Thursday, August 24, 17
02:00 - 04:00; 120 min. -
Environmental Science:
Mod 1; Introduction to Environmental Science -
Chase and I started with a review of the organization of living things from the atom to the biosphere. This class concentrates on the part of this hierarchy from individuals, populations, and communities, to ecosystem and biomes. We discussed some of the examples of ecosystems and biomes. I gave Chase the new textbook and we reviewed the definition of environmental science, and the vocabulary in mod 1. We explored the manner by which energy moves through an ecosystem, how species have a niche in which they alone have an edge over competitors. I gave Chase examples of what happens when two species compete, and how every behavior in nature is directly related to some increase in reproductive success. I introduced the periodic table of elements and explained how every living thing is composed of five elements (PONCHO; phosphorus, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen and other trace elements). To complete the class we discussed the core truth of environmental science; the human population has affected every part of this planet. This discussion included some insights into human population and resource management, fracking, and the sea level rise.
Homework: read mod 1 in the text and answer the AP ES questions on page 6.