Soils
Highly weathered tropical soils generally possess lower natural fertility than recently glaciated northern soils because intense rainfall accelerates nutrient leaching and this long-term process.
What is weathering?
This agricultural practice reduces erosion and protects water quality by planting and tilling crops along the natural contours of a hill rather than up and down the slope.
What is contour farming?
This New York amphibian is often used as a bioindicator species because its permeable skin makes it highly sensitive to environmental contamination.
What is a salamander?
This silvicultural practice removes only the most commercially valuable trees, often degrading long-term forest quality and genetic diversity.
What is high grading?
Runoff from farms and parking lots is an example of this type of pollution, rather than pollution from one specific pipe.
What is nonpoint source pollution?
This soil horizon suffix indicates an accumulation of clay.
What is a Bt horizon? or What does the suffix ‘t’ represent?
When collecting macroinvertebrate samples, this stream habitat is preferred because its fast, oxygen-rich water supports high biodiversity.
What is a riffle?
This threatened grassland bird of New York is famous for its aerial ‘sky dance’ courtship display.
What is the American woodcock?
This crown class consists of trees whose crowns extend above the general canopy and receive full light from above and partial light from the sides.
“What are emergent trees?”
or
“What is the dominant crown class?”
Under the Clean Water Act, this section created the list of impaired waters needing a TMDL.
What is Section 303(d)?
When soil remains saturated during the growing season and loses oxygen, it develops this condition associated with hydric soils.
What is an anaerobic environment?
This fish species depends on coastal wetlands and estuaries as nursery habitat for its young.
What is flounder?
This NYS endangered shorebird nests directly on sandy beaches and is highly vulnerable to recreational disturbance.
What is the piping plover?
Unlike clearcutting, this even-aged regeneration method leaves a partial overstory to provide seed sources and moderate understory microclimate during establishment.
What is the shelterwood system?
This voluntary New York program helps farmers use science-based, cost-effective practices to protect natural resources while meeting farm business goals.
Agricultural Environmental Management (AEM)
In hydric soils, prolonged saturation removes oxygen and causes iron reduction, producing these gray-colored features known as redox depletions.
What are redoximorphic features?
If a road crossing is proposed on a New York stream containing a wild trout population, this agency would issue the required permit.
What is the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation?
Compared to the red fox, this distinguishing skull characteristic is commonly used to identify the gray fox.
What is the U-shaped temporal ridge?
Established in 1905, this federal agency became the principal administrator of national forests under the leadership of Gifford Pinchot.
What is the United States Forest Service?
This federal law funded transportation and environmental improvement projects while promoting planning, safety, and environmental protection.
What is the Transportation Equity Act?
A horizon showing strong effervescence with dilute HCl would most likely contain this accumulated compound.
What is calcium carbonate?
Unlike decapods, gastropods, Ephemeroptera, and bivalves, this organism would NOT be considered a benthic macroinvertebrate.
What is a diatom?
This specialized tooth pair, enlarged in carnivorous mammals such as fishers and coyotes, is adapted for shearing flesh and is formed by the upper fourth premolar and lower first molar.
What are carnassial teeth?
This forestry instrument allows rapid estimation of both tree diameter and merchantable log height using proportional geometry.
What is a Biltmore stick?
After a clearcut is performed, these land-based BMPs should be used to reduce nonpoint source pollution.
What are erosion control BMPs?