APES Unit 8 Vocab - Cox

Anoxic

Describing a condition in which oxygen is completely absent or depleted, often leading to anaerobic processes in ecosystems. This can result in harmful environmental effects, such as the production of methane or sulfide.

Bioaccumulation

The process by which harmful substances, such as pesticides or heavy metals, accumulate in the tissues of living organisms over time, often leading to toxic effects.

Biological Oxygen Demand

A measure of the amount of oxygen required by microorganisms to decompose organic matter in water, used as an indicator of water quality. This value helps assess the level of pollution and the health of aquatic ecosystems. A higher BOD indicates greater pollution.

Biomagnification

Biomagnification is the process where toxic substances, like heavy metals, increase in concentration at higher trophic levels in a food chain, leading to harmful effects on apex predators due to accumulation from their prey.

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)

A US federal law enacted in 1980 designed to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances. It establishes a framework for the cleanup process and liability for polluters.

Clean Air Act

U.S. law empowering the EPA to regulate air emissions and address the 6 common criteria pollutants: Nitrogen oxides, Sulfur oxides, Carbon Monoxide, Particulate Matter, Ozone, and Lead.

Clean Water Act

U.S. law aimed to restore and regulate the quality of surface water, reducing direct pollution from point sources and identifying polluted waters in states.

Composting

Natural, aerobic decomposition of organic waste into nutrient-rich fertilizer.

DDT

Synthetic organochlorine insecticide used extensively in mid-20th century to control agricultural pest and malaria. It is a neurotoxin and an endocrine disrupter.

Dead Zone

Areas in lakes or oceans with low-oxygen concentrations, causing a biological desert where marine life cannot survive.

Dissolved Oxygen

Amount of free oxygen available in water, which is crucial for aquatic life.

Endocrine Disruptor

Chemicals that interfere with the body’s hormones or endocrine systems, causing adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological, and immune responses or effects.

Eutrophication

Over-enrichment of nitrogen and phosphorus in bodies of water, causing excessive algal bloom and leading to oxygen depletion and thus, dead zones.

E-waste

Discarded, broken, or obsolete electronic devices that usually contains toxic materials and heavy metals, such as lead, mercury, and cadmium.

Fat-soluble

Substances that dissolve in fats, such as vitamins A, D, E, and K.

Heavy Metals

Dense, metallic elements that are usually toxic or carcinogenic even at low concentration, such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic.

Host

An organism that harbors another entity, such as a parasite, providing shelter and nourishment.

Hypoxic

A depletion or low levels of oxygen in a body of water.

Incineration

Thermal waste treatment process involving high-temperature combustion of organic substances in waste materials.

Landfill, Open

Unregulated waste disposal site that does not meet sanitary landfill criteria.

Landfill, Sanitary

Controlled land for disposal of solid waste, minimizing environmental hazards by spreading waste in thin layers, compacting it, and covering it with soil daily.

Landfills, Capped

Waste sites that are covered with layers of clay, synthetic liners, and soil to isolate waste from the environment.

LD50

Methane Recovery

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)

Non-point Source Pollution

Oxygen Sag Curve

Pathogen

PCB

Persistent Organic Compounds

Point Source Pollution

Primary Sewage Treatment

Sediments (as pollution)

Stormwater

Thermal Pollution

Thermal Refuge

Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA)

Vector

Secondary Sewage Treatment

Wetlands & Mangroves