This is a list of concepts that I made mostly from the lecture outlines, but aslo from memory. You'll probably want to go back through your textbook as well and add in any concepts that I may have missed here. You can use this as a check to see if there is anything missing.  I’ve left the sorting to you.  This list may or may not be comprehensive. 

Disucssion 1: Topophila; conservation; preservation; sustainable development; frontier environments; The contrast between conservation for human use and for nature's intrinsic value, rough biographical details of Marsh, Muir, and Pinchot; Mur and Preservation; Pinchot and Conservation.

Lecture 1: Environmental science, natural resources, conservation, preservation, John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and Aldo Leopold's views of environmental conservation or preservation, sustainability, stewardship, environmental ethics, environmental policies, scientific method, population, community, ecosystem, biosphere, biotic factors, abiotic factors, Aquatic ecosystems (salt and freshwater): pelagic and neritic areas, Terrestrial Ecosystems: biomes, different types of biomes. Biodiversity, habitat, niche, mutualism, commensalisms, predation, competition allelopathy. Karner Blue Butterfly and the Indiana dunes, scale, ecotone.

Lecture 2

Photosynthesis, primary production, primary producers (autotrophs), consumers (hterotrophs), trophic levels, herbivores, carnivores, top predators, food chain, food web, decomposition, detritus. Biogeochemical cycles, carbon and oxygen cycles, aerobic respiration.

Discussion 2 Earth Sun: Energy Flow through Tundra ecosystem, earth sun relationships, equinox, solstice, solar constant, Lambert's Sine Law, the first law of thermodynamics, the second law of thermodynamics. Pay special attention to Figure 1.3 on pg. 24, how to calculate the noon altitude of the sun. Why does the tundra team with life in the summer despite its high latitude?

Lecture 3: Tundra, permafrost, biodiversity. Make sure you understand concepts related to energy flow through ecosystems from Chapter 1 and observe how they are applied to understand the Tundra ecosystem; types of permafrost and locations, active layer, thermal erosion, thermokarst landscapes, frost action processes, slifluction, biodiveristy, Species richness, species abundance, limiting factors, adaptations of plants and animals in the tundra to limiting factors. Fallacy of remoteness, frontier environments

Discussion 3: Have an understanding of the history of the proposal to drill for oil in ANWR and the arguments for and against doing so. Be familiar with the major arguments both for and against drilling in ANWR.

Lecture 4: Review CES Figure 2.4 and Insight 2.3 pp. 51-52. Optional Reading about Atmospheric Moisture and Atmospheric Circulation in The Physical Environment online textbook. Climate, why does it rain?, relative humidity, what controls climate?, pressure, the coriolis effect, Intertropical convergence zone, orographic precipitation and the rainshadow effect,

Lecture 5: Open and Closed Forests, epiphytes, commensialism, decomposers, Types of tropical forests including: Tropical Moist, Tropical Dry, Tree Plantations, Soil Quality in Tropical Forests, Forest Succession, Extent and causes of deforestation, Shifting cultivation, land conversion, fuelwood gathering, effects of deforestation, history of forest conservation in Costa Rica, debt-for-nature swaps, eco-tourism, sustainable forest products.

Discussion 4: biodiversity, ecosystem services, insurance principle, bioprospecting, invasive species, Why is biodiversity important? Make sure that you have read and understood the readings.

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