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Summary
As environmental science textbooks have gotten larger and more encyclopedic over the years, an increasing number of instructors have called for a smaller, less expensive book that concentrates on the core principles of the discipline. Principles of Environmental Science: Inquiry and Applications emphasizes how science can help us find solutions for important environmental issues. While not attempting to describe every possible environmental dilemma or scientific field of study, this new text focuses on the major topics we face and how scientists search for answers to questions about them. Students are provided a solid grounding in scientific principles and then encouraged to think analytically and creatively on their own.
Table of Contents
1 Understanding Our Environment
What's Happening to the Frogs?
Understanding Our Environment
A Marvelous Planet
What is Environmental Science?
Science As a Way of Knowing
Deductive and Inductive Reasoning
Hypothese and Theories
Natural Experiments and Modeling
Statistics and Probability
Intuition and Inspiration
Paradigms and Scientific Consensus
Applied Science
Restoration Tools
Restoration Back to What?
Creating Artificial Ecosystems
Thinking about Thinking
Approaches to Truth and Knowledge and Meaning
Applying Critical Thinking
Some Clues for "Unpacking"an Argument
Using Critical Thinking
Investigating Our Environment: Don't Believe Everything You See on the Internet
Current Environmental Conditions
Causes of Environmental Degradation
Signs of Hope
Human Dimensions of Environmental Science
Rich and Poor Countries
A Fair Share of Resources?
Sustainability
Indigenous Peoples
Environmental Perspectives
Pessimism and Outrage
Hopeful Optimism
Pragmatic Realism
2 Principles of Ecology: Matter, Energy, and Life
Measuring Energy Flows in Cedar Bog Lake
Energy and Matter in the Environment
What Are Matter and Energy?
Conservation of Matter
Thermodynamics and Energy Transfers
Atoms, Molecules, and Compounds
Chemical Reactions
Acids and Bases
Organic Compounds
Cells: The Fundamental Units of Life
Sunlight: Energy for Life
How Does Photosynthesis Capture Energy
C3 and C4 Photosynthesis
The Miracle of Water
Organizing Living Things: Species and Ecosystems
Populations, Communities, and Ecosystems
Food Chains, Food Webs, and Trophic Levels
Ecological Pyramids
Investigating Our Environment:Bioaccumulation and the Mystery of Lake Laberg
Biogeochemical Cycles and Life Processes
The Carbon Cycle
The Nitrogen Cycle
The Phosphorus Cycle
The Sulfur Cycle
3 Populations, Communities, and Species Interaction
Who Lives Where, and Why?
Critical Factors and Tolerance Limits
Evolution: Natural Selection and Adaption
Speciation
The Taxonomic Naming System
The Ecological Niche
Weedy Species
Species Interactions
Predation
Competition
Symbiosis
Defensive Mechanisms
Keystone Species
Population Dynamics
Population Growth
Boom and Bust Population Cycles
Growth in Stable Populations
Limiting Factors of Population Growth
K-adapted and r-adapted Species
Community Properties
Productivity
Abundance and Diversity
What Can You Do? Developing a Sense for Where You Live