Unit 9-Global Change Vocab

Question 1

Aerosols

Answer 1

Very fine liquid droplets or solid particles aloft in the atmosphere

Question 2

Biodiversity

Answer 2

The variety of life across all levels of biological organization, including the diversity of species, their genes, their populations, and their communities.

Question 3

Cap-and-Trade

Answer 3

A permit trading system in which government determines an acceptable level of pollution and then issues polluting parties permits to pollute. A company receives credit for amounts it does not emit and can then sell this credit to other companies. A type of emissions trading system.

Question 4

Captive Breeding

Answer 4

The practice of capturing member of threatened and endangered species so that their young can be bred and raised in controlled environments and subsequently reintroduced into the wild

Question 5

Carbon Capture

Answer 5

Technologies or approaches that remove carbon dioxide from power plant or other emissions, in an effort to mitigate global climate change.

Question 6

Carbon Neutrality

Answer 6

The state in which an individual, business, or institution emits no net carbon to the atmosphere. This may be achieved by reducing carbon emissions and/or employing carbon offsets to offset emissions.

Question 7

Carbon Sequestration/Carbon Storage

Answer 7

Technologies or approaches to sequester, or store, carbon dioxide from industrial emissions(e.g., underground under pressure in locations where it will not seep out) in an effort to mitigate global climate change. We are still a long way from developing adequate technology and secure storage space to accomplish this.

Question 8

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)

Answer 8

A type of halo-carbon consisting of only chlorine, fluorine, carbon, and hydrogen. CFC’s were used as refrigerants, fire extinguishers, propellants for aerosol spray cans, cleaners for electronics, and for making polystyrene foam. They were phased out under the Montreal Protocol because they are ozone-depleting substances that destroy stratospheric ozone.

Question 9

Coral Reef

Answer 9

A mass of calcium carbonate composed of the skeletons of tiny colonial marine organisms called corals

Question 10

Ecological Restoration

Answer 10

Efforts to reverse the effects of human disruption of ecological systems and to restore communities to their condition before the disruption. The practice that applies principles of restoration ecology.

Question 11

Endangered Species

Answer 11

A species of animal or plant that is seriously at risk of extinction

Question 12

Extinction

Answer 12

The disappearance of an entire species from Earth

Question 13

Global Climate Change

Answer 13

Systematic 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 the many associated climatic changes.

Question 14

Global Warming

Answer 14

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 15

Greenhouse Effect

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Greenhouse Gases

Answer 16

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 (CO2), water vapor, ozone(O3), nitrous oxide(N20), halocarbon gases, and methane(CH4).

Question 17

Habitat Fragmentation

Answer 17

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 18

Introduced Species

Answer 18

Species introduced by human beings from one place to another(whether intentionally or by accident). A minority of introduced species may become invasive species.

Question 19

Invasive Species

Answer 19

A species that spreads widely and rapidly becomes dominant in a community, interfering with the community’s normal functioning.

Question 20

Milankovitch Cycles

Answer 20

One of three types of variations in Earth’s rotation and orbit around the sun that result in slight changes in the relative amount of solar radiation reaching Earth’s surface at different latitudes. As the cycles proceed, they change the way solar radiation is distributed over Earth’s surface and contribute to changes in atmospheric heating and circulation that have triggered glaciations and other climate changes.

Question 21

Montreal Protocol

Answer 21

International treaty ratified in 1987 in which 180(now 196) signatory nations agreed to restrict production of chlorofluorocarbons(CFC’s) in order to halt stratospheric ozone depletion. This was a protocol of the Vienna Convection for the Protection of the Ozone Layer. The Montreal Protocol is widely considered the most successful effort to date in addressing a global environmental problem.

Question 22

Ocean Acidification

Answer 22

The process by which today’s ocean are becoming more acidic(attaining lower pH) as a result of increased carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. Ocean acidification occurs as ocean water absorbs CO2 from the air and forms carbonic acid. This impairs the ability of corals and other organisms to build exoskeletons of calcium carbonate, imperiling coral reefs and the many organisms that depend on them.

Question 23

Ozone-Depleting Substances

Answer 23

Airborne chemicals, such as halocarbons, that destroy ozone molecules and thin the ozone layer in the stratosphere.

Question 24

Ozone Layer

Answer 24

A portion of the stratosphere, roughly 17-30 km (10-19 mi) above sea level, that contains most of the ozone in the atmosphere.

Question 25

Proxy Indicators

Answer 25

A source of indirect evidence that serves as a proxy, or substitute, for direct measurement and that sheds light on past climate. Examples include data from ice cores, sediment cores, tree rings, packrat middens, and coral reefs.

Question 26

Threatened Species

Answer 26

A plant or animal species generally perceived as likely, in the near future, to become endangered within all or much of its range

Question 27

Vulnerable Species

Answer 27

A vulnerable species is a species which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature that is threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatening its survival and reproduction improve.