11634502
Description
Flashcards by Kimberly Williams, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by Kimberly Williams
over 6 years ago
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| Question | Answer |
| acid deposition | The settling of acidic or acid-forming pollutants from the atmosphere onto Earth’s surface. This may take place by precipitation, fog, gases, or the deposition of dry particles. |
| acid mine 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. Acid drainage is a natural phenomenon, but mining greatly accelerates it by exposing many new surfaces. |
| acid rain | Acid deposition that takes place through rain |
| acidic | The property of a solution in which the concentration of hydrogen (H+) ions is greater than the concentration of hydroxide (OH–) ions. |
| active solar energy collection | An approach in which technological devices are used to focus, move, or store solar energy |
| acute exposure | Exposure to a toxicant occurring in high amounts for short periods of time |
| adaptation (climate change) | The pursuit of strategies to protect ourselves from the impacts of climate change |
| adaptation (evolution) | (1) The process by which traits that lead to increased reproductive success in a given environment evolve in a population through natural selection. (2) A trait that confers greater likelihood that an individual will reproduce |
| adaptive management | The systematic testing of different management approaches to improve methods over time |
| aerosols | Very fine liquid droplets or solid particles aloft in the atmosphere |
| age structure | The relative numbers of individuals of different ages within a population. Age structure can have a strong effect on rates of population growth or decline and is often expressed as a ratio of age classes, consisting of organisms (1) not yet mature enough to reproduce, (2) capable of reproduction, and (3) beyond their reproductive years |
| 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 |
| agriculture | The practice of cultivating soil, producing crops, and raising livestock for human use and consumption |
| air pollutant | A gas or particulate material added to the atmosphere that can affect climate or harm people or other living things |
| air pollution | The release of air pollutants |
| airshed | The geographic area that produces air pollutants likely to end up in a waterway |
| allergen | A toxicant that overactivates the immune system, causing an immune response when one is not necessary. |
| alloy | A substance created by fusing a metal with other metals or nonmetals. Bronze is an alloy of the metals copper and tin, and steel is an alloy of iron and the nonmetal carbon |
| anthropocentrism | A human-centered view of our relationship with the environment. Compare biocentrism and ecocentrism |
| aquaculture | The cultivation of aquatic organisms for food in controlled environments |
| aquifer | An underground water reservoir |
| artificial selection | Natural selection conducted under human direction. Examples include the selective breeding of crop plants, pets, and livestock |
| 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, asbestos scars the tissue and may eventually lead to lung cancer or asbestosis |
| asbestosis | A disorder resulting from lung tissue scarred by acid following prolonged inhalation of asbestos. |
| asthenosphere | A layer of the upper mantle, just below the lithosphere, consisting of especially soft rock |
| atmosphere | The layer of gases surrounding planet Earth. Compare biosphere; hydrosphere; lithosphere |
| atmospheric deposition | The wet or dry deposition onto land of a wide variety of pollutants, including mercury, nitrates, organochlorines, and others. Acid deposition is one type of atmospheric deposition |
| atmospheric pressure | The weight (or gravitational force) per unit area produced by a column of air |
| atom | The smallest component of an element that maintains the chemical properties of that element |
| autotroph (primary producer) | An organism that can use the energy from sunlight to produce its own food. Includes green plants, algae, and cyanobacteria |
| bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) | A naturally occurring soil bacterium that produces a protein that kills many pests, including caterpillars and the larvae of some flies and beetles |
| background extinction rate | The average rate of extinction that occurred before the appearance of humans |
| basic | The property of a solution in which the concentration of hydroxide (OH–) ions is greater than the concentration of hydrogen (H+) ions |
| bedrock | The continuous mass of solid rock that makes up Earth’s crust |
| benthic | Of, relating to, or living on the bottom of a water body |
| bioaccumulation | The buildup of toxicants in the tissues of an animal |
| biocapacity | A term in ecological footprint accounting meaning the amount of biologically productive land and sea available to us |
| 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—but not exclusively focusing on—human beings |
| biodiesel | Diesel fuel produced by mixing vegetable oil, used cooking grease, or animal fat with small amounts of ethanol or methanol (wood alcohol) in the presence of a chemical catalyst |
| biodiversity | The variety of life across all levels of biological organization, including the diversity of species, genes, populations, and communities |
| biodiversity hotspot | An area that supports an especially great diversity of species, particularly species that are endemic to the area |
| bioenergy | Energy harnessed from plant and animal matter, including wood from trees, charcoal from burned wood, and combustible animal waste products, such as cattle manure. Also called biomass energy |
| biofuel | Fuel produced from biomass sources and used primarily to power automobiles. Examples include ethanol and biodiesel. |
| biological control | Control of pests and weeds with organisms that prey on or parasitize them, rather than with chemical pesticides |
| biological hazard | Human health hazards that result from ecological interactions among organisms. These include parasitism by viruses, bacteria, or other pathogens |
| biomagnification | The magnification of the concentration of toxicants in an organism caused by its consumption of other organisms in which toxicants have bioaccumulated |
| 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. |
| biome | A major regional complex of similar plant communities; a large ecological unit defined by its dominant plant type and vegetation structure |
| 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.” |
| biopower | Power attained by combusting biomass sources to generate electricity. |
| bioprospecting | Searching for organisms that might provide new drugs, medicines, foods, or other products of value or interest. |
| biosphere | The sum total of all the planet’s living organisms and the nonliving portions of the environment with which they interact |
| biosphere reserves | A tract of land with exceptional biodiversity that couples preservation with sustainable development to benefit local people. Biosphere reserves are designated by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) following application by local stakeholders |
| biotechnology | The material application of biological science to create products derived from organisms |
| birth control | The effort to control the number of children one bears, particularly by reducing the frequency of pregnancy |
| boreal forest | A biome of northern coniferous forest that stretches in a broad band across much of Canada, Alaska, Russia, and Scandinavia. Also known as taiga, boreal forest consists of a limited number of species of evergreen trees, such as black spruce, that dominate large regions of forests interspersed with occasional bogs and lakes |
| bottle bill | A law establishing a program whereby consumers pay a deposit on bottles or cans upon purchase—often 5 or 10 cents per container—and then receive a refund when they return them to stores after use. Bottle bills reduce litter, raise recycling rates, and decrease the waste stream |
| bottleneck | In environmental science, a step in a process that limits the progress of the overall process |
| breakdown product | A compound that results from the degradation of a toxicant |
| brownfield | An area of land whose redevelopment or reuse is complicated by the presence or potential presence of hazardous material |
| campus sustainability | A term describing a wide array of efforts taking place on college and university campuses by which students, faculty, staff, and administrators are trying to reduce the environmental impacts of their institutions. |
| canopy | The upper level of tree leaves and branches in a forest. |
| cap-and-trade | An emissions trading system in which 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 |
| captive breeding | The practice of keeping members of threatened and endangered species in captivity so that their young can be bred and raised in controlled environments and subsequently reintroduced into the wild. |
| carbohydrate | An organic compound consisting of atoms of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen |
| carbon | The chemical element with six protons and six neutrons. A key element in organic compounds |
| carbon capture and storage | Technologies or approaches to remove carbon dioxide from emissions of power plants or other facilities, and sequester, or store, it (generally in liquid form) underground under pressure in locations where it will not seep out, in an effort to mitigate global climate change |
| carbon cycle | A major nutrient cycle consisting of the routes that carbon atoms take through the nested networks of environmental systems |
| carbon dioxide | A colorless gas used by plants for photosynthesis, given off by respiration, and released by burning fossil fuels. A primary greenhouse gas whose buildup contributes to global climate change. |
| carbon footprint | The cumulative amount of carbon, or carbon dioxide, that a person or institution emits, and is indirectly responsible for emitting, into the atmosphere, contributing to global climate change |
| carbon monoxide | A colorless, odorless gas produced primarily by the incomplete combustion of fuel |
| carbon offset | 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 oneself |
| carbon pricing | The practice of putting a price on the emission of carbon dioxide, either through carbon trading or a carbon tax, as a means to address global climate change. Carbon pricing compensates the public for the external costs of fossil fuel use by shifting costs to emitters, and creates financial incentives to reduce emissions. |
| carbon tax | A type of green tax charged to entities that pollute by emitting carbon dioxide. Carbon taxation is one approach to carbon pricing, and gives polluters a financial incentive to reduce emissions in order to address global climate change. |
| carbon trading | A form of emissions trading that focuses on the emission of carbon dioxide. |
| carbon-neutrality | The state in which an individual, business, or institution emits no net carbon to the atmosphere |
| carcinogen | A chemical or type of radiation that causes cancer |
| carrying capacity | The maximum population size of a given organism that a given environment can sustain |
| case history | Medical approach involving the observation and analysis of individual patients |
| Cassandra | A worldview (or a person holding the worldview) that predicts doom and disaster as a result of our environmental impacts |
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