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| All things such as air, water, minerals, and metals, that are neither living organisms nor products uniquely produced by living things |
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| An atom (or group of) that has lost or gained one or more electrons and, consequently, has aquired a positive or negative charge |
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| The degree to which a substance will dissolve and enter into solution |
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| Law of Conservation of Matter |
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| Matter cannot be created nor destroyed, but it can be transformed |
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| First Law of Thermodynamics |
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| Law of conservation of energy- energy cannot be created or destroyed, but it can be transformed |
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| Second Law of Thermodynamics |
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| In any energy conversion, some of the usuable energy will be lost (usually heat) |
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| The study of any and all aspects of how organisms interact with each other and with their environment |
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| Mass of biological material. Usually the total mass of a particular group or category; for example, biomass of producers |
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| The overall ecosystem of the earth. The sum total of all the biomes and smaller ecosystems, which ultimately are all interconnected |
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| Feeding level with respect to the primary source of energy. Green plants are at the first trophic level, primary consumers are at the second, secondary consumers at the third, and so on |
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| A grouping of plants, animals, and other organisms interacting with each other and with their environment. They have characteristic forms, such as deserts, grasslands, tundra, deciduos forest, tropical rainforest, etc. |
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| The transfer of energy and material through a series of organisms as each of is fed upon by the next |
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| The combination of all the feeding relationships that exist in an ecosystem |
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| Living or derived from living things |
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| Pertaining to factors or things that are seperate and independant from living things; non-living |
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| A close relationship between two organisms from which both derive a benefit |
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| The intimate living together or association of two kinds of organisms |
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| A group within a single species whose individuals can and do freely interbreed |
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| All of the organisms of a single kind |
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| An attitude of ative care and concern for natural lands, an ethical and moral frameowrk that informs our public and private actions |
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| A property whereby a process can be continued indefinately without depleting the energy or material resources on which it depends |
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| The branch of science concerned with environmental issues |
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| The results of scientific work based on peer reviewed reason/basis of our understanding of how the world works and how human systems interact with it |
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| Information presented as valid sciecne, but unsupported by peer review research. Often, politically motivated and biased results are selected to promote a particular point of view |
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| A concept for measuring the demand placed on Earth's resources by individuals from different parts of the world, involing calculations of the natural area required to satisfy human needs |
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| "Not In My BackYard"; common attitude regarding undesirable facilites whereby people do everything possible to prevent such facilites from being located near their residences |
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| The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people, regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws and regulations |
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| The placement of waste sites and other hazardous facilities in towns and neighborhoods in which most of the residents are non-white |
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| The sum of goods and services provided by natural and managed ecosystems, provided free of charge and essential to human life and well-being |
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| Products, such as wood and food, that are extracted from natural ecosystems to satisfy human needs; ecosystem functions that are essential to human well-being, such as waste breakdown, climate regulation, erosion control, etc. |
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| The diversity of living things found in the natural world |
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| The richness/number of/species in an environment |
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| The process of nutrient-rich water supporting an abundant growth of algae or other aquatic plants at the surface. Deep eutrophic water has little or no dissolved oxygen |
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| All living things and products that are uniquely produced by living things |
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| The transitional region between two ecosystems |
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| The specific environment in which species live in |
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| Interacting ecosystems in same area |
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| The role an organism has in an ecosystem (eats, lives, etc.) |
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| A group of ecosystems with similar climate and vegetation |
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| When two factors have greater effect than one (ex. two people lifting something instead of one) |
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| Organisms that use light to create inorganic compounds |
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| Organisms that feed on other organisms or their products |
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| Dead organic matter (fallen leaves, poop) |
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| Organisms whose feeding habits result in decay (bacteria, fungi) |
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Light energy used to produce glucose from CO2 and water (O2 is released)
6CO2 + 6 H2O -> C6H12O6 + 6O2 |
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| Microorganisms utlize the chemical energy contained in reduced inorganic chemicals to produce organic material |
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| Any organism, usually a microbe, that can cause disease |
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| Organisms that feed on another organism over a period of time, without killing it immediately, but usually does do it harm |
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| Any organism that can synthesize all its organic substances from inorganic nutrients, using light or certain inorganic chemicals as a source of energy. Green plants are principle autotrophs |
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| Any organism that consumes organic matter as a source of energy |
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| 1997 UN treaty on climate change, assigning mandatory targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to signatory nations. US has not ratified the Protocol |
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| The process of reducing oxidized nitrogen compounds present in soil or water back to nitrogen gas in the atmosphere. Denitrification is a natural process conducted by certain bacteria, and is now utilized in the treatment of sewage effluents |
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| Competitive Exclusion Principle |
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| The concept that when two species compete very directly for resources, one eventually excludes the other from the area |
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| The overall ecosystem of Earth. The sum total of all the biomes and smaller ecosystems, which ultimately are all interconnected and interdependant through global processes such as the water cycle and the atmospheric cycle |
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| Organisms such as termites, fungi, and bacteria that obtain their nutrients and energy mainly by feeding on dead organic matter |
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| Process where bacteria in the soil convert organic nitrogen (i.e. from decomposition) into NH3 (ammonia) and NH4+ (ammonium); useful because plants can take ammonia and ammonium in |
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| Process where bacteria in soil convert NH3 ( ammonia) and NH4+ (ammonium) to nitrite (NO2-) and nitrate (NO3-) |
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| A molecule with a slight charge (i.e. water). In solubility rules, polar dissolves polar |
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| A molecule with no charge. In solubility rules, non-polar dissolves non-polar |
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| Able to be dissolved in a solvent |
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| Not able to be dissolved in a solvent |
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| Bacteria that live in nodules in the roots of legumes (legumes= peas, beans, etc.) |
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| The process of converting atmospheric nitrogen into a useful compound |
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