Ap Enviro Part 4

Front 1

Peak Oil

Back 1

the point in time when the maximum rate of crude oil extraction is reached, after which the rate of extraction is expected to begin to decline

Front 2

Phosphorous Cycle

Back 2

Major biogeochemical cycle involving the movement of phosphorous throughout the biosphere and lithosphere. Phosphorous is the limiting factor for plant growth

Front 3

Photosynthesis

Back 3

synthesis of sugar from carbon dioxide and water by living organisms using light as energy

Front 4

Photovoltaics

Back 4

Technology that converts sunlight directly into electricity using a solid semiconductor material

Front 5

Plantation

Back 5

Managed forests, in which a single species is planted in straight rows and harvested at regular intervals

Front 6

Plate Tectonics

Back 6

The lithosphere is made up of large plates that move relative to one another. Continents and ocean basins are passive riders on these plates

Front 7

Population

Back 7

A group of individuals of the same species living in the same area or interbreeding and sharing genetic information

Front 8

Population Dynamics

Back 8

The study of changes in population sizes and the causes of these dangers

Front 9

Positive Feedback

Back 9

A type of feedback that occurs when an increase in output leads to further increase in output

Front 10

Primary Production

Back 10

The production of autotrophs

Front 11

Public Service Functions

Back 11

Functions performed by ecosystems that improve other forms of life in other ecosystems

Front 12

Radioactive Decay

Back 12

a process of decay of radioisotopes that change from one isotope to another and emit one or more forms of radiation

Front 13

Radioistope

Back 13

a form of a chemical element that spontaneously undergoes radioactive decay

Front 14

Rangeland

Back 14

land used for grazing

Front 15

Realms

Back 15

Major biogeographic regions of Earth in which most animals have some common genetic heritage

Front 16

Renewable Energy

Back 16

Alternative energy sources that are more or less continuously made available in a time framework useful to people

Front 17

Respiration

Back 17

the complex series of chemical reactions in organisms that make energy available for use aka breathing. Products include water, CO2, and energy

Front 18

Restoration Energy

Back 18

the field within the science of ecology with to return damaged ecosystems to ones that are functional, sustainable, and more natural in some meaning in this word

Front 19

Rock Cycle

Back 19

A group of processes that produce igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks

Front 20

Rotation Time

Back 20

Time between cuts of a stand or area of forest

Front 21

Scrubbing

Back 21

A process of removing sulfur from gases emitted from power plants burning coal

Front 22

Second Law of Thermodynamics

Back 22

Energy always tends to go from a more usable form to a less usable form

Front 23

Secondary Production

Back 23

Production by heterotrophs

Front 24

Secondary Succession

Back 24

the reestabishment of an ecosystem where there are remnants of a previous biological community

Front 25

Second Law of Efficiency

Back 25

How well matched the energy end use is with quality of the energy source

Front 26

Seed-Tree Cutting

Back 26

logging method in which mature trees with food genetic characteristics and high seed production are preserved to promote regeneration of the forest

Front 27

Selective Cutting

Back 27

Cut some trees but leave some. Trees depend on market value

Front 28

Shelterwood-Cutting

Back 28

dead and less desirable trees are cut first and mature trees are cut later. This ensures young, vigorous trees are left in the forest

Front 29

Silviculture

Back 29

practice of growing trees and managing forests for commercial sale

Front 30

Site Quality

Back 30

estimator of the maximum timber crop the land can produce in a given time

Front 31

Soft Path

Back 31

Energy policy that relies heavily on renewable enrgy resources as well as other sources that are diverse, flexible, and matched to the end-use needs

Front 32

Solar Collectors

Back 32

Device used to collect and store solar energy

Front 33

Solar Energy System

Back 33

A system that utilizes solar energy to be used as an energy source to generate power.

Front 34

Species

Back 34

A group of individuals capable of inerbreeding

Front 35

Stand

Back 35

an informal term used by foresters to refer to a group of trees

Front 36

Steady State

Back 36

when input equals output in a system, there is no net change and the system is said to be in a steady state.

Front 37

Strip-Cutting

Back 37

the practice of cutting narrow rows of forest, leaving wooded corridors

Front 38

Succession

Back 38

The process of establishment and development of an ecosystem

Front 39

Successional Stages

Back 39

Pioneer – pioneer types are the new lifeforms that enter into a primary succession and begin to take hold. This can be anything from a seed to a bacteria to an insect or to an animal wandering into a new area and bedding down to make it their home. The pioneer has no connection to the environment, but it does find enough present in the new ecosystem to begin to establish its life.

Establishing – the establishing type can be hard to pinpoint because it crosses into the pioneer and sustaining. Establishing is the process in which lifeforms identify elements in an ecosystem that can sustain their basic needs – such as food, water and safe habitat.

Sustaining – Sustaining type means that life in the ecosystem has begun to enter into a pattern that allows for a cycle of life to continue. This means that birth and death are occurring, and there is little migration outside of the ecosystem – this is most common in the climax succession.

Producing – the producing type occurs during the secondary succession. This is when lifeforms are breeding and growing, but there is migration because what is produced is also not capable of being supported within the ecosystem. There are also more areas of overgrowth or overpopulationdue to seed levels.

Front 40

Suppressed

Back 40

tree species growing in the understory , beneath the dominant and intermediate species

Front 41

Sustainable Energy Development

Back 41

Energy management that provides for reliable sources of energy while not causing environmental degradation and ensuring that future generations have a fair share of Earth's resources

Front 42

Sustainable Forests

Back 42

Effort to manage a forest so that a resource in it can be harvested at a rate that doe not decrease the ability of the forest ecosystem to continue to provide that same rate of harvest indefinitely

Front 43

Symbiont

Back 43

Each partner in a symbiosis (interaction between individual of different species that benefit from each other)

Front 44

Symbiosis

Back 44

interaction between individual of different species that benefit from each other

Front 45

Synergistic Effect

Back 45

when the change in availability of one resource affects the response of an organism to some other resource

Front 46

Synfuels

Back 46

Synthetic fuels, which may be liquid or gaseous, derived from solid fuels

Front 47

Taiga

Back 47

Forest of cold climates of high latitudes and high altitudes

Front 48

Tar Sands

Back 48

Sedimentary rocks or sands impregnated with tar oil

Front 49

Taxa

Back 49

Categories that identify groups of living organisms based on evolutionary relationships or similarity of characters

Front 50

Tectonic cycle

Back 50

the processes that change earth's crust, producing external forms such as ocean basins, continents, and mountains

Front 51

terminator Gene

Back 51

A genetically modified crop that has a gene to cause the plant to become sterile after the first year

Front 52

Thermodynamic system

Back 52

Formed by an energy source, ecosystem, and energy sink, where the ecosystem is said to be an intermediate system between the energy source and energy sink

Front 53

Thinning

Back 53

practice of selectively removing only smaller or poorly formed trees

Front 54

Tidal Power

Back 54

form of water utilizing ocean tides in places where favorable topography allows for construction of power plant

Front 55

Transuranic Waste

Back 55

Radioactive waste consisting of human-made radioactive elements heavier than uranium

Front 56

Trophic Levels

Back 56

All the organisms that are the same number of food-chain steps from primary source of energy

Front 57

Trophic-Level Efficiency

Back 57

The ratio of the biological production of one trophic level to the biological production of the next lower trophic level

Front 58

Tundra

Back 58

Treeless land area in alpine and arctic areas charcterized by plants of low stature and including areas without plants and are covered with lichens, mosses, grasses, sedges, and small flowering plants, including low shrubs

Front 59

Uniformitarianism

Back 59

processes that operate today operated in the past. Processes today can be explained by what occurred in the past

Front 60

Water Power

Back 60

Alternative energy source derived from flowing water

Front 61

Watershed

Back 61

an area of land that forms the drainage of a stream or river

Front 62

Wilderness

Back 62

an area unaffected now or in the past by human activities and without any human beings

Front 63

Wind Power

Back 63

Alternative energy source that uses wind to produce electricity by the means of windmills

Front 64

Work

Back 64

Force times the distance from which it acts

Front 65

Zero Population Growth

Back 65

a population in which the number of births equals the number of deaths so there is no net change in population