Caused by any material or condition that harms the environment.
Pollution
Areas that are highly populated by humans in and around cities.
Urbanization
How clean or polluted the water is.
Water quality
Which grade level is the best out of middle school?
7th Grade
The amount of water that is available in a place, like a river, a lake, or even the whole planet.
Water quantity
The careful and responsible management of a resource.
An increase in the amount of nutrients, such as nitrates, in a marine or aquatic ecosystem.
Eutrophication
When a large fraction of a resource has been used up.
Resource depletion
Cutting down or clearing away large areas of forests, usually by people, and not letting the trees grow back.
Deforestation
Organisms that move into empty or damaged places where nothing else can grow yet.
Pioneer species
Something that comes from nature, not made by people.
Natural Resource
The wise use and preservation of natural resources.
Conservation
The replacement of one type of community by another at a single location over a period of time.
Ecological Succession
A plant, animal, or other living thing that lives in a place naturally, without people bringing it there on purpose or by accident.
Native Species
It has become extra acidic because of pollution in the air, and it can harm plants, animals, and buildings.
Acid Rain
Using things in a way that they can last a long time without running out or being badly damaged.
Sustainable
A natural resource that can be replaced or grows back fast enough that we won’t run out of it as we use it.
Renewable Resource
The number and variety of organisms in a given area during a specific period of time.
Biodiversity
A living thing that moves into a new place where it doesn’t normally live and ends up causing harm to that environment, the plants and animals there, or even people.
Invasive Species
A natural thing we use that can run out because it takes millions of years to form and cannot be replaced as fast as we use it.
Nonrenewable Resource