Natural Resources and Ecosystem Vocabulary Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards generated from the natural resources and ecosystem lecture notes.

Resource

A source or supply from which a benefit is produced and that has some utility.

Natural Resources

Any material given to us by nature which can be transformed in a way that it becomes more valuable and useful.

Renewable Resources

Resources which are renewed or replenished fast or have an unlimited source, such as water, air, biomass, and solar energy.

Non-renewable Resources

Resources which cannot be renewed or replenished, such as fossil fuels, nuclear power, and minerals.

Pedology

The science dealing with the study of land and soil.

Soil Erosion

The detachment and transport of the fertile top layer of soil by water or air; also referred to as the creeping death of land.

Conservation Tillage

An agricultural practice that minimizes tillage operations and maintains at least $30\,\%$ of the soil surface covered with crop residue after planting.

Contour Farming

A sustainable farming practice involving tilling, planting, and cultivating along natural contour lines of a slope to reduce soil erosion and control runoff.

Terracing

An ancient water and soil conservation technique where step-like platforms are built along contour lines on hillslopes.

Windbreak (Shelterbelt)

A multi-strata barrier of trees and vegetation planted to reduce wind velocity and protect field crops from soil erosion.

Stubble-mulching

A farming technique that leaves crop residue on the soil surface to act as a natural mulch in dryland or semi-arid cropping systems.

Check Dam

A temporary structure built across a stream or watercourse to slow down water flow and prevent soil erosion.

Desertification

The process by which the biological productivity of drylands is reduced and fertile land becomes desert due to natural or human factors.

Impacts of Mining Activities

The ecological, physical, environmental, occupational health, and socio-economic consequences resulting from mineral extraction.

Aquifer

A body of porous rock or sediment saturated with groundwater that allows water movement between confined and unconfined layers.

Global Water Distribution

The proportion of Earth's total water reserves, comprising $96.5\,\%$ ocean water and $2.5\,\%$ freshwater.

Watershed

An area of land that drains all of its surface streams and precipitation runoff into a single common water body or location.

Forest

A biotic community dominated by trees covering approximately $9.4\,\%$ of Earth's surface ($30\,\%$ of total land area) and accounting for $75\,\%$ of gross primary productivity.

Deforestation

The permanent destruction or clearance of forests to convert land for human usage.

Energy Crop

A low-cost and low-maintenance crop (such as Jatropha or sunflower) grown specifically to produce biofuels or generate power.

Solar Photovoltaic Cell

A device composed of silicon semiconductor layers that directly converts light photons into electric current.

Wind Turbine

A mechanism consisting of rotor blades, gearbox, generator, and yaw system designed to convert mechanical wind power into electrical energy.

Tidal Barrage

A barrier structure with sluice gates built across a tidal basin to drive underwater turbines using incoming and outgoing ocean tides.

Geothermal Power System

An energy plant that extracts hot subterranean water and steam via deep wells to turn generators and produce electricity.

Ecosystem

A self-regulating group of biotic communities interacting with one another and their non-living physical environment to exchange energy and matter.

Ecology

The scientific study of organisms interacting in their natural habitat with their surroundings, coined by Ernst Haeckel in 1866 from 'Oikos'.

Biotic and Abiotic Components

The structural elements of an ecosystem categorized into living components (producers, consumers, decomposers) and non-living factors (physical and chemical).

Grazing Food Chain

A food chain sequence that initiates directly from living green plants or primary autotrophs.

Detritus Food Chain

A food chain sequence driven by decomposers and detritivores utilizing dead organic matter and waste.

Food Web

An interconnected network of multiple food chains within a specific biological community.

10 Percent Rule of Energy

An ecological principle stating that approximately $90\,\%$ of energy is degraded at each trophic transfer, leaving only $10\,\%$ stored in consumer tissues.

Y-Shaped Energy Flow Model

A two-channel energy model demonstrating simultaneous energy movement through both the grazing food chain and the detritus food chain.

Ecological Pyramid

A graphical representation showing the relative numbers, biomass, or energy contained at each trophic level in an ecosystem.

Ecological Succession

The gradual and predictable process by which ecosystems develop temporary communities over time leading toward a stable climax community.

Primary Succession

Ecological succession initiating in a completely new, uncolonized, and soil-less habitat starting with pioneer species.

Secondary Succession

Ecological succession taking place in a previously colonized habitat that underwent major environmental disturbance.

Rainforest Canopy Layers

The vertical stratification of tropical rainforest vegetation into Emergent Layer, Canopy, Understory, and Forest Floor.

Permafrost

Soil, rock, or sediment beneath the ground surface that remains frozen continuously for more than two consecutive years.

Pond Ecosystem Zones

The environmental regions of a pond organized by depth and light availability: Littoral, Limnetic, Profundal, and Benthic zones.

Causes