| A | B |
|---|
| environmental science | the study of how humans interact with the environment |
| ecology | the study of how living things interact with eachother and their non-living environment |
| three main environmental problems | resource depletion, pollution, and loss of biodiversity |
| natural resource | a natural material used by humans; both renewable and non-renewable |
| pollution | an undesired change in air, water, or soil that adversely affects the health, survival, or activities of humans or other organisms |
| biodiversity | the number and variety of species that live in an area |
| Supply and Demand | law stating that the greater the demand for a limited supply of something, the mroe that thing is worth |
| Tragedy of the Commons | essay stating that the difficulty in solving environmental problems is the conflict between the short term interests of individuals and the long-term welfaire of society |
| ecological footprint | shows the productive area of Earth needed to support one person in a particular country |
| sustainability | the condition in which human needs are met in such a way that a human population can survive indefinitely |
| ecosystem | all of the organisms living in an area together with their physical environment |
| biotic factor | living or once living part of an ecosystem |
| abiotic factor | the nonliving parts of the ecosystem |
| organism | an individual living thing that carries out life processes |
| species | a group of organisms that are closely related and that can mate to produce fertile offspring |
| population | all the members of the same species that live in the same place at the same time |
| community | a group of various species that live in the same place and interact with each other |
| habitat | a place where an organism lives |
| natural selection | Darwin's term to describe the unequal survival and reproduction that results from the presence or absence of particular traits |
| evolution | a change in the genetic characteristics of a population from one generation to the next |
| adaptation | an inherited trait that increases an organism's chance of survival and reproduction in a certain environment |
| artificial selection | the selective breeding of organisms by humans for specific characteristics |
| resistance | the ability of one or more organisms to tolerate a particular chemical designed to kill it |
| developed nation | high personal wealth, industrial based economy, low population growth, large ecological footprint |
| developing nation | low personal wealth, agricultural based economy, high population growth, small ecological footprint |
| genetically modified crops | crop plants that are given certain genetic traits by implanting a gene for that trait into the plant |
| persistent pesticide | a chemical pesticide that does not break down by natural processes |
| biodegradable pesticide | a chemical pesticide that breaks down in nature through natural processes |
