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16 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Conservation of Matter |
the principle that in any closed system subjected to no external forces, the mass is constant irrespective of its changes in form; the principle that matter cannot be created or destroyed
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Positive Feedback |
occurs when an increase in output leads to a further increase in output |
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Thomas Malthus |
An 18th-century British philosopher and economist famous for his ideas about population growth. Malthus' population theories were outlined in his book, "An Essay on the Principle of Population", first published in 1798.
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Doubling Time 2No=No^ekTd |
the time necessary for the quantity being measured to double |
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Negative Feedback |
an increase in output leads to a later decrease |
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Lag Time |
the delay between a cause and the appearance of its effect |
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Closed System |
nothing moves in or out of a system |
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Open System |
moves into or out of the system |
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Biomass |
the total mass of organisms in a given area or volume. |
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Exponential growth N=Noe^kt |
when something grows at a constant rate per time period |
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Nonlinear Response |
includes exponential growth, which can occur over short periods, especially for species and populations, and a variety of other responses, including the rates of uptake of chemicals by living things, and the rate at which CO2 in the atmosphere dissolves in lakes, rivers, and oceans. |
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Uniformitarianism |
the principal that physical and biological processes presently forming and modifying Earth can help explain the geologic and evolutionary history of Earth |
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Biosphere |
the region of Earth where life exists |
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Biota |
is used to refer to all living things within a given area as a whole |
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Average Residence Time (ART) ART=S/F |
the average amount of time it takes for a given part of the total reservoir of a particular material to be cycled through the system |
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Organic Matter |
material, natural organic matter, NOM refers to the large pool of carbon-based compounds found within natural and engineered, terrestrial and aquatic environments. |
