The practice of clearing large areas of land to plant a single, highly productive crop year after year.
What is monoculture?
100
A resource that can be produced or replaced by a healthy ecosystem.
What is a renewable resource?
100
The total of all the genetically based variation in all organisms in the biosphere.
What is biodiversity?
100
The total area of functioning land and water ecosystems needed both to provide the resources an individual or population uses and to neutralize the wastes a population generates.
What is an ecological footprint?
100
Occurs if a pollutant is picked up by an organism and collects in the body tissues. This causes pollutant concentration to increase at higher trophic levels.
What is biological magnification?
200
A combination of farming, overgrazing, seasonal drought and climate change can lead to this.
What is desertification?
200
A resource that CANNOT be replenished by natural processes.
What is a nonrenewable resource?
200
Contributions to medicine and agriculture and the provision of ecosystem goods and services.
What is biodiversity's benefits to society?
200
An ecological footprint that is four times larger than the global average.
What is the average American footprint?
200
A gray-brown haze formed by chemical reactions among pollutants released into the air.
What is smog?
300
Can lead to soil erosion, especially on mountainsides.
What is Deforestation?
300
Using natural resources to meet our needs without causing long-term environmental harm.
What is sustainable development?
300
Splitting ecosystems into pieces.
What is habitat fragmentation?
300
A layer that has a relatively high concentration of ozone.
What is the ozone layer?
300
Forms when nitrogen and sulfur compounds are released into the air and combine with water vapor.
What is acid rain?
400
A harmful material that can enter the biosphere.
What is a pollutant?
400
Fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas are considered ...
What is nonrenewable resources?
400
A place where significant numbers of species and habitats are in immediate danger of extinction.
What is an ecological hot spot?
400
An increase in the average temperature.
What is global warming?
400
Microscopic particles of ash and dust released by certain industrial processes.
What is a particulate?
500
Industrial and agricultural chemicals, residential sewage and nonpoint source pollution...
What are the primary sources of water pollution?
500
Using ecological science can teach us how to use natural resources to meet our needs and not cause long-term environmental harm.
What are the goals of sustainable development?
500
Protecting individual species, preserving habitats and ecosystems, and making certain that human neighbors of protected areas benefit from participating in conservation efforts.
What is conservation of biodiversity?
500
The farming of aquatic animals which offers a good alternative to commercial fishing with limited environmental damage, if managed properly.
What is aquaculture?
500
This was recognized as the cause of the "hole" in the ozone layer found in the 1970's.