Welcome to Timberlane AP Environmental Science! The following is your APES Summer work.
The APES curriculum is divided into the following 7 topics which we will cover in 6 interconnected units as described in your
syllabus.
Energy Systems and Resources – atmosphere, soil, groundwater, and geology
The Living World – ecosystems and cycles
Populations – demographics, dynamics and growth
Land and Water Use – agriculture, forestry, mining, fishing and global economics
Energy Resources and Consumption – fossil fuels, nuclear energy, conservation and consumption
Pollution – types of pollution and its impact, waste disposal
Global Change – ozone, global warming, loss of biodiversity
In order to prepare you for this adventure, this summer packet will get your mind wrapped around the type of work and thinking will
be expected in this course. There are 4 parts to this summer packet and it is expected that it is all completed by the specific due dates.
I will be around and working in the school most days throughout the summer so if you have questions at any time, please do not
hesitate to stop by and ask.
1. E-mail Me (15 points) Use the email address that you plan on using for the class. I will use your ‘timberlane gapps’ address
as a “back-up” if it is different.
E-mail me [email protected] with the answers to the following questions by August 1st:
- Why you are taking AP Environmental Science?
- Why you think you will be successful on the AP Exam?
- Describe what you believe is the most important environmental issue facing our world.
-Why is studying the environment important?
2. Prerequisite Knowledge and Skills: Content knowledge: Math Pretest e-mail me answers by Aug 15th 30 points
AP Environmental Science is a college level course that combines content area from earth science, biology, chemistry, physics, math,
and social studies. You are expected to enter the course with a good understanding of basic scientific and mathematical concepts and
skills, as well as strong reading, writing, and speaking abilities. Although we will continue to develop these skills throughout the
school year, your success in the class is also dependent upon what you bring to it at the onset. One goal of this summer assignment is
to help you brush up on these skills and concepts. Over the summer, review the scientific concepts below as well as the mathematical
calculations on the next page; we will be building upon and referencing them throughout the school year. You should be prepared to
take a quiz on these skills and concepts during the first week of school. If you do not receive at least an 85% on the quiz, you will need
to stay after for tutoring until you are able to achieve an 85% on it.
You should be familiar with the following terms/concepts from Biology, Chemistry, and Earth Science:
Gene Trait
Organic vs. Inorganic
Chromosome
Natural vs. Synthetic
Gene pool
Kinetic vs. Potential Energy
Natural Selection
Radioactive decay
Biodiversity
Half life
Extinction
Law of Conservation of Matter
Plate Tectonics
1st Law of Thermodynamics
Weathering
2nd Law of Thermodynamics
Climate Change
Entropy
Rocks vs. Minerals
Organism
Climate vs. Weather
Species
Population
Community
Ecosystem
Producers/Autotrophs
Consumers/Heterotrophs
Decomposers
Photosynthesis (reactants and products)
Cellular Respiration (reactants and products)
Aerobic vs. Anaerobic
Adaptation
Mutation
The full name of each of these chemical abbreviations: CO2, CO, C6H12O6, CH4, H2, H2O, N2, NOX, NO3-, NH3, 02,
0 3, P, P0 43-, S, S0 2, Cl, K, NaCl, Pb, Hg, Rn, U
Prerequisite Basic Mathematical Skills
Percentage
17% = 17/100 = .17
Remember that "percent" literally means divided by 100.
Percentage is a measure of the part of the whole. Or part divided by whole.
-15 million is what percentage of the US population? 15 million / 300 million = .05 = 5%
- What is 20% of this $15 bill so that I can give a good tip? $15 x .20 = $15 x 20/100 = $3
Rates
Rise
Run
Y2-Y1
X2-X1
change delta X Slope y=mx+b
time
delta t
All of the above are ways to look at rates. The second equation is the easiest way to calculate a rate,
especially from looking at a graph. Rates will often be written using the word "per" followed by a
unit of time, such as cases per year, grams per minute or mile per hour. The word per means to
divide, so miles per gallon is actually the number miles driven divided by one gallon.
Rates are calculating how much an amount changes in a given amount of time.
Scientific Notation
Thousand = 103 =1,000
Million = 106 =1,000,000 (people in the US)
Billion = 109 =1,000,000,000 (people on Earth)
Trillion = 1012 =1,000,000,000,000 (National debt)
When using very large numbers, scientific method is often easiest to manipulate. For example, the US population is 300
million people or 300xl06or 3xl08. When adding or subtracting, exponents must be the same. Add the numbers in front
of the ten and
keep the exponent the same. When multiplying or dividing, multiply or divide the number in front of the ten and add the
exponents if multiplying or subtract the exponents if dividing
Ex. 9xl06/ 3xl02 = (9/3) x 10(6-2) = 3 x 104
Dimensional Analysis
You should be able to convert any unit into any other unit accurately if given the conversion factor. Online tutorials are
available:
http://www.chemprofessor.com/dimension_text.htm http://www.chem.tamu.edu/class/fyp/mathrev/mr-da.html
Prefixes
m (milli) =1/1000
c (cent) =1/100
k (kilo) =1000
M (mega)=1,000,000
G (giga) =1,000,000,000
T (tera) =1,000,000,000,000
=10-3
= 10'-2
=103
=106
=109
=1012
Sample Math Problems: The answers to these problems need to be e-mailed to me No later than Aug 15th 30 points
total, 2 points for on time, 2 points for setting up the problem, 2 points for correct answer. The math skills
1) What is 2 Million times 3 Hundred? Show your work in scientific notation. Give the answer in scientific
notation and in words.
2) A population of deer had 300 individuals. If the population grows by 15% in one year, how many deer will
there be the next year?
3) One year I had 30 students and the next year I had 40 students, what percentage did the population of students
grow by?
4) Electricity costs 7.5 cents per kilowatt hour. In one month one home uses one megawatt hour of electricity.
How much will the electric bill be? (be sure to look at the prefixes chart on the previous page for the conversion
of kilo to mega)
5) Your car gets 15 miles to the gallon and your friend's car gets 25 miles to the gallon. You decide to go on a road
trip to New York City, which is 300 miles away. If gas costs $4 per gallon and you decide to split the gas money,
how much money will you save in gas by driving your friend's car?
6) A strip of conservation land is 12 miles wide and 36 miles long. If one inch of rain falls on this land, how many
cubic feet of rain fell on here. (Hint: convert all units to feet first).
7) An MP3 takes up about 16 kilobytes of memory per second of music. If you owned a one terabyte hard drive
and filled it with only mp3s, how many days worth of music would you have? (keep track of units: kilobytes to
terabytes and seconds to days)
Part 3 Getting into Nature: 40 points; Due by August 29th
Having an appreciation for the outdoors will help you understand the importance of this course. I would like you to
spend 2 hours (or more) camping, hiking, canoeing/kayaking, visiting a state or national park, volunteering for an
environmental group or learning center. Provide documentation of your visit (i.e., a photo of you taken during the
activity, or a signed letter from a supervisor on-site with his or her phone number). Write a two-page (approx 500
word) reflection (12 point font, double spaced) of your visit, including any observations of wildlife, environmental
problems (pollution, etc.), and how you enjoyed the activity.
OR
Each week, you need to set aside 10 -15 minutes to just sit outside somewhere and quietly observe what is going on
around you. Use all of your senses to really see, hear, small and touch the world in which you live. (I don’t
recommend eating anything!). Pick a private, secluded spot each time. You can use the same spot each time if you
like, or a different place each time. After quietly sitting, write about what you observed and how you felt.
Remember, use all of your senses. You should have at least 10 entries since the summer is about 10 weeks long.
Each entry is worth 4 points and must be at least 50 words in length. Don’t be afraid to write more! It must be hand
written since you should be writing it outside!
Part 4 Read the 2 articles: “The Tragedy of the Commons” by Garrett Hardin & “The Tragedy of the
Commons: Twenty-Two Years Later” by David Feeny et al. Then Answer the following questions in complete
sentences. The answers to these questions will be due August 29th submitted to Turnitin. 100 Points
1. Why does Hardin call cases in which there is open access to a common-property resource “tragic”?
2. Hardin writes that “natural selection favors the psychological forces of denial”. How does this statement compare
to Paul Ehrlich’s views on population growth?
3. At one point, Hardin argues that an unenforced appeal to conscience is an unworkable solution to the population
problem. What do you think of this argument? Does this argument rule out the general effectiveness of shifts in
attitude or ideology?
4. What general solutions does Hardin think will get us out of a tragedy of the commons?
5. In light of our discussion of population earlier in the semester, do you think Hardin’s treatment of the population
problem is plausible?
6. In a similar vain, how would Sen's opinions conflict or agree with Hardin's? How much mention does Hardin
give to the ethics of population control?
7. Which “property-right regime” do Feeny et al. argue that Hardin left out of his analysis? Is it plausible to
distinguish “property-right” regimes in this way? Do you agree that Hardin overlooked this regime or would
disagree with its applicability?
8. What other criticisms do Feeny et. al raise against Hardin’s original analysis?
9. Think of an environmental situation you have encountered (read about or preferably experience first-hand) that
can be modeled as a tragedy of the commons. Does the framework Feeny et al. provide usefully illuminate this
situation?
10. What are the important factors that make it easier or more difficult to manage a commons?
11. With the last question in mind, why is it so difficult to deal with climate chane (a classic tragedy of the
commons issue)?