Page 716 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

Glossary

acid deposition The settling of acidic or acid- age distribution The relative numbers of or- archipelago A group of islands, most often in a
forming pollutants from the atmosphere onto ganisms of each age within a population. Age linear arrangement.
Earth’s surface. This may take place by pre- distributions can have a strong effect on rates area effect In island biogeography theory, the
cipitation, fog, gases, or the deposition of dry of population growth or decline and are often pattern that large islands host more species
particles. Compare acid rain. expressed as a ratio of age classes, consisting than smaller islands, because larger islands
of organisms (1) not yet mature enough to re-
acid drainage A process in which sulfide provide larger targets for immigration and be-
minerals in newly exposed rock surfaces produce, (2) capable of reproduction, and (3) cause extinction rates are reduced.
react with oxygen and rainwater to produce beyond their reproductive years. artesian aquifer See confined aquifer.
sulfuric acid, which causes chemical runoff age structure See age distribution.
as it leaches metals from the rocks. Acid agricultural revolution The shift around artificial selection Natural selection con-
drainage is a natural phenomenon, but min- 10,000 years ago from a hunter-gatherer life- ducted under human direction. Examples
ing greatly accelerates it by exposing many style to an agricultural way of life in which include the selective breeding of crop plants,
new surfaces. people began to grow crops and raise domestic pets, and livestock.
acidic The property of a solution in which the animals. Compare industrial revolution. asbestos Any of several types of mineral that
concentration of hydrogen (H ) ions is greater agriculture The practice of cultivating soil, form long, thin microscopic fibers—a struc-
+
than the concentration of hydroxide (OH ) producing crops, and raising livestock for ture that allows asbestos to insulate buildings
–
ions. Compare basic. human use and consumption. for heat, muffle sound, and resist fire. When in-
haled and lodged in lung tissue, asbestos scars
acid-neutralizing capacity The capacity of air pollutants Gases and particulate material the tissue and may eventually lead to lung can-
soil, rock, or water to resist pH change from added to the atmosphere that can affect climate cer or asbestosis.
acid deposition, due to its alkaline chemistry.
or harm people or other organisms. asbestosis A disorder resulting from lung tis-
acid rain Acid deposition that takes place air pollution The act of polluting the air, or the sue scarred by acid following prolonged inha-
through rain. condition of being polluted by air pollutants. lation of asbestos.
active solar energy collection An approach in airshed The geographic area that produces air Asian Brown Cloud A persistent 2-mile-thick
which technological devices are used to focus, pollutants likely to end up in a waterway. layer of air pollution from southern Asia that
move, or store solar energy. Compare passive hangs over the Indian subcontinent throughout
solar energy collection. albedo The capacity of a surface to reflect light. the dry season, each December through April.
Higher albedo values refer to greater reflectivity.
acute exposure Exposure to a toxicant occur- Also called Atmospheric Brown Cloud.
ring in high amounts for short periods of time. allergen A toxicant that overactivates the im- asthenosphere A layer of the upper mantle,
Compare chronic exposure. mune system, causing an immune response just below the lithosphere, consisting of espe-
when one is not necessary.
adaptation (re: climate change) The pursuit cially soft rock.
of strategies to protect ourselves from the im- allopatric speciation Species formation due atmosphere The thin layer of gases surround-
pacts of climate change. Compare mitigation. to the physical separation of populations over ing planet Earth. Compare biosphere; hydro-
some geographic distance. Compare sympatric
adaptation (re: evolution) (1) The process by speciation. sphere; lithosphere.
which traits that lead to increased reproduc- atmospheric blocking pattern A condition in
tive success in a given environment evolve in alloy A substance created by fusing a metal which the atmosphere’s jet stream slows and
a population through natural selection. (2) See with other metals or nonmetals. Bronze is an meanders widely into a north–south orientation
adaptive trait. alloy of the metals copper and tin, and steel is that blocks the eastward movement of weather
an alloy of iron and the nonmetal carbon.
adaptive management The systematic testing systems across the midlatitudes.
of different management approaches to im- ambient air pollution See outdoor air pollution. Atmospheric Brown Cloud See Asian Brown
prove methods over time. anaerobic Occurring in an environment that has Cloud.
adaptive trait A trait that confers greater like- little or no oxygen. The conversion of organic atmospheric deposition The wet or dry depo-
lihood that an individual will reproduce. An matter to fossil fuels at the bottom of a deep sition on land of a wide variety of pollutants,
adaptive trait is also called an adaptation. lake, swamp, or shallow sea is an example of including mercury, nitrates, organochlorines,
anaerobic decomposition. Compare aerobic.
aerobic Occurring in an environment where and others. Acid deposition is one type of at-
oxygen is present. For example, the decay of a anthropocentrism A human-centered view of mospheric deposition.
rotting log proceeds by aerobic decomposition. our relationship with the environment. Com- atmospheric pressure The weight per unit
Compare anaerobic. pare biocentrism and ecocentrism. area produced by a column of air.
anthropogenic Caused by human beings. For
aerosols Very fine liquid droplets or solid parti- atoll A ring-shaped island (generally of coral GLOSS ARY
cles aloft in the atmosphere. example, anthropogenic climate change, as op- reef) surrounding an older submerged island
posed to natural climate change.
affluenza Term coined by social critics to de- area.
scribe the failure of material goods to bring aquaculture The cultivation of aquatic organ- atom The smallest component of an element
happiness to people who have the financial isms for food in controlled environments. that maintains the chemical properties of that
means to afford them. aquifer An underground water reservoir. element. G-1

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