Chapter 6 Flashcards
Monoculture
Farming strategy of planting a single, highly productive crop year after year
Renewable resource
Resource that can be produced or replaced by healthy ecosystem functions
Nonrenewable resource
Resource that cannot be replenished by a natural process within a reasonable amount of time
Sustainable development
Strategy for using natural resources without depleting them and for providing human needs without causing long-term environmental harm
Desertification
Lower land productivity caused by over-farming, overgrazing, seasonal drought, and climate change
Deforestation
Destruction of forests
Pollutant
Harmful material that can enter the biosphere through the land, air, or water
Biological magification
Increasing concentration of a harmful substance in organisms at higher trophic levels in a food chain or web
Smog
Gray-brown haze formed by a mixture of chemicals
Acid rain
Rain containing nitric and sulfuric acids
Biodiversity
Total variety of organisms in biosphere
AKA: biological diversity
Ecosystem diversity
Variety of habitats, communities, and ecological processes in the biosphere
Species diversity
Number of different species that make up a particular area
Genetic diversity
Total sum of all different forms of genetic information carried by a particular species or by all organisms
Habitat fragmentation
Process of splitting an ecosystem into pieces
Ecological hot spot
Small geographic area where significant numbers of habitats and species are in immediate danger of extinction
Ecological footprint
Total amount of functioning ecosystem needed to provide human population resources and to absorb human population wastes
Ozone layer
Atmospheric layer where ozone gas is concentrated
Protects life from harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays in sunlight
Aquaculture
Raising of aquatic organisms for human consumption
Global warming
Increase in average temperature
