Biogeochemical Cycles
What is combustion?
The burning of fossil fuels
A resource that can be replaced as quickly as it is used, like wind, water and solar
Renewable Resource
A response to stimuli in the environment
Behavior
Plants and algae take in carbon dioxide and convert it into sugars using sunlight and water in a process called
Photosynthesis
What is known as the element of life?
Carbon
When water evaporates from the leaves of plants this is called
Transpiration
The idea that the Earth is warming due to the increase in greenhouse gases like carbon and methane.
Global warming
A group of animals of the same species that interact closely and often cooperate is called a(n)
Society
An unwanted change in the environment caused by waste or the byproducts of energy use
Pollution
Water acts as a temperature ________, keeping it within a small range.
Buffer
The uptake of nitrates from the soil by the roots of plants is known as
Assimilation
What is overpopulation?
The concern that the number of humans will outgrow the natural resources and food supplies
What is a circadian rhythm?
A behavioral cycle that occurs daily
An important adaptation among many species that allows the passing of information from one individual to another, using visual signals, chemicals signals, sound and language
Communication
Where is groundwater stored?
An aquifer
What is percolation?
When water moves through soil layers, back to lakes and oceans.
The result of the release of greenhouse gases created by industrial processes
Climate change
What are the 4 major types of learning?
1. Habituation
2. Insight Learning
3. Classical Conditioning
4. Operant Conditioning
The process of turning ammonium ions into nitrites and nitrates is called
Nitrification
A system that combines sounds, symbols, and gestures according to rules about sequence and meaning, such as grammar and syntax
Language
What happens during nitrogen fixation?
Bacteria in the soil and root nodules of leguminous plants convert nitrogen gas into ammonium ions.
What are the 3 reasons why we genetically modify food?
1. Achieve disease, pest or drought resistance.
2. Reduce undesirable traits
3. Increase size or quantity produced
What is insight learning?
When an animal applies something it has already learned to a new situation
What happens during ammonification?
Decomposers turn nitrogen compounds from dead organisms and organic waste into ammonium
What does the runoff of pesticides and herbicides used on crops do?
Runoff into nearby streams and rivers, causing genetic deformities in aquatic species