AP Environmental Vocabulary
Terms
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- Abiotic
- non-living factors in an ecosystem
- Acid deposition
- any kind of acid precipitation
- Acid Precipitation
- condensed or frozen water vapor that includes acid rain, acid fog, and acid snow
- Activated Sludge
- a mass of living bacterial organisms on waste material that has settled
- Adaptation
- An ecological or evolutionary adjustment to environmental changes
- Adiabatic cooling
- cooling that occurs when warm air, such as in the tropics, rises and bumps into lower atmospheric pressure
- Aeration
- in soil: the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide. In water: it is the bubbling of air or oxygen through water
- Aerobic respiration
- organisms that require oxygen during the break down of organic molecules
- Aerosols
- microscopic liquid or solid particle coming from land or water surfaces that are carried into the atmosphere
- Aesthetics
- natural beauty of something
- Agenda 21
- a program designed to promote sustainable development
- Age Structure
- the proportions of people of different age groups
- Age Structure diagrams
- graphic representative of the age distribution
- Alga, or algae
- small plants that live and reproduce entirely in aquatic environments
- Algal bloom
- rapid development of platonic algae
- Alkaline, alkalinity
- a chemical that has a pH above 7.0
- Alternative energy
- energy sources that do not require fossil fuels or nuclear power
- Ambient standards
- air quality standards stating that the outside average air should always maintain a certain level of purity
- Ammonification
- a process in the nitrogen cycle where soil bacteria convert organic waste to ammonia
- Anaerobic
- without oxygen
- Anthropogenic
- human activities
- Appropriate technology
- technology that increases the efficiency and productivity of hand labor with displacing workers
- Aquaculture
- aquatic farming
- Aquifer
- underground layer of porous rock
- Asbestos fibers
- crystals of asbestos that form minute strands
- Assimilation
- nutrients are converted into organic molecules
- Autotroph
- organism that can produce its own food
- Background radiation
- radioactive radiation that comes from natural sources
- Balanced herbivory
- diversified plant community held in balance
- Bedload
- load of cource sediment
- Benefit-cost analysis
- analysis of the value of benefits
- Bentic plant
- plants that grow under water attached to the bottom
- Bioaccumulation
- accumulation of increasing higher and higher concentrations of potentially toxic chemicals in organisms through a food chain
- Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)
- the amount of oxygen that is used or demanded as waste material is digested in organisms
- Bioconversion
- substance that can be broken down to natural substances
- Biodiversity
- varity of life
- Biogas
- fuel that contains about 2/3 methane, 1/3 carbon dioxide, and a small amount form anaerobic digestion
- Biological control
- control unwanted pest population by using living organisms
- Biological nutrient removal
- sewage treatment that removes nitrogen and phosphorus from the final process
- Biomagnification
- Bioaccumulation of a pollutant occuring through several levels of a food chain
- Biomass
- mass of biological material
- Biome
- group of ecosystems with similar vegetation and climate conditions
- Bioremediation
- uses microorganisms to decontaminate soil or groud water
- Biosolids
- organic material removed from sewage effluents (Sludge)
- Biosphere
- entire ecosystem of earth
- Biota
- living or once-living things in an ecosystem
- Biotic
- living or once-living things
- Biotechnology
- genetic engineering or organganisms
- Biotic potential
- reproductive potential of a species
- Birth rates
- number of live births per 1000 individuals