Page 733 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

productivity The rate at which plants convert as it “decays” into progressively lighter iso- in an attempt to produce desirable traits (such
solar energy (sunlight) to biomass. Ecosystems topes until becoming a stable isotope. as rapid growth, disease and pest resistance, or
whose plants convert solar energy to biomass radon A highly toxic, radioactive, colorless gas higher nutritional content) in organisms lack-
rapidly are said to have high productivity. See that seeps up from the ground in areas with ing those traits.
net primary productivity; gross primary pro- certain types of bedrock and that can build up recombination The process by which the ge-
duction; net primary production.
inside basements and homes with poor air cir- netic material of male and female organisms
profundal zone In a water body, the volume of culation. becomes mixed and recombined in sexual re-
open water that sunlight does not reach. Com- rainshadow A region on one side of a moun- production, generating novel combinations of
pare littoral zone; benthic zone; limnetic zone. tain or mountain range that experiences arid genes in the offspring.
protein A macromolecule made up of long climate. This occurs because moisture-laden recovery Waste management strategy com-
chains of amino acids. air rising over the terrain from the opposite di- posed of recycling and composting.
rection releases precipitation on the windward
proton A positively charged particle in the nu- recycling The collection of materials that can
cleus of an atom. slope as it cools, leaving the air’s humidity low be broken down and reprocessed to manufac-
as it descends over the peak and into the rain-
proven recoverable reserve The amount of shadow region. ture new items.
a given fossil fuel in a deposit that is techno- REDD Acronym for Reducing Emissions from
logically and economically feasible to remove rainwater harvesting The act of capturing Deforestation and Forest Degradation. A pro-
under current conditions. rainwater runoff from a rooftop in a barrel, in posed international program to help address
order to conserve water.
proxy indicator A source of indirect evidence climate change in which wealthy industrialized
that serves as a proxy, or substitute, for direct Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of Inter- nations would pay poorer developing nations to
measurement and that sheds light on past cli- national Importance A 1971 international conserve forest. Under this plan, poor nations
mate. Examples include data from ice cores, treaty to inventory and protect important wet- would gain income while rich nations receive
sediment cores, tree rings, packrat middens, lands around the world. carbon credits to offset their emissions in an
and coral reefs. random distribution Distribution pattern in international cap-and-trade system.
public policy Policy made by governments, which individuals are located haphazardly Red List An updated list of species facing unu-
including those at the local, state, federal, and in space in no particular pattern (often when sually high risks of extinction. The list is main-
international levels; it consists of legislation, needed resources are spread throughout an area tained by the World Conservation Union.
regulations, orders, incentives, and practices and other organisms do not strongly influence red tide A harmful algal bloom consisting of
intended to advance societal welfare. See also where individuals settle). algae that produce reddish pigments that dis-
environmental policy. rangeland Land used for grazing livestock. color surface waters.
pumped storage A technique used to gener- rate of natural increase The rate of change refining Process of separating the molecules of
ate hydroelectric power, in which water is in a population’s size resulting from birth and the various hydrocarbons in crude oil into dif-
pumped from a lower reservoir to a higher res- death rates alone, excluding migration. Also ferent-sized classes and transforming them into
ervoir when power demand is weak and prices called natural rate of population change. Com- various fuels and other petrochemical products.
are low. When demand is strong and prices are pare population growth rate.
high, water is allowed to flow downhill through regime shift See phase shift.
a turbine, generating electricity. Compare run- REACH Program of the European Union that regional planning Planning similar to city
shifts the burden of proof for testing chemical
of-river, storage. planning but conducted across broader geo-
safety from national governments to industry
pycnocline A zone of the ocean beneath the and requires that chemical substances produced graphic scales, generally involving multiple
surface in which density increases rapidly with or imported in amounts of over 1 metric ton municipal governments.
depth. per year be registered with a new European regulation A specific rule issued by an admin-
pyrolysis The chemical breakdown of organic Chemicals Agency. REACH, which stands for istrative agency, based on the more broadly
matter (biomass, oil shale, and so on) by heat- Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and written statutory law passed by Congress and
ing in the absence of oxygen, which often Restriction of Chemicals, went into effect in enacted by the president.
produces materials that can be more easily con- 2007. regulatory taking The deprivation of a prop-
verted to usable energy. A number of variations realized niche The portion of the fundamental erty’s owner, by means of a law or regulation,
on this process exist. niche that is fully realized (used) by a species. of most or all economic uses of that property.
rebound effect The phenomenon by which relative abundance The extent to which num-
quarry A pit used to extract mineral resources gains in efficiency from better technology bers of individuals of different species are
such as clay, gravel, sand, or stone (for exam- are partly offset when people engage in more equal or skewed. One way to express species
ple, limestone, granite, marble, or slate). energy-consuming behavior as a result. This diversity. See evenness; compare species rich-
common psychological effect can sometimes ness.
reduce conservation and efficiency efforts sub-
radiative forcing The amount of change in stantially. relative humidity The ratio of the water vapor
thermal energy that a factor (such as a green- contained in a given volume of air to the maxi-
house gas or an aerosol) causes in influencing recharge zone An area where water infiltrates mum amount the air could contain, for a given
Earth’s temperature. Positive forcing warms Earth’s surface and reaches an aquifer below. temperature.
Earth’s surface, whereas negative forcing cools reclamation The act of restoring a mining site relativist An ethicist who maintains that ethics
it. to an approximation of its pre-mining condi- do and should vary with social context. Com-
radioactive The quality by which some iso- tion. To reclaim a site, companies are required pare universalist.
topes “decay,” changing their chemical identity to remove buildings and other structures used renewable natural resources Natural re-
as they shed atomic particles and emit high- for mining, replace overburden, fill in shafts, sources that are virtually unlimited or that are
energy radiation. and replant the area with vegetation. replenished by the environment over relatively
radioisotope A radioactive isotope that emits recombinant DNA DNA that has been patched short periods (hours to weeks to years). Com-
G-18 subatomic particles and high-energy radiation together from the DNA of multiple organisms pare nonrenewable natural resources.

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