Chapter 3: The Big Picture - Systems of Change
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| 194641779 | average residence time | a measure of time it takes for a given part of the total pool or reservoir of a particular material in a system to be cycled | |
| 194641780 | biosphere | all the parts of the planet that are inhabited by living things; sum of all Earth's ecosystems | |
| 194641781 | biota | all the organisms of all species living in an area or region up to and including the biosphere | |
| 194641782 | closed system | a system that allows the exchange of energy, but not matter, between the system and its surroundings | |
| 194641783 | doubling time | the time required for a population to double in size | |
| 194641784 | ecosystem | a system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their physical environment | |
| 194641785 | environmental unity | a principle of environment sciences that states that everything affects everything else, meaning that particular course of action leads to an entire potential string of events | |
| 194641786 | exponential growth | population growth pattern where a population grows faster as it increases in size | |
| 194641787 | feedback | a kind of system response that occurs when output of the system also serves as input leading to changes in the system (positive and negative) | |
| 194641788 | Gaia hypothesis | states that the environment on a global level has been changed for the better by life over the history of life on earth | |
| 194641789 | lag time | the time between a stimulus and the response of a system | |
| 194641790 | negative feedback | a type of feedback that occurs when the system's response is in the opposite direction of the output; negative feedback is self-regulating | |
| 194641791 | open system | a system that can exchange both matter and energy with its surroundings | |
| 194641792 | overshoot and collapse | this occurs when growth in one part of a system over time exceeds carrying capacity, resulting in sudden decline in one or both parts of the system | |
| 194641793 | positive feedback | a type of feedback that occurs when an increase in output leads to a further increase in output | |
| 194641794 | steady state | when input equals output in a system, there is no net change and the system is said to be in equilibrium | |
| 194641795 | system | a set of components that are linked and interact to produce a whole |