AP Environmental Science Portfolio

Melissa Ortiz Period 6 June 2, 2011

This is a map of the various biomes we learned about in APES. The biome that I did for my project was the Chaparral biome and I learned how fire can be good for the environment sometimes. I found out that fire helps replenish growth in the Chaparral and that the plants are specially adapted to withstand fire with their leaves.

This diagram represents the carb on cycle and how it is a way for carbon to be recycled throughout the biosphere. I learned that it is one of the most important cycles of the earth and without it various elements of earth life could be changed dramatically such as the air we breathe. The carbon cycle provides a balance by allowing carbon in the atmosphere to go through organisms and back out from them into the atmosphere.

Oklahoma tornadoes kill 4, injure at least 60 people as severe weather pounds state

This is from an article I read about the tornadoes currently ravaging Oklahoma and has injured many people. Multiple tornadoes in a day have been striking the Mid-West and the people living there have lost their homes and belongings. Since last week there has been refuge for people in their underground safe houses but the devastation left above ground will take longer to fix.

This diagram of the eutrophication process in which I learned about how too much of a nutrient is possible. I learned about algal blooms and oxygen depletion, two symptoms of eutrophication. Eutrophication can be caused by intensive agricultural practices, industrial activities, and population growth that all lead to nutrient increase.

This model is exemplary of some of the demographic transition stages. For example, in India, it is apparent that there is a high population of young people and babies being born with a small percent of elderly people in the population. This is the earliest stage of the demographic transition stages. In France, the demographic stage is more advanced as it is more balanced and even throughout the population. This is more towards the later stage of a nearly non-existent growth rate.

This is the poster for the documentary we watched in APES class, The Cove, in which we learned about how Japans dolphin hunting culture clashes with a group of activists. The activists try to expose how the Japanese are misleading its people about their actions by capturing footage of them killing dolphins but the Japanese dont want any of that

getting shown. This documentary was interesting to me because I didnt know the Japanese were doing any of this and it was all unnecessarily cruel. It made me think of the things we do to animals just for food or anything else we dont really need.

These are the primary components of IPM or Integrated Pest Management, an environmentally sensitive and effective way to manage pests in crops. The methods used are biological, cultural, and chemical controls. Biological controls include parasites, while cultural includes tillage, and chemical control includes environmentally friendly pesticides.

This is a map of tectonic plates on Earth and volcanic hotspots. A hotspot is a place in the middle of a tectonic plate where hot magma rises. The most famous hotspots are on the Hawaii Islands but most of the volcanoes are inactive and currently there are two volcanoes active in Hawaii. Hotspots explain the Hawaiian Island chain and influence the behavior of volcanoes on the Islands.

This is a diagram of the layers of the Earth: the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere. I thought this was interesting because even though I have learned this multiple times I fail to stop mixing up the layers and their functions. Now Ive remembered that we live in the troposphere, weather happens in this layer, and about 75% of the mass of all atmospheric molecules is in this layer.

This is a photograph of Rachel Carson, the author of Silent Spring. I remembered hearing about her briefly in my U.S. History Class last year but this year I learned about the significance of her work in that it facilitated the ban of the pesticide DDT in the U.S. Rachel Carson emphasized the danger of pesticides to birds and criticized the chemical

industry as well as public officials. This was a social cry for change and in a way fueled environmentalism.