Geography Definitions
Terms
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- biome
- a natural community of plants and animals, its composition being largely controlled by climatic conditions
- stewardship
- to keep up or keep going, as an action or process
- grasslands
- land with grass on it
- pesticides
- any one of various substances used to kill harmful insects (insecticide), fungi (fungicide), vermin, or other living organisms that destroy or inhibit plant growth, carry disease, or are otherwise harmful
- contour map
- a map showing heights at regular intervals above sea level by means of contour lines
- tropical rain forests
- a woodland of tall trees growing in a region of year-round warmth and abundant rainfall
- geographic grids
- networks of imaginary lines that help us find and describe places on earth
- organic production
- grown or prepared with natural fertilizers or without the use of insecticides and other chemicals: organic food
- Human geography
- concentrates on patterns of human activity and on their relationships with the environment
- Mercator
- A Mercator chart represents the meridians and parallels of latitude as straight lines
- deciduous forests
- forests of trees that shed leaves each year
- compass
- an instrument for showing directions, consisting of a needle or compass card that points to the north magnetic pole, which is near the North Pole
- cartography
- the making or study of maps or charts
- coniferous forests
- forests of trees that bear cones
- distortion
- a distorting; twisting out of shape
- parallel
- any of the imaginary circles around the earth parallel to the equator, marking degrees of latitude
- projections
- a number of mathematical methods that cartographers use to produce a flat map of the round earth
- geography
- the study of the earth's surface, climate, continents, countries, peoples, industries, and products
- meridians
- an imaginary circle passing through any place on the earth's surface and through the North and South poles
- topography
- the surface features of a place or region. The topography of a region includes hills, valleys, streams, lakes, bridges, tunnels, and roads
- equator
- an imaginary circle around the middle of the earth, halfway between the North Pole and the South Pole
- GPS
- Geographic Positioning System
- niche
- the ecological "job and address" of a plant or animal in nature
- GIS
- Geographic Information System
- scale
- the mathematical relationship by which distances on a map reduce actual distances on earth
- latitude
- distance north or south of the equator, measured in degrees
- Physical geography
- concerned with the locations of such earth features as land, water, and climate; their relationship to one another and to human activities; and the forces that create and change them
- consumerism
- concentration on producing and distributing goods for a market which must constantly be enlarged
- prime meridian
- Russia's main independent TV station
- renewable resources
- a resource that can be renewed, solar, wind
- longitude
- distance east or west on the earth's surface, measured in degrees from a certain meridian (line from the North to the South Pole).
- savannas
- a region of grassland with scattered trees lying between the equatorial forest and the hot deserts in either hemisphere
- Peterson
- a type of map projection that depicts the continents' sizes more accurately than Mercator
- recycle
- to put wastes, garbage, or the like, through a cycle of purification and conversion to useful products
- tundra
- a vast, level, treeless plain in the arctic regions. The ground beneath the surface of the tundras is frozen even in summeril
- Mollweide
- a type of homolographic map projection in which the surface of the earth is represented as an ellipse, with the equator and parallels of latitude as straight lines
- map legend
- lists and explains the symbols and colors used on a map
- deserts
- a barren region with little or no rainfall, usually sandy and without trees