N

Question 0

Nationalisation

Answer 0

Government policy which compels certain industries to transfer their ownership from private ownership to public ownership.
May be driven by political-economic philosophy, the needs of major crises e.g. war, or to rescue essential, national-scale industries which are failing.

Question 1

NAFTA

Answer 1

See North American Free Trade Area.

Question 2

Nationalism

Answer 2

The placing, by the individual, of national interests over and above those of the individual, regional, or global.
Can exist under all political, social and economic conditions, and across societal structures such as class.

Question 3

National parks

Answer 3

Large areas of countryside set aside for both the enjoyment of people and the conservation of the environment.
They exist in many countries but are delimited and run differently according to prevailing conditions in each place.
For example, in the USA they are often areas of extreme wilderness where very little development is allowed.
As the country is so large, this is possible.
By contrast, in the UK this approach cannot work as population density is so high, and land so scarce, that areas set aside as National Parks have to be rural areas where significant numbers of people live and work.
Thus much of the land in UK National Parks is privately owned and conflict can arise between owners, conservationists and tourist / recreational users.

Question 4

National Trust

Answer 4

In the UK, an organisation tasked with preserving historic and/or architecturally important buildings as well as areas of beautiful landscape.
Inherent in this goal is that the preservation allows continued access by the general public to places deemed to have significant cultural import. National Trust locations charge entry fees, the organisation has a membership, and an effort is made to encourage donations.

Question 5

Nation-state

Answer 5

A community organized under one government according to an idea of nationhood or nationality derived from, but not limited to, common ancestry, language, customs, religion, land ownership.

Question 6

Natural decrease

Answer 6

In population studies, when the death rate is higher than the birth rate.

Question 7

Natural increase

Answer 7

In population studies, when the birth rate is higher than the death rate.

Question 8

Natural resources

Answer 8

The things we use that are provided in the natural environment e.g. water, minerals, fuels, soil and so on.

Question 9

Nature reserve

Answer 9

An area of land set aside to protect the environment for its own sake. Development is prohibited and access is extremely restricted, usually to the reserve operators and scientists with a study connection to the species within.

Question 10

Neap tide

Answer 10

A low tidal range caused when the angle of a line drawn from the sun to the earth and then to the moon is 90°.
In this twice-monthly situation the gravitational pulls of sun and moon are in opposition thus the high tide is not so high and the corresponding low tide is not so low.

Question 11

Nearest neighbour analysis

Answer 11

A measure of how clustered or evenly spaced a distribution of points on a plane is.

Rn = 2đ √ (n/A)

where đ is the mean distance between nearest neighbours, n is the number of points, A is the area in which the distribution occurs.
Values range from 2.15 for an evenly spaced distribution, through 1.0 for a random distribution to 0.0 for a highly clustered distribution.

Question 12

Negative correlation

Answer 12

Where the rise of one variable corresponds to the fall of another. It is important to note that correlation is not an indicator of causality.

Question 13

Negative feedback

Answer 13

When the action of a system leads to a reduction in that action.
For example, wave erosion of a cliff may undercut it and cause it to collapse.
The fallen debris now protects the cliff so less erosion takes place.

Question 14

Neo-colonialism

Answer 14

The holding of political or economic influence (or both) by one country over another.

Question 15

Neo-Malthusianism

Answer 15

A contentious school which holds that Mathus’ theory of population dynamics is correct and that modern contraceptive technology and widespread acceptance of abortion are examples of preventative checks to population growth.

Question 16

Net primary productivity

Answer 16

The amount of organic material available for consumption in a given area.
GPP minus losses due to plant respiration.

Question 17

Network

Answer 17

Points (vertices) joined by links.
The links allow transfers between the points.
Examples might include roads, railways, sewage pipes, mobile phones and so on.
The links are referred to as infrastructure and the whole is called a system.
Networks take many different forms and have different levels of connectivity.

Question 18

Névé

Answer 18

See firn.

Question 19

Newly industrialised country

Answer 19

Countries that have undergone rapid industrialisation since the 1960s. The process occurs when a determined effort is made to achieve import substitution and significantly increase exports of manufactured goods through competitive pricing.
The term is most commonly applied to the four ‘Asian tigers’ of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, but this is becoming out of date.
Most of Hong Kong’s manufacturing moved to mainland China in the 1990s for example, although the factories are still managed from headquarter offices in Hong Kong.

Question 20

New town

Answer 20

The targeted and rapid expansion of a settlement (although they may also be built from scratch) to alleviate the pressure of overly high demand for housing in a region, especially on existing cities.

Question 21

NIC

Answer 21

See newly industrialised country.

Question 22

Nimby

Answer 22

Acronym from 'not in my back yard' applied to people who may agree to the idea of a development that is, on balance, of high social value, but who don't want the development in their own area because of the possible negative consequences that go with it.
These may be environmental (noise, pollution) or social (changed class or racial structure).
The objections are often unfounded and based on conjecture and prejudice.
There is often a fear that changes will devalue an area literally in terms of property prices.
As the most powerful people have the most success with the 'nimby' argument, developments often become concentrated in poorer areas giving strength to the 'nimby' case whereas if developments were more evenly spread it may be found that problems do not arise.

Question 23

Nitrate

Answer 23

A nutrient essential to plant growth.

Question 24

Nitrogen cycle

Answer 24

Series of flows in an ecosystem which move nitrogen between various stores and allow it to perform functions essential for life.
At its simplest level, nitrogen in the form of nitrates is taken in by plant roots and built into proteins which then enter herbivores.
Excretion and decay then return the nitrogen to the soil as ammonia, which is converted back to nitrate by bacteria.

Question 25

Nitrogen fixation

Answer 25

A process carried out by certain algae and soil bacteria whereby atmospheric nitrogen is incorporated to form nitrogen-based organic compounds.
A crucial part of the nitrogen cycle.

Question 26

Nivation

Answer 26

The expansion of a hollow through freeze-thaw under a patch of snow and the subsequent washing out of the debris by meltwater.

Question 27

Nivation hollow

Answer 27

A circular depression in the ground, usually seen in periglacial areas, that has been created by nivation.

Question 28

Node

Answer 28

In a transport network, a point where links join.

Question 29

Nomad

Answer 29

A person without a permanent home who moves from place to place throughout the year seeking subsistence.
Nomads usually follow a pastoral lifestyle and move with the seasons to find grazing and water for their livestock as they live in marginal areas where single locations cannot provide support all the year round.

Question 30

Non-government organisation

Answer 30

Any charity or volunteer association which takes on responsibility for a particular cause.
Often starting on a small-scale and in response to a particular need e.g. a natural disaster, they can grow to have national or global influence, for example the National Trust and Greenpeace respectively.

Question 31

Non-renewable resource

Answer 31

Those resources considered to be finite as our rate of use far outstrips the rate at which they are formed e.g. coal.

Question 32

Non-tariff barrier

Answer 32

A covert restriction to imported goods.
Governments may not wish to be seen to restrict trade but can do so by introducing regulations, such as product labeling laws, which make it more difficult and more expensive for overseas producers to operate in the market.

Question 33

North American Free Trade Area

Answer 33

Canada, Mexico and the USA.

An attempt to create a single market area on the model of the European Union.

Question 34

North Atlantic Drift

Answer 34

The name for the warm ocean current in the North-East Atlantic that originates in the Caribbean as the Gulf Stream.

Question 35

Northing

Answer 35

The horizontal gridlines on a map so called because their numeric value increases from south to north.

Question 36

North-South divide

Answer 36

The imaginary line separating the mostly EMDW of the North from the ELDW of the South.

Question 37

NPP

Answer 37

See net primary productivity.

Question 38

Nuclear energy

Answer 38

Uranium is processed into uranium dioxide, which undergoes nuclear fission.
In this reaction, the uranium nucleus splits and releases neutrons.
Energy is released and the neutrons split more atoms causing a chain reaction.
The energy is used to heat water and drive turbines to produce electricity.
Despite being one of the most efficient and clean energy sources known, nuclear energy has been beset with controversy because: 1. Waste fuel is highly dangerous and there are issues with moving and storing it.
2. Accidents at nuclear plants, though rare, can be catastrophic over a wide area e.g. Chernobyl.
3. The technology for producing power takes a country well within the capability of producing nuclear weapons.

Question 39

Nucleated settlement

Answer 39

The arrangement of buildings in a settlement in a tight cluster as a result of the landscape e.g. on top of a hill, around a road junction, in a meander loop and so on.

Question 40

Nuée ardente

Answer 40

The superheated gases found in a pyroclastic cloud.

Question 41

Nunatak

Answer 41

A mountain peak rising out from and above an ice sheet.

Question 42

Nutrient

Answer 42

Any chemical or compound which is used by an organism in order to survive and / or grow.

Question 43

Nutrient cycle

Answer 43

The movement of nutrients in the ecosystem between the three major stores of the soil, biomass and litter.
Nutrients are taken up from the soil by plant roots to produce biomass. In its simplest form this then dies and falls to the ground where it becomes litter.
The litter then decomposes and is returned to the soil where the cycle begins again.
Complications exist with movement of nutrients within the biomass e.g. when plants are eaten and then herbivores in their turn.
There are also inputs and outputs depending on the scale of ecosystem being considered.
Nutrients may enter through weathering or migrating organisms.
They may be lost by leaching.
The proportion of nutrients held in each store and in flow at any one time will be determined by the prevailing conditions of each ecosystem.

Question 44

Nutrient sink

Answer 44

An ecosystem which has a tendency to store organic matter and thus the nutrients within it e.g. peat bogs.