AP®︎ Environmental Science: Unit 5 Flashcards

Depletion or degradation of a shared resource when users pursue individual short-term benefits while distributing the environmental costs among everyone

A timber-harvesting method that removes all or nearly all trees in a stand at once; it can lower harvesting costs but increases erosion, soil and stream temperatures, runoff, flood risk, habitat loss, and atmospheric carbon dioxide while reducing pollutant absorption

Capture and long-term storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide in plants, soils, oceans, or geologic formations

Permanent removal of forest cover and conversion of the land to a nonforest use such as agriculture, grazing, mining, or development

Mid-20th-century shift to high-yield crops, mechanization, synthetic fertilizers, irrigation, pesticides, and later GMOs that increased food production but also increased resource use and environmental harm

Replacement or supplementation of human and animal labor with farm machinery, increasing efficiency and potential profit but increasing fossil-fuel reliance

Organism whose DNA has been altered through genetic engineering to express desired traits such as pest resistance or herbicide tolerance

Mechanical digging, turning, or mixing of soil that prepares fields but removes protective cover, breaks soil aggregates, and increases erosion and topsoil loss

Clearing land by cutting, drying, and burning vegetation; ash briefly supplies nutrients, but clearing causes nutrient loss, erosion, habitat loss, and carbon emissions

Movement of excess fertilizer nutrients from land into surface water, where they can cause cultural eutrophication, algal growth, oxygen depletion, and dead zones

Artificially applying water to agricultural land to support crops; agriculture accounts for about 70% of human freshwater consumption globally

Water flows by gravity through trenches between crop rows; it is inexpensive but loses about one-third of its water to evaporation and runoff

A field is temporarily covered with water; it is simple and inexpensive but loses about 20% to evaporation and runoff and can cause waterlogging

Groundwater is pumped through spray nozzles across a field; 25% or less is lost to evaporation and runoff, but the system is more expensive than flood or furrow irrigation and requires energy

Perforated hoses release small amounts of water directly near plant roots; it loses only about 5% but is expensive to install

Saturation of soil when excessive irrigation or a raised water table fills the root zone with water and deprives plant roots of oxygen

Buildup of salts left in soil as irrigation water evaporates, reducing plant water uptake and potentially becoming toxic to crops

Groundwater is withdrawn faster than recharge replaces it, lowering the water table and reducing future water availability

An aquifer beneath the central United States that has been heavily pumped for irrigation, with withdrawals exceeding recharge and substantially lowering groundwater levels

A substance used to kill, repel, suppress, or otherwise control pests, protecting yields but potentially harming nontarget organisms and selecting for resistance

A pesticide that controls unwanted plants or weeds that compete with crops

A pesticide that controls insects that feed on crops or transmit disease

A pesticide that controls fungi or fungal spores by preventing colonization or interfering with fungal growth or reproduction

A pesticide used to control rodents, especially those damaging field crops or stored food

Inherited ability to survive a pesticide dose that kills susceptible individuals; repeated use increases resistant individuals in the pest population

Evolution in which a human action determines which heritable traits are favored, as pesticide use favors resistant pests that survive and reproduce

Genetic variation among crop plants; planting a few closely related engineered varieties can reduce it and make the crop broadly vulnerable to a new threat

A confined area, especially for cattle, where livestock are fed energy-rich feed instead of obtaining most food by grazing

An intensive operation that confines many animals in a small area and brings them feed, lowering costs but concentrating manure and pollution risks

A system in which animals have outdoor access and are not continuously confined; the label does not guarantee sustainable grazing or antibiotic-free production

A system in which livestock obtain grass or other forage directly from the land for most of their lives

Planned movement of livestock among pastures or paddocks so previously grazed vegetation and roots can recover and overgrazing is avoided

Grazing that removes or damages vegetation faster than it can regenerate, causing vegetation loss, compaction, erosion, reduced fertility, and lower biodiversity

The largest population an environment can support sustainably with its available resources and limiting factors

Compression of soil by livestock, machinery, or foot traffic that reduces pore space, infiltration, aeration, and root growth

Degradation of productive dryland through losses of vegetation, soil fertility, and biological productivity, often intensified by overgrazing

Livestock such as cattle and sheep whose digestive microbes break down cellulose and produce substantial methane

The evolution of bacterial populations that survive antibiotics, making those drugs less effective; routine livestock use increases the selection pressure

Harvesting fish faster than the surviving population can replace them through reproduction and growth

A decline in abundance or catch so severe that a fishery is no longer ecologically or economically viable, without necessarily causing extinction

The unintended capture of nontarget organisms or individuals of the wrong size or sex; heavy bycatch can overfish nontarget populations

Rock containing a valuable substance at a concentration high enough for profitable extraction under current conditions

Concentration of the desired substance in ore; recovering the same amount from lower-grade ore requires mining and processing more rock, using more water and energy, and producing more waste and pollution

Soil and rock above a mineral deposit that must be removed to reach it; displaced overburden may be called spoil

Removal of vegetation and large portions of soil and rock to reach a shallow mineral deposit

Surface mining that clears vegetation and removes overburden in long strips to expose shallow, horizontal deposits; the exposed soil is especially susceptible to erosion

Extraction of deposits too deep for economical surface mining through shafts, tunnels, and underground chambers; it usually disturbs less surface land but is more complex and expensive

Finely crushed waste left after valuable minerals are separated from ore, often stored as a water-based slurry

Solid, often glasslike waste formed during high-temperature smelting of concentrated ore

Acidic, metal-contaminated water formed when exposed sulfide minerals react with oxygen and water, producing sulfuric acid that dissolves metals

Increase in the proportion of people living in cities and the associated development of buildings, roads, and infrastructure

Movement of saline water into a freshwater aquifer when pumping lowers freshwater pressure, especially near coasts

Human-made surfaces such as pavement and rooftops that prevent or greatly reduce infiltration, increasing runoff and flooding while reducing groundwater recharge

Rainwater or snowmelt that flows over developed land instead of infiltrating into soil

Low-density outward spread of population and development from cities into suburban and rural land

The higher temperatures of urban areas relative to surrounding rural areas because built surfaces absorb and reradiate heat and vegetation is reduced

The biologically productive land and water area needed to supply an individual’s or society’s renewable resources and absorb its wastes under prevailing technology and management

The capacity of biologically productive land and water to generate renewable resources and absorb wastes

Using Earth’s resources to meet present needs without depleting resources or undermining natural systems needed by future generations

A measurable condition whose level or trend shows environmental change; key indicators include biodiversity, food production, global temperature and CO₂, human population, and resource depletion

The amount of a renewable resource that can be removed without reducing its long-term available supply because removal does not exceed regeneration

Pavement with pores or openings that let water pass into underlying gravel and soil, reducing runoff volume and peak flow

Concentrating development in taller buildings so the same activity occupies less land, preserving permeable open space

Monitoring and identifying pests and combining biological, cultural, physical, and limited targeted chemical controls to keep them below damaging levels while reducing environmental and health risks

The use of living predators, parasitoids, pathogens, or herbivores to reduce a pest population

Growing two or more crops together in the same field to reduce host concentration, hinder pest spread, or support natural enemies

Growing different crops in a planned sequence in the same field to interrupt pest life cycles, reduce repeated nutrient depletion, and potentially add nitrogen through legumes

Using barriers, traps, hand removal, machinery, or destruction of infested material to block, capture, remove, or kill pests without relying primarily on toxic chemicals

Protection of soil from erosion so topsoil remains on the land

Plowing and planting along a slope’s contour lines so rows slow runoff and reduce water erosion

Trees, shrubs, or other tall vegetation planted across prevailing winds to slow wind and reduce soil erosion

Crops that live for multiple years, providing persistent roots and cover that reduce soil disturbance and erosion

Reshaping a steep slope into broad, level steps that interrupt runoff and reduce water erosion

Growing a new crop without full-field plowing by planting through retained crop residue with minimal soil disturbance

Planting alternating bands of crops or protective vegetation to slow runoff or wind and trap eroded soil

A crop, often a legume, grown and incorporated into soil while green to add nutrients and organic matter

A soil amendment added to acidic soil to neutralize acidity and raise pH, improving nutrient availability and growing conditions

Cultivation of aquatic organisms under managed conditions, including control of stocking, feeding, breeding, water conditions, or harvesting

Reestablishing trees on recently forested land after trees were lost through logging or another disturbance

Managing and using forests for products without exhausting their regenerative capacity or undermining long-term ecological functions

Harvesting individual mature trees or small groups rather than removing the entire stand, usually retaining more canopy, roots, habitat, and seed sources than clearcutting

A fire intentionally set and managed under planned conditions to consume accumulated fuel and reduce the severity of later wildfires