VOCABULARY
These energy resources are naturally replenished on a human timescale, like solar and wind.
What are renewable resources?
This step in the water cycle involves the change of water from a liquid to a gas, usually due to heat.
What is evaporation?
This test measures the cloudiness or clarity of water, often caused by suspended solids.
What is turbidity?
This method removes all the trees from an area at once, often leading to habitat destruction and soil erosion.
What is clear-cutting?
This relationship benefits one species while the other is neither helped nor harmed.
What is commensalism?
These non-living components of an ecosystem, like temperature, sunlight, and pH, help determine the types of organisms that can live in an area.
What are abiotic factors?
In this process, bacteria convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form plants can use.
What is nitrogen fixation?
This measurement indicates how acidic or basic water is, and extremes can harm aquatic organisms.
What is pH?
This selective method involves cutting only some trees, often the mature or diseased ones, leaving the rest of the forest intact.
What is selective cutting?
In this relationship, both species benefit from the interaction.
What is mutualism?
This process removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and stores it in plant biomass.
What is photosynthesis?
This process releases carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere from the bodies of dead organisms.
What is decomposition?
This test measures the amount of oxygen available for aquatic life and is a key indicator of water health.
What is dissolved oxygen?
This method removes all trees in a strip or band, allowing regrowth to occur in stages across the landscape.
What is strip cutting?
This harmful relationship involves one species feeding on another, often resulting in death.
What is predation? OR Predator - Prey
This term refers to the number of deaths per 1,000 individuals in a population per year.
What is the death rate?
Unlike other cycles, this one does not include a gaseous phase and relies mostly on the movement through soil and rock.
What is the phosphorus cycle?
This nutrient test checks for a compound that, in excess, can lead to algal blooms and eutrophication.
What are nitrates?
This practice involves cutting a few seed-producing trees to promote natural regeneration in a harvested area.
What is seed-tree cutting?
This relationship involves one species living on or in another, harming the host but typically not killing it.
What is parasitism?
This dangerous gas is produced by incomplete combustion and can bind to hemoglobin, reducing oxygen delivery in the body.
What is carbon monoxide?
This process converts ammonia into nitrites and then into nitrates, which plants can absorb.
What is nitrification?
This mineral compound, when present in high concentrations, can indicate agricultural runoff and contribute to eutrophication.
What are phosphates?
In this system, mature trees are harvested in groups or patches over time to maintain continuous forest cover.
What is shelterwood cutting?
This type of interaction occurs when organisms fight for the same limited resources like food, space, or mates.
What is competition?