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| the circumstances or conditions that surround an organism or a group of organisms as well as the complex of social or cultural conditions that affect an individual or a community |
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| a description of the long-term pattern of weather in a particular area |
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| the genetic, species, and ecological diversity of the organisms in a given area |
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| ecological, social, and economic systems that can last over the long term |
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| "top down" reasoning in which we start with a general principle and derive a testable prediction about a specific case |
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| "bottom-up" reasoning in which we study specific examples and try to discover patterns and derive general explanations from collected observations |
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| the likelihood that a situation, a condition, or an event will occur |
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| a bar graph, generally with upright bars |
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| networks of interdependent components and processes |
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| the flow of energy and/or matter into and out of a system |
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| factors that result from a process and, in turn, increase that same process |
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| factors that result from a process and, in turn, reduce that same process |
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| in any chemical reaction, matter changes form; it is neither created nor destroyed |
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| the smallest particle that exhibits the characteristics of an element |
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| combinations of two or more atoms |
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| substances composed of different kinds of atoms |
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| substances that release hydrogen atoms in water |
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| substances that readily bond with hydrogen ions in an aqueous solution |
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| complex molecules organized around skeletons of carbon atoms arranged in rings or chains; includes biomolecules, molecules synthesized by living organisms |
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| the capacity to do work, such as moving matter over a distance |
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| total kinetic energy of atoms or molecules in a substance not associated with the bulk motion of the substance |
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| the branch of physics that deals with transfers and conversions of energy |
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| first law of thermodynamics |
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| states that energy is conserved; that is, it is neither created nor destroyed under normal conditions |
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| second law of thermodynamics |
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| states that, with each successive energy transfer or transformation in a system, less energy is available to do work |
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| extracting energy for life from inorganic chemicals, such as hydrogen sulfide, rather than from sunlight |
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| the circulation and reutilization of carbon atoms, especially via the processes of photosynthesis and respiration |
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| the circulation and reutilization of nitrogen in both inorganic and organic phases |
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| the natural process by which water is purified and made fresh through evaporation and precipitation. This cycle provides all the freshwater available for biological life |
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| the movement of phosphorus atoms from rocks through the biosphere and hydrosphere and back to rocks |
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| the chemical and physical reactions by which sulfur moves into or out of storage and through the environment |
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| physical changes that allow organisms to survive in a given environment |
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| a species that is restricted to a single region, country, or other area |
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| growth at a constant rate of increase per unit of time; can be expressed as a constant fraction or exponent |
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| growth rates regulated by internal and external factors that establish an equilibrium with environmental resources |
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| the place or set of environmental conditions in which a particular organism lives |
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| the statistical study of human populations relating to growth rate, age structure, geographic distribution, etc, and their effects on social, economic, and environmental conditions |
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| broad, regional types of ecosystems characterized by distinctive climate and soil conditions and distinctive kinds of biological community adapted to those conditions |
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| in water, a distinctive temperature transition zone that separates an upper layer that is mixed by the wind (the epilimnion) and a colder deep layer that is not mixed (the hypolimnion) |
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| locating or studying organisms at a distance using radio signals or other electronic media |
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| denuding and degrading a once fertile land, initiating a desert-producing cycle that feeds on itself and causes long-term changes in soil, climate and biota of an area |
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| strips of natural habitat that connect two adjacent nature preserves to allow migration of organisms from one place to another |
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| genetically modified organisms (GMOs) |
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| organisms created by combining natural or synthetic genes using the techniques of molecular biology |
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| organisms that produce disease in host organisms, disease being an alteration of one or more metabolic functions in response to the presence of the organisms |
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| a deleterious change in the body's condition in response to destabilizing factors, such as nutrition, chemicals, or biological agents |
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| a chemical dose lethal to 50 percent of a test population |
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| increase in concentration of certain stable chemicals (for example, heavy metals or fat-soluble pesticides) in successively higher trophic levels of a food chain or web |
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| third law of thermodynamics |
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| law stating that the entropy of a substance approaches zero as its temperature approaches absolute zero |
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| the study of the adverse effects of external factors on an organism or a system. This includes environmental chemicals, drugs, and diet as well as physical factors, such as ionizing radiation, UV light, and electromagnetic forces. |
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| delineation for deepest trenches in the ocean. this zone is found around the depth of 6,000 meters. has low population and low marine life. |
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| one that involves observation of events that have already happened. |
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| conditions are deliberately altered and all other variables are held constant |
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| the researcher doesn't know which group is treated until after the data have been analyzed |
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| neither the subject nor the researcher knows who is in the treatment group and who is in the control group |
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| A theoretical frequency distribution for a set of variable data, usually represented by a bell-shaped curve symmetrical about the mean. |
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| any compound that does not contain carbon |
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| the process in which a cell breaks down sugar or other organic compounds to release energy used for cellular work; may be anaerobic or aerobic, depending on the availability of oxygen |
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| the population of plants, animals, and microorganisms living and interacting in a certain area at a given time |
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| there are minimum and maximum tolerance limits. tolerance limits are beyond what a particular species cannot survive or is unable to reproduce |
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| any area where trees cover more than 10% of the land |
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| A symbiotic relationship between or among living things for resources, such as food, space, shelter, mate, ecological status, etc "survival of the fittest" |
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| The process of eroding or being eroded by wind, water, or other natural agents. The slow destruction of habitats and the environment |
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