Page 736 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

strip mining The use of heavy machinery to leaving a solid residue on the bottom. (2) taiga See boreal forest.
remove huge amounts of earth to expose coal The site of such disposal. Compare deep-well tailings Portions of ore left over after metals
or minerals, which are mined out directly. injection. have been extracted in mining.
Compare subsurface mining.
surface water Water located atop Earth’s sur- tar sands See oil sands.
strong sustainability A school of thought that face. Compare groundwater.
argues that human-made capital cannot always survivorship curve A graph that shows how taxonomist A scientist who classifies species
substitute for natural capital and that we must the likelihood of death for members of a popu- using an organism’s physical appearance and/
not allow natural capital to diminish. Compare lation varies with age. or genetic makeup, and who groups species by
weak sustainability. their similarity into a hierarchy of categories
sustainability A guiding principle of environ- meant to reflect evolutionary relationships.
subcanopy The middle and lower levels of trees mental science, entailing conserving resources,
in a forest, beneath the canopy. maintaining functional ecological systems, and temperate deciduous forest A biome con-
subduction The plate tectonic process by developing long-term solutions, such that Earth sisting of midlatitude forests characterized by
broad-leafed trees that lose their leaves each
which denser crust slides beneath lighter crust can sustain our civilization and all life for the
at a convergent plate boundary. Often results future, allowing our descendants to live at least fall and remain dormant during winter. These
forests occur in areas where precipitation is
in volcanism. as well as we have lived.
spread relatively evenly throughout the year:
subsidy A government grant of money or re- sustainable agriculture Agriculture that can much of Europe, eastern China, and eastern
sources to a private entity, intended to support be practiced in the same way and in the same North America.
and promote an industry or activity. place far into the future. Sustainable agriculture temperate grassland A biome whose vegeta-
does not deplete soils faster than they form, nor
subsistence agriculture The oldest form of tion is dominated by grasses and features more
traditional agriculture, in which farming fami- reduce the clean water and genetic diversity es- extreme temperature differences between win-
lies produce only enough food for themselves. sential to long-term crop and livestock produc- ter and summer and less precipitation than
tion.
subsistence economy A survival economy, temperate deciduous forests. Also known as
one in which people meet most or all of their sustainable development Development that steppe, prairie.
daily needs directly from nature and do not satisfies our current needs without compromis- temperate rainforest A biome consisting of
purchase or trade for most of life’s necessities. ing the future availability of natural capital or tall coniferous trees, cooler and less species-
our future quality of life.
subspecies Populations of a species that occur rich than tropical rainforest and milder and
in different geographic areas and vary from sustainable forest certification A form of wetter than temperate deciduous forest.
one another in some characteristics. Subspe- ecolabeling that identifies timber products temperature inversion A departure from the
cies are formed by the same processes that that have been produced using sustainable normal temperature distribution in the atmos-
drive speciation but result when divergence methods. The Forest Stewardship Council and phere, in which a pocket of relatively cold air
does not proceed far enough to create separate several other organizations issue such certifi- occurs near the ground, with warmer air above
species. cation. it. The cold air, denser than the air above it,
swamp A type of wetland consisting of shal-
subsurface mining Method of mining under- traps pollutants near the ground and can
ground deposits of coal, minerals, or fuels, in low water rich with vegetation, occurring in thereby cause a buildup of smog. Also called
which shafts are dug deeply into the ground a forested area. Compare bog; freshwater thermal inversion.
and networks of tunnels are dug or blasted out marsh. teratogen A toxicant that causes harm to the
to follow coal seams. Compare strip mining. swidden The traditional form of agriculture unborn, resulting in birth defects.
in tropical forested areas, in which the farmer
suburb A smaller community located at the terracing The cutting of level platforms, some-
outskirts of a city. cultivates a plot for one year to a few years and times with raised edges, into steep hillsides to
then moves on to clear another plot, leaving the
succession A stereotypical series of changes in first to grow back to forest. When the forest is contain water from irrigation and precipita-
the composition and structure of an ecological burned, this may be called “slash-and-burn” tion. Terracing transforms slopes into series of
community through time. See primary succes- agriculture. steps like a staircase, enabling farmers to cul-
sion; secondary succession. tivate hilly land while minimizing their loss of
symbiosis A relationship between different
sulfur dioxide (SO ) A colorless gas that can soil to water erosion.
2 species of organisms that live in close physi-
result from the combustion of coal. In the at- cal proximity. People most often use the term tertiary consumer An organism that consumes
mosphere, it may react to form sulfur trioxide “symbiosis” when referring to a mutualism, but secondary consumers and feeds at the fourth
and sulfuric acid, which may return to Earth symbiotic relationships can be either parasitic trophic level.
in acid deposition. An EPA criteria pollutant. or mutualistic. theory A widely accepted, well-tested expla-
Superfund A program administered by the sympatric speciation Speciation that takes nation of one or more cause-and-effect rela-
Environmental Protection Agency in which place without the geographic separation of tionships that has been extensively validated
experts identify sites polluted with hazardous populations. Compare allopatric speciation. by a great amount of research. Compare hy-
chemicals, protect groundwater near these pothesis.
sites, and clean up the pollution. Established by syncrude Synthetic crude oil. thermal inversion See temperature inversion.
the Comprehensive Environmental Response synergistic effect An interactive effect (as of
Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) toxicants) that is more than or different from thermal mass Construction materials that ab-
in 1980. the simple sum of their constituent effects. sorb heat, store it, and release it later, for use in
passive solar energy approaches.
supply The amount of a product offered for sale syngas Synthesis gas created from gasification
at a given price. Compare demand. of coal. thermogenic Type of natural gas created by GLOSS ARY
compression and heat deep underground. Con-
surface impoundment (1) A disposal method system A network of relationships among a
for hazardous waste or mining waste in which group of parts, elements, or components that tains methane and small amounts of other hy-
waste in liquid or slurry form is placed into a interact with and influence one another through drocarbon gases. Compare biogenic.
shallow depression lined with impervious ma- the exchange of energy, matter, and/or infor- thermohaline circulation A worldwide sys-
terial such as clay and allowed to evaporate, mation. tem of ocean currents in which warmer, fresher G-21

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