Chapters 18-21 + 11 Vocabulary

Front 1

climate variability

Back 1

variations around a mean, day to day weather changes, seasonal and year to year changes

Front 2

climate change

Back 2

average changes over time, left to right slope, difficult to detect changes over short times, threatens human health including air quality, diseases, food, and water

Front 3

greenhouse effect

Back 3

when temperatures rise due from when outgoing energy is trapped from the earth (sunlight that hits the earth is reflected, some becomes heat, some gases trap heat and keep the earth warm)

Front 4

keeling curve

Back 4

charles keeling first measures CO2 at the Mauna Loa Observatory, leading the scientific community to notice the human contribution to the greenhouse effect

Front 5

paleoclimatology

Back 5

reconstruction of past climate through proxy measures that capture small variations

Front 6

mitigation

Back 6

actions taken to try o prevent changes (reducing carbon emissions, alternative/renewable energy, altering energy balance aka geoengineering)

Front 7

adaptation

Back 7

actions taken to make us more resilient to anticipated changes (changes in infrastructure, retreat form the coastlines, building levees to protect facilities, international aid to assist those displaced)

Front 8

humus

Back 8

mixture of decomposed and synthesized organic materials

Front 9

silicate

Back 9

clays in a soil profile leached from near top (A) to lower (B)

Front 10

oxides

Back 10

aluminum and iron in a soil profile leached from top (A) to lower (B)

Front 11

regolith

Back 11

the layer about the bedrock (C).... broken up bedrock

Front 12

loam

Back 12

mixture of sand, silt, clay, that is beneficial to plant growth

Front 13

pore

Back 13

in the soil control movement of water (intake, flow, drainage)

Front 14

porosity

Back 14

improved by plant roots, burrowing animals, and plowing or adding material such as sand or humus

Front 15

field capacity

Back 15

maximum amount of water soil can hold before it drips out

Front 16

wilting point

Back 16

point where water sticks to soil so strongly that it cannot be extracted by plant

Front 17

leaching

Back 17

rainfall leaches nitrogen downward through soil, leaving soil near the top negatively-charged (acidic)

Front 18

soil order

Back 18

12 soil order groups based upon properties, appearance, form, and structure

Front 19

ecology

Back 19

study of the relationships between organisms and the environment

Front 20

ecosystem

Back 20

community of living organisms and their non-living environment (pond, forest, grassland, estuary)

Front 21

trophic level

Back 21

position an organism occupies in a food chain (primary producers: plants, primary consumers: herbivores, secondary consumers: carnivores, decomposers: detrivores)

Front 22

habitat

Back 22

the physical and natural factors to which a specific species is adapted

Front 23

photosynthesis

Back 23

combines sunlight with CO2 and hydrogen to produce carbohydrates for plants to use as energy later

Front 24

biomass

Back 24

net dry weight of organic material and stored energy, greatest in tropical low elevation areas and also important in oceans

Front 25

disturbance

Back 25

an event that results in a sustained disruption of an ecosystems structure and function

Front 26

stability

Back 26

an ecosystems ability to resist disturbance

Front 27

resilience

Back 27

an ecosystems ability to recover to its original state following a disturbance

Front 28

natural selection

Front 29

succession

Back 29

orderly sequence of different communities over a period of time in a particular area

Front 30

biosphere

Back 30

the set of all life

Front 31

realm

Back 31

geographic region where a group of pant and animal species evolve

Front 32

biome

Back 32

large, stable, terrestrial ecosystem characterized by its dominant plant and vegetation structure

Front 33

ecoregion

Back 33

large areas of land or water with geographically distinct groups of natural communities and species

Front 34

invasive

Back 34

spread from other biomes either intentionally or accidentally, can be disruptive to established ecosystems, native or non native (exotic)

Front 35

desertification

Back 35

unwanted expansion of the desert biome occurring at the margins of semiarid and arid lands (worldwide). human activity can stress fragile ecosystems surrounding deserts beyond its limits causing degradation of the land