Chapter 6- Humans In The Biosphere Flashcards
Agriculture
The practice of farming
Monoculture
Where large fields are planted with the same crops year after year
Green revolution
Effort to increase food production
With monoculture and chemical fertilizers
Renewable resources
Can regenerate
If it’s alive
If it goes through biochemical cycles
Nonrenewable resources
One that cannot be replenished by natural processes
Sustainable development
A way of using natural resources without depleting them and of providing for human needs without causing long-term harm
Soil erosion
The wearing away of surface soil by water and wind
Desertification
Turns once productive areas into desert
Dry climate + farming + overgrazing + drought
Deforestation
Loss of forests
Aquaculture
The raising of aquatic animals for human consumption
Smog
A mixture of chemicals that occurs as a grey-brown haze in the atmosphere
Pollutant
Harmful material that can enter the biosphere through the land, water, or air.
Acid rain
Combustion processes cause Nitrogen and Sulfur compounds
They combine with water vapor and rain
Biodiversity
Sum total of the genetically based variety of all organisms in the biodphere
Ecosystem diversity
Includes the variety of habitats, communities, and ecological processes in the living world
Species diversity
Refers to the number of different species in the biosphere
Genetic diversity
Sum total of all the different forms of genetic information carried by all living organisms living in earth today
Extinction
Occurs when a species disappears from all or part of its range
Endangered species
A species whose population size is declining in a way that places it in danger of extinction
Habitat fragmentation
When development splits ecosystems into pieces
Biological magnification
Concentrations of a harmful substances increase in organisms at higher levels in a food chain or food web
Invasive species
Species that reproduce rapidly in a foreign area where they don’t have the same diseases as they do at “home”.
Mussels
Conservation
The wise management of natural resources including the preservation of habitats and wildlife
Ozone layer
20-50 km above earth, atmosphere contains a relatively high concentration of ozone gases
Global warming
Increase in the average temperature of the biosphere
