Glossary - Essential Environment - G-I

Question 1

gasification

Answer 1

A process in which biomass is vaporized at extremely high temperatures in the absence of oxygen, creating a gaseous mixture including hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and methane, in order to produce biopower or biofuels. In coal gasification, coal is converted to a syngas by reacting it with oxygen and steam at a high temperature.

Question 2

gene

Answer 2

A stretch of DNA that represents a unit of hereditary information

Question 3

General Land Ordinances of 1785 and 1787

Answer 3

Laws that gave the U.S. government the right to manage Western lands and created a grid system for surveying them and readying them for private ownership.

Question 4

General Mining Act of 1872

Answer 4

U.S. law that legalized and promoted mining by private individuals on public lands for just $5 per acre, subject to local customs, with no government oversight

Question 5

generalist

Answer 5

A species that can survive in a wide array of habitats or use a wide array of resources.

Question 6

genetically modified organism (GMO)

Answer 6

An organism that has been genetically engineered using a technique called recombinant DNA technology

Question 7

genetic diversity

Answer 7

A measurement of the differences in DNA composition among individuals within a given species

Question 8

genetic engineering

Answer 8

Any process scientists use to manipulate an organism’s genetic material in the labl by adding, delting, or changing segments of its DNA.

Question 9

genus

Answer 9

A taxonomic level in the Linnaean classification system that is above species and below family. A genus is made up of one or more closely related species.

Question 10

geographic information system (GIS)

Answer 10

Computer software that overlays multiple types of data (for instance, on geology, hydrology, vegetation, animal species, and human development) onto a common set of geographic coordinates. The idea is to create a complete picture of landscape and to analyze how elements of the datasets are arrayed spatially and how they may be correlated. A common tool of geographers, landscape ecologists, resource managers, and conservation biologists.

Question 11

geologic hazards

Answer 11

Natural hazards to human life and property that result from geologic processes. Examples include earthquakes, volcanoes, and mass wasting events.

Question 12

geology

Answer 12

The scientific study of Earth’s physical features, processes, and history

Question 13

geothermal energy

Answer 13

Renewable energy that is generated deep within Earth. The radioactive decay of elements amid the extremely high pressures and temperatures at depth generate heat that rises to the surface in magma and through fissures and cracks. Where this energy heats groundwater, heated water and steam may erupt from below.

Question 14

geyser

Answer 14

A natural spurt of heated groundwater and steam pressurized and sent up from below ground that erupts through the surface.

Question 15

glaciation

Answer 15

The extension of ice sheets from the polar regions far into Earth’s temperate zones during cold periods of Earth’s history

Question 16

global climate change

Answer 16

Any change in aspects of Earth’s climate, such as temperature, precipitation, and storm intensity. Generally refers today to the current warming trend in global temperatures and associated climatic changes.

Question 17

global warming

Answer 17

An increase in Earth’s average surface temperature. The term is most frequently used in reference to the pronounced warming trend of recent years and decades. Global warming is one aspect of global climate change, and in turn drives other components of climate change.

Question 18

global warming potential

Answer 18

A quantity that specifies the ability of one molecule of a given greenhouse gas to contribute to atmospheric warming, relative to carbon dioxide.

Question 19

good

Answer 19

A material commodity manufactured for and bought by individuals and businesses

Question 20

green building

Answer 20

A structure that minimizes the ecological footprint of its construction and operation by using sustainable materials, using minimal energy and water, reducing health impacts, limiting pollution, and recycling waste. The pursuit of constructing or renovating such buildings.

Question 21

green-collar job

Answer 21

A job in an industry dedicated to new sustainable technologies or practices. Examples include jobs in the design installation and management of renewable energy facilities.

Question 22

greenhouse effect

Answer 22

The warming of Earth’s surface and atmosphere (especially the troposphere) caused by the energy emitted by greenhouse gases.

Question 23

greenhouse gas

Answer 23

A gas that absorbs infrared radiation released by Earth’s surface and then warms the surface and troposphere by emitting energy, thus giving rise to the greenhouse effect. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, water vapor, ozone, nitrous oxide, halocarbon gases, and methane.

Question 24

green manure

Answer 24

Organic fertilizer comprised of freshly dead plant material

Question 25

Green Revolution

Answer 25

An intensification of the industrialization of agriculture in the developing world in the latter half of the 20th century that has dramatically increased crop yields produced per unit area of farmland. Practices include devoting large areas to monocultures of crops specially bred for high yields and rapid growth; heavy use of fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation water; and sowing and harvesting on the same piece of land more than once per year or per season.

Question 26

green tax

Answer 26

A levy on environmentally harmful activities and products aimed at providing a market based incentive to correct for market failure. Compare subsidy.

Question 27

greenwashing

Answer 27

A public relations effort, generally by a corporation or business, to mislead customers or the public into thinking it is acting more sustainably than it actually is.

Question 28

gross primary production

Answer 28

The energy that results when autotrophs convert solar energy to energy of chemical bonds in sugars through photosynthesis. Autotrophs use a portion of this production to power their own metabolism, which entails oxidizing organic compounds by cellular respiration.

Question 29

ground-source heat pump

Answer 29

A pump that harnesses geothermal energy from near-surface sources of earth and water, and that can help heat and cool buildings. Operates on the principles that temperatures below ground are more stable than temperatures above ground.

Question 30

groundwater

Answer 30

water held in aquifers underground

Question 31

growth rate

Answer 31

The net change in a populations size per 1000 individuals. Calculated by adding the crude birth rate to the immigration rate and then subtracting the crude death rate and the emigration rate, each expressed as the number per 1000 individuals per year.

Question 32

habitat

Answer 32

The specific environment in which an organism lives, including both biotic and abiotic factors.

Question 33

habitat conservation plan

Answer 33

A cooperative agreement that allows landowners to harm threatened or endangered species in some ways if they voluntarily improve habitat for the species in others

Question 34

habitat fragmentation

Answer 34

The process by which an expanse of natural habitat becomes broken up into discontinuous fragments, often as a result of farming, logging, road-building, and other types of human development and land use.

Question 35

habitat selection

Answer 35

The process by which an expanse of natural habitat becomes broken up into discontinuous fragments, often as a result of farming, logging, road-building, and other types of human development and land use.

Question 36

habitat use

Answer 36

The process by which organisms use habitats from among the range of options they encounter.

Question 37

Hadley cell

Answer 37

One of a pair of cells of convective circulation between the equator and 30 degrees north and south latitude that influence global climate patterns.

Question 38

half-life

Answer 38

The amount of time it takes for one half of the atoms of a radioisotope to emit radiation and decay. Different ranging from fractions of a second to billions of years.