BIOL 381

A contemporary time interval in which surface geological activities are dominated by human activities

The presence or introduction into the environment of a substance that has harmful or poisonous effects

Factors that constrain: productivity, reproductive success, ecological development

• Water
• Space
• Food
• Predators
• Disease

• (K) stabilized population size
• - as you approach K, population growth slows

95%

Living Planet Index

Tracks humanity's demand on the biosphere, comparing humanity's consumption against the earth's biocapacity

Carbon, cropland, grazing land, forest, fishing, built-up land

= area x bioproductivity

= population x consumption per person x footprint intensity

Provides global indicator of both direct and indirect freshwater use

Rainwater that evaporates during the production of goods

Freshwater drawn from surface or groundwater that is used by people and not returned

Water required to dilute pollutants released in production processes (ex. tailings ponds)

Abiotic process controls, direct biotic processing

energy, food, lifestyle

• Resources that are present in finite quantity, and do not regenerate after they are harvested and used
• -can never be used in a sustainable manner, only mined

• Resources that are potentially capable of regenerating after they are harvested
• - can potentially be used forever, in a sustainable fashion

Debris from ancient forests subjected to decreasing moisture and increased heat and pressure over time

Largest amount of harvest mortality without degrading stock productivity

Study of the chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes and reactions that govern the composition of the natural environment

Rate of movement of elements/molecules b/w two compartments

"defined spaces" in nature where elements/molecules reside

average length of time an element/molecule remains in a compartment

when fluxes are balance (inputs=outputs)

Inputs > outputs = storage

Inputs < outputs = loss

6.5°C per 1000 meters

short residence time, long residence time (respectively)

Sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) -> acid rain

persistent organic pollutants

• Harder to deal with or tell exactly where the pollution is coming from 
• - farms, lawns, golf courses
• - residential neighborhoods
• - construction sites, deforested/overgrazed land
• - abandoned mines

• Can look and find where pollution is coming from
• - animal feedlots
• - sewage treatment plants
• - factories and disposal sites
• - oil tankers

buildup of toxicants in the tissues of an animal

magnification of the concentration of toxicants in an organism caused by its consumption of other organisms in which toxicants have bioaccumulated (ex. foodweb)

Organic contaminants are lipophillic, so are stored in fat

toxic form of mercury

atoms of elements which differ in mass (ex. number of neutrons)

9087 billion m³/yr

Water levels were high in the summer, used up in winter so water levels dropped, dragging organic matter into the reservoir

• "Free-Air CO₂ Enrichment" experiment
• pipes set up in rings in forest, spew out different levels of CO₂ so we can see what happens to the forest at different levels

Reversing Acidification in Norway

Experimental Lakes Area, in western Ontario