chap 1 Flashcards
Abiotic
Composed of nonliving or inorganic matter.
Absolute location
Description of the position of a place in a way that never changes, such as geographic coordinates of latitude and longitude.
Acculturation
The process of changes in culture that result from the meeting of two groups, each of which retains distinct cultural features.
Assimilation
The process by which a group’s cultural features are altered to resemble those of another group.
Atmosphere
The thin layer of gases surrounding Earth.
Behavioral geography
An approach to human geography that emphasizes the importance of understanding the psychological basis for individual human actions in space.
Biosphere
All living organisms on Earth, including plants and animals, as well as microorganisms.
Biotic
Composed of living organisms.
Cartogram
A map in which the projection and scale are distorted in order to convey the information of a variable.
Cartography
The science of making maps.
Choropleth map
A map in which areas are shaded or patterned in proportion to the measurement of the variable.
Citizen science
Scientific research by amateur scientists.
Climate
The long-term average weather condition at a particular location.
Concentration
The extent of a feature’s spread over a given area.
Connection
The relationships among people and objects across the barrier of space.
Conservation
The sustainable management of a natural resource to meet human needs.
Contagious diffusion
The rapid, widespread diffusion of a feature or trend throughout a population.
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)
Informally Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). The time in the zone encompassing the prime meridian, or 0° longitude.
Cultural ecology
A geographic approach that emphasizes human-environment relationships.
Cultural landscape
An approach to geography that emphasizes the relationships among social and physical phenomena in a particular study area.
Culture
The body of customary beliefs, material traits, and social forms that together constitutes the distinct tradition of a group of people.
Density
The frequency with which something exists within a given unit of area.
Diffusion
The process by which a feature spreads from one place to another over time.
Distance decay
The diminished importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin.