Page 719 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

clean coal technologies A wide array of tech- cold front The boundary where a mass of cold conservation concession A type of concession
niques, equipment, and approaches that seek to air displaces a mass of warmer air. Compare in which a conservation organization purchases
remove chemical contaminants (such as sulfur) warm front. the right to prevent resource extraction in an
during the process of generating electricity co-management A type of community-based area of land, generally to preserve habitat in
from coal. developing nations.
conservation in which government agencies
clear-cutting The harvesting of timber by cut- work with local people to jointly and coop- conservation district A county-based entity
ting all the trees in an area. Although it is the eratively manage a protected area and its re- created by the Soil Conservation Service (now
most cost-efficient method, clear-cutting is also sources. the Natural Resources Conservation Service) to
the most ecologically damaging. command-and-control A top-down approach promote practices to conserve soil.
climate The pattern of atmospheric conditions to policy, in which a legislative body or a regu- conservation ethic An ethic holding that peo-
found across large geographic regions over lating agency sets rules, standards, or limits ple should put natural resources to use but also
long periods of time. Compare weather. and threatens punishment for violations of have a responsibility to manage them wisely.
those limits. Compare preservation ethic.
climate change See global climate change.
community In ecology, an assemblage of popu- Conservation Reserve Program U.S. policy
climate diagram A visual representation of a lations of organisms that live in the same place in farm bills since 1985 that pays farmers to
region’s average monthly temperature and pre- at the same time. stop cultivating highly erodible cropland and
cipitation. Also know as a climatograph. instead place it in conservation reserves planted
community-based conservation The practice
climate model A computer program that com- of engaging local people to protect land and with grasses and trees.
bines what is known about weather patterns, wildlife in their own region. conservation tillage Agriculture that limits the
atmospheric circulation, atmosphere–ocean in- amount of tilling (plowing, disking, harrowing,
teractions, and feedback mechanisms, in order community ecology The scientific study of or chiseling) of soil. Compare no-till.
to simulate climate processes. patterns of species diversity and interactions
among species, from one-to-one interactions consumptive use Use of fresh water in which
climatographs See climate diagram. to complex interrelationships involving entire water is removed from a particular aquifer or
climax community In the traditional view of communities. surface water body and is not returned to it. Ir-
ecological succession, a community that re- community-supported agriculture (CSA) A rigation for agriculture is an example of con-
mains in place with little modification until system in which consumers pay farmers in ad- sumptive use. Compare nonconsumptive use.
disturbance restarts the successional process. vance for a share of their yield, usually in the continental collision The meeting of two
Today, ecologists recognize that community form of weekly deliveries of produce. tectonic plates of continental lithosphere at a
change is more variable and less predictable convergent plate boundary, wherein the con-
than originally thought and that assemblages competition A relationship in which multiple tinental crust on both sides resists subduction
of species may instead form complex mosaics organisms seek the same limited resource. and instead crushes together, bending, buck-
in space and time. competitive exclusion An outcome of in- ling, and deforming layers of rock and forcing
terspecific competition in which one species
closed cycle An approach in ocean thermal en- excludes another species from resource use portions of the buckled crust upward, often
ergy conversion in which warm surface water entirely. creating mountain ranges.
is used to evaporate chemicals that boil at low continental shelf The gently sloping underwa-
temperatures. These evaporated gases spin tur- compost A mixture produced when decompos- ter edge of a continent, varying in width from
bines to generate electricity. Cold water piped ers break down organic matter, such as food 100 m (330 ft) to 1300 km (800 mi), with an
in from ocean depths then condenses the gases and crop waste, in a controlled environment. average slope of 1.9 m/km (10 ft/mi).
so they can be reused. composting The conversion of organic waste continental slope The portion of the ocean
clumped distribution Distribution pattern into mulch or humus by encouraging, in a con- floor that angles somewhat steeply downward,
in which organisms arrange themselves in trolled manner, the natural biological processes connecting the continental shelf to the deep
patches, generally according to the availability of decomposition. ocean basin below.
of the resources they need. compound A molecule whose atoms are com- contingent valuation A technique that uses
coal Our most abundant fossil fuel. A hard posed of two or more elements. surveys to determine how much people would
blackish substance formed from organic mat- concentrated solar power (CSP) A means of be willing to pay to protect a resource or to re-
ter (generally woody plant material) that was generating electricity at a large scale by focus- store it after damage has been done.
compressed under very high pressure and with ing sunlight from a large area onto a smaller
little decomposition, creating dense, solid car- area. Several approaches are used. contour farming The practice of plowing fur-
bon structures. rows sideways across a hillside, perpendicular
concession The right to extract a resource, to its slope, to help prevent the formation of
coevolution Process by which two or more spe- granted by a government to a corporation. rills and gullies. The technique is so named be-
cies evolve in response to one another. Para- Compare conservation concession. cause the furrows follow the natural contours
sites and hosts may coevolve, as may flowering of the land.
plants and their pollinators. confined (artesian) aquifer A water-bear-
ing, porous layer of rock, sand, or gravel that contraception The deliberate attempt to pre-
co-firing A process in which biomass is com- is trapped between an upper and lower layer vent pregnancy despite sexual intercourse.
bined with coal in coal-fired power plants. Can of less permeable substrate, such as clay. The Compare birth control.
be a relatively easy and inexpensive way for water in a confined aquifer is under pressure
fossil-fuel-based utilities to expand their use of because it is trapped between two impermeable control The portion of an experiment in which a
renewable energy. layers. Compare unconfined aquifer. variable has been left unmanipulated, to serve
as a point of comparison with the treatment.
cogeneration A practice in which the extra conservation biology A scientific discipline controlled burn See prescribed burn.
heat generated in the production of electricity devoted to understanding the factors, forces,
is captured and put to use heating workplaces and processes that influence the loss, protec- controlled experiment An experiment in
and homes, as well as producing other kinds tion, and restoration of biodiversity within and which a treatment is compared against a con-
G-4 of power. among ecosystems. trol in order to test the effect of a variable.

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