouth in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico (see diagram on
previous page)
8. Erosion of Deltas: dams block sedimentation causing deltas to erode away, along with subsidence, and
there not being enough sediment put back where it is taken away.
9. Barrier Islands: a long narrow island lying parallel and close to the mainland, protecting the mainland
from erosion and storms.
10. Subsidence: the gradual caving in or sinking of an area of land.
ll. Biome Characteristics: A biome is a major regional or global biotic community, characterized chiefly by
the dominant forms of plant life and the prevailing climate.
Biome Summary Chart
Biome
Location
Desert
mid latitudes
Tundra
Grassland
Deciduous
Forest
Taiga
Tropical
Rainforest
high northern
latitudes
mid latitudes.
interiors of
continents
Climate
Soil
Plants
generally very
poor in animal
hot days.
none to cacti,
and plant decay yuccas,
coot nights:
bunch
products
but
precipitation
grasses, shrubs,
often
rich
in
less than 10
and a few trees
minerals
inches a year
very cold, harsh,
and long
nutrient-poor,
winters: short permafrost layer grasses, wild
and cool
a few inches flowers, mosses,
summers: 10-25
small shrubs
down
centimeters (410 inches) of
preoprlation
a
cool
in winter,
mostly grasses
hot inyear
summer:
and small
25-75
rich topsoil
shrubs, some
centimeters of
trees near
precipitation a
sources of water
year
Animals
rodents, snakes, lizards,
tortoises, insects, and some
birds. The Sahara in Africa
is home to camels,
gazelles, antelopes, small
foxes, snakes. lizards, and
gerbils
musk oxen, migrating
caribou. arctic foxes,
weasels, snowshoe hares,
owls, hawks, various
rodents, occasional polar
bears
American grasslands
include prairie dogs, foxes,
small mammals, snakes,
insects, various birds.
African grasslands include
elephants.lions, zebras,
giraffes.
relatively mild
summers and
hardwoods such wolves, deer, bears, and a
as oaks,
wide variety of small
cold winters. rich topsoil over
mid latitudes
beeches,
mammals, birds,
76- 127
clay
hickories,
amphibians,
reptiles, and
centimeters (30maples
insects.
50 inches) of
precipitation a
very
cold
year
acidic, mineralwinters, cool
rodents, snowshoe hares,
mostly spruce,
summers.: about poor, decayed
lynx, sables, ermine,
mid- to high
fir. and other
50 centimeters pine and spruce
latitudes
caribou!, bears, wolves,
needles on
evergreens
(20 inches) of
birds in summer
surface
precipitation a
year
more species of insects,
greatest
hot all year
reptiles, and amphibians
diversity
of
any
round. 200 400
than anyplace else:
biome: vines,
near the equator centimeters (80- nutrient-poor
monkeys, other small and
orchids,
ferns,
100 inches) of
large mammals, including
and a wide
rain a year
some places elephants.
variety of trees in
all sorts of colorful birds
12.Predator/Prey Population Dynamics:

Predator: animal that naturally preys on others

Prey: animal that is hunted and killed by another for food

Population Dynamics: Predator-prey cycles are characterized by regularly spaced increases and
decreases in the population sizes or densities of a predator and its prey. Classically, the predator
is a carnivorous species and the prey is an herbivores species. However, carnivores that prey on
other carnivores, herbivores feeding on plants, and even parasites attacking their host organisms
are sometimes considered to have the same relationship, and so to be predator-prey systems. The
predator population's fluctuations follow those of the prey population through time. That is, the
prey population begins to increase while the predator population is still decreasing and the prey
population decreases while the predator population is still increasing.
13.0zone Laver: The ozone layer is a belt of naturally occurring ozone gas (made of 3 oxygen atoms) that
sits 9.3 to 18.6 miles (15 to 30 kilometers) above Earth and serves as a shield from the
harmful ultraviolet B radiation emitted by the sun. The ozone layer is deteriorating due to
the release of pollution containing the chemicals chlorine and
bromine(chlorofluorocarbons – CFCs). Such deterioration allows large amounts of
ultraviolet B rays to reach Earth, which can cause skin cancer and cataracts in humans
and harm animals as well.
14. Nitrogen Cycle: process in which nitrogen circulates throughout the air, soil, water, plants, and animals
in an ecosystem. Plants cannot absorb Nitrogen gas directly from the atmosphere. It must be converted
to a usable nitrate by bacteria living on the roots of certain plants called legumes (peas, beans, peanuts)
Nitrates can also be added to the soil by deposition of animal waste or added to an aquatic environment
as ammonium.
15. Plate Tectonics: is a scientific theory that describes the large-scale motion of the
Earth's lithosphere. Large tectonic plates move like chunks of ice on a pond. Different
plate boundaries will determine land features. Continental Plates colliding will
produce mountains. Subduction of an oceanic plate will produce a trench
16. Primary and Secondary Succession:
Primary Succession – progression of plant species that begins in an area that previously did not
support life
Secondary Succession – process by which one community replaces another community that has been
partially or totally destroyed
17.
Food Web:
greater spotted
woodpecker
A
parasit
wasps
pigeor
other
insects
holly with leaves
and berries
18. Food Chain: A food chain is the sequence of who eats whom in a biological
community (an ecosystem) to obtain nutrition. A food chain starts with the primary
energy source, usually the sun or boiling-hot deep sea vents. The next link in the chain
is an organism that make its own food from the primary energy source, these are called
autotrophs or primary producers. Next come organisms that eat the autotrophs; these
organisms are called herbivores or primary consumers. The next link in the chain is
animals that eat herbivores, these are called secondary consumers. In turn, these
animals are eaten by larger predators. The tertiary consumers are eaten by quaternary
consumers, and the chain ends with a top predator. The arrows in a food chain show the
flow of energy, from the sun or hydrothermal vent to a top predator.
19. Global Warming Effect on Louisiana: Global warming is a gradual increase in
average global temperature. If oceans are hotter, the hurricanes in Louisiana will be
worse and more frequent which will destroy even more wetlands which will leave the
state even more vulnerable to effects of a storm.
20. Runoff of Pesticide: Runoff is the movement of water and any contaminants across the
soil surface. It occurs when irrigation, rain or snow melt adds water to a surface faster
than it can enter the soil. Water running off the land towards canals, streams, rivers and
lakes can also move chemicals, such as pesticides and fertilizers. These toxins become
more concentrated as they move through the aquatic food chain. Bigger fish will have
higher levels
21. Carrving Capacity: the maximum population size of the species that the environment
can sustain indefinitely.
22. Eutrophication: Excessive richness of nutrients in a lake or other body of water,
frequently due to fertilizer runoff from the land, which causes a heavy growth of algae
and death of animal life from lack of oxygen.
23.Source of Phosphorus: Phosphorus, the 11th most common element on earth, is
fundamental to all living things.. Phosphorus cannot be manufactured or destroyed, and there
is no substitute or synthetic version of it available. The original source of phosphorus is
rocks.
24. Energy Pyramid: Most energy is at the bottom and the energy flow is upward. Only 10% of the
total energy is transferred to the next level. The other 90% is used to carry out functions of living
and lost as heat.
25. Trophic Levels: Each step through which the energy from the sun is transferred in a food chain.
Level
Level
Level
Level
1:
2:
3:
4:
Producer
Primary consumer
Secondary consumer
Tertiary consumer
Autotroph
Herbivore/Omnivore
Omnivore/Carnivore
Omnivore/Carnivore
26.Population Growth: increase, over a specific period of time, in the number of individuals living in a
country or region. Exponential growth happens when the population increases rapidly and you have a
population explosion.
27. Adaptation: process of change by which an organism or species becomes better suited to its
environment.
28. Phosphorous Cycle: The original source of phospohorus is the earth. But that phosphorus must be
recycled by animal waste and plant decomposition or it must be added to the soil in fertilizer.
29.10% Rule in Regard to Trophic Level: tells us that the primary consumers only get
about 10% of the energy that the producers had in their level when the primary consumers eat the
producers.
30. Competition for Food: Competition is an interaction between organisms or species, in which the
fitness of one is lowered by the presence of another. Limited supply of at least one resource (such as
food, water, and territory) used by both can be a factor. Competition both within and between
species is an important topic. Competition is not always straightforward, and can occur in both a
direct and indirect fashion. According to the competitive exclusion principle, species less suited to
compete for resources should either adapt or die out, although competitive exclusion is rarely found
in natural ecosystems. According to evolutionary theory, this competition within and between
species for resources plays a very relevant role in natural selection.
31. Biotic and Abiotic Factors:
i. Abiotic: non-living components of the biosphere(air, water, rocks, temperature)
ii. Biotic: living or once-living components of the biosphere
32.Scientific Method:
Experimental Design/ Scientific Method

The scientific method is a way to ask and answer scientific questions by making observations and doing experiments.
The steps of the scientific method are to:
o
o
o
o
Ask a Question
Do Background Research
Construct a Hypothesis
Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment
Dependent Variable - The output or effect, or is tested to see if it is the effect
Independent Variable represents the inputs or causes, or are tested to see if they are the cause
Control Group A control group in a scientific experiment is a group separated from the rest of the
experiment where the independent variable being tested cannot influence the results.
Experimental Group An experimental group in a scientific experiment is the group where the
experimental procedures are performed.
o
o
Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion
Communicate Your Results
It is important for your experiment to be a fair test. A "fair test" occurs when you change only one factor (variable) and keep all other
conditions the same.
33.Graph Reading Skills: know how to read a graph – check the axis to see what is being graphed.
Usually time is on the x (horizontal) axis. Look at the label. Note the numbers and the units used.