Ecosystems & Biodiversity
A species with a narrow niche, relying on specific resources or conditions to survive.
Specialist species
The maximum population size an environment can sustain long term.
Carrying capacity
The energy captured by plants minus the energy they use for respiration; available for consumers.
Net Primary Productivity (NPP)
Uncontrolled, low-density expansion of urban areas into surrounding rural land.
Urban Sprawl
The type of fossil fuel that can be separated by boiling point (refined) into a variety of different substances.
Petroleum/Crude oil
Terrestrial biome with the highest biodiversity
Tropical rainforest
The average number of children per woman needed to maintain population size (about 2.1).
Replacement-level fertility
A period of agricultural innovation using high-yield crops, fertilizers, and irrigation to increase food production.
The Green Revolution
Raising animals in this type of facility can result in fecal coliform bacteria entering drinking water, and eutrophication of water ways.
CAFO
This unit of energy is used to measure energy production that comes from power plants.
Megawatts (MW)
A chemical process that carbon to plants
Photosynthesis
A survivorship pattern where many offspring are produced, early-life mortality is high, and few survive to adulthood.
Type III Survivorship
A microbial process that converts nitrate (NO₃⁻) into nitrogen gas (N₂), returning it to the atmosphere.
Denitrification
Precious metals like gold are often mined using this process, which can result in toxic chemicals entering nearby waterways
Cyanide heap leaching
The component of electricity generation that uses the wires and magnets to generate an electric current.
Generator
An interaction in which both species benefit
Mutualism
The breaking of large, continuous habitats into smaller, isolated patches, often by human activity.
Habitat fragmentation
If 100% of energy is generated from producers, this percentage of energy is received at the secondary consumer level.
1%
Harvesting only certain trees in a forest while leaving the rest intact.
Selective cutting
This indoor and outdoor air pollutant is formed through the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels.
Carbon Monoxide (CO)
A measure of how evenly individuals are distributed among different species in a community.
Species evenness
The stage in the Demographic Transition Model where death rates decline, birth rates remain high, and population grows rapidly.
Stage 3
Unintended species caught while fishing for a target species.
Bycatch
The topsoil layer rich in organic matter, mainly decomposed leaves and plant material.
O horizon
This type of pollution is formed through a chemical reaction that happens in the atmosphere.
Secondary pollution