pssa vocabulary terms
Terms
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- wetlands
- lands where water saturation is the dominant factor determining the nature of the soil development and the plant and animal communities (e..g, sloughs,estuaries,marshes).
- lentic
- relating to or livinh in still water
- nonrenewable sources
- substances(e.g.., oil,gas,coal,copper,goold) that, once used cannot be replaced in this geological age
- stream order
- energy and nutrient flow that increasesas water moves toward the oceans (e.g, the smallest stream(primary)that ends when rivers flow into oceans).
- enviroment
- the total of the surrounding( air,water,soil,vegetation,people,wildlife,)influencing each living being's existance,including physical,biology and all other factors:the surroundings of a plant or animals including other plants or animals,climate and location
- physical technology
- the ways that humans construct, manufacture and transport products
- integrated pest management
- a variety of pest control methiods that include repairs,traps,bait,poison,etc.ti eliminate pests
- groundwater
- water that infiltrates the soil and is located in underground reservoirs called aquifers.
- tool
- any device used to extend human capability including computer-based tools.
- commodities
- economic goods or products before they are processed and/or given a brand name, such as a product of agrculture
- allele
- any set of possible of a gene
- lotic
- relating to oe living actively moving water
- nonpoint source pollution
- contamination that originastes from many locations that all dischange into a location(e..g, a lake,stream, land area)
- abiotic
- a nonliving factor or element(e..g.., light,water,heat,rock,energy,mineral)
- inquiry
- a systematic process for using knowledge and skills to acqwuire and new knowledge
- theory
- systematically organized knowledge applicable ina relatively wide variety of circumstances; especially, a system of assumptions, acccepted principles and rules of procedure devised to analyze,predict or otherwise explain the nature or behavior od a specified set of phenomena.
- decomposer
- an organism,often microscopic in size,that obtains nutrients by consuming dead orangic matter, thereby making accesible to other oragansisms; examples of decomposers include fungi,scavengers,rodentsand other animals
- recycling
- collecting and reprocessing a resource or product to make into new products.
- dichotomous
- divided or dividing into two parts or classifications
- technological design
- recognizing the problem, proposing a solution,implementing the solution,evaluating the solution and communicating the problem,design and solution
- construction technology
- the ways that human build structures on sites
- nova
- a variable star that suddenly increaces in brightness to several times its nomal magnitude and returns to its original appearnce months or years
- topographic map
- a repersentation of a region on asufficient scale to show detail, selected man-made and natural features of a portion of a land surfuce including its relief and certain physical and culture features, the portrayal of the position, relation, size,shape and elevation of the area
- conmuser
- 1) those organisms that obtain energy by feeding on other organisms and their remains. 2) a person buying goods or services needs or to use in the production of other goods for resale
- system
- a group of related objects sthat work together to achieve a desired result
- model
- a description,analogy or a representation of something that helps us uderstand it better(e.g., a physical model,a conceptual model, a mathematical model)
- geologic hazard
- a naturally occurring or man-made condition or phenomenon that presents a risk or is a potential dangrer of life and property(e..g.. landslides, floods, earthquakes, ground subsidence, coastal and beach erosion, faulting, dam leakage and faliture, mining disaster,pollution and waste disposal,sinkholes.)
- enzyme
- a protein that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without being changed by the reaction;an oragnic catalst.
- geologic map
- a representation of a region on which is recorded earth information(e..g.. the distribution,nature and age relationships of rock units and the occurrences of structual freatures, mineral deposits and fossil localitiers)
- incinerating
- burning to ashes;reducing to ashes
- ecosystem
- a community of living organsisms and their interrelated physical and chmical envioment
- trophic levels
- the role of an organism in nutrient and energy flow within an ecosystem (e.,g.herbivore,carnivore,decomposer).
- instructional technolgy
- any mechanical aid(including computer technoloy) used to assist in or enchance the process of teching and learning
- radioactive isotope
- an atom that gives off nuclear radiation and has the same number of protons(atomic number) as another atom but a different of neutrons .
- engineering
- the applications of scientific,physical,mechanical and mathematical priciples to design processes, products and structures that improve the quality of life
- mitigation
- the policy of constructing or creating man-made habitats, such as wetlansds,to replace those lost to development
- transportation technology
- the physical ways humans move materical,goods and people
- hazardous waste
- a solid that, because of its quanity or concentration or its physical, chemical or infectious characteristics, may cause or pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the enviroment when improperly treated, stored, transported, or disposed of, or othewise managed.
- transportation systems
- a group of related parts that function together to perform a major task in any form of transportation
- mitiosis
- the sequential differentiation and segregation of replicated chromosomes in a cell's nucleus that precedes complete cell division
- biological diversity
- the variety and complexity of species persent and interacting in an ecosystem and the relative abundance of each
- homeostasis
- the tendency for a system to remain in a state of equilibrium by resisting change.
- biomes
- a community of living organisms of a single major eological region
- scale
- relates conceptsand ideas to one another by some measurement(e.g,quantitative,numeral,abstract,ideological);provide a measure of size and/or incremental change.
- regulation
- a rule or order issued by an excutive authority or regulatory agency of a government and having the force of law.
- risk management
- a strategy developed to reduce or control the chance of harm or loss to one's health or life; the process of identifying evaluating.selecting and implementing actions to reduce risk to human health and to ecosystems.
- information technology
- the technical means that humans create to store and transmit information
- hydrology
- the scientific study of the properties, distribution and effects of water on the earth's surface, in the soil and underling rocks and in the atmosphere
- delineate
- to trace the outline;to draw;to sketech;to depict or picture
- technoloy education
- the application of tools, materical processes and systems to solve problems and extend human capabilties
- watershed
- the land area from which surface runoff drains into stream,channel,lake,reservoir or other body of water; also caledd a drainage basin
- theory of evolution
- a theory that the various types of animals and plants have their origin in other preexisting types and that the distinguishable differences are due to modification in successive generations.
- extrinction
- the complete elimination of a species from the earth.
- sustainability
- the ability to keep in existence or maintain. a sustainable ecosystem is one that can be maintained
- fact
- information that has been objectively verified
- renewable
- a naturally occuring raw material or form of energy that will be replenished through natural ecological cycles or sound management practices(e.g.,the sun,wind,water,trees).
- shredder
- through chewing and/or grinding microorganims feed on non-woody corse particulate matter, primarily leaves.
- embryology
- the branch of biology dealing with development of living things from fertilized egg to its developed state
- manufacting technology
- the ways that humans produce goods and products
- biomass conversion
- the changing of organic matter that has been produced by photosynthesis into useful liquid,gas,or fuel
- evolution
- a process of change that explains why what we see today is different from what excited in the past;it includes changes in galaxies,stars,solor system, earth and life on earth. Biology evolation is a change in hereditary characteristics of group of organisms over the course of generations.
- waste stream
- the flow of (waste) materical from generation,collection and separation to disposal
- biomedical technology
- the application of health care theories to develop methods, products and tools to maintain or improve homeostasis
- acid depostion
- precipitation with a pH less than 5.6 that forms in the atmosphere when certain pollutions mix with water vapor
- endangered species
- a species that is danger of extinction throughtout all or a significant portion of its range
- closing the loop
- a link in the circular chain of recycling events that promotes of products made with recycled matericals
- biochemical convention
- the cahnging od orangic matter into other chemical forms
- carbon chemistry
- the science of the compostion, structure, properties and reactions of carbon based matter, especially of atomic and moluecular systems;sometimes referred to as organic chemistry.
- law
- summarizing statement of observed experimental facts that has been teated many times and it generally accepted as true
- composting
- the process of mixing decaying leaves, manure and other nutritive matter to improve and fertilze soil
- niche (ecological)
- the role played by an organism in an ecosystem; its food preferences,requirements for shelter, special behaviors and the timing of its activites(e.g, nocturnal,diurnal), interaction with other organisms and its habitat.
- science
- search for understanding the natural world using inquiry and experimentation.
- point source pollution
- pollutants discharged from a single indentifiable location(e.g..,pipes,ditches,channels,sewers, tunnels,containers of various types.)
- patterns
- repeated processes that are exhibited in awide variety of ways; identtifiable recurrences of the element and/or the formpest
- succession
- the series of changes that occur in an ecosysytem with the passing of time
- hypothesis
- an assertion subject to verification or proof as a promise from which a conclusion is drwn
- biotechnology
- the ways that humans apply biological concepts to produce products services
- desalinization
- to remove salts and other chemicals from sea or saline water
- equilibrium
- the abilitiy of an ecosystem to maintain stability its biology resoures(e..g;forest,fisheries,crops)so that there is a steady optimum yield.
- biotic
- an environmental factor related to or produced by living orangisms
- pest
- a label applied to an organism when it is in competition with humans for some resource
- electronic coomunication
- system for the transmission of information using eletronic technology(e.g..digital cameras,cellular telephones, internet,television,fibers potics)
- ergonimical
- of or relating to the design of equipment or devices to fit the human body's control,position,movement and envirment