Biosphere
The act by which producers convert solar energy into biomass.
What is photosynthesis?
This atmospheric layer is where nearly all of Earth’s weather takes place.
What is the troposphere?
The Mississippi River is this type of fluvial geomorphological landform.
What is a meandering river/stream?
The “plastic” part of Earth’s internal structure which drives the movement of tectonic plates via the movement of convection currents.
What is the lower mantle?
The idea that human and natural systems are constantly shaping and influencing each other.
What is co-production?
The specific and unique function an organism has within its given community.
What is an ecological niche?
This kind of climate change policy tries to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions present in the atmosphere, such as switching to renewable energy sources.
What is mitigation?
The phase change of water from liquid to gas.
What is evaporation?
This kind of rock is the only type of rock where you are likely to find fossils.
What is sedimentary rock?
The process in which a state establishes and maintains domination over a separate society in order to exploit their resources.
What is colonialism?
The physical, chemical, and biological characteristics which limit the distribution and/or population size of a species.
What are limiting factors?
A community’s ability or potential to respond successfully to climate variability and change.
What is adaptive capacity?
Clouds are formed by this part of the hydrologic cycle.
What is condensation?
The tectonic plate boundary associated with sea floor spreading and mid-ocean ridges.
What is a divergent boundary?
This concept describes the process by which biological life came to be introduced to North and South America by European colonizers.
What is the Columbian Exchange?
This trophic level consists of organisms that feed on organic debris produced by living organisms inside their bodies.
What are detritivores?
This mechanism within a system tends to slow or reduce responses in a system, such as a large mass of arctic ice keeping the air above it cold, which keeps the ice cold, which keeps the air cold, and so on.
What is a negative feedback loop?
Clastic sedimentary rock is formed (in part) through these three processes, which also form part of the hydrologic cycle.
What is erosion, transportation, and deposition?
This type of rock is formed when another type of rock is subjected to intense heat and pressure, but does not pass through a liquid phase.
What is metamorphic rock?
This idea describes a system that may change cyclically, but over longer periods of time remains relatively stable.
What is steady-state equilibrium?
These two variables that determine an ecosystem’s net primary productivity (i.e. the amount of biomass).
What is solar energy and precipitation?
Climate change increases the likelihood of these types of events which shock or disrupt an ecological system, leading either to system recovery or into a new state.
What is disturbance?
These two forms of atmospheric lifting are primarily responsible for tropical cyclone development and intensification.
What is convergent lifting and convectional lifting?
This type of rock cools slowly underground, resulting in large, coarse-grained crystals that can be both light and dark in color.
What is intrusive igneous rock?
A theoretical concept describing “Nature” not as a physical domain that exists independently of humans, but an invention of society which reflects different ideologies, philosophies and beliefs.
What is the Human-Nature Divide/Social Construction?