AP Environmental Science
Syllabus of Textbook Assignments
Chapter 20: The Atmosphere and Climate Change
Key Vocabulary: General Circulation Models (GCM), Medieval Warm Period
(WMP), Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), Climate vs weather, Layers of the
atmosphere, Global winds, Global pressure systems, Greenhouse effect, Positive and
negative feedback loops, el Nino
*Read pages 478-510
*Outline of chapter including major concepts and key vocabulary in the different sections
*Study Questions #1, 4, 5, 8 page 511
-due Friday, September 25, 2015
Chapter 19: Water Pollution and Treatment
Key Vocabulary: eutrophic vs oligotrophic, fecal coliform bacteria, point source vs
non-point source, stages of wastewater treatment, biochemical oxygen demand, acid mine
drainage
*Read pages 444-473
*Outline of chapter including major concepts and vocabulary in the different sections
*Study Questions #1-14 page 475
-due Friday, October 9, 2015
Chapter 3: Dollars and Environmental Sense: Economics of
Environmental Issues
Key Vocabulary: tragedy of the commons, direct and indirect uses, tangible and
intangible factors, risk-benefit analysis
*Read 43-55
*Outline of chapter including major concepts and vocabulary in the different sections
*Critical Thinking questions #1-5 page 56
*Study Questions #2, 4, 8 page 57
-due Friday, October 23, 2015
Chapter 4: The Big Picture: Systems of Change
Key Vocabulary: closed vs open system, doubling time, equilibrium, exponential
growth, lag time, linear growth, steady-state economics, uniformitarianism
*Read pages 60-77
*Outline of chapter including major concepts and vocabulary in the different sections
*Study Questions #1-7 page 79
-due Friday, October 30, 2015
Chapter 5: The Human Population and the Environment
Key Vocabulary: demographics, epidemic and pandemic, age structure chart,
carrying capacity, growth rate
*Read pages 81-99
*Outline of chapter including major concepts and vocabulary in the different sections
*Study Questions #1-9 page 100
-due Friday, November 6, 2015
Chapter 6: Ecosystems: Concepts and Fundamentals
Key Vocabulary: types of consumers, laws of thermodynamics, ecosystem,
autotrophs vs heterotrophs, entropy, biomass, primary and secondary producers,
efficiency, succession
*Read pages 103-128
*Outline of chapter including major concepts and vocabulary in the different sections
*Critical Thinking Questions #1-5 page 127
*Study Questions #1-5 page 129
-due Friday, November 13, 2015
Chapter 7: The Biogeochemical Cycles
Key Vocabulary: thermodynamic equilibrium, prokaryotes vs eukaryotes,
biogeochemical cycle, source, sink, and flux, tectonic cycle, hydrologic cycle, rock cycle,
carbon cycle, carbon-silicate cycle, nitrogen cycle, phosphorous cycle
*Read pages 131-154
*Outline of chapter including major concepts and vocabulary in the different sections
*Critical Thinking Questions #1-4, and 7 page 153
*Study Questions #1-6 page 155
-due Friday, November 20, 2015
Chapter 8: Environmental Health, Pollution, and Toxicology
Key Vocabulary: carcinogen, synergism, biomagnification, heavy metal poisoning,
dioxin, asbestos, ecological gradient, tolerance, risk assessment
*Read pages 157-181
*Outline of chapter including major concepts and vocabulary in the different sections
*Critical Thinking Questions #1-4 page 180
*Study Questions #1-9 page 182
-due Friday, December 4, 2015
Chapter 9: Biological Diversity and Biological Invasions
Key Vocabulary: genetic, habitat, and species diversity, biological evolution,
genotype, mutation, natural selection, migration, adaptive radiation, genetic drift, founder
effect, competitive exclusion principle, ecological niche, obligate symbiosis, parasitism,
convergent and divergent evolution
*Read pages 185-210
*Outline of chapter including major concepts and vocabulary in the different sections
*Study Questions #1-9 page 211
-due Friday, December 11, 2015
Chapter 10: Ecological Restoration
Key Vocabulary: adaptive management, ecological engineering, reclamation,
naturalization
*Read pages 214-230
*Outline of chapter including major concepts and vocabulary in the different sections
*Critical Thinking Question #4 page 229
*Study Questions #1-4 page 230
-due Friday, December 18, 2015
Chapter 11: Agriculture, Aquaculture, and the Environment
Key Vocabulary: monoculture, undernourishment, malnourishment, Liebig’s Law
of the Minimum, synergistic effect, integrated pest management, organic, genetically
modified foods, terminator gene
*Read pages 233-257
*Outline of chapter including major concepts and vocabulary in the different sections
*Study Questions #1-7 page 258
-due Friday, January 15, 2016
Chapter 12: Landscapes: Forests, Parks, and Wilderness
Key Vocabulary: silviculture, old growth, clear cut, wilderness
*Read pages 260-281
*Outline of chapter including major concepts and vocabulary in the different sections
*Study Questions #1-7 page 282
-due Friday, January 22, 2016
Chapter 13: Wildlife, Fisheries, and Endangered Species
Key Vocabulary: maximum sustainable yield, minimum viable population, carrying
capacity, catch per unit effort
*Read pages 285-312
*Outline of chapter including major concepts and vocabulary in the different sections
*Critical Thinking questions #1-4 page 311
*Study Questions #1-7 page 314
-due Friday, January 29, 2016
Chapter 14: Energy: Some Basics
Key Vocabulary: peak oil, work, 1st law of thermodynamics, 2nd law of
thermodynamics, entropy, sustainable energy development
*Read pages 317-333
*Outline of chapter including major concepts and vocabulary in the different sections
*Critical Thinking questions #1-7 page 332
*Study Questions #1-4, and 9 page 334
-due Friday, February 5, 2016
Chapter 15: Fossil Fuels and the Environment
Key Vocabulary: fossil fuel, tar sand, oil shale, synfuels, fracking, methane hydrate,
strip mining, allowance trading, reserves vs resources
*Read pages 336-362
*Outline of chapter including major concepts and vocabulary in the different sections
*Study Questions #1-8 page 363
-due Friday, February 19, 2016
Chapter 16: Alternative Energy and the Environment
Key Vocabulary: renewable vs non-renewable, passive vs active solar, photovoltaic,
hydrogen fuel cell, biofuel, geothermal
*Read pages 365-385
*Outline of chapter including major concepts and vocabulary in the different sections
*Study Questions #1-6 page 385
-due Friday, February 26, 2016
Chapter 17: Nuclear Energy and the Environment
Key Vocabulary: fision vs fusion, meltdown, chain reaction, radioactive decay,
nuclear reactor, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukoshima, radioactive waste, breeder
reactor
*Read pages 387-409
*Outline of chapter including major concepts and vocabulary in the different sections
*Critical Thinking questions #1-4 page 408
*Study Questions #1-7 page 410
-due Friday, March 4, 2016
Chapter 18: Water Supply, Use, and Management
Key Vocabulary: consumptive use, desalination, effluent stream, influent stream,
virtual water, water budget, in-stream use, off-stream use, overdraft
*Read pages 412-440
*Outline of chapter including major concepts and vocabulary in the different sections
*Study Questions #1-10 page 441
-due Friday, March 11, 2016