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Chapter 3
Living Resources
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Natural resources | Anything in the environment that is used by humans |
Renewable resource | A resource that is either always available or is naturally replaced in a relatively short time |
Nonrenewable resources | Natural resources that are not replaced in a useful time frame |
Pollution | The contamination of earth's air, land, or water |
Environmental science | The study of natural processes in the environment and how humans can affect them |
Clear-cutting | The process of cutting down all the trees in an area at once |
Selective cutting | The process of cutting down only some trees in an area |
Sustainable yield | An amount of a renewable resource that can be harvested regularly without affecting the future supply |
Fishery | An area with a large population of valuable ocean organisms |
Aquaculture | The practice of raising fish and other water-dwelling organisms for food |
Biodiversity | The number of different species in an area |
Keystone species | A species that influences the survival of many other species |
Genes | The structures in an organism's cells that carry its hereditary information |
Extinction | The disapperance of all members of a species from earth |
Endangered species | Species in danger of becoming extinct in the near future |
Threatened species | Species that could become endangered in the near future |
Habitat destruction | The loss of a natural habitat |
Habitat fragmentation | Breaking larger habitats into smaller, isolated pieces |
Captive breeding | |
Poaching | The illegal killing or removal of wildlife from its natural habitat |