Glossary

Question 0

Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)

Answer 0

A measure of the amount of dissolved oxygen required to break down the organic material in a given volume of water through aerobic biological activity

Question 1

Abiotic Factors

Answer 1

A non-living, physical factor that may influence an organism or ecosystem; for example, temperature, sunlight, pH, salinity, precipitation

Question 2

Biodegradable

Answer 2

Capable of being broken down by natural biological processes; for example, the activities of decomposed organisms

Question 3

Biodiversity

Answer 3

The amount of biological or living diversity per unit area. It includes the concepts of species diversity and genetic diversity

Question 4

Biomass

Answer 4

The mass organic material in organisms or ecosystems, usually per unit area. Sometimes the term “dry weight biomass” is used where mass is measured after the removal of water. Water is not organic material and I organic material is usually relatively insignificant in terms of mass

Question 5

Biome

Answer 5

A collection of ecosystems sharing similar climatic conditions: for example, tundra, tropical rainforest, desert

Question 6

Biosphere

Answer 6

The paper of the earth inhabited by organisms, that is, the narrow zone (a few kilometres in thickness) in which plants and animals exist. It extends from the upper part of the atmosphere (where birds, insects and windblown pollen may be found) down to the deepest part of the Earth’s crust to which living organisms venture

Question 7

Biotic Factor

Answer 7

A living, biological factor that may influence an organism or ecosystem; fro example, predation, parasitism, disease, competition.

Question 8

Carrying Capacity

Answer 8

The maximum number of a species or “load” that can be sustainably supported by a given environment

Question 9

Climax Community

Answer 9

A community of organisms that is more or less stable, and that is in equilibrium with natural environmental conditions such as climate; the end point of ecological succession.

Question 10

Community

Answer 10

A group of populations living and interacting with each other in a common habitat

Question 11

Competition

Answer 11

A common demand by two or more organisms upon a limited supply for a resource; food, water, light, space, mates, nesting sites. It maybe be intraspecific or interspecific

Question 12

Correlation

Answer 12

A measure of the association between two variables. If two variables tend to move up or down together, they are said to be positively correlated. If they tend to move opposite directions, they are said to be negatively correlated

Question 13

Crude Birth Rate

Answer 13

The number of births per thousand individuals in a population per year

Question 14

Crude Death Rate

Answer 14

The number of deaths per thousand individuals per year

Question 15

Demographic Transition

Answer 15

A general model describing the changing levels of fertility and mortality in a human population over time. It was developed with reference to transition experienced as developed countries (for example, those of North America, Europe, Australasia) passed through the processes of industrialisation and urbanisation

Question 16

Diversity

Answer 16

A generic term for heterogeneity. The scientific meaning of diversity becomes clear from the context in which it is used; it may refer to heterogeneity of species or habitat, or to genetic heterogeneity

Question 17

Genetic Diversity

Answer 17

The range of genetic material present in a gene pool or population of a species

Question 18

Habitat Diversity

Answer 18

The range of different habitats or number of ecological a niches per unit in an ecosystem p, community or biome. Conservation of habitat diversity usually leads to the conservation of species and genetic diversity

Question 19

Diversity Index

Answer 19

A numerical measure of species diversity that is derives from both the number of species (variety) and their proportional abundance.

Question 20

Species Diversity

Answer 20

The variety of species per unit area. This includes both the number of species orders and their relative abundance

Question 21

Doubling Time

Answer 21

The number of years it would take a population to double its size at it’s current growth rate. A natural increase rate of 1% will enable a human population to double in 70 years. Other doubling times can then be calculated proportionately, that is, the doubling time for any human population is equal to 70 divided by the natural increase rate.

Question 22

Ecological Footprint

Answer 22

The real of land and water required to support a defined human population are a given standard of living. The measure takes account of the area require to provide all the resources needed by the population, and the assimilation of all wastes.

Question 23

Ecosystem

Answer 23

A community of interdependent organism and the physical environment they inhabit

Question 24

Entropy

Answer 24

A measure of the amount of disorder, chaos or randomness in a system; the greater the disorder, the higher the level of entropy

Question 25

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

Answer 25

A method of detailed surgery required, in many countries befriend a major development. Ideally it should be independent of, but paid for by, the developer. Such a survey should include a baseline study to measure environmental conditions before development commences, and to identify areas and species of conservation importance. The report produced is know as an environmental impact statement (EIS) or environmental management review in some countries. The monitoring should continue for some time after the development.

Question 26

Equilibrium

Answer 26

A state if balance among the components of a system

Question 27

Eutrophication

Answer 27

The natural or artificial enrichment of a body of water, particularly with respect to nitrates and phosphates, that results in the depletion of the oxygen content of the water. Eutrophication is accelerated by human activities that add detergents, sewage or agricultural fertilisers to bodies of water.

Question 28

Evolution

Answer 28

The cumulative, gradual change in the genetic characteristics of successive generations of an organisms, ultimately giving rise to species or races different from the common ancestor. Evolution reflects changes in the genetic composition of a population over time.

Question 29

Feedback

Answer 29

The return of part of the output from a system as input, so as to affect succeeding outputs

Question 30

Negative Feedback

Answer 30

Feedback that tends to damp down, neutralise or counteract any deviation from an equilibrium, and promotes stability

Question 31

Positive Feedback

Answer 31

Feedback that amplifies or increases change; it lead to exponential deviation away from an equilibrium

Question 32

Fertility

Answer 32

In the context of human populations, this refers to the potential for reproduction exhibited in a population. It may be measured as fertility rate, which is the number of births per thousand women child-bearing age. Alternatively it may be measured as total fertility, which is simply the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime.

Question 33

Gaia Hypothesis

Answer 33

Developed by James Lovelock. It compare the earth to a living organism in which feedback mechanisms maintain equilibrium.

Question 34

Global Warming

Answer 34

An increase in the average temperature of the earths atmosphere

Question 35

Gross National Product (GNP)

Answer 35

The current value of all goods and services in a country per year

Question 36

Greenhouse Gases

Answer 36

Those atmospheric gases which absorb infrared radiation, causing world temperatures to be warmer than they otherwise would be. This process is sometimes known as "radiation trapping". The natural greenhouse effect is caused mainly by water and carbon dioxide. Human activities have led to an increase in the levels of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide (dinitrogen oxide, N2O) in the atmosphere, and there are fears that this may lead to global warming.

Question 37

Habitat

Answer 37

The environment in which a species normally lives

Question 38

Halogenated Organic Gases

Answer 38

Usually known as halocarbons and first identified as depleting the ozone layer in the stratosphere. Now known to be potent greenhouse gases. The most well known are chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's)

Question 39

Isolation

Answer 39

The process by which two populations become separated by geographical, behavioural genetic or reproductive factors. If gene flow between the two subpopulations is prevented, new species may evolve.

Question 40

K-Strategist

Answer 40

Species that usually concentrate their reproductive investment in a small number of offspring, thus increasing their survival rate and adapting them for living in long-term climax communities

Question 41

Latitude

Answer 41

The angular distance from the equator (that is, North or South of it) as measured from the centre of the Earth (usually in degrees)

Question 42

LEDC

Answer 42

Less economically developed country: a country with low to moderate industrialisation and low to moderate average GNP per capita

Question 43

MEDC

Answer 43

More economically developed country: a highly industrialised country with high average GNP per capita

Question 44

Model

Answer 44

A simplified description designed to show the structure or working of an object, system or concept

Question 45

Mutualism

Answer 45

A relationship between individuals of two or more species in which all benefit and none suffer. (The term symbiosis will not be used)

Question 46

Natural Capital

Answer 46

A term sometimes used by economists for natural resources that, I appropriately managed, can produce a "natural income" of of goods and services. The natural capital of a forest might provide a continuing natural income of timber, game, water and recreation

Question 47

Non Renewable Natural Capital

Answer 47

Natural resources that cannot be replenished within a timescale of the same order as that at which point they are taken from the environment and used; for example, fossil fuels

Question 48

Renewable Natural Capital

Answer 48

Natural resources that have a sustainable yield or harvest equal to or less than their natural productivity; for example, food crops, timber

Question 49

Replenish-able natural capital

Answer 49

Non-living natural resources that depend on the energy of the sun for their replenishment; for example, groundwater

Question 50

Rate of Natural Increase

Answer 50

The form in which human population growth rates are usually expressed: Inward and Outward migration is ignored

Question 51

Niche

Answer 51

A species' share of a habitat and the resources in it. An organism's ecological niche depends not only on where it lives but also on what it does

Question 52

Parasitism

Answer 52

A relationship between two species in which one species (the parasite) lives in or on another (the host), gaining all or much (in the case of a partial parasite) of its food from it

Question 53

Plate Tectonics

Answer 53

The movement of the eight major and several minor internally rigid plates of the earths lithosphere in relation to each other and to the partially mobile asthenosphere below.

Question 54

Pollution

Answer 54

The addition to an environment of a substance or an agent (such as heat) by human activity, at a rate greater than that at which it can be rendered harmless by the environment, and which has an appreciable effect on the organisms within it

Question 55

Point Source Pollution

Answer 55

The release of pollutants from a single, clearly identifiable site; for example, a factory chimney or the waste disposal pipe of a factory

Question 56

Non-Point Source Pollution

Answer 56

The release of pollutants from numerous, widely dispersed origins; for example, gases from the exhaust systems of vehicles

Question 57

Population

Answer 57

A group of organisms of the same species living in the same area at the same time, and which are capable of interbreeding.

Question 58

Gross Productivity (GP)

Answer 58

The total gain in energy or biomass per unit area per unit time, which could be through photosynthesis in primary producers or absorption in consumers.

Question 59

Gross Primary Productivity (GPP)

Answer 59

The total gain in energy or biomass per unit area per unit time fixed by photosynthesis in green plants.

Question 60

Gross Secondary Productivity

Answer 60

The total gain in consumers in energy or biomass per unit area per unit time through absorption

Question 61

Net Productivity (NP)

Answer 61

The gain in energy or biomass per unit area per unit time remaining after allowing for respiratory losses (R). Other metabolic losses may take place, but these may be ignored when calculating and defining net productivity for the purpose of this course

Question 62

Net Primary Productivity (NPP)

Answer 62

The gain by producers in energy or biomass per unit area per unit time remaining after allowing for respiratory losses (R). This is potentially available to consumers in an ecosystem.

Question 63

Net Secondary Productivity (NSP)

Answer 63

The gain by consumers in energy or biomass per unit area per unit time remaining after allowing for respiratory losses (R).

Question 64

Primary Productivity

Answer 64

The gain by producers in energy or biomass per unit area per unit time. This term could refer to either gross or net primary productivity.

Question 65

Secondary Productivity

Answer 65

The biomass gained by heterotrophic organisms through feeding and absorption, measured in units of mass or energy per unit area per unit time.

Question 66

R-Strategist

Answer 66

Species that tend to spread their reproductive investment among a large number of offspring so that they are well adapted to colonise new habitats rapidly and make opportunistic use of short-lived resources.

Question 67

Sere

Answer 67

The set of communities that succeed on another over the course of succession at a given location

Question 68

Smog

Answer 68

The term now used for any haziness in the atmosphere caused by air pollutants. Photochemical smog is produced through the effect of ultraviolet light on the products of internal combustion engines. It may contain ozone and is damaging to the human respiratory system and eyes.

Question 69

Society

Answer 69

An arbitrary group of individuals who share some common characteristic such as geographical location, cultural background, hosted cuss timeframe, religious perspective, value system, and so on

Question 70

Soil

Answer 70

A mixture of mineral particles and organic material that covers the land, and in which terrestrial plants grow.

Question 71

Soil profile

Answer 71

A vertical section through a soil, from the surface down to the parent material, revealing the soil layers or horizons

Question 72

Speciation

Answer 72

The process through which new species form

Question 73

Species

Answer 73

A group of organisms that interbreed to produce fertile offspring

Question 74

Steady-State Equilibrium

Answer 74

The condition of an open system in which there are no changes over the longer term, but in which there may be oscillations in the very short term. There are continuing inputs and outputs of matter and energy, but the system as a whole remains in a more or less constant state (for example, a climax ecosystem)

Question 75

Succession

Answer 75

The orderly process of change over time in a community. Changes in the community of organisms frequently cause changes in the physical environment that allow for another community to become established and replace the former through completion. Often, but not inevitably, the later communities in such a sequence or sere are more complex than those that appear earlier

Question 76

Sustainability

Answer 76

Use of global resources at a rate that allow natural regeneration and minimises damage to the environment. For example, as system of harvesting renewable resources at a rate that will be replaced by natural growth might be considered to demonstrate sustainability

Question 77

System

Answer 77

An assemblage of parts and the relationships between them, which together constitute an entity or whole

Question 78

Closed System

Answer 78

A system in which energy, but not matter, is exchanged with its surroundings

Question 79

Isolated System

Answer 79

A system that exchanges neither matter nor energy with its surroundings

Question 80

Open System

Answer 80

A system in which both matter and energy are exchanged with its surroundings (for example, natural ecosystems)

Question 81

Tropic level

Answer 81

The position that an organism occupies in a food chain, or a group of organisms in a community that occupy the same position in food chains

Question 82

Zonation

Answer 82

The arrangement of patterning of plant communities or ecosystems into parallel or sub-parallel bands in response to change, over a distance, in some environmental factor. The main biomes display zonation in relation to latitude and climate. Plant communities may also display zonation with altitude on a mountain, or around the edge of a pond in relation to soil moisture

Question 83

Technocentric

Answer 83

Values centred on technology, problem can be solved using science and technological advancement. They suggest that humans have control over nature due to this

Question 84

Ecocentric

Answer 84

The earth isn't exclusively for one species it's for all, work with the earth and its limited resources. The idea that we need the earth much more than it needs us, so protecting and conserving it is crucial to us.