Enviromental Systems and Ecosystem Ecology
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| 481245660 | abiotic | nonliving, physical features of the environment, including air, water, sunlight, soil, temperature, and climate | |
| 481245661 | Aquifers | An underground water reservoir. Porous, water- bearing layers of sand, gravel, and rock below the earth's surface; reservoirs for groundwater. | |
| 481245662 | Atmosphere | The thin layer of gases surrounding planet Earth. | |
| 481245663 | Biogeochemical cycles | (same as nutrient cycle) any of the various nutrient circuits, which involve both biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems. | |
| 481245664 | Biomass | Organic material that makes up living organisms | |
| 481245665 | biosphere | all the parts of the planet (abiotic portions)that are inhabited by living things(biotic); sum of all Earth's ecosystems | |
| 481245666 | Biotic | the living organisms in an ecosystem | |
| 481245667 | Carbon Cycle | A major nutrient cycle consisting of the routes that carbon atoms take through the nested networks of environmental systems. | |
| 481245668 | Closed System | A system that is isolated and self contained. | |
| 481245669 | Conservation biologists | scientists who study the loss, protection, & restoration of biodiversity; their particular concern is the fragmentation of habitat into small & isolated patches | |
| 481245670 | Convergent Plate Boundaries | Area where tectonic plates collide. | |
| 481245671 | Core | The innermost part of the Earth, made up mostly of iron, that lies beneath the crust and mantle. | |
| 481245672 | Crust | The lightweight outer layer of the Earth consisting of rock that floats atop the malleable mantle, which in turn surrounds a mostly iron core. | |
| 481245673 | Denitrifying Bacteria | Bacteria that convert the nitrates in soil or water to gaseous nitrogen and release it back in to the atmosphere. | |
| 481245674 | Divergent Plate Boundaries | Area where magma surging upward to the surface divides tectonic plates and pushes them apart, creating new crust as it cools and spreads. (Ex: Mid Atlantic Ridge) | |
| 481245675 | Dynamic Equilibrium | The state reached when processes within a system are moving in opposing directions at equivalent rates so that their effects balance out. (Uses negative feedback) | |
| 481245676 | Ecological modeling | The practice of constructing and testing models that aim to explain and predict how ecological systems function. | |
| 481245677 | Ecosystem | collection of all the organisms that live in a particular place, together with their nonliving environment | |
| 481245678 | Ecosystem services | An essential service an ecosystem provides that supports life and make economic activity possible, such as clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and fertile soil in which to grow crops, and serve as recepticles and recycling systems for the waste generated by our economic activity. | |
| 481245679 | Ecotones | A transitional zone where ecosystems meet. | |
| 481245680 | Emergent Properties | A characteristic that is not evident in a system's components. New properties that emerge with each step upward in the hierarchy of life, owing to the arrangement and interactions of parts as complexity increases. evolution = emergent properties. | |
| 481245681 | Eutrophication | The process of nutrient enrichment, increased production of organic matter, and subsequent ecosystem degradation. Ex. farm runoff (nitrogen & phosphorus) -> rapid algal growth (algal bloom)-> blocks sunlight, causing the death/decomposition of aquatic plants-> decreasing dissolved oxygen (DO)-> suffocating fish. | |
| 481245682 | Evaporation | The conversion of a substance from a liquid to a gaseous form. | |
| 481245683 | Feedback Loop | A circular process in which a system's output serves as input to that same system. | |
| 481245684 | Flux | The movement of nutrients among pools or resivoirs in a nutrint cycle. | |
| 481245685 | Gross Primary Production | The energy that results when autotrophs convert solar energy to energy of chemical bonds in sugars through photosynthesis. Autotrophs use a portion of this production to power their own metabolism, which entails oxidizing organic compounds by cellular respiration. | |
| 481245686 | Groundwater | Water held in aquifers underground. | |
| 481245687 | Haber-Bosch Process | A process to synthesize ammonia on an industrial scale. Developed by German chemists Fritz Haber + Carl Bosch, the process has enabled humans to double the natural rate of nitrogen fixation on Earth and thereby increase agricultural productivity, but also altered the nitrogen cycle. | |
| 481245688 | Homeostasis | The tendency of a system to maintain constant or stable internal conditions. | |
| 481245689 | Hydrologic Cycle | The flow of water (in liquid, gaseous, and solid forms) through our biotic & abiotic environment. | |
| 481245690 | Hydrosphere | All water (salt, fresh, liquid, ice, or vapor) in surface bodies, underground, and in the atmosphere. | |
| 481245691 | Hypoxia | The condition of extremely low dissolved oxygen concentrations in a body of water. | |
| 481245692 | Igneous Rock | One of three main categories of rock, formed from cooling magma (such as granite and basalt). | |
| 481245693 | Landscape Ecology | An approach to the study of organisms and their environments at the landscape scale, focusing on geographical areas that include multiple ecosystem.s | |
| 481245694 | Lava | Magma that is released from the lithosphere and flows or spatters across Earth's surface. | |
| 481245695 | Lithification | The formation of rock through the processes of compaction, binding, and crystallization. | |
| 481245696 | Lithosphere | The solid part of the Earth, including the rocks, sediment, and soil at the surface and extending down many miles underground. | |
| 481245697 | Magma | Molten, liquid rock. | |
| 481245698 | Mantle | The malleable layer of rock that lies beneath Earth's crust and surrounds a mostly iron core. | |
| 481245699 | Metamorphic Rock | Formed by great heat and/or pressure that reshapes crystals within the rock and changes its appearance and physical properties (such as marble & slate). | |
| 481245700 | 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. | |
| 481245701 | Net Primary Production | The energy or biomass that remains in an ecosystem after autotrophs have metabolized enough for their own maintenance through cellular respiration. Net primary production is the energy or biomass available for consumption by heterotrophs. | |
| 481245702 | Net Primary Productivity | The rate at which net primary production is produced. | |
| 481245703 | Nitrification | The conversion by bacteria of ammonium ions first into nitrate ions and then into nitrate ions. | |
| 481245704 | Nitrogen Cycle | A major nutrient cycle consisting of the routes that nitrogen atoms take through the nested networks of environmental systems. | |
| 481245705 | Nitrogen Fixation | The process by which inert nitrogen gas combines with hydrogen to form ammonium ions. | |
| 481245706 | Nitrogen-Fixing Bacteria | Term describing bacteria that live in a mutualistic relationship with many types of plants and provide nutrients to the plants by converting nitrogen to a usable form. | |
| 481245707 | Nutrient or Biogeochemical Cycles | The comprehensive set of cyclical pathways by which a given nutrient moves through the environment. | |
| 481245708 | nutrients | An element or compound that organisms consume and require for survival. | |
| 481245709 | Open System | A system that exchanges energy, matter, and information with other systems. | |
| 481245710 | Phosphorus Cycle | A major nutrient cycle consisting of the routes that phosphorus atoms take through the nested networks of environmental systems. | |
| 481245711 | Plate Tectonics | The process by which Earth's surface is shaped by the extremely slow movement of tectonic plates, or sections of crust. | |
| 481245712 | 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. | |
| 481245713 | Precipitation | Water that condenses out of the atmosphere and falls to Earth in droplets or crystals. | |
| 481245714 | 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 productivity. | |
| 481245715 | Rock Cycle | The very slow process in which rocks and the minerals that make them up are heated, melted, cooled, broken, reassembled, forming igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks. | |
| 481245716 | Runoff | The water from precipitation that flows intro streams, lakes, ponds, and eventually to the ocean. | |
| 481245717 | Secondary production | The total biomas that heterotrophs generate by consuming autotrophs. | |
| 481245718 | Sedimentary Rock | Formed when dissolved minerals seep through sediment layers and act as a kind of glue, crystallizing and binding sediment particles together (such as sandstone and shale). | |
| 481245719 | Sediments | The eroded remains of rocks | |
| 481245720 | Subduction | The plate tectonic process by which denser ocean crust slides beneath lighter continental crust at a convergent plate boundary. | |
| 481245721 | System | Network of relationships among parts, elements, or components that interact with and influence one another through the exchange of energy, matter, or information. | |
| 481245722 | Transform Plate Boundary | Area where two tectonic plates meet and slip and grind alongside one another. (Ex: Pacific Plate & NA Plate rub against each other along California's San Andreas Fault) | |
| 481245723 | Transpiration | The release of water vapor by plants through their leaves. | |
| 481245724 | Water table | The upper limit of groundwater held in an aquifer. | |
| 481245725 | Geographic information systems | (GIS) a powerful tool that allows the combination of multiple layers of data( from geology, hydrology, vegitation, animal species, and human development) in a computerized environment, creating maps in which patterns and processes are superimposed. Used by geographers, landscape ecologists, resource managers, and conservation biologists. |
