| Question |
 |
|
| Answer |
|
|
| absolute humidity |
amount of water vapor found in a certain mass of air (grams of water per kilogram air) |
| acid solution |
water solution with more hydrogen (H+) than hydroxide (OH-) |
| adaptive developement |
methods used to improve adaptability to unkown circumstances |
| adaptive radiation |
period of time (usually millions of years) during which new species evolve to fill niches left after mass extinction |
| agricultural revolution |
shift from hunter-gatherer to agriculture--10,000 to 12,000 years ago |
| agroforestry |
planting trees and crops closely together |
| albedo |
ability of a surfact to reflect light |
| allele |
slightly different molecular form found in a particular gene |
| alley cropping |
planting of crops in strips with rows of trees or shrubs on each side |
| alpha particle |
positive particle two neutrons and two protons emitted as radioactivity |
| appropriate technology |
small scale, efficient, adn labor intensive, and use locally available resources to produce goods that benefit local communities |
| arable land |
land that can be cultivated to grow crops |
| strip mining |
earthmover strips away overburden, power shovel digs a cut to remove the mineral dposity. After minerals is removed, overburden is replaced and work begins on the next strip |
| basic solution |
water solution with more hydroxide than hydrogen |
| beneficiation |
seperation of an ore mineral from the waste mineral |
| benthos |
bottom dwelling organisms |
| benefit cost analysis |
costs v. benefits, used to determine economic viability for a project |
| beta particle |
electron released as part of radioactivity |
| biofuel |
gas or liguid fuel made from plant material |
| biological evolution |
change in the genetic makeup of a population of a species in its successive generations |
| BOD |
Biological Oxygen Demand, amount of dissolved oxygen needed by aerobic decomposers to break down the organic materials in a given volume of water at a certain temperature over a specified time period |
| Biome |
terrestrial regiods inhabited by certain types of life, especially vegetation |
| Biosphere |
zone of earth where life is found |
| Biotic potential |
maximum rate at which the populationpopulation of a given species can increase when there are no limits in its rate of growth |
| Bitumen |
gooey, black, high-sulfur, heavy oil extracted from tar sand and then upgraded to synthetic fuel oil |
| broadleaf deciduous plants |
plants such as oak and maple trees that survive drought and cold by shedding their leaves and becoming dormant |
| broadleaf evergreen plants |
plants that keep most of their broad leaves year-round |
| buffer |
substance that can react with hygrogen ions and thus hold the acidity of a solution fairly constant |
| K |
Carrying Capacity, maximum population of a given species that can be supportedin a given habitat |
| CFC |
Clorofluorocarbons |
| chemosynthesis |
process in which certain organisms extract inorganic compounds from their environment and convert them into organic nutrient compounds without the presence of sunlight |
| closed system |
energy but not matter is exchanged between system and environment |
| commensalism |
good, neutral |
| commercial extinction |
when there is not enough of something to be profitable harvested |
| competitive exclusion principle |
no two species can occupy the same niche |
| condensation nuclei |
tiny particles in which droplets of water vapor can collect |
| coniferous plants |
make cones |
| conservation tillage farming |
crop cultivation which does not disturb the land so much |
| coral reef |
formation produced by massive colonies containing billions of timy coral animals called polyps that secrets a stony substance (calcium carbonate) then die. found in coastal zones |
| crude birth rate |
live births over 1000 population |
| decidious plants |
shed their leaves |
| degradeable pollutant |
pollutant that can be broken down to acceptable levels by natural processes |
| depletion time |
how long it takes to use a certain fraction-usually 80% of the knwon or estimated supply of a nonrenewable resource at an assume rate of use |
| detritivore |
scavengers and decomposers, live off waste |
| dew point |
temperature at which condensationoccurs for a given amount of water vapor |
| dieback |
sharp reduction of species numbers back to carrying capacity |
| dust dome |
heated air surrounds city and holds in spm |
| spm |
suspended particulate matter |
| ecological niche |
all physical, chemical, and biological conditions a species needs to live in an ecosystem |
| ecotone |
transitional zone in which one type of ecosystem tends to merge with another ecosystem |
| endemic species |
species only found in one area, particularly vulnerable to extinction |
| entropy |
disorder and randomness |
| environmental wisdom worldview |
nature exists for every species not just for us and we have to fairly share it with the other species out there. |
| estuary |
mouth of a river where fresh and saltwater mix |
| first law of thermodynamics |
energy in neither created nor destroyed |
| frontier worldview |
undeveloped land must be conquered |
| fundemental niche |
full potential range of a species niche, only found in a lab |
| Gaia Hypothesis |
earth is alive and can be considered a system |
| GPP |
rate at which an ecosystem's producers capture and store a given amount of chemical energy as biomass in a given length of time |
| high-input agriculture |
large amounts of fuel and fertilizer to creat massive amounts of monoculture crops |
| intercropping |
growing two or more different crops at the same time on a plot |
| kerogen |
fuel found in oil shale |
| keystone species |
affects many other species in the ecosystem |
| K-Selected Species |
small amount of valuable offspring |
| plantation agriculture |
grow specialized crops for sale to developed countries |
| strip cropping |
planting regular crops adn close-growing plants in alternating rows to reduce depletion of soil nutrients |
| sludge |
stuff removed from wastewater |
Biology Lab Midterm
