Ch. 23, 27-29
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Created by:
vanessaparra on November 29, 2011
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40 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 biome | major regional ecological community of plants and animals; usually corresponds to plant ecologists' and European ecologists' classification of plant formations and life zones. |
| deciduous | of leaves, shed during a certain season (winter in temperate regions; dry season in the tropics); of trees, having deciduous parts. |
| evergreen | applied to trees and shrubs for which there is no complete seasonal loss of leaves; two types, broadleaf and needle-leaf. |
| tallgrass prairie | a narrow belt of tall grasses dominated by big bluestem that once ran north and south adjacent to the deciduous forest of eastern North America; presence maintained by fire; largely destroyed by cultivation. |
| mixed-grass prairie | grassland in mid North America, characterized by great variation in precipitation and a mixture of largely cool-season shortgrass and tallgrass species. |
| shortgrass prairie | Westernmost grasslands of the Great Plains, characterized by infrequent rainfall, low humidity, and high winds; dominated by shallow-rooted, sod-forming grasses. |
| desert grassland | grassland of hot, dry climates, with rainfall varying between 200 and 500 mm, dominated by bunchgrasses and widely interspersed with other desert vegetation. |
| annual grassland | grassland in California dominated by exotic annual grassland that reseed every year, replacing native perennial grasses. |
| steppes | name given to Eurasian grasslands that extend from eastern Europe to western Siberia and China. |
| pampas | temperate South American grassland, dominated by bunchgrasses; much of the moister pampas are under cultivation. |
| velds | extensive grasslands in the east of the interior of South Africa, largely confined to high terrain. |
| natural capital | range of natural resources provided by ecosystems. |
| yield | individuals or biomass removed or harvested from a population per unit time. |
| rotation period (or harvest interval) | interval between the recurrence of a disturbance event; or interval between harvests of a crop, such as trees. |
| sustained yield | yield per unit time equal to production per unit time in an exploited population. |
| ecosystem services | processes by which environment produces such as air, water, timber, or fish. |
| monoculture | planting of a single plant species. |
| polyculture | planting of several plant species. |
| swidden agriculture | farming systems that alternate periods of annual cropping with extended fallow periods. also referred to as shifting cultivation; fire is used to clear fallow areas for cropping. |
| cultural eutrophication | accelerated nutrient enrichment of aquatic ecosystems by a heavy influx of pollutants that cause major shifts in plant and animal life. |
| sustainable agriculture | farming practices that provide a secure living for farm families while at the same time maintaining the natural environment and resources. |
| clear-cutting | forest harvesting procedure in which all trees on the site are cut and removed. |
| seed-tree (or shelterwood) system | method of regenerating a new stand by removing all trees from an area except for a small number of seed-bearing trees. |
| selection cutting | method of forest harvesting in which only selected individual trees of high commercial value are removed from the forest stand. |
| pyromineralization | mineralization of nutrients bound in organic compounds by fire. |
| maximum sustainable yield | the maximum rate at which individuals can be harvested from a population without reducing its size; recruitment balances harvesting. |
| benefit-cost analysis | an economic analysis in which the benefits of an activity are compared to the associated costs. |
| discounting | adding and comparing costs and benefits that occur at different times; a major driving force in the economics of resource management; often runs counter to the objectives of sustainable resource management. |
| externalities | when the actions of one individual or a group affect another individual's well-being, but relevant costs are not reflected in market prices. |
| environmental economics | study of environmental problems and the incorporation of economic principles into the environmental decision-making process. |
| ubiquitous | having widespread geographic distribution. |
| endemic | restricted to a given region. |
| hotspots | certain regions of the world exhibit both high species richness and endemism. |
| minimum viable population (MVP) | size of population that, with given probability, will ensure the population's existence for a stated period of time. |
| minimum dynamic area (MDA) | are of suitable habitat necessary for maintaining a minimum viable population. |
| restoration ecology | applying principles of ecosystem development and function to the restoration and management of disturbed lands. |
| greenhouse effect | selective energy absorption by carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which allows short wavelength energy to pass through but absorbs longer wavelengths and reflects heat back to Earth. |
| greenhouses gases | a gas that absorbs longwave radiation and thus contributes to the greenhouse effect when present in the atmosphere; includes water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxides, and ozone. |
| fertilization effect | the higher rates of diffusion and photosynthesis under elevated atmospheric concentrations of CO2. |
| general circulation models | help determine how increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases may influence large-scale patterns of global climate. |
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