BIOMES
This biome is characterized by low precipitation, extreme temperature fluctuations, and organisms adapted to conserve water.
What is a desert?
The variety of life in all its forms, levels, and combinations, including ecosystem, species, and genetic diversity.
What is biodiversity?
This 1972 law regulates the discharge of pollutants into U.S. waters and sets water quality standards.
What is the Clean Water Act?
This is the goal of Integrated Pest Management, aiming to keep pest populations at levels that do not cause economic harm.
What is pest population control (or economic threshold)?
This term refers to cutting down all the trees in an area, leading to habitat destruction and erosion.
What is clear-cutting?
This biome has the highest biodiversity on Earth, with year-round warm temperatures and heavy rainfall.
What is a tropical rainforest?
A species that has a disproportionately large impact on its ecosystem relative to its abundance.
What is a keystone species?
This act, passed in 1973, aims to protect species that are at risk of extinction and their habitats.
What is the Endangered Species Act?
The overuse of pesticides can lead to this phenomenon, where pests evolve to survive chemical treatments.
What is pesticide resistance?
The relationship where both species benefit, such as bees pollinating flowers while collecting nectar.
What is mutualism?
This biome is dominated by coniferous trees and is also known as the taiga.
What is the boreal forest?
The maximum population size that an environment can sustain without being degraded.
What is carrying capacity?
This law, passed in 1970, controls air pollution by setting emissions standards for pollutants like ozone and sulfur dioxide.
What is the Clean Air Act?
This federal agency regulates pesticides and promotes the use of IPM in the U.S.
What is the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)?
This air pollutant is a major contributor to acid rain and is produced mainly from burning co
What is sulfur dioxide (SO₂)?
Frequent fires, seasonal rainfall, and herds of grazing animals are common features of this grassland biome found in Africa.
What is the savanna?
The gradual process of change and replacement in the species structure of an ecosystem over time.
What is ecological succession?
This 1970 law created the Environmental Protection Agency and set the foundation for federal environmental regulation.
What is the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)?
IPM uses this approach only as a last resort, to avoid resistance and environmental harm.
What is chemical control?
The excessive growth of algae in water bodies, often due to nutrient runoff, is called this.
What is eutrophication?
Permafrost is a defining characteristic of this cold, treeless biome found in the Arctic Circle.
What is the tundra?
The process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically due to drought, deforestation, or inappropriate agriculture.
What is desertification?
This 1976 law governs the disposal of solid and hazardous waste and encourages waste minimization and recycling.
What is the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)?
This type of pest control involves introducing natural predators or parasites to reduce pest populations.
What is biological control?
These organisms form the base of the trophic pyramid by converting solar energy into usable chemical energy.
What are producers (or autotrophs)?