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| 15863217595 | Natural resources | The substances and energy sources that we take from our environment and that we need in order to survive | 0 | |
| 15863217596 | Renewable natural resources | Natural resources that are replenished over short periods | 1 | |
| 15863217597 | Nonrenewable natural resources | Natural resources that are finite in supply and are formed much more slowly than than we use them | 2 | |
| 15863217598 | Agricultural revolution | The first of two phenomena that triggered our remarkable increase in population size, which began around 10,000 years ago; our transition from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to an agricultural way of life | 3 | |
| 15863217599 | Industrial revolution | The second notable phenomenon that triggered our remarkable increase in population size, which began in the mid-1700s; a shift from rural life, animal-powered agriculture, and handcrafted goods toward an urban society provisioned by the mass production of factory-made goods and powered by fossil fuels | 4 | |
| 15863217600 | Fossil fuels | Nonrenewable energy sources including oil, coal, and natural gas | 5 | |
| 15863217601 | Ecological footprint | Expresses environmental impact in terms of the cumulative area of biologically productive land and water required to provide the resources a person or population consumes and to dispose of or recycle the waste the person or population produces; measures the total area of Earth's biologically productive surface that a given person or population "uses" once all direct and indirect impacts are totaled up | 6 | |
| 15863217602 | Interdisciplinary field | A field which borrows techniques from multiple disciplines (Ecology, Earth Science, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, Economics, Political Science, Demography, Ethics, and others) and brings their research results together into a broad synthesis | 7 | |
| 15863217603 | Natural sciences | Disciplines that examine the natural world | 8 | |
| 15863217604 | Social sciences | Disciplines that address human interactions and institutions | 9 | |
| 15863217605 | Environmental studies | Programs which emphasize the social sciences | 10 | |
| 15863217606 | Sustainability | A guiding principle of modern environmental science; the primary challenge in our increasingly populated world: how to live within our planet's means, such that Earth and its resources can sustain us--and all life--for the future | 11 | |
| 15863217607 | Natural capital | Earth's accumulated wealth and resources | 12 | |
| 15863217608 | Campus sustainability | The goal of living within our planet's means among a small community (generally a college or university), such that Earth and its resources can sustain us--and all life--for the future | 13 | |
| 15863217609 | Environmentalism | A social movement dedicated to protecting the natural world---and, by extension, people--from undesirable changes brought about by human actions | 14 | |
| 15863217610 | Observational/Descriptive science | Research in which basic information is gathered about organisms, materials, systems or processes that are not yet well known | 15 | |
| 15863217611 | Hypothesis-driven science | Research that proceeds in a more targeted and structured manner, using experiments to test hypotheses within a framework traditionally known as the scientific method | 16 | |
| 15863217612 | Hypothesis | A statement that attempts to explain a phenomenon or answer a scientific question | 17 | |
| 15863217613 | Prediction | A scientific statement that can be directly and unequivocally tested | 18 | |
| 15863217614 | Experiment | An activity designed to test the validity of a prediction or a hypothesis | 19 | |
| 15863217615 | Variable | A condition that can change | 20 | |
| 15863217616 | Independent variable | A manipulated variable in an experiment | 21 | |
| 15863217617 | Dependent variable | A variable that changes depending on the independent variable | 22 | |
| 15863217618 | Controlled experiment | An experiment in which all aspects are identical except for a single independent variable, and all differences that arise between these aspects can be attributed to the independent variable. The effects of all variables are controlled except the one they are testing | 23 | |
| 15863217619 | Control | An unmanipulated point of comparison for the manipulated treatment | 24 | |
| 15863217620 | Data | Information | 25 | |
| 15863217621 | Manipulative experiment | An experiment in which the researcher actively chooses and manipulates the independent variable. It provides the strongest type of evidence that can be obtained, because it can reveal causal relationships, showing that changes in an independent variable cause changes in a dependent variable | 26 | |
| 15863217622 | Natural experiment | An experiment which compares how dependent variables are expressed in naturally different contexts | 27 | |
| 15863217623 | Correlation | Statistical association among variables | 28 | |
| 15863217624 | Peer review | Evaluation of scientific, academic, or professional work by others working in the same field | 29 | |
| 15863217625 | Theory | A widely accepted, well-tested explanation of one or more cause-and-effect relationship that has been extensively validated by a great amount of research | 30 | |
| 15863217626 | Wicked problems | Problems complex enough to have no simple solution and whose very nature changes over time | 31 | |
| 15863217627 | Paradigm | A dominant view | 32 | |
| 15863217629 | Matter | All material in the universe that has mass and occupies space; solid, liquid, gas, and plasma alike | 33 | |
| 15863217630 | Chemistry | The phenomena that occur when types of matter interact in important ways | 34 | |
| 15863217631 | Law of conservation of matter | The principle which states that matter may be transferred from one type of substance into others, but cannot be created or destroyed | 35 | |
| 15863217632 | Uranium | A radioactive element, which the nuclear reactor at Fukushima used to power its reactors | 36 | |
| 15863217633 | Element | A fundamental type of matter; a chemical substance with a given set of properties that cannot be broken down into substances with other properties | 37 | |
| 15863217634 | Hydrogen | One of the elements especially abundant in our planet's water | 38 | |
| 15863217635 | Oxygen | One of the elements especially abundant in our planet's air | 39 | |
| 15863217636 | Silicon | One of the elements especially abundant in our planet's crust | 40 | |
| 15863217637 | Nitrogen | One of the elements especially abundant in our planet's air | 41 | |
| 15863217638 | Carbon | One of the elements especially abundant in our planet's living organisms | 42 | |
| 15863217639 | Atom | The smallest unit that maintains the chemical properties of the element | 43 | |
| 15863217640 | Protons | Positively charged particles in the atom's dense, nucleic center | 44 | |
| 15863217641 | Neutrons | Particles lacking electric charge in the atom's dense, nucleic center | 45 | |
| 15863217642 | Electrons | Negatively charged particles in the atom's dense, nucleic center | 46 | |
| 15863217643 | Isotopes | Atoms of the same element with differing numbers of neutrons | 47 | |
| 15863217644 | Radioactive | "Decaying" and changing chemical identity as subatomic particles are shed, and emitting high-energy radiation | 48 | |
| 15863217645 | Half-life | The amount of time an isotope takes for one-half of the atoms to give off radiation and decay | 49 | |
| 15863217646 | Ions | Electrically charged atoms or combinations of atoms | 50 | |
| 15863217647 | Ionizing radiation | The damaging radiation emitted by radioisotopes | 51 | |
| 15863217648 | Molecules | Combinations of two or more atoms | 52 | |
| 15863217649 | Compound | A molecule composed of atoms of two or more different elements | 53 | |
| 15863217650 | Water | A compound composed of two hydrogen atoms bonded to one oxygen atom; denoted by the chemical formula H₂O | 54 | |
| 15863217651 | Carbon dioxide | A compound consisting of one carbon atom bonded to two oxygen atoms; denoted by the chemical formula CO₂ | 55 | |
| 15863217652 | Covalent bond | A bond between atoms in which electrons are shared | 56 | |
| 15863217653 | Ionic bond | A bond between atoms in which electrons are transferred from one to the other | 57 | |
| 15863217654 | Methane | A constituent which forms air in the atmosphere; denoted by the chemical formula CH₄ | 58 | |
| 15863217655 | Ozone | A constituent which forms air in the atmosphere; denoted by the chemical formula O₃ | 59 | |
| 15863217656 | Acidic | Having a pH of less than 7 | 60 | |
| 15863217657 | Basic | Having a pH of greater than 7 | 61 | |
| 15863217658 | Organic compounds | Compounds which consist of carbon atoms (and generally hydrogen atoms) joined by covalent bonds; may also include other elements, such as nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, and phosphorus | 62 | |
| 15863217659 | Hydrocarbons | A class of organic compounds which bond together in chains, rings, and other structures to build elaborate molecules, resulting in millions of different organic compounds; consist solely of bonded atoms of carbon and hydrogen (although other elements may enter these compounds as impurities) | 63 | |
| 15863217660 | Plastics | A form of hydrocarbons from petroleum which have become very useful and commonly used in our modern lifestyle because they are moldable into any shape and resist chemical breakdown; have many benefits for manufactured goods, though can be a persistent source of pollution due to their longevity in the environment | 64 | |
| 15863217661 | Polymers | Chains of organic compounds which have combined to form repeated molecules | 65 | |
| 15863217662 | Macromolecules | Large molecules like polymers and lipids (which are not a form of polymer) | 66 | |
| 15863217663 | Proteins | A form of polymer which consist of long chains of organic molecules called amino acids; help produce tissues and provide structural support for living organisms as skin, hair, muscles, and tendons | 67 | |
| 15863217664 | Nucleic acids | A form of polymer which direct the production of proteins; form the hereditary information for organisms and are responsible for passing traits from parents to offspring | 68 | |
| 15863217665 | Genes | Regions of DNA coding for particular proteins that perform particular functions | 69 | |
| 15863217666 | Carbohydrates | A form of polymer which include simple sugars that are three to seven carbon atoms long; Fuel living cells and serve as a building prock for complex carbohydrates, such as starch, as Glucose (C₆H₁₂O₆) | 70 | |
| 15863217667 | Lipids | A form of macromolecule which include fats and oil (for energy storage), phospholipids (for cell membranes), waxes (for structure), and steroids (for hormone production) | 71 | |
| 15863217668 | Energy | The capacity to change the position, physical composition, or temperature of matter; a force that can accomplish work | 72 | |
| 15863217669 | Potential energy | A major form of energy; energy of position | 73 | |
| 15863217670 | Kinetic energy | A major form of energy; energy of motion | 74 | |
| 15863217671 | First law of thermodynamics | The principle which states that the total energy in the universe remains constant and thus is said to be conserved | 75 | |
| 15863217672 | Second law of thermodynamics | The principle which states that the nature of energy will change from a more-ordered state to a less-ordered state as long as no force counteracts this tendency | 76 | |
| 15863217673 | Energy conversion efficiency | The ratio of the useful output of energy to the amount we need to input; the terms by which our degree of success in capturing energy is expressed | 77 | |
| 15863217674 | Autotrophs (Primary producers) | Organisms which use the sun's radiation directly to produce their own food | 78 | |
| 15863217675 | Photosynthesis | The process by which autotrophs turn light energy from the sun into chemical energy | 79 | |
| 15863217676 | Cellular respiration | The process in which organisms make use of the chemical energy created by photosynthesis | 80 | |
| 15863217677 | Heterotrophs | Organisms that gain their energy by feeding on other organisms | 81 | |
| 15863217678 | Hydrothermal vents | Jets of geothermally heated water--especially underwater geysers-- which gush into the icy-cold depths of the ocean floor; have been powering biological communities since before people appeared on Earth | 82 | |
| 15863217679 | Chemosynthesis | The process in which chemical bond energy of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) to transform inorganic carbon into organic carbon compounds | 83 | |
| 15863217681 | Geology | The study of Earth's physical features, processes, and history | 84 | |
| 15863217682 | Core | Earth's center, consisting of mostly iron, solid in the inner core and molten in the outer core | 85 | |
| 15863217683 | Mantle | A thick layer of dense, elastic rock surrounding the core | 86 | |
| 15863217684 | Asthenosphere | A portion of the upper mantle which contains especially soft rock, melted in some areas | 87 | |
| 15863217685 | Lithosphere | The harder rock above the asthenosphere | 88 | |
| 15863217686 | Crust | Earth's third major layer; the thin, brittle, low-density layer of rock that covers Earth's surface | 89 | |
| 15863217687 | Plate tectonics | The movement of lithospheric plates; a process of extraordinary importance to our planet | 90 | |
| 15863217688 | Divergent plate boundaries | Where tectonic plates push apart from one another | 91 | |
| 15863217689 | Magma | Rock heated to a molten, liquid state | 92 | |
| 15863217690 | Transform plate boundary | Where two plates meet, slip, and grind along-side one another | 93 | |
| 15863217691 | Convergent plate boundaries | Where two plates converge or come together | 94 | |
| 15863217692 | Subduction | When the divergent plate boundaries of lithosphere become denser than the asthenosphere beneath it and divides downward into the asthenosphere | 95 | |
| 15863217693 | Continental collision | When two plates of continental lithosphere meet, and the continental crust on both sides resists subduction and instead crushes together, bending, buckline, and deforming layers of rock from both plates | 96 | |
| 15863217694 | Rock cycle | The very slow process of rocks and minerals are heated, melted, cooled, broken down, and reassembled | 97 | |
| 15863217695 | Rock | Any solid aggregation of minerals | 98 | |
| 15863217696 | Mineral | Any naturally occurring solid element or inorganic compound with a crystal structure, a specific chemical composition, and distinct physical properties | 99 | |
| 15863217697 | Lava | Magma released through the lithosphere (as in a volcanic eruption), that flows or spatters across Earth's surface | 100 | |
| 15863217698 | Igneous rock | Rock that forms when magma or lava cools | 101 | |
| 15863217699 | Sediments | Particles of rock blown by wind or washed away by water | 102 | |
| 15863217700 | Sedimentary rock | Rock formed as sediments are physically pressed together (compaction) and as dissolved minerals seep through sediments and act as a kind of glue, binding sediment particles together (cementation) | 103 | |
| 15863217701 | Metamorphic rock | Rock formed when any type of rock is subjected to great heat or pressure, and its form is altered | 104 | |
| 15863217702 | Earthquake | A release of built-up pressure along tectonic plate boundaries and other places where faults occur | 105 | |
| 15863217703 | Volcano | A structure formed when molten rock, hot gas, or ash erupts through Earth's surface | 106 | |
| 15863217704 | Landslide | A geologic hazard which occurs when large amounts of rock or soil collapse and flow downhill | 107 | |
| 15863217705 | Mass wasting | The downslope movement of soil and rock due to gravity | 108 | |
| 15863217706 | Evolution | Change over time; change in populations of organisms across generations | 109 | |
| 15863217707 | Natural selection | The process by which inherited characteristics that enhance survival and reproduction are passed on more frequently to future generations than those that do not, thus altering the genetic makeup of populations through time | 110 | |
| 15863217708 | Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace | Scientists who, in 1858, each independently proposed the concept of natural selection as a mechanism for evolution and as a way to explain the great variety of living things | 111 | |
| 15863217709 | Adaptation | The process by which characteristics evolve in a population through time, from one generation to another | 112 | |
| 15863217710 | Adaptive trait | A trait that promotes success | 113 | |
| 15863217711 | Mutations | Accidental changes in DNA; give rise to genetic variation among individuals | 114 | |
| 15863217712 | Convergent evolution | When very unrelated species acquire similar traits as they adapt to selective pressures from similar environments | 115 | |
| 15863217713 | Artificial selection | The process of selection conducted under human direction | 116 | |
| 15863217714 | Biodiversity | Life's complexity; the variety of life across all levels of biological organization, including the diversity of species, gnes, populations, and communities | 117 | |
| 15863217715 | Ecology | The scientific study of the distribution and abundance of organisms, the interactions among organisms, and the relationships between organisms and their environments | 118 | |
| 15863217716 | Biosphere | The cumulative total of living things on Earth and the areas they inhabit | 119 | |
| 15863217717 | Population ecology | The scientific examination of the dynamics of population change and the factors that affect the distribution and abundance of members of a population | 120 | |
| 15863217718 | Community | An assemblage of populations of interacting species that live in the same area | 121 | |
| 15863217719 | Community ecology | Patterns of species diversity and on interactions among species, ranging from one-to-one interactions to complex interrelationships involving the entire community | 122 | |
| 15863217720 | Ecosystems | Communities and the abiotic (nonliving) material and forces with which community members interact | 123 | |
| 15863217721 | Ecosystem ecology | Reveals patterns, such as the flow of energy and nutrients, by studying living and nonliving components of systems in conjunction | 124 | |
| 15863217722 | Speciation | The process by which new species are generated | 125 | |
| 15863217723 | Phylogenetic trees | Branching, tree-like diagrams by which scientists represent the history of divergence of organisms | 126 | |
| 15863217724 | Edge effects | Impacts that result because the conditions along a fragment;s edge differ from conditions in the interior | 127 | |
| 15863217725 | Island biogeography theory | The theory which explains how species :come to be distributed among oceanic islands; explains how the number of species on an island results from a balance between the number added by immigration and the number lost through extirpation; predicts an island's species richness based on the island's size and its distance from the mainland | 128 | |
| 15863217726 | Species-area curves | The phenomenon by which the number of species on an island is expected to double as island increases tenfold | 129 | |
| 15863217727 | SLOSS dilemma | The complex debate by which conservation biologists argue about whether it is better to make reserves large in size and few in number, or many in number but small in size | 130 | |
| 15863217728 | Corridors | Areas of protected land which allow animals to travel between islands of habitat | 131 | |
| 15863217729 | Fossil record | The cumulative body of fossils worldwide | 132 | |
| 15863217730 | Extinction | The disappearance of a species from Earth | 133 | |
| 15863217731 | Endemic | A species which is exclusive to a region on the planet | 134 | |
| 15863217732 | Mass extinction events | Events of staggering proportions that killed off massive numbers of species at once | 135 | |
| 15863217735 | Habitat use | The way which animals use their surroundings | 136 | |
| 15863217736 | Habitat selection | The process by which mobile organisms actively select habitats in which to love from among the range of options they encounter | 137 | |
| 15863217737 | Niche | A species's use of resources and functional role in a community | 138 | |
| 15863217738 | Specialists | Species with narrow breadth, and thus very specific requirements | 139 | |
| 15863217739 | Generalists | Organisms with broad tolerances, able to use a wide array of resources | 140 | |
| 15863217740 | Population size | The number of individual organisms present at a given time | 141 | |
| 15863217741 | Population density | The number of individuals in a population per unit area | 142 | |
| 15863217742 | Population distribution | The spatial arrangement of organisms in an area | 143 | |
| 15863217743 | Sex ratio | A population's proportion of males to females, which can influence whether the population will increase or decrease in size over time | 144 | |
| 15863217744 | Age distribution (Age structure) | The relative numbers of organisms of each age within a population | 145 | |
| 15863217745 | Survivorship curves | Graphs which are used to show the likelihood of survival with variations in age | 146 | |
| 15863217746 | Demographers | Scientists who study human populations | 147 | |
| 15863217747 | Immigration | Arrival of individuals from outside the population | 148 | |
| 15863217748 | Emigration | Departure of individuals from the population | 149 | |
| 15863217749 | Rate of natural increase | The degree to which a population is growing or shrinking as a result of its own internal factors | 150 | |
| 15863217750 | Population growth rate | The total rate of change in a population's size per unit time | 151 | |
| 15863217751 | Exponential growth | A quantity which rapidly increases over time | 152 | |
| 15863217752 | Limiting factors | Physical, chemical, and biological attributes of the environment which restrain population growth | 153 | |
| 15863217753 | Carrying capacity | The maximum population size of a species that a given environment can sustain | 154 | |
| 15863217754 | Logistic growth curve | An S-shaped curve used to show how an initial exponential increase is slowed and eventually brought to a standstill due to limiting factors | 155 | |
| 15863217755 | Density-dependent factors | Factors which help organisms find mates but can also increase competition and the risk of predation and disease | 156 | |
| 15863217756 | Density-independent factors | Limiting factors whose influence is not affected by population density | 157 | |
| 15863217757 | K-selected | Species which produce relatively few offspring during their lifetimes, due to the time it takes to gestate and raise young; the considerable energy and resources they devote to caring for and protecting them helps give these few offspring a high likelihood of survival | 158 | |
| 15863217758 | R-selected | Species with high biotic potential, which have high biotic potential and devote their energy and resources to producing many offspring in a short time; their offspring do not require parental care after birth, so they leave their offspring's survival to chance | 159 | |
| 15863217760 | Competition | When multiple organisms seek the same limited resource | 160 | |
| 15863217761 | Intraspecific competition | Competition between members of the same species | 161 | |
| 15863217762 | Interspecific competition | Competition between members of different species | 162 | |
| 15863217763 | Competitive exclusion | When one species is excluded from resource use entirely, due to another species is a very effective competitor | 163 | |
| 15863217764 | Species coexistence | When neither competing species fully excludes the other, and the species continue to live side by side | 164 | |
| 15863217765 | Fundamental niche | The full niche of a species | 165 | |
| 15863217766 | Realized niche | The portion of a species's fundamental niche which is actually "realized", or fulfilled | 166 | |
| 15863217767 | Resource partitioning | The process by which species partition, or divide, the resources they use in common by specializing in different ways | 167 | |
| 15863217768 | Character displacement | The process in which competing species come to diverge in their physical characteristics because of the evolution of traits best suited to the range of resources they use | 168 | |
| 15863217769 | Predation | The process by which individuals of one species hunt, capture , kill, and consume individuals of another species | 169 | |
| 15863217770 | Predator | A species which hunts, captures, kills, and consumes individuals of another species | 170 | |
| 15863217771 | Prey | A species which is hunted, captured, killed, and consumed by individuals of another species | 171 | |
| 15863217772 | Parasitism | A relationship in which one organism depends on another for nourishment or some other benefit while doing them harm | 172 | |
| 15863217773 | Parasite | An organism which depends on another for nourishment or some other benefit while doing them harm | 173 | |
| 15863217774 | Host | An organism which is depended on by another for nourishment or some other benefit while being harmed | 174 | |
| 15863217775 | Parasitoids | Insects that parasitize other insects, killing them in the process | 175 | |
| 15863217776 | Pathogens | Parasites that cause disease in their hosts | 176 | |
| 15863217777 | Mutualism | A relationship in which two or more species benefit from interacting with one another | 177 | |
| 15863217778 | Symbiosis | Physically close association in habitat between organisms | 178 | |
| 15863217779 | Pollination | An interaction vital to agriculture and our food supply; involves free-living organisms that may encounter each other only once to transfer pollen from flower to flower, fertilizing ovaries that grow into fruits with seeds | 179 | |
| 15863217780 | Trophic level | Rank in organisms' feeding hierarchy | 180 | |
| 15863217781 | Producers (autotrophs) | Self-feeders; comprise the first trophic level | 181 | |
| 15863217782 | Primary consumers | Organisms that consume producers and comprise the second trophic level | 182 | |
| 15863217783 | Secondary consumers | Organisms which prey on primary consumers; comprise the third trophic level | 183 | |
| 15863217784 | Tertiary consumers | Predators that feed at still higher trophic levels | 184 | |
| 15863217785 | Herbivores | Consumers which only eat plants | 185 | |
| 15863217786 | Carnivores | Consumers which only eat animals | 186 | |
| 15863217787 | Omnivores | Animals which eat both plant and animal food | 187 | |
| 15863217788 | Detritivores | Organisms which consume nonliving organic matter | 188 | |
| 15863217789 | Decomposers | Organisms which break down leaf litter and other nonliving matter into simpler constituents that can be taken up and used by plants | 189 | |
| 15863217790 | Biomass | The collective mass of living matter in a given place and time | 190 | |
| 15863217791 | Food chain | A linear series of feeding relationships | 191 | |
| 15863218511 | Food web | A visual map of energy flow that uses arrows to show the many paths along which energy passes as organisms consume one another | 192 | |
| 15863218512 | Keystone species | A species that has strong or wide-reaching impact far out of proportion to its abundance | 193 | |
| 15863218513 | Trophic cascade | A phenomenon in which predators at high trophic levels can indirectly promote populations of organisms at lower trophic levels by keeping species at intermediate trophic levels in check | 194 | |
| 15863218514 | Disturbance | An event that affects environmental conditions rapidly and drastically, resulting in changes to the community and ecosystem | 195 | |
| 15863218516 | Resistance | To resist change and remain stable despite disturbance | 196 | |
| 15863218517 | Resilience | To change in response to disturbance but later return to an original state | 197 | |
| 15863218518 | Succession | A somewhat predictable series of changes in an environment | 198 | |
| 15863218519 | Primary succession | Succession following a disturbance so severe that no vegetation or soil life remains from the community that had occupied the site; a biotic community is built essentially from scratch | 199 | |
| 15863218520 | Secondary succession | Succession following a disturbance which dramatically alters an existing community but does not destroy all living things or all organic matter in the soil; vestiges of the previous community remain, and these building blocks help shape the process | 200 | |
| 15863218521 | Pioneer species | Species that arrive first and colonize the new substrate of an environment following primary succession | 201 | |
| 15863218522 | Climax community | A community which is the product of succession, and remains in place until some disturbance restarts succession | 202 | |
| 15863218523 | Plane shift (regime shift) | A process in which the character of a community fundamentally changes | 203 | |
| 15863218524 | Novel communities (analog communities) | Communities composed of novel mixtures of plants and animals and have no precedent, or known difference in past status | 204 | |
| 15863218525 | Introduced species | Species introduced to environments by people | 205 | |
| 15863218526 | Invasive species | Species which often thrive in disturbed communities, and in turn disturbs them further | 206 | |
| 15863218527 | Restoration ecology | The study of the historical conditions of ecological communities as they existed before our industrialized civilization altered them | 207 | |
| 15863218528 | Ecological restoration | The actual on-the-ground efforts to carry out the visions of restoration ecologists and restore communities | 208 | |
| 15863218529 | Biome | A major regional complex of similar communities; a large-scale ecological unit recognized primarily by its dominant plant type and vegetation structure | 209 | |
| 15863218530 | Climate diagrams (climatographs) | A tool used in order to indicate an area's climate | 210 | |
| 15863218531 | Temperate deciduous forest | A biome which dominates the landscape around the central and southern Great Lakes; characterized by broad-leafed trees that are deciduous, meaning that they lose their leaves each fall and remain dormant during the winter, when hard freezes would endanger leaves | 211 | |
| 15863218532 | Temperate grasslands | A biome westward from the Great Lakes, with temperate differences between winter and summer that are quite extreme and a limited amount of precipitation | 212 | |
| 15863218533 | Temperate rainforest | A biome far west in North America, where the topography becomes varied, biome types intermix, and heavy rainfall is featured | 213 | |
| 15863218534 | Tropical rainforest | A biome found in America, South America, Southeast Asia, West Africa, and other tropical regions, with year-round rain and uniformly warm temperatures | 214 | |
| 15863218535 | Tropical dry forest (tropical deciduous forest) | A biome widespread in India, Africs, South America, and northern Australia, with wet and dry seasons, each spanning about half a year | 215 | |
| 15863218536 | Savanna | A drier tropical biome, with tropical grassland interspersed with clusters of acacias or other trees; found across stretches of Africa, South America, Australia, India, and other dry tropical regions | 216 | |
| 15863218537 | Desert | A biome where rainfall is very sparse; the driest biome on Earth, found in places like Africa and in states like Arizona and northwest Mexico | 217 | |
| 15863218538 | Tundra | A biome nearly as dry as the desert; occurs at very high latitudes in northern Russia, Canada, and Scandinavia; contains low, scrubby vegetation without trees and extremely cold winters with little daylight | 218 | |
| 15863218539 | Permafrost | Underground soil which remains more or less permanently frozen because of cold climate | 219 | |
| 15863218540 | Boreal forest (taiga) | The biome of the northern coniferous forest, extending across much of Canada, Alaska, Russia, and Scandinavia; Covered in large stretches of trees with the occasional bog or lake | 220 | |
| 15863218541 | Chaparral | A biome limited to small patches of land, widely flung around the globe; consists mostly of evergreen shrubs and is densely thicketed | 221 | |
| 15863218542 | Rainshadow | The effect by which precipitation is released as moisture-laden air ascends a steep slope and cools | 222 | |
| 15863218544 | Estuary | A body of water where rivers flow into the ocean, mixing freshwater with saltwater | 223 | |
| 15863218545 | Primary production | The process by which green plants such as green plants and phytoplankton convert solar energy to the energy of chemical bonds in sugars through photosynthesis | 224 | |
| 15863218546 | Gross primary production | The total amount of chemical energy produced by autotrophs | 225 | |
| 15863218547 | Net primary production | The energy that remains after respiration and that is used to generate biomass (such as leaves, stems, and roots) | 226 | |
| 15863218548 | Secondary production | The process by which energy is used by heterotrophs to generate biomass in their bodies (such as skin, muscle, or bone) | 227 | |
| 15863218549 | Productivity | The rate at which autotrophs convert energy to biomass | 228 | |
| 15863218550 | Net primary productivity | Rapidly converting solar energy to biomass | 229 | |
| 15863218551 | Nutrients | Elements and compounds that organisms consume and require for survival | 230 | |
| 15863218552 | Macronutrients | Elements and compounds required in relatively large amounts (such as nitrogen, carbon, and phosphorus) | 231 | |
| 15863218553 | Micronutrients | Nutrients needed in small amounts (such as zinc, copper, and iron) | 232 | |
| 15863218554 | Nutrient cycles (biogeochemical cycles) | Cycles in which chemical elements/molecules categorized as nutrients move through the environment from the atmosphere, to the hydrosphere and lithosphere, and from one organism to another, in dynamic equilibrium | 233 | |
| 15863218555 | Pool | Reservoirs of nutrients and other materials | 234 | |
| 15863218556 | Residence time | The amount of time during which nutrients and other materials remain in a certain pool or reservoir | 235 | |
| 15863218557 | Flux | The rate at which materials move between reservoirs | 236 | |
| 15863218558 | Source | A pool or reservoir which releases more materials than it accepts | 237 | |
| 15863218559 | Sink | A pool or reservoir which accepts more materials than it releases | 238 | |
| 15863218560 | Water cycle (hydrologic cycle) | The cycle which summarizes how water--in liquid, gaseous, and solid forms--flows through our environment | 239 | |
| 15863218561 | Groundwater | Water found beneath layers of soil | 240 | |
| 15863218562 | Aquifers | Spongelike regions of rock and soil that act as underground reservoirs of water | 241 | |
| 15863218563 | Water table | The upper limit of groundwater held in an aquifer | 242 | |
| 15863218564 | Carbon cycle | The cycle which describes the routes that carbon atoms take through the environment | 243 | |
| 15863218565 | Nitrogen cycle | The cycle which summarizes how nitrogen flows through our environment | 244 | |
| 15863218566 | Nitrogen fixation | The process by which inert nitrogen gas (N₂) is "fixed" or combined with hydrogen in nature to form ammonia (NH₃), whose water-soluble ions of ammonium (NH₄⁺) are biologically available and can be taken up by plants; a "bottleneck" in the nitrogen cycle, which limited the flux of nitrogen out of the atmosphere | 245 | |
| 15863218567 | Nitrogen-fixing bacteria | A large factor to one of the two ways in which nitrogen fixation can be accomplished; live in mutualistic relationships with many types of plants, providing them with nutrients through conduction of nitrogen fixation | 246 | |
| 15863218568 | Nitrification | A process in which ammonium ions are first converted into nitrite ions (NO₂⁻), then into nitrate ions (NO₃⁻); bacteria conduct this process in order for plants to gain the ability to pick up these ions, which are made available after atmospheric deposition on soils, in water, or after application of nitrate-based fertilizer | 247 | |
| 15863218569 | Denitrifying bacteria | Bacteria which convert nitrates in soil or water to gaseous nitrogen via a multistep process; denitrification thereby completes the cycle by releasing nitrogen back into the atmosphere as a gas | 248 | |
| 15863218570 | Haber-Bosch process | The methods by which nitrogen and hydrogen can be combined artificially to synthesize ammonia on an industrial scale | 249 | |
| 15863218571 | Phosphorus cycle | The cycle which summarizes how phosphorus flows through our environment; unlike the water and nitrogen cycles, has no appreciable atmospheric component besides the transport of tiny amounts in wind-blown dust and sea spray | 250 | |
| 15863218573 | Economics | The study of how people decide to use potentially scarce resources to provide goods and services that are in demand | 251 | |
| 15863218574 | Economy | A social system that converts resources into goods and services | 252 | |
| 15863218575 | Goods | Material commodities manufactures for and bought by individuals and businesses | 253 | |
| 15863218576 | Services | Work done for others as a form of business | 254 | |
| 15863218577 | Subsistence economy | The oldest type of economy; people in this type of economy meet their daily needs by subsisting on what they gather from nature or produce on their own (by hunting, fishing, or farming), rather than by working for wages and purchasing life's necessities | 255 | |
| 15863218579 | Centrally planned economies (State socialist economies) | Economies in which government determines how to allocate resources | 256 | |
| 15863218578 | Capitalist market economy | A type of economy in which interactions among buyers and sellers determine which goods and services are produced, how many produced, and how there are distributed | 257 | |
| 15863218580 | Mixed economies | Economies in which hybrid systems of those commonly used are put into place | 258 | |
| 15863218581 | Cost-benefit analysis | A process by which economists add up the estimated costs of a proposed action and compare these to the sum of benefits estimated to result from the action | 259 | |
| 15863218582 | External costs | Costs of a transaction that affect people other than the buyer or seller | 260 | |
| 15863218583 | Economic growth | An increase in an economy's production and consumption of goods and services | 261 | |
| 15863218584 | Affluenza | The way that consumption and material affluence often fail to bring people contentment | 262 | |
| 15863218585 | Economic development | The process by which improvements in the efficiency of production are due to better technologies and approaches (that is, ideas and equipment that enable us to produce more goods with fewer inputs); producing more with less | 263 | |
| 15863218586 | Cornucopians | Those who say that human ingenuity and improvements in technology will allow us to overcome all our environmental limitations and continue economic growth indefinitely | 264 | |
| 15863218587 | Cassandras | Those who say that human ingenuity and improvements in technology will never allow us to overcome all our environmental limitations and continue economic growth indefinitely | 265 | |
| 15863218588 | Environmental economics | State that economic growth may be unsustainable if we do not reduce our demand for resources and make resource use far more efficient | 266 | |
| 15863218589 | Ecological economics | Apply principles of ecology and systems science to the analysis of economic systems; state that human societies, like natural populations, cannot permanently surpass their environmental limitations and that we should not expect endless economic growth | 267 | |
| 15863218590 | Steady-state economies | An economy which neither grows nor shrinks, but rather is stable; intended to mirror natural ecological systems | 268 | |
| 15863218591 | Herman Daly | An economist who believes we will need to rethink our assumptions and fundamentally change the way we conduct economic transactions | 269 | |
| 15863218592 | Nonmarket values | Values not usually included in the price of a good or service, but states its precise economical value | 270 | |
| 15863218593 | Contingent valuation | A technique to assign market values to ecosystem services; uses surveys to determine how much people are willing to pay to protect or restore a resource | 271 | |
| 15863218594 | Gross Domestic Product (GDP) | The total monetary value of final goods and services the nation produces each year | 272 | |
| 15863218595 | Genuine Progress Indicator | An indicator used to differentiate between desirable and undesirable economic activity | 273 | |
| 15863218596 | Full cost accounting (true cost accounting) | Approaches attempting to monetize and account for all economic costs and benefits | 274 | |
| 15863218597 | Market failure | When markets do not take into account the environment's positive effects on economies (such as ecosystem services) or when they do not reflect the negative impacts of economic activity on people or the environment (external costs) | 275 | |
| 15863218598 | Ecolabeling | An approach used to inform consumers of which brands use environmentally benign processes | 276 | |
| 15863218599 | Socially responsible investing | Entails investing in companies that have met criteria for environmental or social sustainability | 277 | |
| 15863218600 | Greenwashing | Many corporate efforts which are more rhetoric than reality, pursued mostly for public relations purposes; can mislead consumers into thinking a company is acting more sustainably than it actually is | 278 | |
| 15863218601 | Development | The use of natural resources for economic advancement (as opposed to simple subsistence, or survival) | 279 | |
| 15863218602 | Triple bottom line | A trio of goals including economic advancement, environmental protection, and social equity | 280 | |
| 15863218603 | Millennium Development Goals | Eight environmental and economic goals set by world leaders in 2000 under the United Nations Millennium Declaration, each having several specific underlying targets that may be met by implementing concrete strategies | 281 |
