Unit 1 - Introduction to Environmental Science and Sustainability
- Environmental science
- definition
- problems that ES is concerned with
- causes of those problems
- Environmentalism vs. ecology
- Sustainability
- definition
- ways of measuring sustainability/environmental impact (IPAT equation)
- 4 principles of sustainable environments/sustainability
- Ecological footprint
Unit 2 - Earth Systems and Resources
- Composition of Earth
- Composition of Earth’s atmosphere
- Climate and weather
- Greenhouse effect
- Coriolis effect
- Convection
- Requirements for life on Earth
- Extinction and history of life on Earth
- Origins of oxgyen
- Plate tectonics and consequences
- Volcanism
- Plate boundaries
- Earthquakes
- Rocks
- Types and characteristics
- Soil
- Composition of soils
- Soil horizons
- Conservation techniques
- Carbon cycle
Unit 3 - Ecology
- Food webs
- Consequences of changes in a food web
- Trophic levels
- Eating lower on the food chain
- Biomass
- Energy pyramids
- Nitrogen cycle
- Nitrification, nitrogen fixing, denitrification
- Eutrophication
- Phosphorus cycle
- Biomes
- Characteristics
- Example species
- Niches and competition
- Symbiosis, parasitism, commensalism, mutualism
- Photosynthesis and respiration
- Invasive species
- Succession - primary and secondary
- Definitions
- Population, community, etc.
- Evolution - requirements, evolution, consequences
Unit 4 - Populations
- Logistic growth
- Carrying capacity
- Density-dependent and density-independent factors limiting population growth
- Age-structure diagrams
- Demographic transition
- Factors affecting birth/death rates
- Population growth predictions
- Malthus’ predictions
- Geometric and arithmetic growth
- Calculating annual rate of population change
- Calculating doubling time
- r-strategists and K-strategists
- Intrinsic growth rates
Unit 5 - Land and Water Use
- Agriculture
- State of global nutrition
- Feedlot agriculture
- CAFOs
- Irrigation
- Consequences - salinization, runoff
- Sustainable practices - terracing, contour farming
- Fertilizing crops/Green Revolution
- Consequences - runoff
- Sustainable practices - no-till agriculture, crop rotation, intercropping, strip cropping
- Genetic engineering
- Pest control
- Pesticides and consequences - runoff, resistance
- Sustainable practices - IPM
- Fishing - methods and consequences
- Purse-seine, trawling, hook and line, deep line, drift net, dredging, pot/traps, dynamite/cyanide
- Aquaculture
- Water supply - freshwater v. saltwater
- Water usage
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