Terminology

A movement started by ranchers and miners during the late 1970s in response to efforts of the Bureau of Land Management (B.L.M.) to improve management of federal lands. While its announced goal was to give the lands ""back"" to the western state

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A measure of the salt concentration of water. Higher salinity means more dissolved salts.

The logging of dead or diseased trees in order to improve overall forest health; used by timber companies as a rationalization to log otherwise protected areas.

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A solid waste disposal area that protects the environment from leachate

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Organism which feeds on dead and decaying organisms, allowing the nutrients to be recycled into the ecosystem. Fungi and bacteria are two groups with many important saprophytes.

A land which is without trees but with much grass either tall or short (such as the African savannah)

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An organism that feeds upon dead and dying organisms.

Plants, such as small trees and shrubs, that usually have many stems, unlike trees which have one main trunk

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The level of the surface of the ocean

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Any large photosynthetic protist, including rhodophytes and kelps. Seaweeds are not true plants, but like plants they can make their own food. More info?

Growth forests- forests that have grown back after being logged.

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Animals that eat first-order consumers

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Having a climate that is dry, but not as dry as a desert

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An organization of 24 U.S. utilities that developed a $30 million competition to produce a refrigerator at least 25% lower in energy use and 85% lower in ozone depletion than projected 1994 models. The winning product, produced by Whirlpool, cut energy use by 40% in 1995.

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A human health condition where infections linger, caused by exposure to contaminants within a building as a result of poor ventilation.

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Fixed vertical underground structures made of steel and concrete that house an ICBM and its launch support equipment.

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Any process, activity or mechanism which removes a greenhouse gas, an aerosol or a precursor of a greenhouse gas or aerosol from the atmosphere

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Mandate for achieving health-based air quality standards.

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A ballistic missile carried by and launched from a submarine.

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A dense, discolored radiation fog containing large quanities of soot, ash, and gaseous pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide, responsible for human respiratory ailments. Most industrialized nations have implemented legislation to promote the use of smokeless fuel and reduce emission of toxic gases into the atmosphere.

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A small population that lives and travels together and in some ways depends on each other for its well-being

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The wearing away of the soil by wind or water

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Energy derived from sunlight.

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Radiation emitted by the Sun.

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Non-liquid, non gaseous category of waste from non-toxic household and commercial sources.

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A mixture made by dissolving a substance in a liquid, such as water

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A fine, sticky powder, comprised mostly of carbon, formed by the burning of fossil fuels.

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The area of the earth below the equator

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The region between latitudes 23.5¡S and 66.5¡S

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The leader of the House of Representatives, who controls debate and the order of discussion; chosen by vote of the majority party.

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Organism which has adopted a lifestyle specific to a particular set of conditions. Contrast with generalist.

A group of similar and related organisms

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Reclusive bird, found in the American West, requiring old-growth forest habitat to survive.

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The area taken up by a large or expanding development or city.

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Land owned and administered by the state in which it is located.

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Parks and recreation areas owned and administered by the state in which they are located.

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In 2006, economist Sir Nicholas Stern published a report - The Stern Review - on the economics of climate change.

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Nuclear weapons and components under custody of the U.S. Department of Defense.

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Tiny pores on the surface of plant leaves that can open and close to take in and give out water vapor

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Fish populations that straddle a boundary between domestic and international waters.

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Stratus clouds which produce a steady rainfall

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The upper portion of the atmosphere (approximately 11 km to 50 km above the surface of the earth).

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Clouds which are produced by stable air and looks like an even blanket

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The volume of water that moves over a designated point over a fixed period of time.

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Mining technique in which the land and vegetation covering the mineral being sought are stripped away by huge machines, usually damaging the land severely and limiting subsequent uses.

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A forest's third layer, formed by the leaves and branches of shorter trees under the canopy layer

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The change in the climate caused by global warming. see sublime climate change

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""Supporting surface"" on which an organism grows. The substrate may simply provide structural suppor

Through which a plant community passes before reaching its maximum possible development

If we stopped using the school playing fields and fenced them off so that nobody could walk on them, there would be a succession. At the moment you will find grass, plantains, dandelions and clover growing on the fields. We have an effect on the fields because we trample all over them and get someone to mow them twice a week. If we stopped doing this, other plants like brambles would seed themselves and start to grow. Then there would be hawthorn bushes and oak saplings. The kinds of plants that live on the fields would change. These changes are called a succession. Because the brambles and oak saplings are taller than the grass and plantains they would take over: all the grass, plantains, dandelions and clover would die out. After about 50 years the oak saplings would start to win the competition for light and the hawthorns and brambles would lose out. Eventually the playing fields would turn into oak forest. This is called a climax community because the oak trees would not be replaced by anything else.

Plants that have thick, fleshy leaves or stems for storing water

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A heavy, smelly gas which can be condensed into a clear liquid; used to make sulfuric acid, bleaching agents, preservatives and refrigerants; a major source of air pollution in industrial areas.

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The upper 488 feet (150 m) of the ocean, where sunlight penetrates and where about 90 percent of all marine life live

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An organism, such as coral or the Portuguese man-of-war, that appears to be one organism, but in fact is a number of colonial animals joined together

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Water located above ground (e.g., rivers, lakes).

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To keep in existence; maintain. To supply with necessities or nourishment; provide for earth also ""sustainable living"".

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Communities capable of maintaining their present levels of growth without damaging effects.

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A relationship between two organisms that live in intimate contact with each other; includes mutualism (both organisms benefit, they rely on each other for survival), parasitism (one organism benefits at its host's expense) and commensalism (one partner benefits and the other is neither benefitted nor harmed); symbiotic

Which interact with one another in a particular way