Ch 6: Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 6: Humans in the Biosphere
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- Identify the lessons in the Prentice Hall Humans in the Biosphere chapter with which you need help.
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Students will learn:
- Impact of the Agricultural Revolution on the environment
- Environmental impacts of the Industrial Revolution
- Consequences of urban land development and suburban sprawl
- Differences between renewable and non-renewable resources
- Biodiversity's relationship to ecosystem stability
- Alteration of ecological balance due to introduced and invasive species
- Connection between pollution and habitat destruction and endangerment and extinction
- Restoring ecosystems
- Atmospheric causes of global warming
- Fossil fuels and greenhouse gases effects on the planet
- Harmful effects of ozone layer thinning
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1. The Agricultural Revolution: Impacts on the Environment
From the 17th to 19th centuries, Great Britain experienced the Agricultural Revolution, a period of great progress in agricultural processes and production. Explore the Agricultural Revolution, its inventions, and impacts on the environment. Recognize both the positive and negative outcomes of the revolution.

2. The Industrial Revolution: Impacts on the Environment
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Europe and the United States experienced the Industrial Revolution, a period of technological and industrial progress. Learn about the Industrial Revolution and explore its impacts on the environment. Understand its benefits, but also recognize the revolution's negative effects.

3. Urban Land Development and Suburban Sprawl: Environmental Consequences
Urban land development and suburban sprawl can affect the environment in devastating ways. Explore the impacts of urban development and suburban sprawl, then discover their environmental consequences, such as pollution, the loss of biodiversity, and a reduction of natural resources.

4. Renewable & Non-Renewable Resources: Definition & Differences
Resources which are naturally replenished by the environment are known as renewable resources, whereas those which replenish too slowly for use, or not at all, are considered non-renewable. Explore the implications and differences of these two types of natural resources.

5. What is Biodiversity? - Definition and Relation to Ecosystem Stability
Biodiversity refers to the variety of life on earth that exists on all levels of biological organization. Explore the definition of biodiversity, the types of biodiversity, and study biodiversity and its relation to ecosystem stability.

6. How Introduced and Invasive Species Alter Ecological Balance
Introduced species are new organisms brought into an ecological environment that affect the ecological balance of that environment. Compare and contrast characteristics of an introduced species versus an invasive species, and how both alter the ecological balance of an environment.

7. Pollution and Habitat Destruction: The Human Factors Contributing To Endangerment & Extinction
Habitat destruction and contamination that may be attributed to human impacts are described as anthropogenic. Explore the causes and effects of habitat fragmentation and pollution, and the changes humans can make to reduce endangerment and extinction.

8. Land Conservation: Preserving and Restoring Ecosystems
Land conservation is the process of taking developed or degraded land and reverting it to a natural state. Learn how land conservation preserves and restores ecosystems, then explore remediation and mitigation techniques.

9. Global Warming: Atmospheric Causes and Effect on Climate
Global warming is a multifaceted and complex issue that involves both natural and human causes that increase the number of greenhouse gases. Learn how the atmospheric temperature can increase leading to global warming, explore some of its causes and how it affects climate change, and discover the role of the greenhouse effect on global warming.

10. Fossil Fuels, Greenhouse Gases, and Global Warming
Fossil fuels and greenhouse gases are some of the environmental factors that contribute to global warming. Learn about these factors and how humans affect the carbon cycle, and perhaps understand that global warming isn't the end of the world as yet.

11. The Ozone Layer: Importance and the Harmful Effects of Thinning
The ozone layer of the Earth absorbs the ultraviolet radiation coming from the Sun. Learn about the importance of ozone, discover how CFCs break down the ozone, explore the early discoveries about harmful effects of CFCs and the thinning of the ozone layer, and determine policies in place to protect the ozone.
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Other Chapters
Other chapters within the Prentice Hall Biology: Online Textbook Help course
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 2: The Chemistry of Life
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 3: The Biosphere
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 4: Ecosystems and Communities
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 5: Populations
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 7: Cell Structure and Function
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 8: Photosynthesis
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 9: Cellular Respiration
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 10: Cell Growth and Division
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 11: Introduction to Genetics
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 12: DNA and RNA
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 13: Genetic Engineering
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 14: The Human Genome
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 15: Darwin's Theory of Evolution
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 16: Evolution of Populations
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 17: The History of Life
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 18: Classification
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 19: Bacteria and Viruses
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 20: Protists
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 21: Fungi
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 22: Plant Diversity
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 23: Roots, Stems, and Leaves
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 24: Reproduction of Seed Plants
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 25: Plant Responses and Adaptations
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 26: Sponges and Cnidarians
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 27: Worms and Mollusks
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 28: Arthropods and Echinoderms
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 29: Comparing Invertebrates
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 30: Nonvertebrate Chordates, Fishes, and Amphibians
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 31: Reptiles and Birds
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 32: Mammals
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 33: Comparing Chordates
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 34: Animal Behavior
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 35: Nervous System
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 36: Skeletal, Muscular, and Integumentary Systems
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 37: Circulatory and Respiratory Systems
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 38: Digestive and Excretory Systems
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 39: Endocrine and Reproductive Systems
- Prentice Hall Biology Chapter 40: The Immune System and Disease