AP Environmental Science: Legislation, Math, & Experimental Design

Laws and Legislation

• Endangered Species Act - identifies threatened and endangered species in the US, and puts their protection ahead of economic considerations
• Clean Water Act - set maximum permissible amounts of water pollutants that can be discharged into waterways
• Safe Drinking Water Act - set maximum contaminant levels for pollutants in drinking water that may have adverse effects on human health
• Clean Air Act- regulates the emission of air pollutants that affect human health. Set emission standards for cars
• Delaney Clause of Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act -  requires the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban food additives which are found to cause or induce cancer
• Montreal Protocol - controlling global warming by setting greenhouse gas emissions targets for developed countries
• Kyoto Protocol - controlling global warming by setting greenhouse gas emissions targets for developed countries
• RCRA -  controls hazardous waste with a ‘cradle-to-grave’ system
• CERCLA - gave the EPA the power to investigate and clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances
• CiTES - lists species that cannot be commercially traded as live specimens or wildlife products

Math in APES & Formulas

• population growth - (CBR-CDR)/10
• doubling time - 70/growth rate
• dimensional analysis
• percent change - ((new-old/old) x 100

Experimental Design

• independent variable - "manipulated" variable, "I change it"
• dependent variable - "responding" variable depends on independent variable
• control - level of "independent variable" used to compare, "normal conditions"