Environmental Science

Front 1

Biodiversity

Back 1

The number and abundance of different species (species diversity), genetic variability among individuals within each species or population (genetic diversity), variety of ecosystems (ecological diversity), and functions such as energy flow and matter cycling needed for the survival of species and biological communities (functional diversity).

Front 2

Conservationist

Back 2

Management of natural resources by humans with the goals of minimizing resource waste and sustaining supplies for current and future generations.

Front 3

ecological footprint

Back 3

Amount of biologically productive land and water needed to supply a population with the renewable resources it uses and to absorb and recycle the wastes from such resource use. It measures the average environmental impact of populations in different countries and areas. See per capita ecological footprint.

Front 4

ecology

Back 4

Biological science that studies the relationships between living organisms and their environment study of the structure and functions of nature.

Front 5

environment

Back 5

Everything around us all external conditions and factors, living and nonliving (chemicals and energy), that affect any living organism or other specified system.

Front 6

environmental science

Back 6

Interdisciplinary study that uses information and ideas from the physical sciences (such as biology, chemistry, and geology) along with those from the social sciences (such as economics, politics, and ethics) to learn how nature works, how we interact with the environment, and how we can deal with environmental problems.

Front 7

nonpoint source

Back 7

Large or dispersed land areas such as crop fields, streets, and lawns that discharge pollutants into the environment over a large area. Compare point source.

Front 8

photosynthesis

Back 8

6 CO2 +6 H20 + solar energy  (Glucose) C6H12O6 + 6 O2

Front 9

respiration

Back 9

6 O2 + (Glucose) C6H12O6  6 CO2+ 6 H2O + energy

Front 10

pollution

Back 10

An undesirable change in the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of air, water, soil, or food that can adversely affect the health, survival, or activities of humans or other living organisms.

Front 11

pollution prevention

Back 11

Device or process that prevents a potential pollutant from forming or entering the environment or sharply reduces the amount entering the environment. Compare pollution cleanup.

Front 12

recycle,

Back 12

Collecting and reprocessing a resource so that it can be made into new products. An example is collecting aluminum cans, melting them down, and using the aluminum to make new cans or other aluminum products. Compare reuse.

Front 13

reuse

Back 13

Using a product over and over again in the same form. An example is collecting, washing, and refilling glass beverage bottles. Compare recycling.

Front 14

sustainability

Back 14

Ability of earth's various systems, including human cultural systems and economies, to survive and adapt to changing environmental conditions indefinitely.

Front 15

atom,

Back 15

Minute unit made of subatomic particles that is the basic building block of all chemical elements and thus all matter the smallest unit of an element that can exist and still have the unique characteristics of that element. Compare ion, molecule.

Front 16

atomic number

Back 16

Number of protons in the nucleus of an atom. Compare mass number.

Front 17

chemical change

Back 17

Interaction between chemicals in which the arrangement of atoms, ions, or molecules in the elements or compounds involved changes. Compare nuclear change, physical change.

Front 18

electrons,

Back 18

Tiny particle moving around outside the nucleus of an atom. Each electron has one unit of negative charge and almost no mass. Compare neutron, proton.

Front 19

elements,

Back 19

Chemical, such as hydrogen (H), iron (Fe), sodium (Na), carbon (C), nitrogen (N), or oxygen (O), whose distinctly different atoms serve as the basic building blocks of all matter. Two or more elements combine to form the compounds that make up most of the world's matter. Compare compound.

Front 20

first law of thermodynamics

Back 20

In any physical or chemical change, no detectable amount of energy is created or destroyed, but energy can be changed from one form to another you cannot get more energy out of something than you put in. This law does not apply to nuclear changes, in which energy can be produced from small amounts of matter. See second law of thermodynamics.

Front 21

bacteria

Back 21

Prokaryotic, one-celled organisms. Some transmit diseases. Most act as decomposers and get the nutrients they need by breaking down complex organic compounds in the tissues of living or dead organisms into simpler inorganic nutrient compounds.

Front 22

nutrient

Back 22

Any chemical element or compound an organism must take in to live, grow, or reproduce.

Front 23

exponential

Back 23

Growth in which some quantity, such as population size or economic output, increases at a constant rate per unit of time. An example is the growth sequence 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, and so on. When the increase in quantity over time is plotted, this type of growth yields a curve shaped like the letter J. Compare linear growth.

Front 24

globalization

Back 24

Use of new technologies such as the telephone, radio, television, computers, the Internet, automated databases, and remote sensing satellites to enable people to have increasingly rapid access to much more information on a global scale. Compare agricultural revolution, environmental revolution, hunter-gatherers, industrial-medical revolution.

Front 25

renewable resource

Back 25

Resource that can be replenished rapidly (hours to several decades) through natural processes as long as it is not used up faster than it is replaced. Examples include trees in forests, grasses in grasslands, wild animals, fresh surface water in lakes and streams, most groundwater, fresh air, and fertile soil. If such a resource is used faster than it is replenished, it can be depleted and converted into a nonrenewable resource.