Definitions Flashcards
(298 cards)
1
Q
What does abiotic mean?
A
Relates to a non-living feature of an ecosystem, examples include light intensity, precipitation, temperature, wind speed or wind direction.
2
Q
What does adaptation mean?
A
Any feature which makes and organism well suited to living in its environment.
3
Q
What does agrochemicals mean?
A
A chemical such as fertiliser, hormone, pesticide or soil treatment that improves the production of crops.
4
Q
What is albedo?
A
The proportion of light that is reflected by a body or surface.
5
Q
What is algal bloom?
A
A rapid growth of microscopic algae in water, often resulting in a coloured scum on the surface.
6
Q
What is anaerobic digestion?
A
A process in which bacteria are used to decompose organic matter in an oxygen-free environment, producing biogas and sludge.
7
Q
What is anthropogenic?
A
Caused or influenced by human activity.
8
Q
What is anthropogenic greenhouse gas?
A
Emissions of natural greenhouse gas enhanced by human activity. This includes water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone and fluorocarbons (CFC’s)
9
Q
What is aquaculture?
A
The intensive farming of aquatic animals or cultivation of aquatic plants for food.
10
Q
What is a aquifer?
A
An underground layer of water (reservoir)
11
Q
What is assimilation?
A
The conversion of nutrients obtained from outside the body into a useful form that is incorporated into the tissues and organs.
12
Q
What is autotroph?
A
An organisms that can produce its own food by photosynthesis. Also known as a producer.
13
Q
What is base flow?
A
Water that percolates downwards until it reaches the groundwater reservoir and then flows to surface stream as groundwater discharge.
14
Q
What is Bauxite?
A
A ore rich in aluminium oxide what can be extracted.
15
Q
What is bioaccumulation?
A
The build up of chemicals or toxins within the tissue of an organism.
16
Q
What is biocrude oil?
A
A biofuel obtained by heating dried biomass in an oxygen-free environment.
17
Q
What is biodiesel?
A
A diesel fuel derived from oils and fats in animals or plants.
18
Q
What is biodiversity?
A
The variety of species and ecosystems on Earth and the ecological processes they are part of.
19
Q
What is bioethanol?
A
An alcohol made by fermentation of carbohydrates from plant materials. It can be mixed with petrol as a fuel for vehicles.
20
Q
What is biofuel?
A
Combustible biomass or fuel derived from biomass.
21
Q
What is biogas?
A
Gas produced through the fermentation of organic matter.
22
Q
what is biological oxidation?
A
The process by which bacteria and other micro-organisms consume dissolved oxygen and organic substances in sewage.
23
Q
What is biological oxygen demand (BOD)?
A
A measure of the amount of dissolved oxygen used by bacteria in the process of decomposing organic matter in water
24
Q
What is biological weathing?
A
A form of physical weathering caused by animals, plants, fungi and micro-organisms.
25
What is biomagnification?
when toxins and chemicals are passed through the trophic levels.
26
What is biomass?
The mass of organisms in a given area or volume.
27
What is biomethanol?
A biofuel produced by gasification of biomass
28
What is biotic?
Relating to a living feature of an ecosystem such as competition, food supply, disease or predation.
29
What is biotic index?
A scale showing the quality of an environment based on the types of organisms which inhabit it.
30
What is blackwater?
Waste water and sewage that comes from toilets
31
What is brown earth soil?
A soil type found under deciduous forest with a mull humus.
32
What is capillary action?
The movement of soil moisture in any direction within soil as water moves through pore spaces from wet areas to drier areas.
33
What is capture-mark-recapture?
A method used in ecology to estimate the size of a population.
34
What is a carnivore?
An animal that obtains it’s energy by consuming other animals.
35
What is carrying capacity?
The maximum population size of a species that a environment can naturally sustain indefinitely
36
What is a catalyst?
A substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without undergoing any permanent chemical changes.
37
What is chemical weathering?
When rainwater reacts with mineral grains in rocks to form new minerals and soluble salts. This occurs when rainwater is slightly acidic
38
What is circular economy?
An approach where resources,waste, emissions and energy loss are minimised through use of long lasting design, maintenance, repair, reuse, reprocessing and recycling.
39
What is climate?
Large scale, long term weather patterns
40
What is climate change?
A large scale, long term shirt in earths weather patterns or average temperatures.
41
What is climax community?
The final stage of succession in a community of plants and animals remain stable and exists in a balance with each other and their environment.
42
What is closed loop recycling?
Recycling of a material indefinitely without degradation of products
43
What is coagulation?
Chemical treatment of wastewater to separate out small suspended particles from the water.
44
What is a community?
All the organisms that hat live together in an ecosystem
45
What is competition?
An interaction that occurs between organisms whenever there is shared demand for a limited resource.
46
What is condensation?
The process of a vapour or gas turning into a liquid.
47
What is a constructive plate boundary/diverging plate boundary?
This occurs when convection currents in the upper mantle are diverging forcing the plates apart.
48
What is a consumer?
Any organisms that gains its energy from other organisms (heterotroph)
49
What are convection currents?
A circulation pattern in which warmer low density material rises and cooler high density material sinks.
50
What is the core?
The earths inner core is solid composed of an iron-nickel alloy, and surrounded by a liquid outer core of molten iron and nickel.
51
What is the Coriolis effect?
The earths rotation causes a deflection in the surface wind patterns and surface ocean currents across the globe.
52
What is crop rotation?
The practice of growing different crops in succession on the same land to avoid depletion of the soil but also control weeds, disease and pests.
53
What is the crust?
The outer layer of the earth. Can be either continental or ocanic
54
What is a decomposer?
An organism that obtains its energy by breaking down death organic matter.
55
What is decomposition?
The breaking down into smaller constituent parts
56
What is density?
The number of individuals of the same species present per unit area or unit volume.
57
What is density dependent?
Interactions between organism which reduce the population when numbers are high and allows population to increase when numbers are low.
58
What is density independent?
Factors, usually natural disasters, which reduce the reproduction rate or increase the death rate of organisms independently of population density.
59
What is deposition?
The settling out of rock fragments and sediment after transportation by water, wind, ice or gravity.
60
What is desalination?
The process of removing salt from seawater.
61
What is desert?
An area that receive an annual average precipitation of less than 25cm
62
What is desertification?
The process by which fertile land becomes desert.
63
What is a destructive plate boundary/converging plate boundary?
This occurs when convection currents in the upper mantel are converging forcing plates to move towards each other.
64
What is a detritivore?
An animal that obtains it’s energy by consuming dead organic matter.
65
What is diffuse pollution?
Pollution that arises from land activities that spread across large areas that have no specific point of discharge.
66
What is disinfection?
The process of cleaning something, especially with a chemical in order to destroy pathogens.
67
What is dissolved oxygen content?
A measure of the amount of free oxygen dissolved in water
68
What is distribution?
The manner in which a group is arranged geographically
69
What is district heating systems?
A network of pipes used to deliver heat.
70
What is diversification?
The branching out from traditional farming by adding new money making activities.
71
What is diversity index?
A measure of species diversity in a community or area.
72
What is drip irrigation?
A method of controlled irrigation in which water is slowly delivered to the root system of plants, either dripped into soil surface above or directly onto roots.
73
What is earthquake magnitude?
Earthquakes generate vibrations known as seismic waves.
74
What is an ecosystem?
A biological unit made up of living and non living parts. Community and habitat
75
What is ecological efficiency?
The percentage biomass produce by one trophies level that is transferred and incorporated into biomass at the next tropic level.
76
What is ecosystem diversity?
The variation in habitats, living communities and ecological processes in the living world.
77
What is an ectotherm?
An animal that relies in external environment for temperature control instead of generating its own body heat.
78
What is edaphic?
Relating to the physical, chemical or biological characteristics of soil that affect living organisms
79
What is effluent?
Liquid water material discharged by farming, industry or sewage works into a river or sea.
80
What is electrolysis?
The splitting of water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity and an electrolysed device (fuel cell)
81
What is elluviation?
The movement of suspended or dissolved compounds by percolating water from an upper horizon into a lower horizon.
82
What is an endotherm?
An animal that uses internally generated heat to maintain body temperature independent of external temperature change.
83
What is energy recover?
The conversion of non-recyclable waste materials into usable heat, electricity or fuel through processes such as combustion, gasification, pyrolysis, anaerobic digestion or landfill gas recovery.
84
What is energy security?
The uninterrupted availability of energy sources at an affordable price.
85
What is the enhanced greenhouse effect?
The enhancement of the natural greenhouse effect through anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases trapping increasing quantities of heat.
86
What is environmental assessment?
The process of estimating and evaluating significant short term and long term effects of a programme or project on the quality of the locations environment.
87
What is environmental impact assessment (EIA)
Aims to protect the environment by ensuring that a local planning authority has full knowledge of possible significant environmental effects of a proposed development, and mitigation for these, and takes these into account in the decision-making process.
88
What is environmental monitoring?
Describes the processes and activities that need to take place In order to characterise and monitor the quality of an environment over time.
89
What is equatorial rainforest?
A forest typically found between 5 degrees North and south of the equator
90
What is erosion?
The breaking down of rock fragments into smaller pieces and sediments due to collision with other rocks fragments during transportation.
91
What is eutrophication?
Excessive nutrient enrichment in a waterbody which causes a dense growth of algae or plant life. The algae and surface vegetation prevent light and oxygen penetrating the water,
which affects survival of aquatic plants and invertebrates.
92
What is evaporation?
The process of turning from liquid into a vapour or gas.
93
What is evapotranspiration?
The water lost to the atmosphere through evaporation from the land surface and from plant leaves.
94
What is exponential population growth model?
A model which illustrates how a population may grown over time if there are no limits to resources. It forms a j shaped curve.
95
What is extrusive rock?
Any rock derived from magma that flows onto the earth surface as lava or explodes violently into the atmosphere.
96
What is fault?
A fracture in rock due to stresses from a tectonic event.
97
What is the Ferrell cell?
Part of the tricellular model and lies between 30 and 60 degrees north and south.
98
What is filtration?
Any mechanical, physical or biological operation that separates solids from liquids.
99
What is fission?
The splitting of atoms to release energy which can then be harnessed.
100
What is floc?
A loosely clumped mass of fine particles.
101
What is flocculation?
The clumping of individual particles into clot-like masses or precipitating in to small lumps.
102
What are fold mountains?
Occur near convergent plate boundaries. Subduction of one plate under another results in layers of sediments lying at the junction being crumpled and folded, appearing above sea level as a range of mountains.
103
What is food security?
Exists when all people at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and preferences.
104
What is food use by date?
Foods can be eaten up until stated use by date but not after providing storage instructions stated on the packaging have been followed correctly.
105
What is fracking?
The injecting of liquid at high pressure into subterranean rocks to force open fissures and extract oil or gas.
106
What is frequency?
The chance of finding a species within a defined area.
107
What is frictional heat?
A force opposite the direction of movement due to rubbing of surfaces in contact. This generates heat energy.
108
What is a fuel cell?
A cell producing an electrical current from a chemical reaction.
109
What is gasification?
The conversion of organic matter into gas by reaction the materials at high temperatures without combustion with a controlled amount of oxygen and/or steam.
110
What is genetic diversity?
The variety of genetic characteristics involved in the genetic makeup of a specis
111
What is genetic modification?
Genetic material (DNA) which has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally.
112
What is geothermal energy?
The energy stored in the form of heat below the Earths surface.
113
What is geothermal gradient?
The rate of increasing temperature vs increasing depth in the earth interior.
114
What is global energy budget?
The balance between incoming and outgoing solar radiation.
115
What is globalisation?
The process by which the world is becoming increasingly interconnected as a result of massively increased trade and cultural exchange.
116
What is global ocean conveyer belt?
A constantly moving system of deep ocean circulation driven by thermohaline circulation and surface winds.
117
What is global warming?
A gradual increase in the overall temperature of the atmosphere generally attributed to increases in anthropogenic greenhouse gases.
118
Yeah hat is gravitational contraction?
The collapse of gas and dust to form stars, planets and other objects under gravitational attraction.
119
What is gravitational potential energy?
When an object is above the earths surface is has GPE. Gravitational interaction resulted in GOE converted to heat energy.
120
What is grazing?
A method of feeding in which herbivores feed on grasses and herbage.
121
What is greenhouse gases?
A gas that traps heat in the atmosphere.
122
What is greywater?
Domestic wastewater other than sewage
123
What is gross primary productivity?
The rate at which autotrophs produce biomass in a govern area and time period.
124
What is ground source heat pump?
Pipes buried underground with a circulating mixture of water and antifreeze absorb heat from the ground which can be removed using a heat exchanger and used to heat a building or to provide hot water
125
What is ground water?
Water that occupies pores spaces in rock, sediments and soil. The area where groundwater collects is known as an aquifer.
126
What is Gulf Stream?
An ocean current that transports eaten water away from the Gulf of Mexico North into the Atlantic.
127
What is a habitat?
The place where a plant or animal lives
128
What is habitat destruction?
The process by which natural habitat is damaged to the extent
that it is no longer able to support species and communities. This may be through a natural event such as flooding or a volcanic eruption, but is more usually caused by anthropogenic activities such as land drainage or
129
What is habitat fragmentation?
The reeducation of a large habitat area into smaller, scattered remnants
130
What is the Hadley cell?
Part of the tricellular model which lies between the equator and 30 degrees north and south.
131
What is a herbivore?
An animal that feeds on plant material
132
What is a heterotroph?
An animal that must meet its energy requirements by ingesting other organism or organic matter derived originally from plants
133
What is high yield variety?
A crop that has been specifically bred or selected to produce more than the natural varieties of the same species.
134
What is humification?
The transformation of raw organic matter into humid where no recognisable plant parts remain.
135
What is a hydrograph?
A graph showing how a waterbody reacts after a period of rainfall.
136
What is hydroponics?
The cultivation of plants in a soil less medium or more commonly aquatic based environment
137
What is a hydrothermal vent?
Forms as a result of volcanic activity on the sea floor. Water seeps down through cracks in the crust and comes into contact with magma in the upper mantle, dissolving metals and minerals as it becomes super-heated. The super-heated water erupts as a geyser from the hydrothermal vent, with the dissolved metals and minerals precipitating out on contact with cold seawater and forming a chimney around the vent.
138
What is an ice sheet?
A mass of glacial land ice expanding more thank 50000km^2
139
What is illuviation?
The process of deposition of soil material moved from upper into lower horizon.
140
What is initiative?
An action implemented in order to achieve the aims of a strategy or policy.
141
What is insolation?
The total amount of solar radiation energy received on a given surface during a given period of time.
142
What is intensive agriculture?
Farming that uses a lot of machinery, labour, chemicals etc in order to maximise crop yield or keep as many animals as possible in a set plot of land.
143
What is interdependence?
A relationship between species that helps to prevent overpopulation of a particular species to ensure the survival of the species as a whole.
144
What is interquartile range?
A measure of the spread of data.
145
What is interspecific competition?
Competition between individuals belonging to two or more different species which have very similar resource requirements which are in short supply.
146
What is intraspecific competition?
Competition between individuals of the same species for the same limited resource.
147
What is intrusive rock?
Rock formed from magma that cools and solidified with the earths crust
148
What is an invasive nonnative species?
A species introduced through human action outside its native distribution and which has a serious negative impact on native species our health or our economy
149
What is a keystone species?
A species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend on.
150
What is lag time?
The time it takes for precipitation to find it’s way from land to a river.
151
What is landfill?
The disposal of waste material by burying it in a pit.
152
What is laterite?
A soil formed under conditions of high temperatures and heavy rainfall with alternative wet and dry periods which leads to leaching of soil leaving only oxides of iron and aluminium.
153
What is latitude?
A geographic coordinate specifying the north-south position of a point on the earths surface.
154
What is lava?
Molten rock generated by geothermal energy and expelled through fractures in the crust or via a volcanic eruption.
155
What is leaching?
The movement of dissolved substances by percolating water.
156
What is legislation?
Laws passed by the government.
157
What is life cycle analysis.
A systematic quantitative assessment for products or processes that identifies and quantifies the inputs and outputs for a whole life cycle or individual stages. It assesses all energy, materials and transport involved in making, using and
disposing of a product.
158
What is Lincoln index?
A method of estimating population size of individual animal species using capture mark recapture.
159
What is linear economy?
An economy based in ‘produce, use and throw’ with no attempt at recovery of materials or energy.
160
What is liquor?
The liquid remaining once sewage sludge has been removed. Must be processed further before being released to the environment as effluent.
161
What is logistic population growth model?
A model which illustrates how a population may grow exponentially until it reaches the carrying capacity of its environment and shows a S shape curve.
162
What is magma?
Hot fluid or semi fluid material present below or within the earths crust.
163
What is the mantle?
Lies between the crust and outer core composed of magma.
164
What is marginal land?
Land that is of little agricultural value because of problems with access, water control, terrain, environmental restriction.
165
What is a marine protected area?
A formal conservation designation to protect nationally important marine wildlife, habitats, geology and undersea landforms.
166
What is mechanisation?
The improving of farm labour productivity through the use of machinery, implements and tools.
167
What is metabolisation?
The chemical process by which matter is broken down into simpler substances.
168
What is metallic minerals?
A mineral is a solid, naturally occurring, , inorganic substance. A metallic mineral is one that contains one or more metallic elements.
169
What is Milankovitch cycles?
Cyclical variations in earth-sun geometry that combine to produce variation in the amount of solar energy reaching Earth.
170
What is native species?
One that occurs naturally within a given ecosystem rather than as the result
171
What is natural climate change?
Natural cycles in earth climate have resulted in ice ages and warmer interglacial periods. These have been driven by factors such as orbital changes, plate tectonics, volcanoes and sunspot activity.
172
What is the natural greenhouse effect?
Natural atmospheric processes that maintain the earths average surface temperature at about 15 degrees Celsius. Without this the temperature would be too cold for life to sustain.
173
What is net primary productivity?
The rate at which an ecosystem accumulates energy or biomass, excluding the energy used up for the process of respiration.
174
What is niche?
The role played by a species within a community
175
What is a non- native species?
A species introduced through human action outside its native distribution
176
What is nutrient enrichment?
Excessive inputs of macro nutrients into the aquatic environment.
177
What is obsolescence?
The process of falling into disuse or becoming out of date.
178
What is ocean circulation?
The large scale movement of waters in the ocean basins.
179
What is an ocean gyre?
A large system of circular ocean currents that occur above and below the equator
180
What is ocean trench?
A geological structure which occurs undersea along the boundary of a tectonic plate specifically along a subduction zones.
181
What is an omnivore?
An animal that obtains energy by consuming both plant and animals material.
182
What is open cast mining?
The removal of mineral resources from the earth surface through large holes or pits.
183
What is open loop recycling?
The process of converting a material from one or more products into a new product involving a change in the properties of the material
184
What is ore?
A naturally occurring solid material from which a metal valuable mineral can be extracted profitably
185
What is overburden?
Waste rock and soil overlying a mineral deposit that must be removed before extraction of the mineral can take place?
186
What is parasitism?
A symbiotic relationship between two organisms in which one benefits and the other is harmed.
187
What is Parent material?
In soil science, parent material included bed rock, weathered rock or surface deposits.
188
What is particulates?
Particulates matter includes all solids and liquid particles suspended in air.
189
What is a pathogen?
An agent that causes disease such as a bacterium, virus or fungus.
190
What is peak discharge?
The time when a river reaches its highest flow.
191
What is peak rainfall?
The time of highest rainfall
192
What is percentage cover?
A measure of the amount of cover of a particular species in a quadrat.
193
What is percolation?
The movement of water through soil by gravity and capillary action
194
What is permeability?
A measure of the amount of water able to pass through a rock
195
What is persistent organic pollutants (POPs)?
Organic compounds that are resistant to environmental degradation including pesticides
196
What is physical weathering?
Weathering caused by changes in temperature, freeze thaw or effects of wind, rain and waves.
197
What is plagioclimax?
A stable plant community which is maintained by persistent human interference such as burning or grazing
198
What is planned obsolescence?
This is when a product is designed to have an artificially limited life span.
199
What is plate boundary?
A boundary between two or more plates which can be moving towards each other or apart from each other or past each other.
200
What is plate tectonics?
A scientific theory describing the large scale notation of plates of crust and upper mantle.
201
What is podzol soil?
A soil type typically found under coniferous forests where precipitation is heavy and contains mor humus
202
What is point pollution?
Pollution that is discharged from a single location
203
What is polar cell?
Part of the tricellular model and lies between 60 degrees North and south and the North Pole
204
What is a policy?
A plan of action that focuses on a specific target.
205
What is a pollutant?
A substance that contaminates air, water or soil.
206
What is pollution?
The presence in an environment of substances in quantities that cause harm to the environment components.
207
What is population?
A group of individuals of the same species living in the same area at the same time.
208
What is population crash?
A sudden decline in the number of individual members in a population, species or group of organisms, usually in response to scarcity of resources, intra specific competition and/or biotic factors.
209
What is population dynamics?
The study of the factors and their interactions that influence the number and density of population in time and space.
210
What is population growth?
An increase in size of population over a given time period.
211
What is population oscillation?
A pattern characterised by population exploding, resulting in overshoot of the carrying capacity followed by population crash, then the recovery of the environment and resources.
212
What is population overshoot?
A temporary situation that occurs when a population exceeds its carrying capacity, before lack of resources causes a population crash.
213
What is pore space?
The volume in soil or rock that can be filled with water or air. The pore space properties determine fluid flow through the soil or rock.
214
What is porosity?
A measure of a rocks ability to hold fluid.
215
What is precipitation?
Moisture that falls from the air to the ground.
216
What is predator?
An animal that lives by killing and consuming other animals.
217
What is predator prey cycle?
As a population of one species increases, its predator populations will increase in response. As the prey numbers fall due to predation, the predator numbers will also fall due to reducing resource availability.
218
What is prey?
An animal that is hunted and killed by another for food.
219
What is primary consumer?
A herbivore that eats the autotroph/producer in a food chain.
220
What is primary productivity?
A measure of the rate at which new organic matter develops through photosynthesis.
221
What is primary succession?
The colonisation of a new site by communities of plants and animals after an event has removed all existing soil.
222
What is processed biofuel?
A biofuel that has been subject to an industrial process.
223
What is psychological obsolescence?
This is when a consumer is persuaded that they need a new product even when their existing product is working well.
224
What is purification?
The removal of undesirable chemicals, biological contaminants, suspended soils and gases to produce water for for a specific purpose.
225
What is pyrolysis?
The chemical decomposition of organic material through the application of heat in the absence of air and oxygen.
226
What is quadrat?
A frame enclosing a known unit area which is used to assess species abundance.
227
What is qualitative data?
Descriptive data such as species list or qualification keys.
228
What is quantitate data?
Numerical data gathered through measuring or counted
229
What is radioactive decay?
The process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by emitting radiation in the form of particles.
230
What is random sampling?
Sampling where every individual in a population has an equal and interdependent chance of being selected.
231
What is reforestation?
The process of replanting an area with trees. Differs from afforestation which is the planting of new areas where there was no previous tree cover.
232
What is relative abundance?
How common or rare a species is relative to other species in a defined area or community. Is expressed as a percentage of the total number of organisms in the area.
233
What is reliability?
The extent to which an experiment, test or measuring procedure yields the same results on repeated trials. For the data to be reliable, the variation across the values must be small.
234
What is relief?
The highest and lowest evaluation points on a land surface. Also known as terrain.
235
What is respiration?
A chemical process in which energy and is released from store in the body.
236
What is rewilding?
Intentional activities which initiate or accelerate the recovery of a habitat or an ecosystem with respect to its health, integrity and sustainability.
237
What is Rift Valley?
Forms when two continental plays diverge, causing stretching and fracturing of the crust.
238
What is run off?
The flow of water over land as surface water.
239
What is screening?
The removal of larger objects such as rags, paper, plastics and metals at a wastewater treatment plan.
240
What is sea level?
Mean sea level is the average height of the oceans surface between high and low tide.
241
What is secondary consumer?
An animal that eats the primary consumer in a food chain.
242
What is secondary productivity?
The assimilation of food into new biomass through the transfer of organic material between trophies levels.
243
What is secondary succession?
Succession that occurs on a pre-existing soil after primary succession has been disrupted or destroyed and the ecological community has been disturbed.
244
What is sedimentation?
The settling out of suspended particles and flow on sewage liquor.
245
What is selective breeding?
The breeding of plants and animals for particular characteristics.
246
What is seral stages?
The stages of succession in an ecosystem advancing towards its climax community
247
What is sewage liquor?
A mixture of raw or settled wastewater and suspended soils.
248
What is sewage sludge?
A semi - liquid slurry residue from the wastewater treatment process.
249
What is shale gas?
Natural gas ground trapped within impermeable shale deposits
250
What is simple random sampling?
Sampling where every individual in a population has an equal independent chance of being selected and the average sample should accurately represent the population.
251
What is Simpson biodiversity index?
A measure of diversity which takes into account the number of species present plus the relative abundance of each species.
252
What is a site of special scientific interest? (SSSI)
A formal conservation designation for an area which has extremely high conservation value because of its plants, animals, geological or landscape features.
253
What is smelting?
A process by which metal is obtained from its ore by hearing it beyond the melting point.
254
What is soil profile?
The layering of soil horizons.
255
What is soil stability?
The ability of soil to maintain its structure to allow passage air and water, withstand erosive forces and provide a medium for plant roots.
256
What is soil structure?
Describes the physical arrangement of the solid parts of soil and of the pore spaces lying between them. Influences porosity; permeability; movement of water, nutrients and gases; and land use.
257
What is soil texture?
Refers to overall feel of soil reflect the proportions of mineral particles (sand, silt, and clay) present.
258
What is solar flare?
A sudden, rapid and intense variation in the Sun’s brightness.
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What is solar radiation?
Radiant energy emitted by the sun.
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What is species?
A group of organisms that can interbreed and offspring.
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What is species diversity?
A measure of the number of different species present in a give area, rather than the abundance of each species.
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What is species richness?
The number of species present in a sample or an area
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What is Standard deviation?
A measure used to quantify the amount of variation or spread of a set of data values.
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What is steam methane reforming?
The reaction of natural gas with steam in the presence of a catalyst to produce hydrogen and carbon.
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What is Strategic environmental assessment (SEA)
Aims to provide fro a high level of protection of the environment from development. It is mandatory for plans and/or programmes which relate to large scale changes in land use.
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What is strategy?
The methods and principles needed to achieve a policy are set out in a strategy.
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Wha is stratified random sampling?
Sampling where the population is divided into categories then a sand on sample is selected form each category. The size of each sample should be proportional to the size of each category within the population.
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What is subduction zone?
The point at which an oceanic place is forced underneath a continental plate at a destructive plate boundary.
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What is sublimation?
The process by which Ice or snow goes from a solid to a gas without becoming a liquid.
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What is sunspot?
A sunspot is a region on the surface of the sun that is temporarily cool and dark compared to surrounding regions.
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What is superheating?
The hearing of a liquid, under pressure to a temperature higher that it’s boiling point without actually boiling.
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What is sustainability?
The relationship or balance between social, economic and environmental issues.
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What is sustainable development?
Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
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What is surface winds patterns?
The arrangement, location, velocity of the various dominant wind patterns blowing across the earths surface.
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What is systematic random sampling?
Sampling where a staring point is randomly chosen and then a regular pattern of sampling is used to collect the sample.
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What is tailings?
Waste from mining industry. May be solid waste material or fine waste suspended in water.
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What is technological obsolescence?
This is when a new technology or product or product supersedes the old even if the old technology is still functional.
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What is temperate rainforest?
Coniferous or broad leaf/deciduous forests that occur in the temperate zone.
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What is tertiary consumer?
An animal that eats the secondary consumer in a food chain
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What is thermohaline circulation?
Circulation driven by differences in seawater density, caused by temperature and salinity.
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What is transect?
A method which investigates distribution of organisms in relation to a fixed area by recoding all species found at points or in quadrat place at intervals along a line.
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What is translocation?
The downward movement of water or minerals in soil. Includes leaching, elevation, illuviation and capillary actions.
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What is transpiration?
The movement of rock fragments by water, ice, wind or gravity from the place where they were originally weathered.
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What is Trent biotic index?
A measure which uses freshwater invertebrates to compare water quality at different points in a stream or river.
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What is tricellular model?
A model that explains the redistribution of energetic from areas of surplus to areas of deficit by three different air masses.
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What is trophic?
Relating to feeding and nutrition
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What is trophic level?
A level or position in a food chain occupied by a group of organisms that have a similar feeding mode.
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What is tundra?
May be arctic or alpine.
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What is upwelling?
The rising up of deep, cold, nutrient rich water in the open ocean or along coastlines.
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What is validity?
Encompasses the entire experiment and establishes whether the data obtained meet all the requirements of the research method.
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What is waste hierarchy?
A ranking of waste management options according to what is best for the environment. Gives top priority to waste prevention.
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What is waste prevention?
The process of minimising the quantity and hazardousness of waste.
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What is waste recovery?
The selective extraction of disposed materials for a specific next use such as recycling, composting or energy generation.
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What is waste recycling?
Reprocessing materials into new products.
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What is waste reuse?
The process of refilling or finding another use of a product without processing it other than cleaning.
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What is water security?
Exists when all people, at all times, have sustainable access to adequate quantities of water of acceptable quality for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being and socioeconomic
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What is weather?
The state of the atmosphere at a particular place and time with respect to variables such as temperature, moisture, wind velocity and air pressure.
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What is weathering?
The exposure and breaking down of rocks in situ at the earths surface over geological time due to interaction with the atmosphere
