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ESM 300 3
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| estuaries | partially enclosed coastal area at the mouth of a river where its fresh water, carrying fertile silt& run off from the land, mixes with salty water |
| coastal wetlands | land along a coastline extending inland from an estuary that is covered with salt water all or part of the year Ex. marshes, bays, lagoons |
| inland wetlands | Land away from the coast, such as a swamp, marsh, or bog, that is covered all or part of the time with fresh water |
| wilderness | Area where the earth and it's community of a life have not been seriously disturbed by humans and where humans are only temporary visitors |
| ecological restoration | Deliberate alteration of a degraded habitat or ecosystem to restore as much of its ecological conditions that a species needs to live and reproduce in an ecosystem |
| biological diversity/biodiversity | the number and abundance of different species, genetic variability population, variety of ecosystems, and functions such as survival of species and biological communities |
| extinction | complete disappearance of a species from the earth. It happens when a species cannot adapt and successfully reproduce under new environmental conditions or when a species evolves into one or more new species |
| endemic species | species that is found in only one area. Such species are especially vulnerable to extinction |
| background extinction | normal extinction of various species as a result of changes in local environmental conditions |
| mass extinction | a catastrophic, widespread, often global event in which major groups of species are wiped out over a short time compared with normal extinctions |
| intrinsic value | value of an organism, species, ecosystem, or the earth's biodiversity based on it's existence, regardless of whether it had and usefulness to humans |
| instrumental value | value of an organism, species, ecosystem, of the earth's biodiversity based on its usefulness to humans |
| endangered species | a wild species with so few individual survivors that the species could soon become extinct in all or most of its natural range |
| threatened species | a wild species that is still abundant in its natural range but is likely to become endangered because of a decline in numbers |
| HIPPCO | Acronym used by biologists for the 5 most important 2ndary causes of premature extinction: 1. Habitat destruction, degradation, and fragmentation 2. Invasive species 3. Population growth 4. Pollution 5. Climate change 6. Overexploitation |
| Habitat fragmentation | breakup of a habitat into smaller piece, usually as a result of human activities |
| Urban sprawl | Growth of low-density development on the edges of cities and towns |
| noise pollution | any unwanted, disturbing, or harmful sound that impairs or interferes with hearing, causes stress, hampers concentration and work efficiency , or causes accidents |
| smart growth | form of urban planning which recognizes that urban growth will occur but uses zoning laws and other tools to prevent sprawl, direct growth to certain areas, protect ecologically sensitive and important... |
| municipal solid waste (MSW) | solid materials discarded by homes and businesses in or near urban areas |
| solid waste | ant unwanted or discarded material that is not a liquid or a gas |
| industrial solid waste | solid waste produced by mines, factories, refineries, food growers, and businesses that supply people with goods and services |
| hazardous waste/toxic waste | any solid , liquid, or containerized gas that can catch fire easily, is corrosive to skin tissue or metals is unstable and can explode or release toxic materials that can lean out |
| integrated waste management | variety of strategies for both waste reduction and waste management designed to deal with the solid wastes we produce |
| reuse | using a product over and over again in the same form. ex. collecting, washing, refilling glass bottles |
| recycling | collecting and reprocessing a resource so that it can be made into new products. ex. collection aluminum cans, melting them down, using the aluminum to make new cans or other aluminum products |
| open dumps | field or hole in the ground where garbage is deposited and sometimes covered with soil. They are rare in developed countries, but are widely used in many developing countries, especially to handle the wastes from megacities |
| sanitary landfills | waste disposal site on land in which waste is spread in thin layers, compacted and covered with a fresh layer of clay pr plastic foam each day |
| petroleum/crude oil | gooey liquid consisting mostly of hydrocarbon compounds and small amounts of compounds containing oxygen, sulfur, and nitrogen. Extracted from underground accumulations, it is sent to oil refineries, where is is converted to heating oil, diesel fuel, gas. |
| Coal | solid, combustible mix of organic compounds with 30-98% carbon by weight, mixed with various amounts of water & small amounts of sulfur & nitrogen compounds. it forms in several stages as the remains of plants are subjected to heat & pressure over yrs. |
| coal gasification | conversion of solid coal to synthetic natural gas |
| coal liquefatcion | conversion of solid coal to a liquid hydrocarbon fuel such as synthetic gasoline or methanol |
| cogeneration | production of 2 useful forms of energy, such as high-temp. heat or steam & electricity, from the same fuel source |
| coastal zone | warm, nutrient-rich, shallow part of the ocean that extends from the high-tide mark on land to the edge of the shelf like extension of continental land masses known as the continental shelf |
| petrochemicals | chemicals obtained by refining crude oil. they are used as raw materials in manufacturing most industrial chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides, plastics, synthetic fibers, paints, medicines,and amny others |
| reserves | resources that have been identified and from which a usable mineral can be extracted profitably at present prices with current mining technology |
| runoff | fresh water from precipitation and melting ice that flows on the earth's surface into nearby streams , lakes, wetlands, and reservoirs |
| secondary pollutant | harmful chemical formed in the atmosphere when a primary air pollutant reacts with normal air components or other air pollutants |
| secondary sewage treatment | 2nd step in most waste treatment systems in which aerobic bacteria decomposed as much as 90% of degradable, oxygen-demanding organic wastes in wastewater. it usually involves bringing swage&bacteria together in trickling filters or in the activated sludge |
| septic tank | underground tank for treating wastewater from a home in a rural/suburban area. bacteria in the tank decompose organic wastes & the sludge settles to the bottom of the tank. effluent flows out of the tank into the ground through a field of drainpipes |
| temperature inversion | layer of sense. cool air trapped under a later of less sense, warm air. it prevents upward-flowing air currents from developing. in a prolonged inversion, air pollution in the trapped later may build up to harmful levels. |
| water pollution | any physical or chemical change in surface water or groundwater that can harm living organisms or make water unfit for certain uses |
| watershed/drainage basin | land area that delivers water, sediment, & dissolved substances via small streams to a major stream (river) |
| water table | upper surface of the zone of saturation, in which all available pores in the soil and rock in the earth's crust are filled with water |
| surface water | precipitation that does not infiltrate the ground or return to the atmosphere by evaporation or transpiration |
| shale oil | slow-flowing,dark brown, heavy oil obtained when kerogen in oil shale is vaporized at high temps. & then condensed. Shale oil can be refined to yield gas, heating oil, & other petroleum products |
| superinsulated house | house that is heavily insulated and extremely airtight. typically, active or passive solar collectors are used to heat water, & an air-to-air heat exchanger prevents buildup of excessive moisture and indoor air pollutants |
| photochemical smog | complex mix of air pollutants produced in the lower atmosphere by the reaction of hydrocarbons & nitrogen oxides under the influence of sunlight. especially harmful components include ozone, preoxyacyl nitrates ... |
| Primary pollutant | organism that has been added directly to the air by natural events or human activities and occurs in a harmful concentration |
| primary sewage treatment | mechanical sewage treatment in which large solids are filtered out by screens and suspended solids settle out as sludge in a sedimentation tank |
| point source | single identifiable source that discharges pollutants into the environment ex. smokestack of a power plant, drainpipe of a meatpacking plant, chimney of a house |
| passive solar heating system | system that captures sunlight directly within a structure and converts in into low-temp heat for space heating or for heating water for domestic use without the use of mechanical devices |
| photovoltaic (PV) cell/solar cells | Device that converts radiant energy directly into electrical energy |
| nonpoint source | large or dispersed land areas such as crop fields, streets, lawns that discharge pollutants into the environment over a large area |
| oligotrophic lake | lake with a low supply of plant nutrients |
| nuclear fusion | nuclear change in which the nuclei of certain isotopes with large mass numbers are split apart into lighter nuclei when struck by a neutron. this process releases more neutrons & large amounts of energy |
| natural gas | underground deposits of gases consisting of 50-90% by weight methane gas and small amounts of heavier gaseous hydrocarbon compounds such as propane and butane |
| hydropower | electrical energy produced by falling or flowing water |
| intertidal zone | the area of shoreline between low and high tides |
| industrial smog | type of air pollution consisting mostly of a mix of sulfur dioxide, suspended droplets of sulfuric acid formed from some of the sulfur dioxide, and suspended solid particles |
| oil sand/tar sad | deposit of a mix of clay, sand, water, varying amounts of a tarlike heavy oil known as bitumen. (can be extracted from oil sand by heating. purified and upgraded to synthetic crude oil |
| geothermal energy | heat transferred from the earth's underground concentrations of dry stream, wet stream, or hot water trapped in fractured or porous rock |
| eutrophic lake | lake with a large or excessive supply of plant nutrients, mostly nitrates and phosphates |
| groundwater | water that sinks into the soil and is stored in slowly flowing and slowly renewed underground reservoirs called "aquifers" underground water in the zone of saturation below the water table |
| floodplain | flat valley floor next to a stream channel. for legal purposes, the tern often applies to any low area that has the potential for flooding. concluding certain coastal areas |
| eutrophication | physical, chemical, biological changes that take place after a lake, estuary or slow-flowing stream receives inputs of plant nutrients, mostly nitrates and phosphates from natural erosion and runoff form the surrounding land basin |
| energy efficiency | percentage of the total energy input that does useful work and is not converted into low-quality, generally useless heat in an energy conversion system or process |
| energy conservation | reducing or eliminating the unnecessary waste of energy |
| cultural eutrophication | overnourishment of aquatic ecosystems with plant nutrients because of human activities such as ag, urbanization, discharges from industrial plants ans sewage treatment plants |
| biofuels | gas or liquid fuel made from plant material |
| acid deposition | the falling of acids and acid forming compounds from the atmosphere to the earth's surface. acid deposition is commonly known as acid rain, a term that refers to the wet deposition of droplets of acids and acid-forming compounds |
| air pollution | one or more chemicals in high enough concentrations in the air to harm humans, other animals, vegetation, or materials. excess heat and noise are also considered forms or air pollution. such as chemicals or physical conditions are called air pollutants |
| desalinization | purification of salt water of brackish water bu removal of dissolved salts |
| aquifer | porous, water-saturated layers of sand, gravel, or bedrock that can yield an economically significant amount of water |
| active solar heating systems | system that uses solar collectors to capture energy from the sun & store it as heat for space heating & water heating. liquid or air pumped through the collectors transfers that captured heat to a storage system such as an insulated water tank or rock bed |
| gene/seed banks | preserve genetic info and endangered plant species by storing their seeds in refrigerated, low-humidity environ. |
| bush meat | hear of a lowland gorilla in the congo, is consumed as a source of protein by ppl and sold in the national and international market |
| captive breeding | some of all of the wild individuals of a critically endangered species are captured for breeding in captivity, with the aim of reintroducing the offspring into the wild |
| shantytowns/squatter settlements | the outskirts of these cities, some perched precariously on steep hillsides subject to landslides |
| urban heat island | is surrounded by cooler suburban and rural areas |
| light pollution | affects some plan and animal species ex. endangered sea turtles lay their eggs on the beaches at night and require darkness |
| slums | tenements and rooming houses where 3-10 ppl live in a single room |
| materials-recovery facilities (MRF's) | machines or workers separate the mixed waste to recover valuable materials for sale to manufacturers as raw materials |
| source separation | approach produces much less air and water pollution and has lower start-up costs than MRFs. Saves energy |
| composting | simple process in which we copy nature by decomposing bacteria to recycle some of the yard trimmings, food scraps, and other biodegradable organic wastes we produce |
| waste-to-energy incinerators | boil water to make steam for heating water or space or for producing electricity |
| bioremediation | bacteria and enzymes help destroy toxic or hazardous substance or convert them to harmless compounds |
| phytoremediation | involves using natural or genetically engineered plants to absorb, filter, and remove contaminants from polluted soil and water |
| deep-well disposal | liquid hazardous wastes are pumped under pressure through a pipe into dry, porous rock formations far beneath the aquifers tapped for drinking & irrigation water & separated from them by a layer of impervious clay |
| surface impoundments | ponds, pits, lagoons into which liners are placed & liquid hazardous wastes are stored |
| secured hazardous waste landfills | least used method because of the expense involved... the drum is sometimes buried |
| cradle-to-grave | system to keep track of waste they transfer from a point to generation to an approved off-side disposal facility and they must submit proof of this disposal to the EPA |
| superfund/ CERCLA | goals are to identify sites where hazardous wastes have contaminated the environ. and to clean them up on a priority basis |
| brownfields | abandoned industrial and commercial sites such as factories, junkyards, older landfills and gas stations ... to parks, nature reserves |
| NIMBY | "not in my back yard" approach the waste will always end up in someone's back yard |
| refinery | (where crude oil goes) pipeline, truck, or ship |
Created by:
w3041223
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