APES All Chapters
uneven-aged
term describing stand consisting of trees of different ages. these stands more closely approximate a natural forest than do even aged stands.
second-growth
term describing trees that have sprouted and grown to partial maturity after virgin timber has been cut.
acid-neutralizing capacity
the capacity of soil, rock, or water to resist pH change from acid deposition due to its alkaline chemistry.
energy
the capacity to change the position, physical composition, or temperature of matter; a force that can accomplish work.
pyrolysis
the chemical breakdown or organic matter by heating in the absence of oxygen, which often produces materials that can be more easily converted to usable energy. A number of variations on this process exist.
deforestation
the clearing and loss of forests.
recycling
the collection of materials that can be broken down and reprocessed to manufacture new items.
nutrient cycles
the comprehensive set of cyclical pathways by which a given nutrient moves through the environment.
hypoxia
the condition of extremely low dissolved oxygen concentrations in a body of water.
malnutrition
the condition of lacking nutrients the body needs, including a complete complement of vitamins and minerals.
overgrazing
the consumption by too many animals of plant cover, impeding plant regrowth and the replacement of biomass. This can exacerbate damage to soils, natural communities, and the land's productivity for further grazing.
bedrock
the continuous mass of solid rock that makes up Earth's crust.
biocontrol
the control of a pest by the introduction of a natural enemy or predator.
nitrification
the conversion by bacteria of ammonium ions first into nitrite ions and then into nitrate ions.
nuclear fission
the conversion of energy within an atom's nucleus to usable thermal energy by splitting apart atomic nuclei
composting
the conversion of organic waste into mulch or humus by encouraging, in a controlled manner, the natural biological processes of decomposition.
primary production
the conversion of solar energy to the energy of chemical bonds in sugars during photosynthesis, performed by autotrophs.
continental shelves
the gently sloping underwater edge of a continent, varying in width from 100m to 1300 km, with an average slope of 1.9m/km.
airshed
the geographical area that produces air pollutants likely to end up in a waterway.
clear-cutting
the harvesting of timber by cutting all the trees in an area. Although is it the most cost efficient method, it's also the most ecologically damaging.
precautionary principle
the idea that one should not undertake a new action until the ramifications of that action are well understood.
poaching
the illegal killing of wildlife, usually for meat or body parts.
latitudinal gradient
the increase in species richness as one approaches the equator. This pattern of variation with latitude has been one of the most obvious patterns in ecology, but one of the most difficult ones for scientists to explain.
primary extraction
the initial drilling and pumping of the most easily accessible crude oil.
Chesapeake Bay
the intensive harvest of bay oysters caused an economic collapse from wiping out the oyster population, and also an ecological collapse due to the oysters not being able to filter nutrients from the water.
chemosynthesis
the process by which bacteria in hydrothermal vents use the chemical energy of hydrogen sulfide to transform inorganic carbon into organic compounds.
nitrogen fixation
the process by which inert nitrogen gas combines with hydrogen to form ammonium ions, which are chemically and biologically active and can be taken up by plants.
thermogenic
type of natural gas created by compression and heat deep underground. Contains methane and small amounts of other hydrocarbon gases.
noise pollution
undesired ambient sound.
canopy
upper level of leaves and branches in the treetops.
consumptive use
use of fresh water in which water is removed from a particular aquifer or surface water body and is not returned to it. Irrigation for agriculture is an example.
uranium
used as a fuel source to produce electricity with nuclear energy
Great Pacific Garbage Patch
a portion of the north pacific gyre where currents concentrate plastics and other floating debris that pose danger to marine organisms.
ozone layer
a portion of the stratosphere, roughly 17-30 km above sea level, that contains most of the ozone in the atmosphere.
braided river
a river that flows as an interconnected series of watercourses because it runs through a steeply sloped region or carries a great deal of sediment.
novel or no-analog communities
an ecological community composed of a novel mixture of organisms, with no current analog or historical precedent.
Permafrost
In tundra, underground soil that remains more less permanently frozen.
immigration
The arrival of individuals from outside population.
reservoir
an artificial water body behind a dam that stores water for human use
salinization
the buildup of salts in surface soil layers.
bioaccumulation
the buildup of toxicants in the tissues of an animal.
post-industrial stage
the fourth and final stage of the demographic transition model, in which both birth and death rates have fallen to a low level and remain stable there, and populations may even decline slightly.
fundamental niche
the full niche of a species.
hydroelectric power/hydropower
the generation of electricity using the kinetic energy of moving water
molecules
A combination of two or more atoms.
rock
A solid aggregation of minerals.
tsunami
An immense swell, or wave, of ocean water triggered by an earthquake, volcano, or landslide.
magma
Molten, liquid rock.
emigration
The departure of individuals from a population.
kopjes
a small hill in a generally flat area.
omnivore
an organism that consumes both plants and animals.
primary forest
forest uncut by people.
parent material
the base geologic material in a particular location.
water table
the upper limit of groundwater held in an aquifer.
allergens
a toxicant that over activates the immune system, causing an immune response when one is not necessary.
photochemical smog
"brown air" smog caused by light driven reactions of primary pollutants with normal atmospheric compounds that produce a mix of over 100 different chemicals, ground level ozone often being the most abundant among them.
industrial smog
"gray air" smog caused by the incomplete combustion of coal or oil when burned.
green buildings
(1) a structure that minimizes the ecological footprint of its construction and operation by using sustainable materials, using minimal energy and water, reducing health impacts, limiting pollution, and recycling waste. (2) the pursuit of constructing or renovating such buildings.
residence time
(1) in a biogeochemical cycle, the amount of time a nutrient remains in a given pool or reservoir before moving to another. (2) in the atmosphere, the amount of time a gas molecule or a pollutant remains aloft.
residence time
(1) in a biogeochemical cycle, the amount of time a nutrient remains in a given pool or reservoir before moving to another. (2)in the atmosphere, the amount of time a gas molecule or a pollutant remains aloft.
biomass
(1) in ecology, organic material that makes up living organisms; the collective mass of living matter in a given place and time. (2) in energy, organic material derived from living or recently living organisms, containing chemical energy that originated with photosynthesis.
bycatch
(1) the accidental capture of non-target organisms while fishing for target species. (2) That portion of a commercial fishing catch consisting of animals caught unintentionally.
by-catch
(1) the accidental capture of nontarget organisms while fishing for target species. (2) that portion of a commercial fishing catch consisting of animals caught unintentionally. This kills many thousands of fish, sharks, marine mammals, and birds each year.
mining
1) In the broad sense, the extraction of any resource that is nonrenewable on the timescale of our society (fossil fuels or groundwater). 2) In relation to mineral resources, the systematic removal of rock, soil, or other material for the purpose of extracting minerals of economic interest.
coevolution
Process by which two or more species evolve in response to one another. Parasites and hosts may coevolve, as may flowering plants and their pollinators.
paradigm/paradigm shift
A dominant philosophical and theoretical framework within a scientific discipline.
General Land Ordinances of 1785, 1787
1785=set up a standardized system whereby settlers could purchase title to farmland in the undeveloped west. 1787=The ordinance created the Northwest Territory, the first organized territory of the United States, from lands beyond the Appalachian Mountains, between British North America and the Great Lakes to the north and the Ohio River to the south.
Toxic Substance Control Act (TOSCA)
A 1976 U.S. law that directs the environmental protection agency to monitor thousands of industrial chemicals and gives the EPA authority to regulate and ban substances found to pose excessive risk.
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
A United Nations agency that works on international efforts to defeat hunger by helping developing countries modernize and improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices.
chaparral
A biome consisting mostly of densely thicketed evergreen shrubs occurring in limited small patches. Its "Mediterranean" climate of mild, wet winters and warm, dry summers is induced by oceanic influences. In addition to ringing the Mediterranean Sea, it occurs along the coasts of California, Chile, and southern Australia.
boreal forest (taiga)
A biome of northern coniferous forest that stretches in a broad band across much of Canada, Alaska, Russia, and Scandinavia. Also known as a taiga, it consists of a limited number of species of evergreen trees, such as black spruce, that dominate large regions of the forests interspersed with occasional bogs and lakes.
polymers
A chemical compound or mixture of compounds consisting of long chains of repeated molecules. Important biological molecules, such as DNA and proteins, are examples
lipids
A class of chemical compounds that do not dissolve in water and are used to organisms for energy storage, for structural support, and as key components of cellular membranes.
methane
A colorless gas produced primarily by anaerobic decomposition. The major constituent of natural gas and a greenhouse gas that is molecule-for-molecule more potent than carbon dioxide.
acidic decomposition
A complex chemical and atmospheric phenomenon that occurs when emissions of sulfur and nitrogen compounds and other substances are transformed by chemical processes in the atmosphere and then deposited on earth in either wet or dry form. The wet forms, popularly called acid rain, can fall to earth as rain, snow, or fog. The dry forms are acidic gases or particulates.
organic compounds
A compound made up of carbon atoms joined by covalent bonds and sometimes including other elements,such as nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, or phosphorus.
Climate Model
A computer program that combines what is known about weather patterns, atmospheric circulation, atmosphere-ocean interactions, and feedback mechanisms, in order to simulate climate processes.
Atmospheric Blocking Pattern
A condition which the atmosphere's jets stream slows and meanders widely into north-south orientation that blocks the eastward movement of weather systems across the midlatitudes. Causes polar vortex.
surface impoundments
A disposal method for hazardous waste or mining waste in which waste in liquid or slurry form is placed into a shallow depression lined with impervious material such as clay and allowed to evaporate, leaving a solid residue on the bottom. Can also refer to the site of such disposal.
Carbon Tax
A fee charged to entities that pollute by emitting carbon dioxide. This gives polluters a financial incentive to reduce pollution and is thus foreseen as a way to address global climate change.
interdisciplinary field
A field that borrows techniques from multiple traditional fields of study and brings together research results from these fields into a broad synthesis.
scientific method
A formalized method for testing ideas with observations that involves a more-or-less consistent series of interrelated steps.
element
A fundamental type of matter; a chemical substance with a given set of properties, which cannot be broken down into substances with other properties. Chemists currently recognize 92 elements that occur in nature, as well as more than 20 others that have been artificially created.
Greenhouse Gases
A gas that absorbs infrared radiation released by Earth's surface and then warms the surface and troposphere, i.e. the greenhouse effect. Ex: carbon dioxide, water vapor, ozone, nitrous oxide, halocarbons gases, and methane.
survivorship curves
A graph that shows how the likelihood of death for members of a population varies with age.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate (IPCC)
A group of climate scientists and the government officials established in 1981 by the United Nations Environment Program and the World Meteorological Organization. Their mission is to assess and synthesize all scientific research on global climate change and offer guidance to the worlds policy makers, primarily through periodic published reports.
population
A group of organisms of the same species that live in the same area. Species are often composed of multiple populations.
sustainability
A guiding principle of environmental science, entailing conserving resources, maintaining functional ecological systems, and developing long-term solutions, such that Earth can sustain our civilization and all life for the future, allowing our descendants to live at least as well as we have lived.
ionizing radiation
A high energy form of radiation that can damage the cells of living things. (Any types on the spectrum beyond visible light) Sources of this radiation include the sun and radioactive particles from nuclear energy and natural sources.
Jetstream
A high-altitude air current that blows west to east, meandering north and south, and which influences weather across much of North America and Eurasia.
asthenosphere
A layer of the upper mantle, just below the lithosphere, consisting of especially soft rock.
density independent limiting factors
A limiting factor whose effects on a population are constant regardless of population density.
density dependent limiting factors
A limiting factor whose effects on a population increase or decrease depending on the population density.
hydrothermal vents
A location in the deep ocean where heated water spurts from the seafloor, carrying minerals that precipitate to from rocky structures, Unique and recently discovered ecosystems cluster here; tubeworms, shrimp, and other creatures here use symbiotic bacteria to derive their energy from chemicals i the heated water rather than from sunlight.
proteins
A macromolecule made up of long chains of amino acids.
nucleic aids
A macromolecule that directs the production of proteins. Includes DNA and RNA.
ore
A mineral or grouping of minerals from which we extract metals.
solution mining
A mining technique in which a narrow borehole is drilled deep into the ground to reach a mineral deposit and water, acid, or another liquid is injected down the borehole to leach the resource from the surrounding rock and dissolve it in the liquid. The resulting solution is then sucked out, and the desired resource is isolated. Also called in-situ recovery.
open pit mining
A mining technique that involves digging a gigantic hole and removing the desired ore, along with waste rock that surrounds the ore.
placer mining
A mining technique that involves sifting through material in modern or ancient riverbed deposits, generally using running water to separate lightweight mud and gravel from heavier minerals of value.
compound
A molecule whose atoms are composed of two or more elements.
mineral
A naturally occurring solid element or inorganic compound with a crystal structure, a specific chemical composition, and distinct physical properties.
mineral
A naturally occurring solid element or inorganic compound with a crystal structure, specific chemical composition, and distinct physical properties.
electrons
A negatively charged particle that moves around the nucleus of an atom.
fossil fuels
A nonrenewable natural resource, such as crude oil, natural gas, or coal, produced by the decomposition and compression of organic matter from ancient life.
Cap-and-Trade
A permit trading system by which the government determines an acceptable level of pollution and then issues polluting parties permits to pollute. A company receives credit for amounts it does not emit and can then sell this credit to other companies.
limiting factors
A physical, chemical, or biological characteristic of the environment that restrains population growth.
quarry
A pit used to extract mineral resources such as clay, gravel, sand, or stone.
logistic growth curve
A plot that shows how the initial exponential growth of a population is slowed and finally brought to a standstill by limiting factors.
species
A population or group of populations of a particular type of organism whose members share certain characteristics and can breed freely with one another and produce fertile offspring. Different biologists may have different approaches to diagnosing species boundaries.
protons
A positively charged particle in the nucleus of an atom.
smelting
A process in which ore is heated beyond its melting point and combined with other metals or chemicals, in order to form metal with desired characteristics.
Fee-and-Dividend
A program of carbon taxes in which proceeds ($$) from the taxes are paid to consumers as a tax refund. This strategy seeks to prevent consumers from losing money if companies pass the cost of pollution control technology or regulations onto them.
Global Warming Potential
A quantity that specifies the ability of one molecule of a particular greenhouse gas to contribute to atmospheric warming, relative to carbon dioxide.
radioisotopes
A radioactive isotope that emits subatomic particles and high energy radiation as it decays into progressively lighter isotopes until becoming a stable isotope.
ozone layer
A region of the stratosphere with a higher concentration of ozone, this area absorbs most of the Sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation. *NOTE: It contains high concentrations of ozone (O3) in relation to other parts of the atmosphere, although still small in relation to other gases in the stratosphere.
earthquakes
A release of energy that occurs as Earth relieves accumulated pressure between masses of lithosphere and that results in shaking at the surface.
atoll
A ring-shaped island surrounding an older submerged island area.
rare earth minerals
A set of 17 chemical elements. They are relatively plentiful in earths crust, but are hard to separate from each other, and are typically not very concentrated.
prokaryote
A single-celled organism that lacks a membrane-bound nucleus, mitochondria, or any other membrane-bound organelle.
volcano
A site where molten rock, hot gas, or ash erupts through Earth's surface, often creating a mountain over time as cooled lava accumulates.
environmentalism
A social movement dedicated to protecting the natural world, and by extension, people.
cation exchange capacity
A soil's ability to hold cations, preventing them from leaching, and thus making them available to plants. A useful measure of soil fertility.
Proxy Indicators
A source of indirect evidence that serves as a substitute for direct measurement and that sheds light on past climate. Examples include data from ice cores sediment cores, tree rings, and coral reefs.
generalists
A species that can survive in a wide array of habitats or use a wide array of resouces
specialists
A species that can survive only in a narrow range of habitats that contain very specific resources.
prediction
A specific statement, generally arising from a hypothesis, that can be tested directly and unequivocally.
scientific method: hypothesis
A statement that attempts to explain a phenomenon or answer a scientific question.
scientific method: correlation
A statistical association among variables.
genes
A stretch of DNA that represents a unit of hereditary information.
alloy
A substance created by fusing a metal with other metals or nonmetals.
Storm Surge
A temporary and localized rise in sea levels brought in by the high tides and winds associated with storms.
adaptive trait
A trait that greater likelihood that an individual will reproduce. An adaptive trait is also called an adaptation.
phylogenetic trees
A treelike diagram that represents the history of divergence of species or other taxonomic groups of organisms.p
covalent bond
A type of chemical bonding where atoms share electrons in chemical bonds. An example is a water molecule, which forms when an oxygen atom shares electrons with two hydrogen atoms.
ionic bond
A type of chemical bonding where electrons are transferred between atoms, crating oppositely charged ions that bond due to their differing electrical charges.
metal
A type of chemical element, or a mass or such an element, that typically is lustrous, opaque, and malleable and that can conduct heat and electricity.
macromolecules
A very large molecule, such as a protein, nucleic acid, carbohydrate, or lipid.
Carbon Offsets
A voluntary payment to another entity intended to enable that entity to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that one is unable or unwilling to reduce themselves.
theory
A widely accepted, well-tested explanation of one or more cause-and-effect relationships that has been extensively validated by a great amount of research.
social sciences
Academic disciplines that study human interactions and institutions.
natural sciences
Academic disciplines that study the natural world.
ecosystem
All organisms and nonliving entities that occur and interact in a particular area at the same time.
environmental studies
An academic environmental science program that emphasizes the social sciences as well as the natural sciences.
mutation
An accidental change in DNA that may range in magnitude from the deletion, substitution, or addition of a single nucleotide to a change affecting entire sets of chromosomes. Mutations provide that raw material for evolutionary change.
full cost accounting (true cost)
An accounting approach that attempts to summarize all costs and benefits by assigning monetary values to entities without market prices and then generally subtracting costs from benefits.
scientific method: experiment
An activity designed to test the validity of a hypothesis by manipulating variables.
ions
An electrically charged atom or combination of atoms.
neutrons
An electrically neutral (uncharged) particle in the nucleus of an atom.
ecosystem services
An essential service a functioning ecosystem provides (for free!) that supports life and makes economic activity possible. For example, ecosystems naturally purify air and water, cycle nutrients, provide for plants to be pollinated by animals, and receive and recycle the waste we generate.
manipulative experiment
An experiment in which the researcher actively chooses and manipulates the independent variable, keeping all other variables constant/controlled. (usually in a lab)
natural/correlational experiments
An experiment in which the researcher cannot directly manipulate the variables and therefore must observe nature, comparing conditions in which variables differ, and interpret the results. (usually out in nature)
scientific method: controlled experiment
An experiment in which treatment is compared against a control in order to test the effect of a variable.
Global Warming
An increase in Earth's average temperature. The term is most frequently used in reference to the recent pronounced warming trend of years and decades.
Kyoto Protocol
An international agreement drafted in 1997 that called for reducing, by 2012, emissions of six greenhouse gases to levels lower than their levels in 1990. It has been extended to 2020 until a replacement treaty can be reached. An outgrowth of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC)
An international treaty sighted in 1992 outlining a plan to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. It gave rise to the Kyoto Protocol.
carbohydrates
An organic compound consisting of atoms of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen
hydrocarbons
An organic compound consisting solely of hydrogen and carbon atoms.
autotrophs/primary producers
An organism that can use the energy from sunlight to produce its own food. Includes green plants, algae, and cyanobacteria.
heterotrophs/consumers
An organism that relies on consuming other organisms. Includes most animals, as well as fungi and microbes that decompose organic matter.
detrivore
An organism, such as a millipede or soil insect, that scavenges the waste products or dead bodies of other community members.
Bt toxin
Any of a number of pesticidal toxins produced by the soil bacterium Bacillus thurigiensis, which are lethal to corn earworms, Colorado potato bugs and others.
natural resources
Any of the various substances and energy sources that we take from our environment and that we need in order to survive.
Clearing the Air in L.A. and Mexico City
Both Mexico City and L.A. have very similar air pollution in the form of smog. In L.A. it's generated by traffic, and in Mexico City it's caused by the surrounding mountains so thermal inversion traps pollutants over the city. In efforts to clean up the air they shut down oil refinery and pushed factories and power plants to shift to cleaner burning natural gas, lessened lead in gasoline, sulfur reduced in diesel, and air control technologies such as catalytic converters were phased in for new vehicles.
Deepwater Horizon
British Petroleum's offshore drilling platform exploded killing 11 workers and sinking the ship into the ocean. Oil gushed from the underwater well at rates of 1800 gallons per minute, rose to the surface, and spread for 3 months before the underwater well was capped.
Charles Darwin
British naturalist who revolutionized the study of biology with his theory of evolution based on natural selection.
Species at Risk Act
Canada's endangered species protection law, enacted in 2002.
Anthropogenic
Caused by human beings. For example, climate change caused by humans vs. natural climate change
Milankovitch Cycles
Causes of natural climate change- but on a much longer time table then anthropogenic climate change. 3 types of variations of Earth's rotation and orbit (wobble, tilt, orbital shape) around the sun that result in slight changes in the relative amount of solar radiation reaching Earth's surface at different latitudes.
Assessing EROI if Energy Sources
Charles Hall tried to find the EROI of many different types to find which one was the best option according to EROI ratios. He found that hydropower had the best ratio of 100:1 and ethanol was the worst with a 1.3:1 ratio even when Hall has said that solar was the best option in the past
Paleoclimate
Climate in the geologic past. Data used to make climate models.
Collapse of the Cod Fisheries
Cod fishing has been a way of life for centuries, but as time goes on ships are becoming more efficient in vacuuming up these groundfish. So there was a crash because of too many being harvesting and also because of bottom trawling on the seafloor. So there were numerous bans on commercial cod fishing to restore the population and the environment.
Costa Rica
Costa Rica was losing its forests faster than any other nation in the 1980s, one driving force to replenish the forests was the Payment for Environmental Sciences. Also in 1996 the Forest Law 7575 was passed and the government started paying farmers to help the reforestation effort on their land.
scientific method: data
Information, generally quantitative information.
pelagic
Of, relating to, or living between the surface and floor of the ocean.
recombinant DNA
DNA that has been patched together from the DNA of multiple organisms in an attempt to produce desirable traits (such as rapid growth, disease and pest resistance, or higher nutritional content) in organisms lacking those traits.
sustainable development
Development that satisfies our current needs without compromising the future availability of natural capital or our future quality of life.
Alberta's Oil sands and the Keystone XL Pipeline
Due to the vast amount of oil sands found in Alberta, Canada they became the 3rd largest oil producers in the world. Canada was looking for buyers for their oil and looked to the United States, so they built the keystone pipeline and the oil could travel to Illinois and Oklahoma. The Keystone XL pipeline was proposed so oil could reach Texas and also it cut across the Great Plains to shave off distance and add capacity to the existing lines.
natural capital
Earth's accumulated wealth of resources.
The Tohoku Earthquake (Fukushima)
Earthquake that caused a tsunami in 2011 where the nuclear reactor Fukushima was damaged.
circum-Pacific belt, "Ring of Fire"
Earthquakes and volcanoes are examples of geologic hazards. We can see how such hazards relate to tectonic processes by examining the map of the circum-Pacific belt, or "Ring of Fire."
potential energy
Energy of position.
geothermal energy
Energy that arises from beneath Earth's surface, ultimately from the radioactive decay of elements amid high pressures deep underground. Can be used to generate electrical power in power plants, for direct heating via piped water, or in ground source heat pumps.
evolution
Genetically based change in the appearance, functioning and behavior of organisms across generations, often by the process of natural selection.
coltan mining in Congo (Mining for... Cell Phones?)
In Eastern Congo, people mine for tantalum, which is used for capacitors in cell phones and other small electronics. This was the start of many problems, with soldiers siezing control of mining operations and forcing children to work in the mines. The miners ended up with little, while the soldiers, rebels, and bandits sold coltan to companies in Europe and the United States. These companies make the money.
variables
In an experiment, a condition that can change.
benthic
Of, relating to, or living on the bottom of a water body.
William Rees
Helped develop the concept of the "ecological footprint" in the 1990s alongside Mathis Wackernagel
Mathis Wackernagel
Helped develop the concept of the "ecological footprint" in the 1990s alongside William Rees
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
Hydrocarbons from petroleum that pose health hazards to wildlife and people. Can evaporate from spilled oil and gasoline and can mix with water, putting aquatic animals at risk. Also occurs in combustion products like cigarette smoke, wood smoke, and charred meat.
zebra mussels
Invasive species that rapidly spread to all 5 great lakes, rivers, canadian provinces, and other lakes in more than 30 states in North America. Often traveled by current or by attaching to boats.
Fukushima Daiichi
Japanese nuclear power plant severely damaged by the tsunami associated with the March 2011 Tohoku earthquake that rocked Japan. Most radiation drifted over the ocean away from population centers, but the event was history's second most serious nuclear accident
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Led the transcendentalism movement of the 19th century along with Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman.
Walt Whitman
Led the transcendentalism movement of the 19th century along with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.
Henry David Thoreau
Led the transcendentalism movement of the 19th century along with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman.
leachate
Liquids that seep through liners of a sanitary landfill and leach into the soil underneath.
Health Impacts of Fukushima
Looks at the effects of radiation from nuclear power meltdowns. They look at how thyroid cancer has increased due to the accidents that took place at Chernobyl and Fukushima
lava
Magma that is released from the lithosphere and flows or spatters across Earth's surface.
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (1977)
Mandates restoration efforts, requiring companies to post bonds to cover reclamation costs before mining can be approved. This ensures that if the company fails to restore the land for any reason, the government will have the money to do so.
lahar
Mudslides caused by volcanic eruptions melt snow and send huge volumes of destabilized mud racing down a hill.
endemic
Native or restricted to a particular geographic region. An endemic species occurs in one area and nowhere else on Earth.
nonrenewable natural resources
Natural resources that are in limited supply and are formed much more slowly than we use them.
renewable natural resources
Natural resources that are virtually unlimited or that are replenished by the environment over relatively short periods (hours to weeks to years).
selective breeding
Natural selection conducted under human direction. Examples include selective breeding of crop plants, pets, and livestock.
artificial selection
Natural selection conducted under human direction. Examples include the selective breeding of crop plants, pets, and livestock.
Three Mile Island
Nuclear Power Plant in Pennsylvania that in 1979 experienced a partial meltdown.
isotopes
One of several forms of an element having differing numbers of neutrons in the nucleus of its atoms. Chemically, these behave almost identically, but they have different physical properties because they differ in mass.
Will We Slice Through the Serengeti?
One of the greatest wildlife spectacles found on Earth, and one of the last places on the planet where an ecosystem remains nearly intact and functional over a vast area in Africa. There is an alarmed proposal to build a commercial highway slicing straight across animals migratory routes.
metamorphic rock
One of the three main categories of rock. Formed by great heat and/or pressure that reshapes crystals within the rock and changes its appearance and physical properties. Common metamorphic rocks include marble and slate.
igneous rock
One of the three main categories of rock. Formed from cooling magma. Granite and basalt are examples of igneous rock.
sedimentary rock
One of the three main categories of rock. Formed when dissolved minerals seep through sediment layers and act as a kind of glue, crystallizing and binding sediment particles together.
Poison in a Bottle: Is Bisphenol A Safe?
One of the world's most produced chemicals has been directly linked to several forms of cancer, yet still is in hundreds of products used today. By running test on lab animals, BPA is suggested to have health impacts on humans.
Easter Island
Overpopulation and deforestation led to a dramatic decline in carrying capacity on the island. A large, sophisticated civilization declined dramatically.
Wildlife Declines in African Reserves
Places in Africa such as Kenya and Tanzania have some of the largest and most famous parks and protected areas in the world, but the wildlife in these places are not immune to the pressures from the rising human population, development and resource use. So over long term data sets studies show that population trends of large mammals are declining in number.
tailings
Portions of ore left over after metals have been extracted in mining.
wicked problems
Problems complex enough to have no simple solution and whose very nature changes over time.
REACH program
Program of European Union that shifts the burden of proof for testing chemical safety from national governments to industry and requires that chemical substances produced or imported in amounts of over 1 metric ton per year registered with a new European Chemicals Agency. (Stands for registration, evaluation, authorisation, and restriction of chemicals)
Geoengineering
Proposed efforts to cool earth's climate by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or reflecting sunlight away from earth's surface. These ideas are controversial and are not nearly ready to implement.
observational science/descriptive science
Research in which scientists gather basic information about organisms, materials, systems, or processes that are not yet well known.
hypothesis-driven science
Research in which scientists pose questions that seek to explain how and why things are the way they are. Generally proceeds in a somewhat structured manner, using experiments to test hypothesis.
Discovering Ozone Depletion and the Substances Behind it
Researcher found that chemicals naturally found in the atmosphere such as hydroxyl and nitric oxide ultimately destroy the ozone, thinning it. Things such as soil bacteria can also make its way to the stratosphere producing nitric oxide, so fertilizing plants can deplete the ozone. Researchers also found that chlorine atoms can catalyze the destruction of the ozone even more effectively than the nitric oxide.
Monitoring Bird Populations at Hakalau Forest
Researchers analyze and study the population densities and population sizes of the native birds found on the island, they use different graphs to track the birds as they either increase in decrease in their population (mostly a decrease).
Hypoxia and the Gulf of Mexico's "Dead Zone"
Scientist collected a widespread of data in the "dead zone" such as oxygen levels, wildlife condition, and water samples over a long period of time to create a "map" of the dead zone. They believe that the source of the problem comes from the land (mississippi and atchafalaya rivers) because the Gulf was polluted with agricultural runoff, and the nutrient pollution from fertilizers spurred algal blooms whose decomposition by bacteria stuffed out oxygen.
Rachel Carson
Silent Spring is an environmental science book by ___________. The book was published on 27 September 1962 and it documented the detrimental effects on the environment—particularly on birds—of the indiscriminate use of pesticides.
species
a population or group of populations of a particular type of organism whose members share certain characteristics and can breed freely with one another and produce fertile offspring.
allopatric speciation
Species formation due to the physical separation of population over some geographic distance.
PBDEs
Synthetic compounds that provide fire-retardant properties and are used in a diverse array of consumer products, including computers, televisions, plastics, and furniture. Released during production, disposal, and use of products, these chemicals persist and accumulate in living tissue and appear to be endocrine disruptors.
Global Climate Change
Systematic change in some or all aspects of Earth's climate, such as temperature, precipitation, and storm intensity. Generally refers today to the current warming trend in global temperatures and the many associated climate changes.
ionic compounds or salts
Table salt or sodium chloride is an example of this, and is formed by the bonding of positively charged sodium ions with negatively charged chloride ions.
Carbon Capture
Technologies or approaches that remove carbon dioxide from power plant or other industrial emissions, in an effort to mitigate global climate change.
Carbon Sequestration
Technologies or approaches to capture and store carbon dioxide from industrial emissions (underground typically) in an effort to mitigate global climate change. We are still a long way from developing adequate technology and secure storage space to accomplish this.
r-selected
Term denoting a species with high biotic potential whose members produce a large number of offspring in a relatively short time but do not care for their young after birth. Populations of r-selected species are generally regulated by density independent factors.
K-selected
Term denoting a species with low biotic potential whose members produce a small number of offspring and take a long time to gestate and raise each of their young, but invest heavily in promoting the survival and growth of these few offspring. populations of k-selected species are generally regulated by density dependent factors.
Global Forest Resources Assessment
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), at the request of its member countries, regularly monitors the world's forests and their management and uses.
Alfred Russell Wallace
The Wallace effect is a hypothesis developed by British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace which posits that natural selection can contribute to the reproductive isolation of incipient species by evolving barriers against hybridization.
ethics
The academic study of good and bad, right and wrong. The term can also refer to a person's or group's set of moral principles or values.
reclamation
The act of restoring a mining site to an approximation of its pre-mining condition. Companies are required to remove buildings and other structures, replace overburden, fill in shafts, and replant vegetation.
overshoot
The amount by which humanity's resource use, as measured by its ecological footprint, has surpassed Earth's long-term capacity to support us.
Radiative Forcing
The amount of change in thermal energy that a factor (like greenhouse gas or an aerosol) causes in influencing Earths temperature. Positive numbers indicate net warming of Earth's surface, whereas negative numbers indicate cooling.
half-life
The amount of time it takes for one half of atoms of a radioisotope to emit radiation and decay.
transform plate boundary
The area where 2 tectonic plates meet and slip and grind alongside one another, creating earthquakes. For example,the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate rub against one another alone California's San Andreas Fault.
convergent plate boundary
The area where tectonic plates converge or come together. Can result in subduction or continental collision.
divergent plate boundary
The area where tectonic plates push apart from one another as magma rises upward to the surface, creating new lithosphere as it cools and spreads. A prime example is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
background extinction rate
The average rte of extinction that occurred before the appearance of humans. For example, the fossil record indicates that for both birds and mammals, one species in the world typically became extinct every 500-1000 years.
Albedo
The capacity of a surface to reflect light. Higher albedo values refer to greater reflectivity.
landslide
The collapse and downhill flow of large amounts of rock or soil. A severe and sudden form of mass wastings.
Carbon Footprint
The cumulative amount of carbon, or carbon dioxide, that a person or a institution emits, and is indirectly responsible for emitting, into the atmosphere, contributing to global climate change.
ecological footprint
The cumulative area of biologically productive land and water required to provide the raw materials a person or population consumes and to dispose of or recycle the waste that is produced.
fossil record
The cumulative body of fossils worldwide, which paleontologists study to infer the history of past life on Earth.
Carbon Neutrality
The date in which an individual, business, or institution emits no net carbon into the atmosphere. This may be achieved by reducing carbon emissions and/or employing carbon offsets emissions.
extinction
The disappearance of an entire species from Earth.
mass wasting
The downslope movement of soil and rock due to gravity.
sediment
The eroded remains of rocks.
convergent evolution
The evolutionary process by which very unrelated species acquire similar traits as they adapt to selective pressures from similar environments.
mass extinction events
The extinction of a large proportion of the world's species in a very short time period die to some extreme and rapid change or catastrophic event. Earth has seen five mass extinction events in the past half billion years.
lithification
The formation of rock through processes of compaction and cementation.
niche
The functional role of a species in a community.
exponential growth
The increase of a population by a fixed percentage each year.
core
The innermost part of Earth, made up mostly of iron that lies beneath the crust and mantle.
urbanization
a population's shift from rural living to city and suburban living.
crust
The lightweight outer layer of Earth, consisting of rock that floats atop the malleable mantle, which in turn surrounds a mostly iron core.
Weather
The local physical properties of the troposphere, such as temperature, pressure, humidity, cloudiness and wind over relatively short time periods.
mantle
The malleable (plastic) layer of rock that lies beneath Earth's crust and surrounds a mostly iron core
carrying capacity
The maximum population size that a given environment can sustain.
continental collision
The meeting of two tectonic plates of continental lithosphere at a convergent plate boundary, wherein the continental crust on both sides resists subduction and instead crushes together, bending, buckling, and deforming layers of rock and forcing portions of the buckled crust upward, often creating mountain ranges.
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
The most comprehensive study/compilation of the condition of the world's ecological systems and their capacity to continue supporting our civilization. Makes clear that our degradation of environmental systems is having a negative impact, but with care and diligence we can turn these trends around.
population size
The number of individual organisms present at a given time in a population.
population density
The number of individuals within a population per unit area.
lithosphere
The outer layer of Earth, consisting of crust and uppermost mantle and located just above the asthenosphere. More generally, the solid part of Earth, including the rocks, sediment, and soil at the surface and extending down many miles underground.
Climate
The pattern of atmospheric conditions (temp and precip) found across large geographic regions over long periods of time.
Saving Hawaii's Native Forest Birds
The percentage of species of birds on the brink of extinction is higher than anywhere else in the world. Endangered birds such as the Aki have learned to evolve as new islands formed and the environment changed. Today global climate change poses a big challenge and conservation biologists are working hard to fend off extinction.
first law of thermodynaics
The physical law stating that energy can change from one form to another, but cannot e created or lost. The total energy in the universe remains constant and is said to be conserved.
Law of Conservation of Matter
The physical law stating that matter may be transformed from one type of substance into others, but that it cannot be created or destroyed
second law of thermodynamics
The physical law stating that the nature of energy tends to change from a more ordered state to a less ordered state; that is, entropy increases.
subduction
The plate tectonic process by which denser crust slides beneath lighter crust at a convergent plate boundary. Often results in volcanism.
treatment
The portion of an experiment in which a variable has been manipulated in order to test its effect.
plate tectonics
The process by which Earth's surface is shaped by the extremely slow movement of tectonic plates, or sections of crust. Earth's surface includes about 15 major tectonic plates. Their interaction gives rise to processes that build mountains, cause earthquakes, and otherwise influence the landscape.
cellular respiration
The process by which a cell uses the chemical reactivity of oxygen to split glucose into its constituent parts, water and carbon dioxide, and thereby release chemical energy that can be used to form chemical bonds or to perform other tasks within the cell.
peer review
The process by which a manuscript submitted for publication in an academic journal is examined by specialists in the field, who provide comments and criticism and judge whether the work merits publication in the journal.
photosynthesis
The process by which autotrophs produce their own food. Sunlight powers a series of chemical reactions that convert carbon dioxide and water into sugar, thus transforming low quality energy from the sun into high quality energy the organism can use.
chemosynthesis
The process by which bacteria in hydrothermal vents use the chemical energy of hydrogen sulfide to transform inorganic carbon into organic compounds.
speciation
The process by which new species are generated.
habitat selection
The process by which organisms select habitats from among the range of options they encounter.
habitat use
The process by which organisms use habitats from among the range of options they encounter.
recombination
The process by which the genetic material of male and female organisms become mixed and recombined in sexual reproduction, generating novel combinations of genes in the offspring.
natural selection
The process by which traits that enhance survival and reproduction are passed on more frequently to future generations or organisms than traits that do not, thus altering the genetic makeup of populations through time, Natural selection acts on genetic variation and is a primary driver of evolution.
adaptation
The process by which traits that lead to increased reproductive success in a given environment evolve in a population through natural selection.
Ocean Acidification
The process where today's oceans are attaining a lower pH as a result of increased carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. It occurs as ocean water absorbs CO2 from the air.
acids/acidic
The property of a solution in which the concentration of hydrogen (H+) ions is greater than the concentration of hydroxide (OH-) ions.
bases/basic
The property of a solution in which the concentration of hydroxide (OH-) ions is greater than the concentration of hydrogen (H+) ions.
sex ratio
The proportion of males to females in a population.
Mitigation
The pursuit of strategies to lessen the severity of climate change, notably by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.
Adaption
The pursuit of strategies to protect ourselves from the impacts of climate change.
radioactive
The quality by which some isotopes decay, changing their chemical identity as they shed atomic particles and emit high energy radiation.
population growth rate
The rate of change in a population's size per unit time, taking into accounts births, deaths, immigration, and emigration.
rate of natural increase
The rate of change in a population's size resulting from birth and death rates alone, excluding migration. Also called natural rate of population change.
energy conversion efficiency
The ratio of the useful output of energy to the amount that needs to be input.
dose response
The relationship between the quantity or intensity of a treatment regimen and its effect on living cells, tissues, or organisms.
age distribution/age structure
The relative numbers of organisms of each age within a population. Age distributions can have a strong effect on rates of population growth or decline and are often expressed as a ratio of age classes, consisting of organisms not yet mature enough to reproduce, capable of reproduction, and beyond their reproductive years.
fossil
The remains, impression, or trace of an animal or plant of past geological ages that has been preserved in rock or sediments.
overburden
The rock and soil that are removed from a site to mine the minerals underneath.
ecology
The science that deals with the distribution and abundance of organisms, the interactions among them, and the interactions between organisms and their abiotic environments.
geology
The scientific study of Earth's physical features, processes, and history.
environmental science
The scientific study of how the natural world functions, how our environment affects, us and how we affect our environment.
community ecology
The scientific study of patterns of species diversity and interactions among species, from one to one interactions to complex interrelationships involving entire communities.
agricultural revolution
The shift around 10,000 years ago from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to an agricultural way of life in which people began to grow crops and raise domestic animals.
industrial revolution
The shift beginning in the mid-1700s from rural life, animal-powered agriculture, and manufacturing by craftsmen to an urban society powered by fossil fuels.
atoms
The smallest component of an element that maintains the chemical properties of that element.
population distribution
The spatial arrangement of organisms within a particular area.
habitat
The specific environment in which an organism lives, including both biotic and abiotic factors.
Glaciation
The spread of ice sheets from the polar regions far into Earths temperate zones during cold periods of Earths history.
ecosystem ecology
The study of how the living and nonliving components of ecosystems interact.
population ecology
The study of the quantitative dynamics of population change and the factors that affect the distribution and abundance of members of a population.
biosphere
The sum total of all planet's living organisms and the abiotic portions of the environment with which they interact.
environment
The sum total of our surroundings, including all of the living things and nonliving things with which we interact.
Interglacial
The term describing relativity warm periods in Earth's history that occur between periods of glaciation.
gross domestic product (GDP)
The total monetary value of final goods and services produced in a country each year. It sums up all economic activity, whether good or bad, and does not account for benefits such as volunteerism or for external costs such as environmental degradation and social upheaval.
scientific method: dependent variable
The variable that is affected by manipulation of the independent variable in an experiment.
scientific method: independent variable
The variable that the scientist manipulates during an experiment.
biodiversity
The variety of life across all levels of biological organization, including the diversity of species, their genes, their populations, and their communities.
rock cycle
The very slow process in which rocks and the minerals that make them up are heated, melted, cooled, broken, and reassembled, forming igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks.
Greenhouse Effect
The warming of Earth's surface and lower atmosphere caused by increased infrared energy from earth's surface that is trapped by greenhouse gasses in the troposphere.
O horizon
This layer generally forms above the mineral soil or occurs in an organic soil profile. The "____" stands for organic matter. It is a surface layer dominated by the presence of large amounts of organic material derived from dead plant and/or animal residues which is in varying stages of decomposition.
C horizon
This layer, which can also be called "parent rock" or substratum, is little affected by soil-forming processes and they thus have a lack of pedological development. In other words, the _____ horizon is the unconsolidated material.
zooplankton
Tiny aquatic animals that feed on phytoplankton and generally comprise the second trophic level in an aquatic food chain.
Herman Daly
To achieve a steady state economy, economist ____________ believes that we will need to rethink our assumptions and fundamentally change the way we conduct economic transactions.
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
U.S. agency that promotes soil conservation, as well as water quality protection and pollution control. Prior to 1994, known as the Soil Conservation Service.
Citizens United vs. FEC (2010)
U.S. constitutional law and corporate law case dealing with the regulation of campaign spending by organizations.
General Mining Act of 1872
U.S. law that legalized and promoted mining by private individuals on public lands for just $5 per acre with no government oversight.
Clean Air Act of 1990
U.S. legislation that strengthened regulations pertaining to air quality standards, auto emissions, toxic air pollution, acid deposition, and depletion of the ozone layer, while also introducing market based incentives to reduce pollution.
Conservation Reserve Program
U.S. policy in farm bills since 1985 that pays farmers to stop cultivating highly erodible cropland and instead place it in conservation reserves planted with grasses and trees.
conservation reserve program
U.S. policy in farm bills since 1985 that pays farmers to stop cultivating highly erodible cropland and instead place it in conservation reserves planted with grasses and trees.
CERCLA
United States federal government program designed to fund the cleanup of sites contaminated with hazardous substances and pollutants. It was established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980.
Soil Conservation Act of 1935
United States federal law that allowed the government to pay farmers to reduce production so as to conserve soil and prevent erosion.
Certified Sustainable Paper in Your Textbook (NewPage)
Upper Peninsula of Michigan - paper from textbook from diverse forest there. Trees used to make paper were selected for harvest based on a sustainable management plan designed to avoid depleting the forest of its manure trees or degrading the ecological functions of the forest.
Aerosols
Very fine liquid droplets or solid particles aloft in the atmosphere.
ecotourism
Visitation of natural areas for tourism and recreation. Most often involves tourism by more affluent people, which may generate economic benefits for less affluent communities near natural areas and thus provide economic incentives for conservation of natural areas.
goods
a materiel commodity manufactured for and bought by individuals and businesses.
Sweden's Search for Alternative Energy
When the events at Chernobyl occurred Sweden started to search for alternative options and they started to phase out nuclear power and it started to get postponed. Then Fukushima happened and the government started to shift their policies towards renewable energies.
Testing the Safety of Bisphenol A
While studying health impacts of BPA a lab assistant accidentally cleaned a mice cage with a more harsh soap than they were supposed to, which affected the cage and the mice inside it. The plastic in the cage contained BPA and when BPA is treated with heat or acidity it leaches out into water or food. This overall had a negative effect on the mice and led to a controlled experiment to see if exposure to this chemical will effect the development of the mice.
river system
a river and all its tributaries. These drain watersheds.
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
a 1973 treaty facilitated by the United Nations that protects endangered species by banning the international transport of their body parts.
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
a 1994 treaty among canada, mexico, and the united states that reduced or eliminated barriers to trade among these nations. Side agreements were negotiated to minimize the degree to which protections for workers and the environment were undermined.
roadless rule
a 2001 clinton administration executive order that put 31% of national forest land off limits to road construction or maintenance.
Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
a 2004 international treaty that aims to end the use of 12 persistent organic pollutants nicknamed the "dirty dozen."
E. Coli
a Gram negative gammaproteobacterium commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms
oxbow lake
a U-shaped water body that becomes isolated from a river when river water erodes a shortcut from one end of an oxbow to the other, so that the river pursues a direct course.
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)
a United States federal law that set up the basic U.S. system of pesticide regulation to protect applicators, consumers, and the environment.
Salmonella
a bacterium that occurs mainly in the intestine, especially a serotype causing food poisoning.
savanna/tropical grassland
a biome characterized by grassland interspersed with clusters of acacias and other trees. It's found across parts of Africa, South America, Australia, India, and other dry tropical regions.
tropical rainforest
a biome characterized by year round rain and uniformly warm temperatures. Found in Central America, South America, Southeast Asia, and West Africa. They have dark, damp interiors; lush vegetation; and highly diverse biotic communities.
temperate deciduous forest
a biome consisting of midlatitude forests characterized by broad leafed trees that lose their leaves each fall and remain dormant during winter. These forests occur in areas where precipitation is spread relatively evenly throughout the year: much of Europe, eastern china, and eastern North America.
temperate rainforest
a biome consisting of tall coniferous trees, cooler and less species rich than tropical rainforest and milder and wetter than temperate deciduous forest.
tropical dry forest
a biome that consists of deciduous trees and occurs at tropical and subtropical latitudes where wet and dry seasons each span about half of the year. Widespread in India, Africa, South America, and northern Australia.
tundra
a biome that is nearly as dry as a desert but is located at very high latitudes along the northern edges of Russia, Canada, and Scandinavia. Extremely cold winters with little daylight and moderately cool summers with lengthy days characterize this landscape of lichens and low, scrubby vegetation.
temperate grasslands/prairie/steppe
a biome whose vegetation is dominated by grasses and features more extreme temperature differences between winter ans summer and less precipitation than temperate deciduous forests.
case law
a body of law made up of cumulative decisions rendered by courts.
endocrine system
a body's hormone system
Thomas Malthus "An Essay on the Principle of Population"
a book that predicted a grim future, as population would increase geometrically, doubling every 25 years, but food production would only grow arithmetically, which would result in famine and starvation, unless births were controlled. The book overlooked potential improvements in farming such as steam-powered machines, chemical fertilizers, drip irrigation, night lighting, or genetically modified organisms.
Paul Ehrlich "The Population Bomb"
a book that warns of the mass starvation of humans in the 1970s and 1980s due to overpopulation, as well as other major societal upheavals, and advocated immediate action to limit population growth.
sick building syndrome
a building related illness produced by indoor pollution in which the specific cause is not identifiable.
forest types
a category of forest defined by its predominant tree species.
emergent properties
a characteristic that is not evident in a system's components.
hormones
a chemical messenger that travels through the bloodstream to stimulate growth, development, and sexual maturity and to regulate brain function, appetite, sexual drive, and many other aspects of physiology and behavior.
carcinogens
a chemical or type of radiation that causes cancer.
convective circulation
a circular current driven by temperature differences. In the atmosphere, warm air rises into regions of lower atmospheric pressure, where it expands and cools and then descends and becomes denser, replacing warm air that is risin. The air picks up heat and moisture near ground level and prepares to rise again, continuing the process.
feedback loop
a circular process in which a system's output serves as input to that same system.
smart growth
a city planning concept in which a community's growth is managed in ways intended to limit sprawl and maintain or improve residents quality of life.
halocarbons
a class of human made chemical compounds derived from simple hydrocarbons in which hydrogen atoms are replaced by halogen atoms such as bromine, fluorine, or chlorine. Many are ozone depleting substances and greenhouse gases.
sulfur dioxide
a colorless gas that can result from the combustion of coal. In the atmosphere, it may react to form sulfur trioxide and sulfuric acid, which may return to Earth in acid deposition.
carbon monoxide
a colorless, odorless gas produced primarily by the incomplete combustion to fuel.
formaldehyde
a common synthetically made volatile organic compound that causes a variety of health impacts.
climax community
a community that remains in place with little modification until disturbance restarts the successional process. Today, ecologists recognize that community change is more variable and less predictable than originally thought and that assemblages of species may instead form complex mosaics in space and time.
breakdown products
a compound that results from the degradation of a toxicant.
overnutrition
a condition of excessive food intake in which people receive more than their daily caloric needs.
undernutrition
a condition of insufficient nutrition in which people receive less than 90% of their daily caloric needs.
incineration
a controlled process of burning solid waste for disposal in which mixed garbage is combusted at very high temperatures.
Safe Harbor agreements
a cooperative agreement that allows landowners to harm threatened or endangered species in some ways if they voluntarily improve habitat for the species in others.
external cost
a cost borne by someone not involved in an economic transaction. Examples include harm to citizens from water pollution or air pollution discharged by nearby factories.
conservation district
a county-based entity created by the soil conservation service to promote practices to conserve soil.
ethical standards
a criterion that helps differentiate right from wrong.
cover crops
a crop that covers and anchors the soil during times between main crops, intended to reduce erosion.
dose-response curve
a curve that plots the response of test animals to different doses of a toxicant, as a result of dose-response analysis.
typhoons
a cyclonic storm that forms over the ocean but can do damage upon its arrival on land.
cyclones
a cyclonic storm that forms over the ocean it can do damage upon its arrival on land.
humus
a dark, spongy, crumbly mass of material made up of complex organic compounds, resulting from the partial decomposition of organic matter.
pyroclastic flow
a dense, destructive mass of very hot ash, lava fragments, and gases ejected explosively from a volcano and typically flowing downslope at great speed.
temperature inversion/thermal inversion
a departure from the normal temperature distribution in the atmosphere, in which a pocket of relatively cold air occurs near the ground, with warmer air above it. The cold air, denser than the air above it, traps pollutants near the ground and can thereby cause a buildup of smog.
soil degradation
a deterioration of soil quality and decline in soil productivity, resulting primarily from forest removal, cropland agriculture, and overgrazing of livestock.
ecological economics
a developing school of economics that applies the principles of ecology and systems thinking to the description and analysis of economies.
environmental economics
a developing school of economics that modifies the principles of neoclassical economics to address environmental challenges. Most believe that we can attain sustainability within our current economic systems. They call for revolution, and for reform.
transit-oriented development
a development approach in which compact communities in the new urbanism style are arrayed around stops on a major rail transit line.
non-point source
a diffuse source of pollutants, often consisting of many small sources.
vested interest
a direct interest in some condition or policy change due to the prospect for personal or financial benefit, even if this counteracts the common good.
infectious disease
a disease in which a pathogen attacks a host.
surface impoundments
a disposal method for hazardous waste or mining waste in which waste in liquid or slurry form is placed into a shallow depression lined with impervious material such as clay and allowed to evaporate, leaving a solid residue on the bottom.
horizon
a distinct layer of soil.
directional drilling
a drilling technique in which a drill bores down vertically and then bends horizontally in order to follow layered deposits for long distances from the drilling site. This enables us to extract more fossil fuels with less environmental impact at the surface.
nuclear reactor
a facility within a nuclear power plant that initiates and controls the process of nuclear fission in order to generate electricity
harmful algal blooms
a population explosion of toxic algae caused by excessive nutrient concentrations.
negative feedback loop
a feedback loop in which output of one type acts as input that moves the system in the opposite direction. The input and output essentially neutralize each other's effects, stabilizing the system.
positive feedback loop
a feedback loop in which output of one type acts as input that moves the system in the same direction. The input and output drive the system further toward one extreme or another.
organic fertilizer
a fertilizer made up of natural materials including animal manure; crop residues, fresh vegetation, and compost.
inorganic fertilizer
a fertilizer that consists of mined or synthetically manufactured mineral supplements. They are generally more susceptible than organic fertilizers to leaching and runoff and may be more likely to cause unintended of site impacts.
industrial agriculture
a form of agriculture that uses large scale mechanization and fossil fuel combustion, enabling farmers to replace horses and oxen with faster and more powerful means of cultivating, harvesting, transporting, and processing crops. Other aspects include irrigation and the use of inorganic fertilizers. Use of chemical herbicides and pesticides reduces competition from weeds and herbivory by insects.
Legionnaire's disease
a form of bacterial pneumonia first identified after an outbreak at an American Legion meeting in 1976. It is spread chiefly by water droplets through air conditioning and similar systems.
sustainable forestry certification
a form of ecolabeling that identifies timber products that have been produced using sustainable methods. The forest stewardship council and several other organizations issue such certification.
desertification
a form of land degradation in which more than 10% of a land's productivity is lost due to erosion, soil compaction, forest removal, overgrazing, drought, salinization, climate change, water depletion, or other factors. Severe desertification can result in the expansion of desert areas or creation of new ones.
kwashiorkor
a form of malnutrition that results from a high-starch diet with inadequate protein or amino acids. In children, causes bloating of the abdomen, deterioration and discoloration of hair, mental disability, immune suppression, developmental delays, anemia, and reduced growth.
marasmus
a form of malnutrition that results from protein deficiency together with a lack of calories, causing wasting or shriveling among millions of children in the developing world.
IPAT(S) model
a formula that represents how humans' total impact on the environment results from the interaction among three factors: population, affluence, and technology.
natural gas
a fossil fuel consisting primarily of methane and including varying amounts of other volatile hydrocarbons.
crude oil
a fossil fuel produced by the conversion or organic compounds by heat and pressure. It is a mixture of hundreds of different types of hydrocarbon molecules characterized by carbon chains of different lengths.
nitrogen dioxide
a foul smelling reddish brown gas that contributes to smog and acid decomposition. It results when atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen react at the high temperatures created by combustion engines.
phase or regime shift
a fundamental shift in the overall character of an ecological community, generally occurring after some extreme disturbance, and after which the community may not return to its original state.
permanent gases
a gas that remains at a stable concentration in the atmosphere.
transgenes
a gene that has been extracted from the DNA of one organism and transferred into the DNA of an organism of another species.
land degradation
a general deterioration of land that diminishes its productivity and biodiversity, impairs the functioning of its ecosystems, and reduces the ecosystem services the land can offer us.
Pfiesteria
a genus of heterotrophic dinoflagellates that has been associated with harmful algal blooms and fish kills. These complex organisms were claimed to be responsible for large fish kills in the 1980s and 1990s on the coast of North Carolina and in tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay.
subsidy
a government grant of money or resources to a private entity, intended to support and promote an industry or activity.
species-area curves
a graph showing how number of species varies with the geographic area of a landmass or water body. Species richness commonly doubles as area increases tenfold.
phthalates
a group of chemicals used to soften and increase the flexibility of plastic and vinyl. Polyvinyl chloride is made softer and more flexible.
microsporidia
a group of spore-forming unicellular parasites. They were once considered protozoans or protists, but are now known to be fungi, or a sister group to fungi.
red tides
a harmful algal bloom consisting of algae that produce reddish pigments that discolor surface waters.
secondary pollutants
a hazardous substance produced through the reaction of substances added to the atmosphere with chemicals normally found in the atmosphere.
primary pollutants
a hazardous substance, such as soot or carbon monoxide, that is emitted into the troposphere in a form that is directly harmful.
deep-well injection
a hazardous waste disposal method i which a well is drilled deep beneath an area's water table into porous rock below an impervious soil layer. Wastes are then injected into the well, so that they will be absorbed into the porous rock and remain deep underground, isolated from groundwater and human contact.
lead
a heavy metal that may be ingested through water or paint, or that may enter the atmosphere as a particulate pollutant through combustion of leaded gasoline or other processes. Atmospheric deposited on land and water can enter the food chain, accumulate within body tissues, and cause lead poisoning in animals and people.
factory fishing
a highly industrialized approach to commercial fishing, employing fossil fuels, huge vessels, and powerful new technologies to capture fish in immense volumes. These vessels even process and freeze their catches while at sea.
radon
a highly toxic, radioactive, colorless gas that seeps up from the ground in areas with certain types of bedrock and that can build up inside basements and homes with poor air circulation.
industrial ecology
a holistic approach to industry that integrates principles from engineering, chemistry, ecology, economics, and other disciplines and seeks to redesign industrial systems in order to reduce resource inputs and minimize inefficiency.
feedlots
a huge barn or outdoor pen designed to deliver energy-rich food to animals living at extremely high densities.
anthropocentrism
a human centered view of our relationship with the environment.
mountaintop removal mining
a large scale form of coal mining in which entire mountaintops are leveled. The technique exerts extreme environmental impact on surrounding ecosystems and human residents.
purse seine fishing
a large wall of netting deployed around an entire area or school of fish. The seine has floats along the top line with a lead line threaded through rings along the bottom. Once a school of fish is located, a skiff encircles the school with the net.
CAFOs/factory farms
a large, industrial operation that raises large numbers of animals for food. Over 99% of farm animals in the U.S. are raised on these farms, which focus on profit and efficiency at the expense of animal welfare.
precedents
a legal ruling that serves as a guide for later cases, steering judicial decisions throughout time.
green taxes
a levy on environmentally harmful activities and products aimed at providing a market-based incentive to correct market failures.
food chain
a linear series of feeding relationships. As organisms feed on one another, energy is transferred from lower to higher trophic levels.
shale oil
a liquid form of petroleum extracted from deposits of oil shale.
land trusts
a local or regional organization that preserves lands valued by its members. In most cases, they purchase land outright with the aim of preserving it in its natural condition.
landraces
a locally adapted domesticated variety of an agricultural crop native to a particular area.
pool or reservoir
a location in which nutrients in a biogeochemical cycle remain for a period of time before moving to another. Can be living or nonliving entities.
world heritage sites
a location internationally designated by the united nations for its cultural or natural value. There are over 900 such sites worldwide.
greenbelts
a long and wide corridor of parkland, often encircling an entire urban area.
dikes or levees
a long raised mound of earth erected along a river bank to protect against floods by holding rising water in the main channel.
barrier island
a long thin island that parallels a shoreline. Generally of sand of coral reef, barrier islands protect coasts from storms.
trench
a long, narrow ditch.
wise-use movement
a loose-knit coalition of groups promoting the expansion of private property rights and reduction of government regulation of publicly held property.
neoclassical economics
a mainstream economic school of thought that explains market prices in terms of consumer preferences for units of particular commodities and that uses cost benefit analysis.
carbon cycle
a major nutrient cycle consisting of the routes that carbon atoms take through the nested networks of environmental systems.
nitrogen cycle
a major nutrient cycle consisting of the routes that nitrogen atoms take through the nested networks of environmental systems.
phosphorus cycle
a major nutrient cycle consisting of the routes that phosphorus atoms take through the nested networks of environmental systems.
farmers' markets
a market at which local farmers and food producers sell fresh locally grown items.
coral reef
a mass of calcium carbonate composed of the skeletons of tiny colonial marine organisms called corals.
light rail
a mass transit rail system of trains powered by electricity, often at a moderate scale.
pH
a measure of concentration of hydrogen (H+) ions in a solution. The pH scale ranges from 0-14: A solution with a pH of 7 is neutral; solutions with a pH below 7 are acidic, and those with a pH higher than 7 are basic. Because the pH scale is logarithmic, each step on the scale represents a 10-fold difference in hydrogen ion concentration.
heat capacity
a measure of the heat energy required to increase the temperature of a given substance by a given amount.
genetic diversity
a measurement of the differences in DNA composition among individuals within a given species.
cost-benefit analysis
a method commonly used by neoclassical economists, in which estimated costs for a proposed action are totaled and then compared to the sum of benefits estimated to result from the action.
"slash and burn" agriculture
a method of agriculture used in the tropics, in which forest vegetation is felled and burned, the land is cropped for a few years, then the forest is allowed to reinvade.
landfill gas
a mix of gases that consists of roughly half methane produced by anaerobic decomposition deep inside landfills.
compost
a mixture produced when decomposers break down organic matter, such as food and crop waste, in a controlled environment.
Bacillus thuringiensis
a naturally occurring soil bacterium that produces a protein that kills many pests, including caterpillars and the larvae of some flies and beetles.
system
a network of relationships among a group of parts, elements, or components that interact with influence one another through the exchange of energy, matter, or information.
metapopulation
a network of subpopulations, most of whose members stay within their respective landscape patches, but some of whom move among patches or mate with member of other patches.
metapopulation
a network of subpopulations, most of whose members stay within their respective landscape patches, but some of whom move among patches or mate with members of other patches.
fossil fuels
a nonrenewable natural resource, such as crude oil, natural gas, or coal, produced by the decomposition and compression or organic matter from ancient life.
breeder nuclear fission
a nuclear reactor that generates more fissile material (material capable of sustaining a nuclear fission chain reaction) than it consumes
pathogens
a parasite that causes disease in its host.
free rider
a party that fails to invest in controlling pollution or carrying out other environmentally responsible activities and instead relies on the efforts of other parties to do so. For example, a factory that fails to control its emissions to get a "________" on the efforts of other factories that do make the sacrifices necessary to reduce emissions.
corridors
a passageway of protected land established to allow animals to travel between islands of protected habitat.
pest
a pejorative term for any organism that damages crops that are valuable to us. The term is subjective and defined by our own economic interests and is not biologically meaningful.
weed
a pejorative term for any plant that competes with our crops. The term is subjective and defined by our own economic interests, and is not biologically meaningful.
emissions trading system
a permit trading system for emissions in which a government issues marketable emissions permits to conduct environmentally harmful activities. Under a cap-and-trade system, the government determines an acceptable level of pollution and then issues permits to pollute. A company receives credit for amounts it does not emit and can then sell this credit to other companies.
Asian Brown Cloud, Atmospheric Brown Cloud
a persistent 2 mile thick layer of air pollution from southern Asia that hangs over the Indian subcontinent throughout the dry season, each December through April.
transcendentalism
a philosophical movement that flourished in the United States in the 1840s. Writers such as Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Walt Whitman viewed nature as a manifested of the divine, championed a spiritual approach of life, and critiqued society's focus on materials.
biocentrism
a philosophy that ascribes relative values to actions, entities, or properties on the basis of their effects on all living things or on the integrity of the biotic realm in general. The biocentrist evaluates an action in terms of its overall impact on living things, including human beings.
ecocentrism
a philosophy that considers actions in terms of their damage or benefit to the integrity of whole ecological systems, including both living and nonliving elements. For an ecocentrist, the well being of an individual is less important than the long term well being of a larger integrated ecological system.
closed system
a physical system that doesn't exchange any matter with its surroundings, and isn't subject to any force whose source is external to the system.
dead zone
a place or period in which nothing happens or in which no life exists.
epiphytes
a plant that grows atop another plant, rather than from soil. Many ferns, mosses, lichens, orchids, and bromeliads in tropical rainforests and cloudforests are epiphytes.
pollination
a plant-animal interaction in which one organism transfer pollen from flower to flower, fertilizing ovaries that grow into fruits with seeds.
pollination
a plant-animal interaction in which one organism transfers pollen from flower to flower, fertilizing ovaries that grow into fruits with seeds.
eminent domain
a policy in which a government pays landowners for their land at market rates and the landowners have no recourse to refuse. Courts set aside private property rights to make way for projects judged to be for the public good.
discounting
a practice in neoclassical economics by which short term costs and benefits are granted more importance than long term costs and benefits. Future effects are thereby "__________" under the notion that an impact far in the future should count much less than one in the present.
cogeneration
a practice in which the extra heat generated in the production of electricity is captured and put to use heating workplaces and homes, as well as producing other kinds of power.
multiple use
a principle guiding management policy for national forests specifying that forests be managed for recreation, wildlife habitat, mineral extraction, water quality, and other uses, as well as for timber extraction.
gasification
a process in which biomass is vaporized at extremely high temperatures in the absence of oxygen, creating a gaseous mixture including hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and methane, in order to produce biopower or biofuels.
acid drainage
a process in which sulfide minerals in newly exposed rock surfaces react with oxygen and rainwater to produce sulfuric acid, which causes chemical runoff as it leaches metals from the rocks. It is a natural phenomenon, but mining greatly accelerates it by exposing many new surfaces.
hydraulic fracturing/hydrofracking/fracking
a process to extract shale gas, in which a drill is sent deep underground and angled horizontally into a shale formation; water, sand, and chemicals are pumped in under great pressure, fracturing the rock; and gas migrates up through the drilling pipe as sand holds the fractures open.
hydraulic fracturing/hydrofracking/fracking
a process to extract shale gas, in which a drull is sent deep underground and angled horizontally into a shale formation; water, sand, and chemicals are pumped in under great pressure, fracturing the rock; and gas migrates up through the drilling pipe as sand holds the fractures open.
Haber-Bosch process
a process to synthesize ammonia on an industrial scale. Developed by German chemists Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch, the process has enabled humans to double the natural rate of nitrogen fixation on Earth and thereby increase agricultural productivity, but it has also dramatically altered the nitrogen cycle.
foresters
a professional who manages forests through the practice of forestry.
Superfund
a program administered by the environmental protection agency in which experts identify sites polluted with hazardous chemicals, protect groundwater near these sites, and clean up the pollution. Established by the comprehensive environmental response compensation and liability act.
millenium development goals
a program of targets for sustainable development set by the targets for sustainable development set by the international community through the united nations at the turn of this century.
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD)
a proposed international program to help address climate change in which wealthy industrialized nations would pay poorer developing nations to conserve forest. Under this plan, poor nations would gain income while rich nations receive carbon credits to offset their emissions in an international cap and trade system.
greenwashing
a public relations effort by a corporation or institution to mislead customers or the public into thinking it is acting more sustainably than it actually is.
mass transit
a public transportation system for a metropolitan area that moves large numbers of people at once. Buses, trains, subways, streetcars, trolleys, and light rail are types of this.
life-cycle analysis
a quantitative analysis of inputs and outputs across the entire life cycle of a product---from its origins, through its production, transport, sale, and use, and finally its disposal--- in an attempt to judge the sustainability of the process and make it more ecologically efficient.
life-cycle analysis
a quantitative analysis of inputs and outputs across the entire lifecycle of a product--from its origins, through its production, transport, sale, and use, and finally its disposal -- in an attempt to judge the sustainability of the process and make it more ecologically efficient.
material recovery facilities (MRFs)
a recycling facility where items are sorted, cleaned, shredded, and prepared for reprocessing into new items.
rainshadow
a region on one side of a mountain or mountain range that experiences arid climate. This occurs because moisture-laden air rising over the terrain from the opposite direction releases precipitation on the windward slope as it cools, leaving the air's humidity low as it descends over the peak and into the rainshadow region.
wildland-urban interface
a region where urban or suburban development meets forested or undeveloped lands.
urban growth boundary (UGB)
a regional boundary, set in an attempt to control urban sprawl by mandating that the area inside the boundary be used for higher density urban development and the area outside be used for lower density development.
symbiosis
a relationship between different species of organisms that live in close physical proximity. People most often use the term when referring to a mutualism, but these relationships can either be parasitic or mutualistic.
mutualism
a relationship in which all participating organisms benefit from their interaction.
parasitism
a relationship in which one organism, the parasite, depends on another, the host, for nourishment or some other benefit while simultaneously doing the hist harm.
environmental impact statement (EIS)
a report of results from detailed studies that assess the potential effects on the environment that would likely result from development projects or other actions undertaken by the government.
transboundary park
a reserve or protected land that overlaps national borders.
meandering river
a river that winds its way across its floodplain, depositing sediment on the riverbank on the insides of curves and eroding the riverbanks on the outside of curves.
ore/uranium ore
a rock that contains minerals of economic interest
shelterbelt/windbreaks
a row of trees or other tall perennial plants that are planted along the edges of farm fields to break the wind and thereby minimize wind erosion.
policy
a rule or guideline that directs individual, organizational, or societal behavior.
national parks
a scenic area set aside for recreation and enjoyment by the public and managed by the national park service. The U.S. national park system today numbers 397 sites totaling 84 million acres and includes national historic sites, national recreation areas, national wild and scenic rivers, and other areas.
conservation biology
a scientific discipline devoted to understanding the factors, forces, and processes that influence the loss, protection, and restoration of biodiversity within and among ecosystems.
urban ecology
a scientific field of study that views cities explicitly as ecosystems. Researchers in this field apply the fundamentals of ecosystem ecology and systems science to urban areas.
electricity
a secondary form of energy that can be transferred over long distances and applied for a variety of uses.
Tropospheric ozone
a secondary pollutant created by the interaction of sunlight, heat, nitrogen oxides, and volatile carbon containing chemicals. A major component of smog, it can injure living tissues and cause respiratory problems. An EPA criteria pollutant.
trophic cascade
a series of changes in the population sizes of organisms at different trophic levels in a food chain, occurring when predators at high trophic levels indirectly promote populations of organisms at low trophic levels by keeping species at intermediate trophic levels in check. This may become apparent when a top predator is eliminated from a system.
new forestry
a set of ecosystem based management approaches for harvesting timber that explicitly mimic natural disturbances. For instance, "sloppy clear cuts" that leave a variety of trees standing mimic the changes a forest might experience if hit by a severe windstorm.
dose-response analysis
a set of experiments that measure the response of test animals to different doses of a toxicant. The response in generally quantified by measuring the proportion of animals exhibiting negative effects.
Ogallala Aquifer
a shallow water table aquifer surrounded by sand, silt, clay and gravel located beneath the Great Plains in the United States.
model
a simplified representation of a complex natural process, designed by scientists to help understand how the process occurs and to make predictions.
sanitary landfills
a site at which solid waste is buried in the ground or piled up in large mounds for disposal, designed to prevent the waste from contaminating the environment.
interest groups
a small group of people seeking private gain that may work against the larger public interest.
microclimate
a small scale localized pattern of weather conditions.
suburbs
a smaller community located at the outskirts of a city.
tributary
a smaller river that flows into a larger one.
demography/demographers
a social science that applies the principles of population ecology to the study of statistical change in human populations.
economy
a social system that converts resources into goods and services.
methane clathrate/methane ice
a solid clathrate compound in which a large amount of methane is trapped within a crystal structure of water, forming a solid similar to ice.
umbrella species
a species for which meeting its habitat needs automatically helps meet those of many other species. Umbrella species generally are species that require large areas of habitat.
pioneer species
a species that arrives earliest, beginning the ecological process of succession in a terrestrial or aquatic community.
keystone species
a species that has an especially far reaching effect on a community.
flagship species
a species that has wide appeal with the public and that can be used to promote conservation efforts that also benefit other, less charismatic, species.
invasive species
a species that spreads widely and rapidly becomes dominant in a community, interfering with the community's normal functioning.
executive orders
a specific legal instruction for government agencies ordered by the U.S. president.
regulations
a specific rule issued by an administrative agency, based on the more broadly written statutory law passed by congress and enacted by the president.
point source
a specific spot such as a factory where large quantities of air pollutants or water pollutants are discharged.
primary treatment
a stage of wastewater treatment in which contaminants are physically removed. Wastewater flows into tanks in which sewage solids, grit, and particulate matter settle to the bottom. Greases and oils float to the surface and can be skimmed off.
inbreeding depression
a state that occurs in a population when genetically similar parents mate and produce weak or defective offspring as a result.
bottleneck
a step in a process that limits the progress of the overall process.
secondary succession
a stereotypical series of changes as an ecological community develops over time beginning when some event disrupts or dramatically alters an existing community.
primary succession
a stereotypical series of changes as an ecological community develops over time, beginning with the lifeless substrate. In terrestrial systems, this begins when a bare expanse of rock, sand or sediment becomes newly exposed to the atmosphere and pioneer species arrive.
succession
a stereotypical series of changes in the composition and structure of an ecological community through time.
seed banks
a storehouse for samples of the world's crop diversity.
greenways
a strip of park land that connects parks or neighborhoods; often located along rivers, streams, or canals.
epidemiological studies
a study that involves large scale comparisons among groups of people, usually contrasting a group known to have been exposed to some toxicant and a group that has not.
kerogen
a substance derived from deeply buried organic matter that acts as a source material for both natural gas and crude oil.
toxicant
a substance that acts as a poison to humans or wildlife.
fertilizer
a substance that promotes plant growth by supplying essential nutrients such as nitrogen or phosphorus.
subsistence economy
a survival economy, one in which people meet most or all of their daily needs directly from nature and do not purchase or trade for most of life's necessities.
atrazine
a synthetic compound used as an agricultural herbicide.
DDT
a synthetic organic compound used as an insecticide. Like other chlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons, it tends to persist in the environment and become concentrated in animals at the head of the food chain. Its use is now banned in many countries.
community supported agriculture (CSA)
a system in which consumers pay farmers in advance for a share of their yield, usually in the form of weekly deliveries of produce.
wetlands
a system in which the soil is saturated with water and that generally features shallow standing water with ample vegetation. These biologically productive systems include freshwater marshes, swamps, bogs, and seasonal kinds such as vernal pools.
baghouse
a system of large filters that physically removes particulate matter from incinerator emissions.
tort law
a system of law addressing harm caused by one entity to another, which operates primarily through lawsuits.
El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
a systematic shift in atmospheric shift in atmospheric pressure, sea surface temperature, and ocean circulation in the tropical pacific ocean.
tax break
a tax concession or advantage allowed by a government.
Swidden agriculture
a technique of rotational farming in which land is cleared for cultivation (normally by fire) and then left to regenerate after a few years.
contingent valuation
a technique that uses surveys to determine how much people would be willing to pay to protect a resource or to restore it after damage has been done.
pumped storage
a technique used to generate hydroelectric power, in which water is pumped from a lower reservoir to a higher reservoir when power demand is weak and prices are low. When demand is strong and prices are high, water is allowed to flow downhill through a turbine, generating electricity.
biocapacity
a term in ecological footprint accounting meaning the amount of biologically productive land and sea available to us.
paper park
a term referring to parks that are protected on paper but not in reality.
demographic transition
a theoretical model of economic and cultural change that explains the declining death rates and birth rates that occurred in Western nations as they became industrialized. The model holds that industrialization caused these rates to fall naturally by decreasing morality and by lessening the need for large families. Parents would thereafter choose to invest in quality of life rather than quantity of children.
entropy
a thermodynamic quantity representing the unavailability of a system's thermal energy for conversion into mechanical work, often interpreted as the degree of disorder or randomness in the system.
bitumen
a thick and heavy form of petroleum rich in carbon and poor in hydrogen. The fossil fuel component of oil sands.
command-and-control
a top down approach to policy, in which a legislative body or a regulating agency sets rules, standards, or limits and threatens punishment for violations of those limits.
toxins
a toxic chemical stored or manufactured in the tissues of living organisms. For example, a chemical that plants use to ward off herbivores or that insects use to deter predators.
neurotoxins
a toxicant that assaults the nervous system. They include heavy metals, pesticides, and some chemical weapons developed for use in war.
teratogens
a toxicant that causes harm to the unborn, resulting in birth defects.
mutagens
a toxicant that causes mutations in the DNA of organisms.
endocrine disruptors
a toxicant that interferes with the endocrine system.
pathway inhibitors
a toxicant that interrupts vital biochemical processes in organisms by blocking one or more steps in important biochemical pathways. Compounds in the herbicide atrazine kill plants by locking key steps in the process of photosynthesis.
biosphere reserves
a tract of land with exceptional biodiversity that couples preservation with sustainable development to benefit local people. These reserves are designated by UNESCO (the united nations educational, scientific, and cultural organization) following application by local stakeholders.
debt-for-nature swap
a transaction in which a conservation organization pays off a portion of a developing nation's international debt in exchange for the nation's promise to set aside reserves, fund environmental education, and better manage protected areas.
ecotone
a transitional zone where ecosystems meet.
conventions or treaties
a treaty or binding agreement among national governments.
mangroves
a tree with a unique type of roots that curve upward to obtain oxygen, which is lacking in the mud in which they grow, and that serve as stilts to support the tree in changing water levels. They grow on the coastlines of the tropics and subtropics.
fungicide
a type of chemical pesticide that kills fungi.
insecticides
a type of chemical pesticide that kills insects.
herbicides
a type of chemical pesticide that kills plants.
co-management
a type of community-based conservation in which government agencies work with local people to jointly and cooperatively manage a protected area and its resources.
conservation concessions
a type of concession in which a conservation organization purchases the right to prevent resource extraction in an area of land, generally to preserve habitat in developing nations.
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
a type of halocarbon consisting of only chlorine, fluorine, carbon, and hydrogen. They were used as refrigerants, fire extinguishers, propellants for aerosol spray cans, cleaners for electronics, and for making polystyrene foam. They were phased out under the montreal Protocol because they are ozone depleting substances that destroy stratospheric ozone.
vernal pools
a type of seasonal wetland that forms in spring from rain and snowmelt and then dries up later in the year.
swamps
a type of wetland consisting of shallow water rich with vegetation, occurring in a forested area.
bogs
a type of wetland in which a pond is thoroughly covered with a thick floating mat of vegetation.
freshwater marshes
a type of wetland in which shallow water allows plants such as cattails to grow above the water surface.
nonmarket values
a value that is not usually included in the price of a good or service.
scientific method: control
a variable has been left unmanipulated, kept the same, so only one variable is tested.
flexible-fuel vehicles
a vehicle that run on E-85, a mix of up to 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline
climatograph
a visual representation of a region's average monthly temperature and precipitation.
food web
a visual representation of feeding interactions within an ecological community that shows an array of relationships between organisms at different trophic levels.
septic systems
a wastewater disposal method, common in rural areas, consisting of an underground tank and series of drainpipes. Wastwater runs from the house to the tank, where solids precipitate out. The water proceeds downhill to a drain field of perforated pipe laid horizontally in gravel filled trenches, where microbes decompose the remaining waste.
confined or artesian aquifer
a water bearing, porous layer of rock, sand, or gravel that is trapped between an upper and lower layer of less permeable substrate, such as clay. The water in this is under pressure because it is trapped between two impermeable layers.
unconfined aquifer
a water bearing, porous layer of rock, sand, or gravel that lies atop a less permeable substrate. The water in a ________________ is not under pressure because there is no impermeable upper layer to confine it.
world view
a way of looking at the world that reflects a person's beliefs about the meaning, purpose, operation, and essence of the world.
clean coal technologies
a wide array of techniques, equipment, and approaches that seek to remove chemical contaminants during the process of generating electricity from coal.
Cassandra
a worldview that predicts doom and disaster as a result of our environmental impacts. In greek mythology, it was referred to as a princess of Troy with the gift of prophecy, whose dire predictions were not believed.
cornucopia
a worldview that we will find ways to make Earth's natural resources meet all of our needs indefinitely and that human ingenuity will see us through any difficult. In Greek mythology, it is the name for a magical goat's horn that overflowed with grain, fruit, and flowers.
thermohaline circulation
a worldwide system of ocean currents in which warmer, fresher water moves along the surface and colder, saltier water moves deep beneath the surface.
pycnocline
a zone of the ocean beneath the surface in which density increases rapidly with depth.
Habitat Conservation plans
an arrangement under the endangered species act that allows a landholder or agency to harm an endangered species if it also mitigates the harm by improving habitat for the species.
acid rain
acid deposition that takes place through rain.
"farm bill"
act of Congress that authorizes nutrition and agriculture programs in the United States for the years of 2014-2018.
Marine Debris Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act (2006)
act that requires a program to "identify, determine sources of, assess, prevent, reduce, and remove marine debris and address the adverse impacts of marine debris on the economy of the United States, marine environment, and navigation safety."
Timber Culture Act of 1873
act was designed to promote tree-planting in the treeless areas of the West. It granted homesteaders and other entrants an additional 160 acres of land if they planted and cultivated at least 40 acres of trees within 10 years.
lead poisoning
acute or chronic poisoning due to the absorption of lead into the body.
Discounting and Global Climate Change
addresses the cost on society that global climate change would have. Nicholas stern concluded that spending a small amount now could prevent larger costs in the future.
Oil on Alaska's North Slope
after geologists assessed the subsurface geology of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on Alaska's North Slope they predicted with 95% certainty that between 11.6 and 31.5 billion barrels of oil lay underneath the region. But people wondered if it would even be worth it because some portion of that oil was impossible to extract using our current technology.
Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA)
agency of the United States Department of Labor. Congress established the agency under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which President Richard M. Nixon signed into law on December 29, 1970.
Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
agency within the United States Department of the Interior that administers more than 247.3 million acres of public lands in the United States which constitutes one-eighth of the landmass of the country.
sustainable agriculture
agriculture that can be practiced in the same way and in the same place far into the future. Sustainable agriculture does not deplete soils faster than they form, nor reduce the clean water and genetic diversity essential to long term crop and livestock production.
sustainable agriculture
agriculture that can be practiced in the same way and in the same place far into the future. Sustainable agriculture does not deplete soils faster than they form, nor reduce the clean water and genetic diversity essential to long-term crop and livestock production.
conservation tillage
agriculture that limits the amount of tilling (plowing, disking, harrowing, or chiseling) of soil.
organic agriculture
agriculture that uses no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides but instead relies on biological approaches such as composting and biocontrol.
low-input agriculture
agriculture that uses smaller amounts of pesticides, fertilizers, growth hormones, water, and fossil fuel energy than are used in industrial agriculture.
toxic air pollutants
air pollutant that is known to cause cancer, reproductive defects, or neurological, developmental, immune system, or respiratory problems in humans, and to cause substantial ecological harm by affecting the health of nonhuman animals and plants. The Clean Air Act of 1990 identifies 188 toxic air pollutants, ranging from the heavy metal mercury to volatile organic compounds such as benzene and methylene chloride.
indoor air pollution
air pollution that occurs indoors.
ambient air pollution/outdoor air pollution
air pollution that occurs outdoors.
ozone depleting substances
airborne chemicals, such as halocarbons, that destroy ozone molecules and thin the ozone layer in the stratosphere.
ecosystem
all organisms and nonliving entities that occur and interact in a particular area at the same time.
hydrosphere
all water--salt or fresh, liquid, ice or vapor--in surface bodies, underground and in the atmosphere.
pesticides
an artificial chemical used to kill insects, plants, or fungi.
Mt. St. Helens eruption
allowed ecologist to study how communities recover from catastrophic disturbance after the eruption. They studied things such as how primary succession unfolds on a fresh volcanic surface, which organisms would arrive first, and how long it would take for this recovery to happen.
pyrolysis
alternative method of heating biomass in the absence of oxygen
hydrofracking the marcellus shale
although money and jobs were created from the gas boom, residents started having second thoughts about the drilling because of air pollution from drilling sites, heavy truck traffic, and the residents are unable to drink their water because of the strange chemical smells and color.
Norman Borlaug
american agricultural scientist who introduces specially bred crops to developing nations in the 20th century, helping to spur the green revolution.
Tyrone Hayes
an American biologist and professor of Integrative Biology at University of California, Berkeley known for his research findings concluding that the herbicide atrazine is an endocrine disruptor that demasculinizes and feminizes male frogs.
food security
an adequate, reliable, and available food supply to all people at all times.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
an administrative agency charged with conducting and evaluating research, monitoring environmental quality, setting standards, enforcing those standards, assisting the states in meeting standards and goal for environmental protection, and educating the public.
agricultural extension agents
an agent employed by the county government to work with farmers to increase crop yields, prevent erosion, eliminate blights, or pests.
low-pressure system
an air mass in which air moves toward the low atmospheric pressure at the center of the system and spirals upward, typically bringing clouds and precipitation.
high-pressure system
an air mass with elevated atmospheric pressure, containing air that descends, typically bringing fair weather.
new urbanism
an approach among architects, planners, and developers that seeks to design neighborhoods in which homes, businesses, schools, and other amenities are within walking distance of one another. Proponents of this aum to combat sprawl by creating functional neighborhoods in which families can meet most of their close to home without the use of a car.
triple bottom line
an approach to sustainability that attempts to meet environmental, economic, and social goal simultaneously.
national monuments
an area of designated public land that may later become a national park.
national forest
an area of forested public land managed by the U.S. forest service. The system consists of 191 million acres in many tracts spread across all but few states.
brownfields
an area of land whose redevelopment or reuse is complicated by the presence or potential presence of hazardous material.
national wildlife refuge
an area of public land set aside to serve as a haven for wildlife and also sometimes to encourage hunting, fishing, wildlife observation, photography, environmental education, and other uses. The system of 550 sites is managed by the U.S. fish and wildlife service.
marine reserves
an area of the ocean designated as a no fishing zone, allowing no extractive activities.
marine protected area (MPAs)
an area of the ocean set aside to protect marine life from fishing pressures. They may be protected from some human activities but be open to others.
Dust bowl
an area that loses huge amounts of topsoil to wind erosion as a result of drought and human impact. First used to name the region in the North American Great Plains severely affected by drought and topsoil loss in the 1930s. The term is now also used to describe that historical event and other like it.
biodiversity hotspots
an area that supports an especially great diversity of species, particularly species that are endemic to the area.
estuaries
an area where a river flows into the ocean, mixing fresh water with salt water.
estuary
an area where a river flows into the ocean, mixing fresh water with salt water.
sinkholes
an area where the ground has given way with little warning as a result of subsidence caused by depletion of water from an aquifer.
recharge zone
an area where water infiltrates earth's surface and reaches an aquifer below.
genuine progress indicator (GPI)
an economic indicator that attempts to differentiate between desirable and undesirable economic activity. It accounts for benefits such as volunteerism and for costs such as environmental degradation and social upheaval.
centrally planned economy
an economy in which a nation's government determines how to allocate resources in a top-down manner.
capitalist market economy
an economy in which buyers and sellers interact to determine which goods and services to produce, how much of them to produce, and how to distribute them.
mixed economies
an economy that combines elements of a capitalist market economy and a centrally planned economy.
steady-state economics
an economy that does not grow or shrink but remains stable.
nutrients
an element or compound that organisms consume and require for survival.
emergent trees
an especially tall tree that protrudes above the canopy of a tropical rainforest.
conservation ethic
an ethic holding that people should put natural resources to use but also have a responsibility to manage them wisely.
preservation ethic
an ethic holding that we should protect the natural environment in a pristine, unaltered state.
categorical imperative
an ethical standard described by Immanuel Kant, which roughly approximates Christianity's "golden rule" to treat others you would want to be treated.
principle of utility
an ethical standard, elaborated by British philosophers Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, holding that something is right when it produces the greatest practical benefits for the most people.
relativists
an ethicist who maintains that ethics do and should vary with social context.
universalists
an ethicist who maintains that there exist objective notions of right and wrong that hold across cultures and situations.
disturbance
an event that affects environmental condition rapidly and drastically, resulting in changes to the community and ecosystem. It can be natural or can be caused by people.
La Nina
an exceptionally strong cooling of surface water in the equatorial pacific ocean that occurs every 2 to 7 years and has widespread climatic consequences.
edge effects
an impact on organisms, populations, or communities that results because conditions along the edge of a habitat fragment differ from condition in the interior.
demographic fatigue
an inability on the part of governments to address overwhelming challenges related to population growth.
waste-to-energy (WTE)
an incinerator that uses heat from its furnace to boil water to create steam that drives electricity generation or that fuels heating systems.
BPA
an industrial chemical that has been used to make certain plastics and resins since the 1960s. Bisphenol A is found in polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. Polycarbonate plastics are often used in containers that store food and beverages, such as water bottles.
biophilia
an inherent love for and fascination with nature and an instinctive desire people have to affiliate with other living things. Defined by biologist E.O. Wilson as "the connections that human beings subconsciously seek with the rest of life."
parasitoids
an insect that parasitizes other insects, generally causing eventual death of the host.
Green Revolution
an intensification of the industrialization of agriculture in the developing world in the latter half of the 20th century that has dramatically increased crop yields produced per unit area of farmland. Practices include devoting large areas to monocultures of crops specially bred for high yields and rapid growth; heavy use of fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation water; and sowing and harvesting on the same piece of land more than once per year or per season.
synergistic effects
an interactive effect that is more than different from the simple sum of their constituent effects.
Convention on Biological Diversity
an international treaty that aims to conserve biodiversity, use biodiversity in a sustainable manner, and ensure the fair distribution of biodiversity's benefits.
Giardia
an intestinal infection marked by abdominal cramps, bloating, nausea and bouts of watery diarrhea. __________ infection is caused by a microscopic parasite that is found worldwide, especially in areas with poor sanitation and unsafe water.
herbivore/herbivory
an organism that consumes plants.
secondary consumer
an organism that consumes primary consumers and feeds at the third trophic level.
primary consumer
an organism that consumes producers and feeds at the second trophic level.
tertiary consumer
an organism that consumes secondary consumers and feeds at the fourth trophic level.
genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
an organism that has been genetically engineered using recombinant DNA technology.
vector
an organism that transfers a pathogen to its host. An example is a mosquito that transfers the malaria pathogen to humans.
producers or autotrophs
an organism that uses energy from sunlight to produce its own food. Includes green plants, algae, and cyanobacteria.
classical economics
founded by Adam Smith, the study of the behavior of buyers and sellers in a capitalist market economy. Holds that individuals acting in their own self interest may benefit society, provided that their behavior is constrained by the rule of law ans by private property rights and operates within competitive markets.
decomposer
an organism, such as a fungus or bacterium, that breaks down leaf litter and other non living matter into simple constituents that can be taken up and used by plants.
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
an organization not affiliated with any national government, and frequently international in scope, that pursues a particular mission or advocates for a particular cause.
species coexistence
an outcome of interspecific competition in which no competing species fully excludes others and the species continue to live side by side.
competitive exclusion
an outcome of interspecific competition in which one species excludes another species from resource use entirely.
aquifer
an underground water reservoir.
continental rise
an underwater feature found between the continental slope and the abyssal plain. This feature can be found all around the world, and it represents the final stage in the boundary between continents and the deepest part of the ocean.
mid-ocean ridge/oceanic ridge
an underwater mountain range, formed by plate tectonics. This uplifting of the ocean floor occurs when convection currents rise in the mantle beneath the oceanic crust and create magma where two tectonic plates meet at a divergent boundary.
Red List
an updated list of species facing unusually high risks of extinction. The list is maintained by the world conservation union.
Pesticides and Child Development- Mexico's Yaqui Valley
anthropologist Elizabeth Guillette studied the effects of pesticides on children. In the Yaqui valley farming has become a big part of their lives and they tend to apply pesticides 45 times from planting to harvest. Elizabeth tested children from ages 4-5 from the valley and from from the foothills. She found that the valley children had much worse results.
dam
any obstruction placed in a river or stream to block the flow of water so that water can be stored in a reservoir. These are built to prevent floods, provide drinking water, facilitate irrigation, and generate electricity.
run-of river
any of several methods used to generate hydroelectric power without greatly disrupting the flow of the river water. Run-of-river approaches eliminate much of t he environmental impact of large dams.
asbestos
any of several types of mineral that form long, thin microscopic fibers-- a structure that allows asbestos to insulate buildings for heat, muffle sound, and resist fire. When inhaled and lodged in lung tissue, it scars the tissue and may eventually lead to lung cancer.
genetic engineering
any process scientists use to manipulate an organism's genetic material in the lab by adding, deleting, or changing segments of its DNA.
building-related illness
any sickness caused by indoor pollution.
waste
any unwanted product that results from a human activity or process.
wastewater
any water that is used in households, businesses, industries, or public facilities and is drained or flushed down pipes, as well as the polluted runoff from streets and storm drains.
variable gases
are gases present in small and variable amounts. These include carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, water vapor, and particulates among others.
Adam Smith
founded classical economics.
drylands
arid and semi-arid environments that are prone to desertification and that cover about 40% of Earth's land surface.
amensalism
association between organisms of two different species in which one is inhibited or destroyed and the other is unaffected.
biopower
attained by combusting bioenergy sources to generate electricity
denitrifying bacteria
bacteria that convert the nitrates in soil or water to gaseous nitrogen and release it back into the atmosphere.
nitrogen-fixing bacteria
bacteria that live independently in the soil or water, or those that form mutualistic relationships with many types of plants and provide nutrients to the plants by converting gaseous nitrogen to a usable form.
traditional agriculture
biologically powered agriculture, in which human and animal muscle power, along with hand tools and simple machines, perform the work of cultivating, harvesting, storing, and distributing crops.
Aral sea
body of water located in central Asia where the withdrawal of surface water is causing it to shrink and dry up.
subcanopy
canopy of foliage occurring underneath the uppermost canopy of a woodland or forest, typically consisting of large shrubs or small trees.
Fighting Over Fire & Forests
controversy over whether forests should be cut down for timber or left in place after a fire. They argue when its cut down forests better regenerate when they are logged and replanted with new seedlings, and by cutting down the burned trees they are preventing fuel for another fire. But they also argue that burned wood is more valuable left in place for erosion control, wildlife habitats, and letting the organic material enhance the soil.
biomass
in ecology, organic material that makes up living organisms, and in energy, it is organic material derived from living or recently living organisms, containing chemical energy that originated with photosynthesis.
chemical hazards
chemicals that pose human health hazards. These include toxins produced naturally, as well as many of the disinfectants, pesticides, and other synthetic chemicals that our society produces.
polar vortex
circular wind currents that trap air over Antarctica during winter, worsening ozone depletion over the continent.
resource sink
cities and towns have to import from beyond their borders and nearly everything they need to feed, clothe, and house their inhabitants and power their commerce.
Facing a High CO2 Future
civilization has radically altered the Earth's carbon cycle by burning fossil fuels and deforesting landscapes, this causes the atmosphere to contain very high levels of carbon dioxide. There are many studies today to see how plants react to a change in gas composition in a changing environment.
B horizon
commonly referred to as the "subsoil". In humid regions, these horizons are the layers of maximum accumulation of materials such as silicate clays, iron (Fe) and aluminum (Al) oxides, and organic material. These materials typically accumulate through a process termed illuviation, wherein the materials gradually wash in from the overlying horizons.
E horizon
commonly used to label a horizon that has been significantly leached of clay, iron, and aluminum oxides, which leaves a concentration of resistant minerals, such as quartz, in the sand and silt sizes. These are present only in older, well-developed soils, and generally occur between the A and B horizons.
intraspecific competition
competition that takes place among members of the same species.
interspecific competition
competition that takes places among members of two or more different species.
Three Gorges Dam
completed in 2006 in China for power generation and flood control, created the world's largest hydroelectric facility.
Geographic Information Loop (GIS)
computer software that takes multiple types of data and overlays them on a common set of geographic coordinates. The idea is to create a complete picture of a landscape and to analyze how elements of the different data sets are arrayed spatially and how they may be correlated. A common tool of geographers, landscape ecologists, resource managers, and conservation biologists.
even-aged
condition of timber plantations--generally monocultures of a single species-- in which all trees are of the same age. Most ecologists view plantations of these stands more as crop agriculture than as ecologically functional forests.
concentrated animal feeding operations
confines animals for more than 45 days during a growing season, in an area that does not produce vegetation, and meets certain size thresholds.
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
congressional legislation that specifies, among other things. how to manage sanitary landfills to protect against environmental contamination.
Aldo Leopold
forester and wildlife manager. He viewed ecological systems dependent on all of their interacting parts.
biogeochemical cycles
cycling of substances is a pathway by which a chemical substance moves through both biotic (biosphere) and abiotic (lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere) components of Earth.
RESTORE Act
dedicates 80 percent of all Clean Water Act penalties paid by those responsible for the 2010 gulf oil disaster to Gulf Coast restoration.
Organic Food Production Act (1990)
define standard organic farming practices and on a National List of acceptable organic production inputs. Private and state certifiers will visit producers, processors, and handlers to certify' that their operations abide by the standards. Once certified, these operations may affix a label on their product stating that it "Meets USDA Organic Requirements." It will be illegal for anyone to use the word "organic" on a product if it does not meet the standards set in the law and regulations
thermal pollution
degradation of water quality by any process that changes ambient water temperature. A common cause of this is the use of water as a coolant by power plants and industrial manufacturers.
tar sands/oil sands
deposits that can be mined from the ground, consisting of moist sand and clay containing 1-20% bitumen. Oil sands represent crude oil deposits that have been degraded and chemically altered by water erosion and bacterial decomposition. Widely envisioned as a replacement for crude oil as this resource is depleted.
Immanuel Kant
describes the ethical standard of categorial imperative (golden rule)
electronic waste (e-waste)
discarded electronic products such as computers, monitors, printers, televisions, DVD players, cell phones, and other devices. Heavy metals in these products mean that this waste may be judged hazardous.
exploratory drilling
drilling that takes place after a fossil fuel deposit has been identified, in order to gauge how much of the fuel exists and whether extraction will prove worthwhile.
Starving the Louisiana Coast of Sediment
due to people modifying the Mississippi river many sediments don't reach the wetlands that need them. This overall effects Louisiana's coastline and is detrimental to the wetlands that are already slowly shrinking.
Predicting the Ocean's "Garbage Patches"
due to the plastic pollution and debris found in the oceans scientists put buoy like floating drifters into the ocean. These drifters gathered data of wind currents and water currents so the scientist could predict where debris could be accumulating.
ED50
effective dose, for 50% of people receiving the drug.
ecological restoration
efforts to reverse the effects of human disruption of ecological systems and to restore communities to their condition before the disruption.
ecological restoration
efforts to reverse the effects of human disruption of ecological systems and to restore communities to their condition before the disruption. The practice that applies principles of restoration ecology.
John Stuart Mill
elaborated the ethical standard of principle of utility.
macronutrients
elements and compounds required in relatively large amounts by organisms. Examples include nitrogen, carbon, and phosphorus.
micronutrients
elements and compounds required in relatively small amounts by organisms.
bioenergy/ biomass energy
energy harnessed from plant and animal matter, including wood from trees, charcoal from burned wood, and combustible animal waste products, such as cattle manure
kinetic energy
energy of motion.
seismic surveying
form of geophysical survey that aims at measuring the earth's properties by means of physical principles such as magnetic, electric, gravitational, thermal, and elastic theories.
Times Beach
entire town was evacuated here while buildings were being demolished because they were contaminated by dioxin in the 1970s by waste oil sprayed on its roads.
open system
exchanges energy(heat and work) and matter with the environment
chronic exposure
exposure for long periods of time to a toxicant occurring in low amounts.
acute exposure
exposure to a toxicant occurring in high amounts for short periods of time.
Iowa's Farmers Practice No-Till Agriculture
father/son Iowa farmers abandon the practice of tilling and now turn to no-till farming so there would be less erosion from wind and water. This improves the soil quality because other residue is left over from the old harvest and there is less erosion that occurs so there is more organic material in the soil and more water is able to be soaked up, which all promotes plant growth. This form of farming also saves time and money because they don't have to plow the fields as often so less machinery is used.
FDA (food and drug administration)
federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments.
wilderness areas
federal land that is designated off limits to development of any kind but is open to public recreation, such as hiking, nature study, and other activities that have minimal impact on the land.
Clean Air Act
federal law designed to control air pollution on a national level. It is one of the United States' first and most influential modern environmental laws, and one of the most comprehensive air quality laws in the world.
Resources Conservation and Recovery Act
federal law in the United States governing the disposal of solid waste and hazardous waste.
Clean Water Act
federal law in the United States governing water pollution.
Safe Drinking Water Act
federal law in the United States intended to ensure safe drinking water for the public.
General Mining Law of 1872
federal law that authorizes and governs prospecting and mining for economic minerals, such as gold, platinum, and silver, on federal public lands.
Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)
federal law that protects public drinking water supplies throughout the nation. Under the _____________, EPA sets standards for drinking water quality and with its partners implements various technical and financial programs to ensure drinking water safety.
Swampland Acts 1849
first act granted all swamp and overflow lands in Louisiana to the State for reclamation. (government promoted wetland drainage)
Gifford Pinchot
first professionally trained american forester, and founded the U.S. Forest Service and served as its president.
driftnets
fishing net that spans large expanses of water, arrayed strategically to drift with currents so as to capture passing fish, and held vertical by floats at the top of weights at the bottom. This results in substantial bycatch of dolphins, seals, sea turtles, and nontarget fish.
bottom-trawling, trawling
fishing practice that involves dragging weighted nets across the seafloor to catch benthic organisms. This crushes many organisms in its path and leaves long swaths of damaged sea bottom.
longline fishing
fishing practice that involves setting out extremely long lines with up to several thousand baited hooks spaced along their lengths. Kills turtles, sharks, and an estimated 300,000 seabirds each year as bycatch.
salt marshes
flat land that is intermittently flooded by the ocean where the tide reaches inland. They occur along temperate coastlines and are thickly vegetated with grasses, rushes, shrubs, and other herbaceous plants.
genetically modified foods
food derived from a genetically modified organism.
Using Forensics to Uncover Illegal Whaling
forensic science is being used to catch the bad guys in the multi-billion dollar illegal global wildlife trade. Due to DNA sequencing technology scientist were able to analyze whale meat to see if the meat was being illegally hunted. They found that the meat being sold contained many subspecies that were off limits, so the data showed the meat animals were being hunted.
secondary forests
forest that has grown back after primary forest has been cut, and consists of second growth trees.
nonconsumptive use
fresh water use in which the water from a particular aquifer or surface water body either is not removed or is removed only temporarily and then returned. The use of water to generate electricity in hydroelectric dams is an example.
biofuels
fuel produced from biomass energy sources and used primarily to power automobiles.
air pollutants
gases and particulate material added to the atmosphere that can affect climate or harm people or other organisms.
global distillation
geochemical process by which certain chemicals, most notably persistent organic pollutants, are transported from warmer to colder regions of the Earth, particularly the poles and mountain tops.
FERC (federal energy regulatory commission)
government agency, established in 1977 to oversee the country's interstate transmission and pricing of a variety of energy resources, including electricity, natural gas and oil.
Managing Growth in Portland Oregon
governor Tom McCall challenged the state to take action against runaway sprawling development. Every city and county was required to come up with a land use plan. As a part of their plan they also each had to establish an urban growth boundary (UGB), which is a line from areas which are to remain rural to urban areas.
LD50
he amount of an ingested substance that kills 50 percent of a test sample. It is expressed in mg/kg, or milligrams of substance per kilogram of body weight. Common name. Toxin. Lethal doses.
polar stratospheric clouds
high altitude icy clouds containing condensed nitric acid, which enhance the destruction of stratospheric ozone in the spring.
evolutionary arms race
host and parasite repeatedly evolve new responses to the other's latest advance.
biological hazards
human health hazards that result from ecological interactions among organisms. These include parasitism by viruses, bacteria, or other pathogens.
cultural or lifestyle hazards
human health hazards that result from the pace we live, our socioeconomic status, our occupation, or our behavioral choices. These include choosing to smoke, or living with people who do.
economic development
improvement in the efficiency of production due to better technologies and approaches that allow us to produce more goods with fewer inputs.
sink
in a nutrient cycle, a pool that accepts more nutrients than it releases.
source
in a nutrient cycle, a pool that releases more nutrients than it accepts.
inversion layer
in a temperature inversion, the band of air in which temperature rises with altitude.
limnetic zone
in a water body, the layer of open water through which sunlight penetrates.
profundal zone
in a water body, the volume of open water that sunlight does not reach.
100 year flood
in any given year, there is a 1% chance of this major flood.
community
in ecology, an assemblage of populations of organisms that live in the same place at the same time.
area effect
in island biogeography theory, the pattern that large islands host more species than smaller islands, because larger islands provide larger targets for immigration and because extinction rates are reduced.
distance effect
in island biogeography theory, the patterns that island far from a mainland host fewer species because fewer species tend to find and colonize it.
mosaic
in landscape ecology, a spatial configuration of patches arrayed across a landscape.
patches
in landscape ecology, spatial areas within a landscape. Depending on a researcher's perspective, they may consist of a habitat for a particular organism, or communities, or ecosystems. Any array of these forms a mosaic.
co-firing
in power plants where wood chips, wood pellets, or other biomass is introduced with coal into a high-efficiency boiler
Deepwater Horizon Spill
in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect is known as the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. Following the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, a sea-floor oil gusher flowed for 87 days, until it was capped on July 15, 2010. This spill had a huge impact on wildlife and their environments.
photic zone
in the ocean or a freshwater body, the well lit top layer of water where photosynthesis occurs.
upwelling
in the ocean, the flow of cold, deep water toward the surface. It occurs in areas where surface currents diverge.
downwelling
in the ocean, the flow of warm surface water toward the ocean floor. Downwelling occurs where surface currents converge.
permafrost
in tundra, underground soil that remains more or less permanently frozen.
Living Planet Index
index that expresses how large the average population size of a species is now, relative to its size in the year 1970.
World Bank
institution founded in 1944 that serves as on of the globe's largest sources of funding for economic development, including such a major projects as dams, irrigation infrastructure, and other undertakings.
Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety
international agreement on biosafety as a supplement to the Convention on Biological Diversity effective since 2003. It seeks to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by genetically modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology.
conventional law
international law that arises from conventions, or treaties, that nations agree to enter into.
customary law
international law that arises from long standing practices, or customs, held in common by most cultures.
Montreal Protocol
international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances that are responsible for ozone depletion.
Montreal Protocol
international treaty ratified in 1987 in which 180 signatory nations agreed to restrict production of chlorofluorocarbons in order to halt stratospheric ozone depletion. This was a protocol of the Vienna Convention for the protection of the ozone layer. It is widely considered the most successful effort to date in addressing global environmental problem.
Kyto Protocol
international treaty that commits State Parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the premise that (a) global warming exists and (b) human-made CO2 emissions have caused it.
socially responsible investing
investing in companies that have met criteria for environmental or social sustainability.
phytoplankton
microscopic photosynthetic algae, protists, and cyanobacteria that drift near the surface of water bodies and generally form the first trophic level in an aquatic food chain.
selection systems
method of timber harvesting whereby single trees or groups of trees are selectively cut while others are left, creating an uneven aged stand.
Clean Water Act
its objective is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters by preventing pollution.
cropland
land that people use to raise plants for food and fiber.
rangeland
land used for grazing livestock.
xeriscaping
landscaping using plants that are adapted to arid conditions.
kelp
large brown algae or seaweed that can form underwater "forests", providing habitat for marine organisms.
Tracking Trash
launched in 2009 in New York and Seattle to document what actually happens to your trash and recyclables once you throw them away in hopes to make trash removal more effective and encourage better recycling in the future.
U.S. Oil Pollution Act (1990)
law to prevent civil liability from the future oil spills off the coast of the United States. It forms part of oil spill governance in the United States.
Homestead Act of 1862
laws that gave an applicant ownership of land, typically called a "homestead", at little or no cost.
bottle bills
laws that require deposits to be paid on beverages sold in recyclable bottles and cans.
hazardous waste
liquid or solid waste that is toxic, chemically reactive, flammable, or corrosive.
effluent
liquid waste or sewage discharged into a river or the sea.
leachate
liquids that seep through liners of a sanitary landfill and reach into the soil underneath.
hotspots
localized areas where plugs of molten rock from the mantle erupt through the crust. As tectonic plate moves across a hotspot, repeated eruptions from this source may create a linear series of volcanoes.
biome
major regional complex of similar plant communities; a large ecological unit defined by its dominant plant type and vegetation structure.
Louis Guillette
man who studied alligators in Florida and discovered that many showed bizarre reproductive systems. He hypothesized that this was because of chemical contaminants from agricultural runoff.
National Forest Management Act (1976)
mandating that plans for renewable resource management be drawn up for every national forest. These plans ere to be explicitly based on the concepts of multiple use and maximum sustainable yield and be open to broad public participation.
cap-and-trade
market-based approach to controlling pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants.
National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)
maximum allowable concentrations of criteria pollutants in ambient outdoor air, set by the U.S. EPA.
case history
medical approach involving the observation and analysis of individual patients.
biogas
methane-rich gas produced by bacterial action in anaerobic digestion facilities and can be burned in a power plant to generate electricity
subsurface mining
method of mining underground deposits of coal, mineral, or fuels, in which shafts are dug deeply into the ground and networks of tunnels are dug or blasted out to follow coal seams.
corporate average fuel efficiency standards (CAFE)
miles per gallon fuel efficiency standards set by the U.S. Congress for auto manufacturers to meet, by a sales weighted average of all models of the manufacturer's fleet.
Measuring the Health Impacts of Mexico City's Air Pollution
most health impacts of urban pollution affects the respiratory system. In a city like Mexico City where there are high altitudes, the thin air forces people to breathe deeply to obtain oxygen and forcing air pollutants into people's lungs. As a result, it's proven that respiratory problems are common and there are more emergency room visits when population is severe.
endemic
native or restricted to a particular geographic region. An endemic species occurs in one areas and nowhere else on Earth.
liquified natural gas (LNG)
natural gas that has been converted to a liquid at low temperatures and that can be shipped land distances in refrigerated tankers.
shale gas
natural gas trapped deep underground in tiny bubbles dispersed throughout formations of shale, a type of sedimentary rock. And often extracted by hydraulic fracturing.
littoral
near the shore of a water body.
municipal solid waste
non-liquid waste that is not especially hazardous and that comes from homes, institutions, and small businesses.
industrial solid waste
non-liquid waste that is not especially hazardous and that comes from production of consumer goods, mining, petroleum extraction and refining, and agriculture.
anaerobic
occurring in an environment that has little or no oxygen. The conversion of organic matter to fossil fuels at the bottom of a deep lake, swamp, or shallow sea is an example of this form of decomposition.
aerobic
occurring in an environment where oxygen is present. For example, the decay of a rotting log proceed by this decomposition.
intertidal
of, relating to, or living along shorelines between the highest reach of the highest tide and the lowest reach of the lowest tide.
benthic zone
of, relating to, or living on the bottom of a body of water.
nitrogen oxides
one of a family of compounds that includes nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide.
volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
one of a large group of potentially harmful organic chemicals used in industrial processes. One of six major pollutants whose submissions are monitored by the EPA and state agencies.
Ferrel cells
one of a pair of cells of convective circulation between 30 and 60 degrees north and south latitude that influence global climate patterns.
Hadley cells
one of a pair of cells of convective circulation between the equator and 30 degrees north and south latitude that influence global climate patterns.
polar cells
one of a pair of cells of convective circulation between the poles and 60 degrees north and south latitude that influence global climate patterns.
National Environmental Policy Act
one of the first laws ever written that establishes the broad national framework for protecting our environment.
carbon storage or sequestration
technologies or approaches to sequester, or store, carbon dioxide from industrial emissions in an effort to mitigate global climate change. We are still a long way from developing adequate technology and secure storage space to accomplish this.
biomass
organic material that makes up living organisms; the collective mass of living matter in a given place and time. In energy, organic material derived from living or recently living organisms, containing chemical energy that originated with photosynthesis.
biosolids
organic matter recycled from sewage, especially for use in agriculture.
World Trade Organization (WTO)
organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, that represents multinational corporations and promotes free trade by reducing obstacles to international commerce and enforcing fairness among nations in trading practices.
United Nations (UN)
organization founded in 1945 to promote international peace and to cooperate in solving international economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian problems.
coal
our most abundant fossil fuel. A hard blackish substance formed from organic matter that was compressed under very high pressure and with little decomposition, creating dense, solid carbon structures.
tropospheric ozone
ozone that occurs in the troposphere, where it is a secondary pollutant created by the interaction of sunlight, heat, nitrogen oxides, and volatile carbon containing chemicals. A major component of smog, it can injure living tissues and cause respiratory problems.
fly ash
particulate matter from incinerator emissions, often containing pollutants.
How Productive is Organic Farming?
people believe that since organic farming puts fewer synthetic chemicals into the soil, air, and water than conventional industrial farming that it won't produce enough yields to feed the human population. But studies on organic farming from Switzerland and Pennsylvania show that the organic crop yields were very close to the yields of conventional farming.
character displacement
phenomenon resulting from competition among species in which competing species evolve characteristics that better adapt them to specialize on the portion of the resource they use. The species essentially become more different from one another, reducing their competition.
physical hazards
physical processes that occur naturally in our environment and pose human health hazards. These include discrete events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, fires, floods, blizzards, landslides, hurricanes, and droughts, as well as ongoing natural phenomena such as ultraviolet radiation from sunlight.
regional planning
planning similar to city planning but conducted across broader geographic scales, generally involving multiple municipal governments.
intercropping
planting different types of crops in alternating bands or other spatially mixed arrangements.
public policy
policy made by governments, including those at the local, state, federal, and international levels; it consists of legislation, regulations, orders, incentives, and practices intended to advance societal welfare.
european union (EU)
political and economic organization formed after WW2 to promote Europe's economic and social progress. As of 2013, the EU consisted of 27 member nations.
light pollution
pollution from urban or suburban lights that obscures the night sky, impairing people's visibility of stars.
PCBs
polychlorinated biphenyls, are industrial products or chemicals. Contamination of this is high in the Housatonic River and New Bedford Harbor in Massachusetts. They were banned in the U.S. in 1979 amid suggestions that these chemicals could have unintended impacts on human and environmental health.
subspecies
populations of a species that occur in different geographic areas and vary from one another in some characteristics. Subspecies are formed by the same processes that drive speciation but result when divergence does not proceed far enough to create separate species.
scrubbers
technology to chemically treat gases produced in a combustion in order to reduce smokestack emissions. These devices typically remove hazardous components and neutralize acidic gases, such as sulfur dioxide and hydrochloric acid, turning them into water and salt.
tradewinds
prevailing winds between the equator and 30 degrees latitude that blow from east to west.
westerlies
prevailing winds from 30 to 60 degrees latitude that blow from west to east.
polluter-pays principle
principle specifying that the party responsible for producing pollution should pay the costs of cleaning up the pollution or mitigating its impacts.
cation exchange
process by which plant's roots donate hydrogen ions to the soil in exchange for cations (positively charged ions) such as those of calcium, magnesium, and potassium, which plants use as nutrients. The soil particles then replenish these cations by exchange with soil water.
biodiesel
produced by mixing vegetable oil, used cooking grease, or animal fat with small amounts of ethanol or methanol in the presence of a chemical catalyst
biofuel
produced from biomass energy sources and used primarily to power automobiles.
cellulosic ethanol
produced from the cellulose in plant tissues by treating it with enzymes. techniques for producing this are still under development because of the desire to make ethanol from low-value crop waste
U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act (1972)
protects all marine mammals, including cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises), pinnipeds (seals and sea lions), sirenians (manatees and dugongs), sea otters, and polar bears within the waters of the United States.
Endangered Species Act
provides for the conservation of species that are endangered or threatened throughout all or a significant portion of their range, and the conservation of the ecosystems on which they depend.
environmental policy
public policy that pertains to human interactions with the environment. It generally aims to regulate resource use or reduce pollution to promote human welfare and/or protect natural systems.
trophic levels
rank in the feeding hierarchy of a food chain. Organisms at higher levels consume those at lower levels.
"circle of poison"
refers to the export of domestically banned pesticides for use on foods elsewhere, some of which returns by way of import.
Toxic Substances Control Act
regulates the introduction of new or already existing chemicals.
riparian
relating to a river or the area along a river.
commensalism
relationship between two organisms where one receives a benefit or benefits from the other and the other is not affected by it. In other words, one is benefited and the other is neither benefited nor harmed.
competition
relationship in which multiple organisms seek the same limited resource.
Soil and Water Conservation Act
requires USDA to periodically prepare a national plan for soil and water conservation on private lands based on an inventory and appraisal of existing resource conditions and trends.
volcanic island arc
result from the subduction of an oceanic tectonic plate under another tectonic plate, and often parallel an oceanic trench.
Clean Air Act of 1970
revision of prior U.S. legislation to control air pollution that set stricter standards for air quality, imposed limits on emissions from new stationary and mobile sources, provided new funds for pollution control research, and enabled citizens to sue parties violating the standards.
fuel rods
rods of uranium that supply the fuel for nuclear fission and are kept bathed in a moderator in a nuclear reactor
conservation biologist
scientific discipline devoted to understanding the factors, forces, and processes that influence the loss, protection, and restoration of biodiversity within and among ecosystems.
Swampland Act 1850
second act granted swamp and overflow lands to 12 other States. (government promoted wetland drainage)
Did Soap Operas Reduce Fertility in Brazil?
second largest drop in fertility, but not enforced by government. One reason why this occurred is because of the civil rights movement in this country allowing woman to have jobs/careers and even electing a woman president. But oddly the growth of soap operas or "novelas" promoted the ideal family to its viewers and had a great impact on culture and fertility.
silt
sediment consisting of particles 0.002-0.005 mm in diameter.
sand
sediment consisting of particles 0.005-2.0 mm in diameter.
clay
sediment consisting of particles less than 0.002 mm in diameter.
oil shale
sedimentary rock filled with kerogen that can be processed to produce liquid petroleum. It is formed by the same processes that form crude oil but occurs when kerogen was not buried deeply enough or subjected to enough heat and pressure to form oil.
affluenza
term coined by social critics to describe the failure of material goods to bring happiness to people who have the financial meant to afford them.
oligotrophic
term describing a water body that has low nutrient and high oxygen conditions.
petroleum
similar to crude oil, however the term is also used to refer to both oil and natural gas together.
Chernobyl
site of a nuclear power plant in the Ukraine where in 1986 an explosion caused the most severe nuclear reactor accident the world has ever seen
criteria pollutnants
six air pollutants--carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, tropospheric ozone, particulate matter, and lead-- for which the Environmental Protection Agency has established maximum allowable concentrations in ambient outdoor air because of the threats they pose to human health.
loam
soil with a relatively even mixture of clay, silt, and sand sized particles.
lithosols
soils with high mineral content and low organic matter content.
particulate matter
solid of liquid particles small enough to be suspended in the atmosphere and able to damage respiratory tissues when inhaled. Includes primary pollutants such as dust and soot as well as secondary pollutants such as sulfates and nitrates.
introduced species
species introduced by human beings from one place to another. A minority of introduced species may become invasive species.
CERCLA ("Superfund")
stands for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, known also as Superfund. It was passed in 1980 in response to some alarming and decidedly unacceptable hazardous waste practices and management going on in the 1970s.
takings clause
states that "private property [shall not] be taken for public use, without just compensation."
resource management
strategic decision making about how to extract resources, so that resources are used wisely and conserved for the future.
waste management
strategic decision making to minimize the amount of waste generated and to dispose of waste safely and effectively.
Testing the Toxicity of "E-Waste"
studies done by researchers and engineers to determine whether electronic waste is hazardous waste or not. They did a various amount of tests to test the toxicity of electronic devices so we will know how to best dispose of this waste.
Is it Better in a Bottle
study to find out if bottled water is actually healthier or better than tap water. So scientists took 10 major brands of water and ended up finding 38 chemical pollutants.
bagasse
sugarcane residue that is crushed and then used to make ehanol
zooxanthellae
symbiotic algae that inhabit the bodies of corals and produce food through photosynthesis.
NIMBY
syndrome in which people do not want something near where they live, even if they may want or need the thing to exist somewhere else.
plastics
synthetic (human made) polymers used in numerous manufactured products.
Mapping Our Population's Environmental Impact
team of environmental scientists who wanted to figure out how much of the Earth's natural resources were humans actually using, or preventing from being produced. In the year 2000 the team gathered information on crops, timber, grazing, and human use of vegetation and concluded that we use 23.8% of global net primary production (which is a lot for just one species!).
carbon capture
technologies or approaches that remove carbon dioxide from power plant or other emissions, in an effort to mitigate global climate change.
transgenic
term describing an organism that contains DNA from another species.
pesticide treadmill
term indicating a situation in which it becomes necessary for a farmer to continue using pesticides regularly because they have become an indispensable part of an agricultural cycle.
ozone hole
term popularly used to describe the thinning of the stratospheric ozone layer that occurs over Antarctica each year, as a result of chlorofluorocarbons and other ozone depleting substances.
smog
term popularly used to describe unhealthy mixtures of air pollutants that often form over urban areas.
peak oil
term used to describe the point of maximum production of petroleum in the world after which oil production declines. This is also expected to be roughly the midway point of extraction of the world's oil supplies.
topsoil
that portion of the soil that is most nutritive for plants and is thus of the most direct importance to ecosystems and to agriculture.
Megatons to Megawatts
the United States is buying up weapons-grade uranium and plutonium from Russia, letting Russia process it into lower-enriched fuel, and diverting it to peaceful use in power generation
resilience
the ability of an ecological community to change in response to disturbance but later return to its original state.
resistance
the ability of an ecological community to remain stable in the presence of a disturbance.
energy efficiency
the ability to obtain a given result or amount of output while using less energy input. Technologies permitting greater energy efficiency are one main route to energy conservation.
meltdown
the accidental melting of the uranium fuel rods inside the core of a nuclear reactor, causing the release of radiation
rainwater harvesting
the act of capturing rainwater runoff from a rooftop in a barrel, in order to conserve water.
air pollution
the act of polluting the air, or the condition of being polluted by air pollutants.
water pollution
the act of polluting water, or the condition of being polluted by water pollutants.
ethanol
the alcohol in beer, wine, and liquor, produced as a biofuel by fermenting biomass, generally from carbohydrate-rich crops such as corn.
threshold
the amount of a toxicant at which it begins to affect a population of test animals.
proven recoverable reserve
the amount of given fossil fuel in a deposit that is technologically and economically feasible to remove under current condition.
Coriolis effect
the apparent deflection of north-south air currents to a partly east-west direction caused by the faster spin of regions near the equator than of regions near the poles as a result of Earth's rotation.
environmental ethics
the application of ethical standards to environmental questions.
deposition
the arrival of eroded soil at a new location.
irrigation
the artificial provision of water to support agriculture.
thermosphere
the atmosphere's top layer, extending upward to an altitude of 500 km.
mesosphere
the atmospheric layer above the stratosphere, extending 50-80 km above sea level.
ecosystem-based management
the attempt to manage the harvesting of resources in ways that minimize the impact on the ecosystems and ecological processes that provide the resources.
total fertility rate (TFR)
the average number of children born per female member of a population during her lifetime.
life expectancy
the average number of years that individuals in particular age groups are likely to continue to live.
background rate of extinction
the average rate of extinction that occurred before the appearance of humans. For example, the fossil record indicates that for both birds and mammals, one species in the world typically became extinct every 500-1000 years.
troposphere
the bottommost layer of the atmosphere; it extends to 11 km above sea level.
front
the boundary between air masses that differ in temperature and moisture.
tropopause
the boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere. Acts like a cap, limiting mixing between these atmospheric layers.
cold front
the boundary where a mass of cold air displaces a mass of warmer air.
warm front
the boundary where a mass of warm air displaces a mass of colder air.
nuclear fusion
the conversion of the energy within an atom's nucleus to usable thermal energy by forcing together the small nuclei of lightweight elements under extremely high temperature and pressure
soil profile
the cross section of a soil as a whole, from the surface to the bedrock.
aquaculture
the cultivation of aquatic organisms for food in controlled environments.
terracing
the cutting of level platforms, sometimes with raised edges, into steep hillsides to contain water from irrigation and precipitation. Terracing transforms slopes into series of steps like a staircase, enabling farmers to cultivate hilly land while minimizing their loss of soil to water erosion.
SLOSS dilemma
the debate over whether it is better to make reserves large in size and gew in number or many in number but small in size.
North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW)
the deep portion of the thermohaline circulation in the northern atlantic ocean.
toxicity
the degree of harm a chemical substance can inflict.
contraception
the deliberate attempt to prevent pregnancy despite sexual intercourse.
regulatory taking
the deprivation of a property's owner, by means of a law or regulation, of most or all economic uses of that property.
extirpation
the disappearance of a particular population from a given area, but not the entire species globally.
extinction
the disappearance of an entire species from Earth.
desert
the driest biome on Earth, with annual precipitation of less than 25 cm. Because they have relatively little vegetation to insulate them from temperature extremes, sunlight readily heats them in the daytime, but daytime heat is quickly lost at night, so temperatures vary widely from day to night and in different seasons.
birth control
the effort to control the number of children one bears, particularly by reducing the frequency of pregnancy.
family planning
the effort to plan the number and spacing of one's children so as to offer children and parents the best quality of life possible.
net primary production
the energy or biomass that remains in an ecosystem after autotrophs have metabolized enough for their own maintenance through cellular respiration. It's the energy or biomass available for consumption by heterotrophs.
gross primary productivity
the energy that results when autotrophs convert solar energy to energy of chemical bonds in sugars through photosynthesis.
drainage basin or watershed
the entire area of land from which water drains into a given river.
watershed
the entire area of land from which water drains into a given river.
sediment (turbidity)
the eroded remains of rocks.
El Nino
the exceptionally strong warming of the eastern Pacific Ocean that occurs every 2 to 7 years and depresses local fish and bird populations by altering the marine food web in the area. Originally, the name that spanish speaking fishermen gave to an unusually warm surface current that sometimes arrived near the Pacific coast of south america around christmas time.
lobbying
the expenditure of time or money in an attempt to influence an elected official.
evenness or relative abundance
the extent to which numbers of individuals of different species are equal or skewed. One way to express species diversity.
mass extinction events
the extinction of a large proportion of the world's species in a very short time period due to some extreme and rapid change or catastrophic event.
secondary extraction
the extraction of crude oil by flushing underground rocks with hot water, steam, or solvents
market failure
the failure of markets to take into account the environment's positive effects on economies or to reflect the negative effects of economic activity on the environment and thereby on people.
environmental justice
the fair and equitable treatment of all people with respect to environmental policy and practice, regardless of their income, race, or ethnicity. Responds to the perception that minorities and the poor suffer more pollution than whites and the rich.
Transgenic Maize in Oaxaca, Mexico?
the finding of GM is Mexican maize years after Mexico had banned the genetically modified cultivation of corn. The concern is that the transgenic crops might contaminate the genetic makeup of native crops.
pre-industrial stage
the first stage of the demographic transition model, characterized by conditions that defined most of human history. In these societies, both death and birth rates are high.
currents
the flow of a liquid or gas in a certain direction.
waste stream
the flow of waste as it moves from its sources toward disposal destinations.
hydrologic cycle
the flow of water in liquid, gaseous, and solid forms through our biotic and abiotic environment. Also called the water cycle.
Fresh Kills Landfill, New York
the largest human made structure on Earth, and was the primary repository of New York's garbage for half a century. When the landfill closed New York started to export its waste, which they learned was very pricey. Later the landfill was reopened unexpectedly when the world trade center collapsed on 9/11/2001 to dispose of human remains and rubble.
understory
the layer of a forest consisting of small shrubs and trees above the forest floor and below the subcanopy.
stratosphere
the layer of the atmosphere above the troposphere and below the mesosphere; it extends from 11 km to 50 km above sea level.
R horizon
the layers of partially weathered bedrock at the base of the soil profile. Unlike the above layers, _____ horizons are composed largely of consolidated masses of hard rock that cannot be excavated by hand
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
the leading set of standards for sustainable building.
weather
the local physical properties of the troposphere, such as temperature, pressure, humidity, cloudiness, and wind, over relatively short time periods.
zone of saturation
the lower soil layers of an aquifer, beneath the water table, containing pore spaces completely filled with water.
biomagnification
the magnification of the concentration of toxicants in an organism caused by its consumption of other organisms in which toxicants have bioaccumulated.
biotechnology
the material application of biological science to create products derived from organisms. The creation of transgenic organisms is one type of this.
risk
the mathematical probability that some harmful outcome will result from a given action, event, or substance.
maximum sustainable yield
the maximal harvest of a particular renewable natural resource that can be accomplished while still keeping the resource available for the future.
salinity
the measure of all the salts dissolved in water.
China's one child policy
the most populous nation in the world, home to 1/5 of the 7 billion people on Earth. Made a policy that dropped the average 5.8 children per woman to only one. These rules were enforced by better schools, health care, housing, and jobs while families with more than one child faced job discrimination, fines, etc. Leaders made this policy because the large population was depleting the water, eroding the soil, polluting its air, and leveling the forests.
flux
the movement of nutrients among pools or reservoirs in a nutrient cycle.
revolving door
the movement of powerful officials between the private sector and government agencies.
species diversity
the number and variety of species in the world or in a particular region.
infant mortality rates
the number of deaths of infants under one year of age per 1000 live births in a population.
birth rate
the number of live births per thousand of population per year.
species richness
the number of species in a particular region. One way to express species diversity.
equilibrium theory of island biogeography
the number of species present on an island is determined by a balance between immigration and extinction. Generally, as the number of species present increases, the immigration rate decreases and the extinction rate increases.
ecosystem diversity
the number of variety of ecosystems in a particular area. One way to express biodiversity. Related concepts consider the geographic arrangement of habitats, communities, or ecosystems at the landscape level, including the sizes, shapes, and interconnectedness of patches of these entities.
rotation time
the number of years that pass between the time a forest stand is cut for timber and the next time it is cut.
Will Climate Change Rob Us of Coral Reefs?
the oceans have helped delay the advance of global climate change by soaking up a portion of the excess carbon dioxide we emit. But as CO2 reacts with the H2O in the ocean, carbonate ions combine with hydrogen ions to create a bicarbonate ion. This is bad news for the reefs because they are unable to form calcium carbonate, which compromises their hard shells.
protocol
the official procedure or system of rules governing affairs of state or diplomatic occasions.
subsistence agriculture
the oldest form of traditional agriculture, in which farming families produce only enough food for themselves.
lithosphere
the outer layer of Earth, consisting of crust and uppermost mantle and located just above the asthenosphere. More generally, the solid part of Earth, including the rocks, sediment, and soil at the surface and extending down many miles underground.
syncrude
the output from a bitumen/extra heavy oil upgrader facility used in connection with oil sand production. It may also refer to shale oil, an output from an oil shale pyrolysis.
culture
the overall ensemble of knowledge, beliefs, values, and learned ways of life shared by a group of people.
climate
the pattern of atmospheric conditions found across large geographic regions over long period of time.
Hubbert's Peak
the peak in production of crude oil in the United States, which occurred in 1970 just as a Shell Oil geologist M. King Hubbert had predicted in 1956.
tides
the periodic rise and fall of the ocean's height at a given location, caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun.
rebound effect
the phenomenon by which gains in efficiency from better technology are partly offset when people engage in more energy consuming behavior as a result. This common psychological effect can sometimes reduce conservation and efficiency efforts substantially.
colony collapse disorder
the phenomenon that occurs when the majority of worker bees in a colony disappear and leave behind a queen, plenty of food and a few nurse bees to care for the remaining immature bees and the queen.
urban heat island effect
the phenomenon whereby a city becomes warmer than outlying areas because of the concentration of heat generating buildings, vehicles, and people, and because buildings and dark paved surfaces absorb heat and release it at night.
polycultures
the planting of multiple crops in a mixed arrangement or in close proximity. An example is some traditional Native American farming that mixed maize, beans, squash, and peppers.
reproductive window
the portion of a woman's life between sexual maturity and menopause during which she may become pregnant.
realized niche
the portion of the fundamental niche that is fully realized by a species.
continental slope
the portion of the ocean floor that angles somewhat steeply downward, connecting the continental shelf to the deep ocean basin below.
shelf-shop break
the portion of the ocean floor where the continental shelf drops off with relative suddenness.
crop rotation
the practice of alternating the kind of crop grown in a particular field from one season or year to the next.
controlled burns/prescribed burns
the practice of burning areas of forest or grassland under carefully controlled conditions to improve the health of ecosystems, return them to a more natural state, reduce fuel loads, and help prevent uncontrolled catastrophic fires.
permit trading
the practice of buying and selling government issued marketable emissions permits to conduct environmentally harmful activities. Under a cap and trade system, the government determines an acceptable level of pollution and then issues permits to pollute. A company receives credit for amounts it doesn't emit and can sell to other companies.
captive breeding
the practice of capturing members of threatened and endangered species so that their young can be bred and raised in controlled environments and subsequently reintroduced into the wild.
zoning
the practice of classifying areas of different types of development and land use.
ecological modeling
the practice of constructing and testing models that aim to explain and predict how ecological systems function.
agriculture
the practice of cultivating soil, producing crops, and raising livestock for human use and consumption.
ecolabelling
the practice of designating on a product's label how the product was grown, harvested, or manufactured, so that consumers are aware of the processes involved and can judge which brands use more sustainable processes.
community-based conservation
the practice of engaging local people to protect land and wildlife in their own region.
contour farming
the practice of plowing furrows sideways across a hillside, perpendicular to its slope, to help prevent the formation of rills and gullies. The technique is so named because the furrows follow the natural contours of the land.
energy conservation
the practice of reducing energy use as a way of extending the lifetime of our fossil fuel supplies, of being less wasteful, and of reducing our impact on the environment. Conservation can result from behavioral decisions or from technologies that demonstrate energy efficiency.
Endangered Species Act (ESA)
the primary legislation, enacted in 1973, for protecting biodiversity in the U.S. It forbids the government and private citizens from taking actions that would destroy endangered species or their habitats, and it prohibits trade in products made from endangered species.
habitat fragmentation
the process by which an expanse of natural habitat becomes broken up into discontinuous fragments, often as a result of farming, logging, road building, and other types of human development and land use.
tragedy of the commons
the process by which publicly accessible resources open to unregulated use tend to become damaged and depleted through overuse. Coined by Garrett Hardin and widely applicable to resource issues.
weathering
the process by which rocks and minerals are broken down, turning large particles into smaller particles. This may proceed by physical, chemical, or biological means.
leaching
the process by which solid materials such as minerals are dissolved in a liquid and transported to another location.
resource partitioning
the process by which species adapt to competition by evolving to use slightly different resources, or to use their shared resources in different ways, thus minimizing interference with one another.
ocean acidification
the process by which today's oceans are becoming more acidic as a result of increased carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. It occurs as ocean water absorbs CO2 from the air and forms carbonic acid. This impairs the ability of corals and other organisms to build exoskeletons of calcium carbonate, imperiling coral reefs and the many organisms that depend on them.
predation
the process in which one species hunts, tracks, captures, and ultimately kills its prey.
evaporation
the process of a substance in a liquid state changing to a gaseous state due to an increase in temperature and/or pressure.
risk management
the process of considering information form scientific risk assessment in light of economic, social, and political needs and values, in order to make decisions and design strategies to minimize risk.
eutrophication/eutrophic lake
the process of nutrient enrichment, increased production of organic matter, and subsequent ecosystem degradation in a water body.
eutrophication
the process of nutrients enrichment, increased production of organic matter, and subsequent ecosystem degradation in a water body.
forestry
the professional management of forests.
city planning/urban planning
the professional pursuit that attempts to design cities in such a way as to maximize their efficiency, functionality, and beauty.
net energy
the quantitative difference between energy returned form a process and energy invested in the process. Positive net energy values mean that a process produces more energy than is invested.
risk assessment
the quantitative measurement of risk, together with the comparison of risks involved in different activities or substances.
Forest Fragmentation in the Amazon
the rapid pace of deforestation and logging in the Amazon is leading to widespread forest fragmentation. Policy makers worked with scientists to help preserve forest in the face of developmental pressures, and also retain their species.
net primary productivity
the rate at which net primary production is produced.
productivity
the rate at which plants convert solar energy to biomass. Ecosystems whose plants convert solar energy to biomass rapidly are said to have high _____________.
natural rate of population change
the rate of change in a population's size resulting from birth an death rates alone, excluding migration.
rate of natural increase
the rate of change in a population's size resulting from birth and death rates alone, excluding migration.
energy returned on investment (EROI)
the ratio determined by dividing the quantity of energy returned from a process by the quantity of energy invested in the process. Higher ratios mean that more energy is produced from each unit of energy invested.
death rate
the ratio of deaths to the population of a particular area during a particular period of time, usually calculated as the number of deaths per one thousand people per year.
relative humidity
the ratio of the water vapor contained in a given volume of air to the maximum amount the air could contain, for a given temperature.
source reduction
the reduction of the amount of material that enters the waste stream to avoid the costs of disposal and recycling, help conserve resources, minimize pollution, and save consumers and businesses money.
floodplain
the region of land over which a river has historically wandered and periodically floods.
littoral zone
the region ringing the edge of a water body.
pollution
the release of matter or energy into the environment that causes undesirable impacts on the health and well being of humans and other organisms. It can be physical, chemical, or biological, and it can affect water, air, or soil.
transpiration
the release of water vapor by plants through their leaves.
salvage logging
the removal of dead trees following a natural disturbance. Although it may be economically beneficial, this can be ecologically destructive, because snags provide food and shelter for wildlife and because removing timber from recently burned land can cause erosion and damage to soil.
erosion
the removal of material from one place and its transport to another by the action of wind or water.
desalination or desalinization
the removal of salt from seawater.
waterlogging
the saturation of soil by water, in which the water table is raised to the point that water bathes plant roots. __________ deprives roots of access to gases, essentially suffocating them and eventually damaging or killing the plants.
forensic science
the scientific analysis of evidence to make an identification or answer a question relating to a crime or an accident.
toxicology
the scientific field that examines the effects of poisonous chemicals and other agents on humans and other organisms.
transitional stage
the second stage of the demographic transition model, which occurs during the transition from the pre-industrial stage to the industrial stage. It is characterized by declining death rates but continued high birth rates.
flooding
the spillage of water over a river's banks due to heavy rain and snowmelt.
secondary treatment
the stage of wastewater treatment in which biological means are used to remove contaminants remaining after primary treatment. Wastewater is stirred up in the presence of aerobic bacteria, which degrade organic pollutants in the water. The wastewater then passes to another settling tank, where remaining solids drift to the bottom.
dynamic equilibrium
the state reached when processes within a system are moving in opposing directions at equivalent rates so that their effects balance out.
gene banks
the stock of different genes in an interbreeding population.
environmental health
the study of environmental factors that influence human health and quality of life and the health of ecological systems essential to environmental quality and long term human well being.
landscape ecology
the study of how landscape structure affects the abundance, distribution, and interaction of organisms. This approach to the study of organisms and their environments at the landscape scale focuses on broad geographical areas that include multiple ecosystems.
bathymetry
the study of ocean depths.
restoration ecology
the study of the historical conditions of ecological communities as they existed before humans altered them. Principles of this are applied in the practice of ecological restoration.
topography
the study of the shape and arrangement of landforms.
environmental toxicology
the study of toxicants that come from or are discharged into the environment, including the study of health effects on humans, other animals, and ecosystems.
biosphere
the sum total of all the planet's living organisms and the abiotic portions of the environment with which they interact.
adaptive management
the systematic testing of different management approaches to improve methods over time.
homeostasis
the tendency of a system to maintain constant or stable internal conditions.
atmosphere
the thin layer of gases surrounding planet Earth.
industrial stage
the third stage of the demographic transition model, characterized by falling birth rates that close the gap with falling death rates and reduce the rate of population growth.
half-life
the time it takes for half of the atoms to give off radiation and decay
A horizon
the topmost mineral horizon, often referred to as the 'topsoil'. This layer generally contains enough partially decomposed organic matter to give the soil a color darker than that of the lower horizons. The A horizons are often coarser in texture, having lost some of the finer materials by translocation to lower horizons and by erosion. Most biological activity occurs here.
secondary production
the total biomass that heterotrophs generate by consuming autotrophs.
replacement fertility
the total fertility rate that maintains a stable population size.
reserves-to-production ratio
the total remaining reserves of a fossil fuel divided by the annual rate of production.
monocultures
the uniform planting of a single crop over a large area. Characterizes industrial agriculture.
sprawl
the unrestrained spread of urban or suburban development outward from a city center and across the landscape. Often specified as growth in which the area of development outpaces population growth.
zone of aeration
the upper soil layers above the water table, containing pore spaces filled with both air and water.
strip mining
the use of heavy machinery to remove huge amounts of earth to expose coal or minerals, which are mined out directly.
Fracking in the Marcellus Shale
the use of hydraulic fracturing in the small town of Dimock Pennsylvania allowed shale gas to become accessible. Residents water had turned discolored by sediment and they blamed this drilling technique.
integrated pest management (IPM)
the use of multiple techniques in combination to achieve long-term suppression of pests, including biocontrol, use of pesticides, close monitoring of populations, habitat alteration, crop rotation, transgenic crops, alternative tillage methods, and mechanical pest removal.
development
the use of natural resources for economic advancement.
biodiversity or biological diversity
the variety of life across all levels of biological organization, including the diversity of species, their genes, their populations, and their communities.
runoff
the water form precipitation that flows into streams, rivers, lakes and ponds, and eventually to the ocean.
runoff
the water from precipitation that flows into streams, rivers, lakes, and ponds, and eventually to the ocean.
atmospheric pressure
the weight per unit area produced by a column of air.
atmospheric decomposition
the wet or dry deposition on land of a wide variety of pollutants, including mercury, nitrates, organochlorines, and others.
water mining
the withdrawal of water at a rate faster than it can be replenished.
legislation or statutory law
the written law established by enactments expressing the will of the legislature, as distinguished from the unwritten law or common law.
island biogeography
theory initially applied to oceanic islands to explain how species come to be distributed among them. Researchers have increasingly applied the theory.
eukaryotic
these cells are the type of living cells that form the organisms of all of the life kingdoms except Monera. Protista, Fungi, plants and animals are all composed of these cells that have a nucleus and membrane bound organelles.
sludge
thick, soft, wet mud or a similar viscous mixture of liquid and solid components, especially the product of an industrial or refining process.
Swampland Act 1860
third act granted swamp and overflow lands to 2 additional states. (government promoted wetland drainage)
seed-tree
timber harvesting approach that leaves small numbers of mature and vigorous seed producing trees standing so that they can reseed a logged area.
shelterwood
timber harvesting approach that leaves small numbers of mature trees in place to provide shelter for seedlings as they grow.
corals
tiny marine animals that build coral reefs. They attach to rock or existing reef and capture passing food with stinging tentacles. They also derive nourishment from photosynthetic symbiotic algae known as zooxanthellae.
Love Canal
toxic chemicals resurfaced here in the 1970s here in upstate New York, years after their burial, and required attention and treatment.
biogenic
type of natural gas created at shallow depths by the anaerobic decomposition of organic matter by bacteria. Consists of nearly pure methane.
storage technique
used to generate hydroelectric power in which large amounts of water are impounded in a reservoir behind a concrete dam and then passed through the dam to turn turbines that generate electricity
intrinsic or inherent value
value ascribed to something for its intrinsic worth; the notion that the thing has a right to exist and is valuable for its own sake.
instrumental value/utilitarian value
value ascribed to something for the pragmatic benefits it brings us if we put it to use.
Baltimore and Phoenix Showcase Urban Ecology
very different cities chosen by the U.S. National Science Foundation to research urban environments. They examined nutrient cycles, vegetation, water quality, biodiversity, how people react to environmental health threats, and more.
aerosols
very fine liquid droplets or solid particles aloft in the atmosphere.
Hawaii: Species Factory and Lab of Evolution
volcanic "hotspots" produce mountains of lava underwater until eventually a new island forms, and over time plants and animals will find their way there. When a species colonizes an island, it often spreads and evolves rapidly in order to survive.
Wetlands Reserve Program
voluntary program offering landowners the opportunity to protect, restore, and enhance wetlands on their property.
recovery
waste management strategy composed of recycling and composting.
gray water
wastewater from showers and sinks.
groundwater
water held in aquifers underground.
surface water
water located atop Earth's surface.
precipitation
water that condenses out of the atmosphere and falls to Earth in droplets or crystals.
freshwater
water that is relatively pure, holding very few dissolved salts.
nuclear energy
what holds together protons and neutrons within the nucleus of an atom.
services
work done for others as a form of business.