Glossary Terms for Sustainability Unit PDF

Name: Grace Killoran Glossary terms for Sustainability unit Term Definition Example 1. Sustainability Using earth’s resources at a certain rate or level that can continue Recycling, solar energ...

Name: Grace Killoran Glossary terms for Sustainability unit Term Definition Example 1. Sustainability Using earth’s resources at a certain rate or level that can continue Recycling, solar energy, wind energy forever 2. Sustainability (Social) Individuals, communities, governments - aka the “US” Education, healthcare, childcare 3. Sustainability The health or our planet Waste management, conserving water, (Environmental) recycling 4. Sustainability Businesses, governments, jobs, how to be sustainable but Micro-farming, urban agriculture (Economic) profitable 5. Ecosystem A community or organisms interacting with each other and with Forests, Oceans, Cities non-living factors in their environment 6. Biotic Living parts of an ecosystem and the interactions among them Plants, trees, animals, 7. Abiotic Non-living parts of an ecosystem Water, oxygen, light, nutrients, soil 8. Symbiosis The interaction between members of 2 different species that lives The relationship between certain species together in a close association of ants and acacia trees 9. Predation Occurs when 1 organism (the predator) consumes another Wolves hunting moose organism (the prey) for food 10. Competition Occurs when two or more organisms compete for the same Cheetahs and lions fighting for food resource, such as food, in the same location at the same time. 11. Sustainable An ecosystem that is capable of withstanding pressure and giving Wetlands provide protection to the Ecosystem support to a variety of organisms ecosystem, improves the water quality, provides fish and wildlife habitats, and maintains surface water during dry season 12. Biome Large regions of the world that have similar plants and animals that Tundra, desert, ocean are adapted to the terrain and weather 13. Population Group of organisms of the same species that lives in the same Humans living in a city, a pack of wild  place, at the same time, and can successfully reproduce dogs, or a group of salmon 14. Community All populations that live and interact with each other in an area A forest of trees and undergrowth plants, inhabited by animals and rooted in soil containing bacteria and fungi 15. Producers Produce chemical energy (fuel) for the ecosystem trees , grass, and algae 16. Primary consumers Animals that get their energy by eating plants Cows, elk, and buffalo (herbivores) 17. Secondary consumers Animals that get their energy by feeding on plant-eaters Mountain lions, coyotes, and eagles (carnivores) 18. Omnivores Animals that eat both plants and other animals Humans, bears, dogs, foxes 19. Decomposers Break down the cells of dead animals and extract the last Freshwater bacteria, yeast, trumpet snail remaining energy 20. Food Chain The transfer of energy from one organism to another grass, which is eaten by a grasshopper, which is eaten by a frog, which is eaten by a snake, which is eaten by a hawk 21. Food Web The multiple connections within an ecosystem Deciduous forest ecosystem food web 22. Exponential Growth Growth whose rate becomes every more rapid in proportion to the growing total number of size 23. Sustainability Use The use that does not cause long-term depletion of the resource or affect the diversity of the ecosystem 24. Ecological Footprint Is a measure of the impact of a human individual or population on the environment. 25. Unsustainable Upsetting the ecological balance by depleting natural resources. 26. Ecological Niche The way an organism occupies a position in an ecosystem. 27. Eutrophication Is the process in which deposits of excess nutrients cause an overgrowth of algae. 28. Greenhouse Gasses Atmospheric gasses that prevent heat from leaving the atmosphere, thus increasing the temperature of the atmosphere. 29. Greenhouse Effect The natural insulating capacity of 30. Ocean Acidification The ongoing decrease in the pH of earth's oceans, caused by an uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere 31. Trophic Levels A category of organisms defined by how they get energy 32. Biomass The total mass of living organisms in a defined group or area Wet waste, wood processing, algae 33. Bioaccumulation is a process in which materials,especially toxins, are ingested by an organism at a rate greater than they are eliminated. Increase in toxins within an organism 34. Biomagnification Biomagnification is the increase in the concentration of a toxin as it moves from one trophic level to the next. Increase in toxins within a food chain 35. Ecosystem Services The benefits sustainable ecosystems provide that are experienced by living organisms, including humans 36. Ecotourism A nature-based sustainable form of tourism that is now a multibillion-dollar industry worldwide. 37. Connectivity The collection of links and relationships between ecosystems that are separated geographically. (migration) 38. Watersheds An area of land that run-off drains over, into a body of water. 39. Biodiversity The sum total of all organisms in an area, taking into account the diversity of species, their ganges, their population and their communities 40. Resilience Is the ability of an exosystem to remain functional and stable in the presence of pressures or disturbances to its parts 41. Deforestation Clear cutting without replanting 42. Overexploitation The use or extraction of a resource faster that it can naturally Overfishing reproduce and recover. 43. Invasive Species A species that can take over the habitat of native species and n upset the equilibrium of an ecosystem. 44. Alien Species Species that are accidentally for deliberately introduced to a new location