Envirormental science definitions, help please!!?

Question

hi i am going to be taking ap enviormental science this coming school year and i need to know some of definitions of words. i looked them up online but had trouble understanding them. can you explain to me

what these mean in simple terms? any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you very much! :]

Ecosystem capital -

Sound science -

Sustainable yields -

Sustainable ecosystem

Stewardship

Answer 1

These are not "official" definitions, but maybe it will help you understand the terms better:

Ecosystem capital -- resources that are available within an ecosystem.  Could be food/energy, water, air, etc.

Sound science -- science that not only makes sense, but will actually work in the real world.  It's been tested not only in theory, but also put to use and it still works.

Sustainable yields -- when humans produce a certain amount of crops and other products ("yields"), they use up natural resources such as water and soil nutrients.  Sustainable yields means you are producing just enough to use up only the resources you can replace for next time.

Sustainable ecosystem -- since "sustainable" means "replacing the resources it uses" or "continuing on indefinitely", a sustainable ecosystem is one in which all the cycles of water, food, lumber, and other resources replenish themselves and can continue going on forever.

Stewardship -- a steward is a caretaker, and stewardship in environmental science means caretaker of the Earth.  We have to practice good "stewardship" in order to protect our resources and make the most of our planet.  We can do this by recycling, reducing pollution, etc.