Ess Study Guide

1.1.1 Outline the concepts and characteristics of a system * Storages of matter or energy * Flows: inputs into the system and outputs from the system * Processes which transfer or transform energy or matter * System: An assemblage of parts and the relationships between them which together constitutes an entity or whole. They always must contain energy, matter, and information. * Feedback mechanisms that maintain feedback and equilibrium * Ex. Photosynthesis: Transforms carbon dioxide, water, and light into biomass and oxygen * Ex. Respiration: Transforms Biomass into Carbon dioxide and water * Ex. Diffusion: Allowing the movement of nutrients and water into the trees * Ex. Consumption: Transferring tissue from one trophic level to another 1.1.2 Apply the systems concept on a range of scales * Ecosystem: Biologic community of interdependent organisms in the physical environment they inhabit * Gaia hypothesis: The Earth is a single living organism in which feedback mechanisms maintain equilibrium. * Ex. Population/energy of a vegetable garden * Ex. Population/energy of a tropical rainforest * Ex. Feedback, waste, and population of Gaia as a whole 1.1.3 Define the terms open system, closed system, and isolated system * Open system: Exchanges in matter and energy * Ex. Forest, Most common * Closed system: Exchanges energy but not matter with its surroundings * Ex. Fish tank, the Earth * An Isolated system: Exchanges neither energy or matter with its surroundings * Ex: The Universe 1.1.4 Describe how the first and second laws of thermodynamics are relevant to environmental systems * First Law: Energy is neither created or destroyed, but it can change forms * Second Law: In any isolated system, Entropy tends to increase spontaneously * Entropy: A measure of the amount of disorder, chaos, or randomness in a system. The