Food
the type and amount of food that one eats
diet
a chemical used to kill insects, rodents, and other pests
pesticide
the process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically as a result of drought, deforestation, or inappropriate agriculture.
Desertification
a computerized system for storing, manipulating, and viewing geographic data
geographic information system (GIS)
A block of lithosphere that consists of the crust and the rigid, outermost part of the mantle; also called the lithospheric plate.
Tectonic Plate
the amount of food that can be produced in a given area
yield
catching or removing from a population more organisms than the population can replace
Overharvesting
the movement of rock particles by water, wind, ice, or gravity
Erosion
A poor land management strategy allowing more animals to graze in an area than the range can support
overgrazing
The change of state from a liquid to a gas.
Evaporation
a widespread shortage of food that threatens death from starvation
famine
cud-chewing mammals that have three or four chambered stomachs
ruminants
the surface layer of the soil, which is usually richer in organic matter than the subsoil is
topsoil
the clearing of trees from an area without replacing them
deforestation
The solid, "plastic" layer of the mantle beneath the lithosphere; made of mantle rock that flows very slowly, which allows tectonic plates to move on top of it.
Asthenosphere
a condition that occurs when people do not consume enough Calories or do not eat a sufficient variety of foods to fulfill all of the body's needs
malnutrition
the use of living organisms to control pests. Every pest has enemies in the wild, and these enemies can sometimes be used to control pest populations
biological pest control
Accumulation of salts in soil that can eventually make the soil unable to support plant growth.
Salinization
land covered mainly with buildings and roads
urban
The thin, solid, outermost layer of the Earth above the mantle.
Crust
Too little food energy or too few nutrients to prevent disease or to promote growth; a form of malnutrition
undernutrition
raising of aquatic organisms for human consumption
aquaculture
partly decomposed organic material that is used as fertilizer
compost
The resources that are produced by natural and artificial ecosystems produced in rural areas
ecosystem services
The energy that is transferred as electromagnetic waves, such as visible light and infrared light.
Radiation