Name ____________________________ Date ______________________ Period ______________
Unit 1: Introduction to Environmental Science Study Guide
1. Be able to define, understand, and apply in context of the class the following words:
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Sustainability
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Ecological footprint
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Carrying capacity
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Precautionary principle
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Utilitarian justification
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Ecological justification
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Aesthetic justification
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Moral justification
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Controlled experiment
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Deductive reasoning
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Dependent variable
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Independent variable
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Disprovability
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Control group (or experimental control)
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Constant variables
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Hypothesis
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Inference
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Inductive reasoning
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Observations
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Pseudoscience
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Theories
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Ecosystem
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Exponential growth
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Feedback
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Gaia hypothesis
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Negative feedback
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Positive feedback
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Birth rate
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Death rate
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Demographic transition
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Life expectancy
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Population
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Biogeochemical cycle
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Carbon cycle
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Nitrogen cycle
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Phosphorus cycle
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Limiting factor
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Abiotic factor
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Biotic factor
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Food web
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Food chain
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Sink

Source
2. For the test, you must be able to:
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Pick out the dependent and independent variable in any given experiment
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Differentiate between the 8 different justifications for environmental preservation
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Explain the problem of human population growth, its cause, and possible solutions for it

Differentiate between scientific statements and non-scientific statements
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Recognize accurate food webs
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Apply the 6 principles of ecology to your eco-column
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Explain the implications and connections behind sustainability, ecological footprints, and
carrying capacity.
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Justify why studying biogeochemical cycles are important and give specific examples.

Define and apply the idea of tragedy of the commons to the real world

Apply the 6 themes of environmental science to a given environmental problem