Term | Definition |
Nonrenewable Resource | Natural resource that is used more quickly than it can be formed. |
Renewable Resource | Resource that replenishes itself quickly enough so that it will not be used faster than it can be produced. |
Ecological Footprint | Amount of land necessary to produce and maintain enough food, water, shelter, energy, and waste. |
Pollution | Anything that is added to the environment and has a negative affect on the environment or its organisms. |
Smog | Air pollution in which gases released from burning fossil fuels form a fog when they react with sunlight. |
Particulate | Microscopic bits of dust, metal, and unburned fuel produced by industrial processes. |
Acid Rain | Precipitation produced when pollutants in the atmosphere cause the ph in rain to decrease. |
Greenhouse Effect | Normal warning effect produced when gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, trap heat in Earth;s atmosphere. |
Global Warming | World wide trend of increasing average temperature. |
Indicator Species | Species whose presence in an ecosystem gives clues about the condition of that ecosystem. |
Biomagnification | Condition of toxic substances being more concentrated in tissues of organisms higher on the food chain than ones lower on the food chain. |
Habitat Fragmentation | Process by which part of an organisms preferred habitat range becomes inaccessible. |
Introduced Species | Species that is not native and was brought to an area as a result of human activities. |
Sustainable Development | Practice of not using natural resources more quickly than they can be replenished. |
Umbrella Species | Species whose being protected under the Endangered Species Act leads to the preservation of its habitat and all of the other organisms in its community. |