Human Impact: Biodiversity, Pollution & Conservation Flashcards

A complete set of vocabulary flashcards covering human impact on biodiversity, farming technology, pollution, deforestation, sustainability, and conservation techniques based on the CIE IGCSE Biology syllabus.

Intensive food production

Producing food more efficiently with a finite amount of land and other resources using modern agricultural technology and methods.

Modern agricultural technology

Technological tools in farming—such as soil monitoring sensors, water management systems, routine operation machinery, and field monitoring drones—that increase food production efficiency over large areas.

Monoculture farming

A farming practice in which only one type of crop is grown on a specific area of farmland.

Palm-oil monoculture production

The rapid increase of single-crop palm oil cultivation over recent decades, particularly in countries like Indonesia and Malaysia, which reduces habitat biodiversity.

Biodiversity

The number of different species that live in a particular area.

Deforestation

The clearing of trees (usually on a large scale) for alternative land uses, such as building, cattle grazing, or monoculture crop cultivation.

Leaching

The permanent loss of soil nutrients and minerals when rain washes them away into rivers and lakes after trees are removed.

Eutrophication

A process where excess nutrients from fertilisers or untreated sewage enter waterways, causing algal blooms, increased bacterial aerobic respiration during decomposition, and severe depletion of dissolved oxygen that kills aquatic life.

Enhanced greenhouse effect

The increased retention of long-wave heat radiation in the atmosphere due to elevated concentrations of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane from human activity, driving global warming.

Sustainable resource

A resource which is produced as rapidly as it is removed from the environment so that it does not run out.

Sustainable development

Development providing for the needs of an increasing human population without harming the environment.

Non-renewable resource

A finite resource, such as fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas), that cannot be replaced once consumed.

Sustainable forestry

Forest management practices—including selective cutting of old trees, replanting replacement trees, protecting young trees, and monitoring logging—that maintain timber supplies without destroying forest ecosystems.

Sustainable fishing controls

Regulatory and technical measures—such as catch quotas, inspection, minimum mesh sizes, midwater trawling, and area restrictions—used to manage fish stocks and protect aquatic ecosystems.

Endangered species

A species that is at risk of becoming extinct because its population falls below a critical level.

Restocking

A conservation method involving breeding and keeping offspring in captivity until they are large enough to survive, then releasing them into their natural habitat.

Artificial insemination (AI)

A captive breeding technique in which sperm from a male is inserted into the reproductive tract of a female, allowing genetic material to be transported globally between zoos without moving animals.

In vitro fertilisation (IVF)

A captive breeding technique where sperm is used to fertilise egg cells in a laboratory before implanting the fertilised egg cell into a female for development.