pertaining to non-living factors in the environment. Temperature and rainfall are two examples.

a type of pollution that occurs when sulfur and nitrogen compounds in the atmosphere react with water vapor. The rain that forms this vapor is acidic and can damage forests, aquatic organisms, crops, buildings and other things.

a behavior, physical feature or other characteristic that helps an animal or plant survive and make the most of its habitat. Example: Tendrils on some plants enable them to climb to reach sunlight, and sharp teeth in tigers allow them to tear the meat of their prey.

a living thing which thrives in the presence of oxygen.

appealing to one's sense of the beautiful.

learning that affects, or contributes to the development of attitudes, beliefs, values, and leads to learner to act in certain ways, based on personal convictions.

the production of crops and livestock on a farm; farming.

primitive green plants (often water plants) capable of making their own food.

a living thing which thrives in the absence of oxygen.

the main ore of aluminum which is used to make aluminum beverage cans and other containers.

having the ability to be broken down into simpler components by living organisms.

the use of existing natural enemies of crop pests to control their numbers. Example: Ladybugs control aphids.

life on earth, reflected in numbers and varieties of animal and plant species, populations, and the ecological communities they form.

a person who studies living organisms.

a major ecosystem such as forest, desert, savannah, that is composed of individual communities.

the part of the earth's crust, water, and atmosphere where living organisms can exist.

the animal and plant life of a region or period.

the capacity of a population of animals or plants to increase in numbers under optimum environmental conditions.

the surroundings and settings constructed by humans.

British Thermal Unit; a way expressing a unit of heat. The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water one Fahrenheit degree.

the number of individuals of a species and quality (i.e. age or health) that can survive in en ecosystem without causing it to deteriorate.

a process whereby anything (e.g. in an ecosystem) turns into something else. Example: a frog eats a mosquito, a fish eats the frog, and a heron eats the fish. This is also true for land; prairies become farmland and so on.

a group of chemicals that are used to produce plastic foam, coolants, and many other products.

the process of changing and straightening the natural path of a waterway.

a practice of harvesting timber in which all the trees from an area are removed.

a community that remains stable for a long period of time. The last stage of a succession.

a method of hastening the natural decomposition process for organic waste products.

rivalry between organisms of the same species (intraspecific) or between organisms of different species (interspecific) for biotic or abiotic factors such as food or space.

the mental image a person has of something, or some relationship with which the person is familiar.

a term used to describe plants that produce their seeds in cones. Many "evergreens" are examples of coniferous trees.

the use people make of their natural resources. Conservation implies wise use that is dependent upon the values people place on these resources. Conservation usually carries with it the idea of guarding and preserving the resources of the earth.

a person who actively protects natural resources to prevent waste.

any living thing that depends on energy from another living thing (e.g. an animal which eeats plants which get energy from the sun)

processing, buying or using a product.

any substance added to a material which makes the material unusable.

to make impure or to infect; to pollute.

plowing and planting in directions that match the slope of the land; a practice that retards erosion.

a constructed way of life. Culture includes human inventions, political institutions, religious and social structures.

things which can be reused are collected at the curb of the street.

broad-leafed trees that lose their leaves during the fall.

bacteria and fungi which digest and break down the wastes and dead bodies of plants and animals into simpler chemicals. The simple chemicals are used by both the decomposers and by more complex plants to carry on their own life processors.

the clearing of a forest.

to lower the quality of the environment. Also refers to the natural breakdown of chemicals into simpler constituents.

the number of individuals of a particular kind of organism per unit of space at a given time.

relying on something else for support, food, or some other necessity.

the Department of Natural Resource, a state agency which manages, protects, conserves, and develops natural resources.

plant or animal species which exert major controlling influence on the community. Removal of dominant species results in important changes in the community.

the process of digging up and removing materials from wetlands or waterways to clear them or make them deeper or wider.

a method of collecting separated recyclables where an outside bin is provided at a specific location, and people are responsible for taking their recyclables to the bin.

manure; solid animal wastes.

a branch of science concerned with the interrelationship of organisms with their environment. A scientist who studies these relationships is called an 'ecologist'.

that portion of society actively involved in the production, development, distribution, or management of material wealth.

the populations of a community which actively utilize the available energy, air, water, soil, and chemicals of a given area.

the outflows from sewage or industrial plants.

Environmental Impact Statement, which reviews the possible environmental changes and impacts that would be made when a project is implemented.

Emergent

rising above the surface of a body of water. Cattails are emergent pond plants.

departure of an animal from one specific area, for a life somewhere else.

a species that is in immediate danger of becoming extinct.

the capacity for doing work. Energy exists in various forms such as light, heat, chemical and nuclear energy.

the movement of energy through a system which can change the state of something. Example: energy from the sun starts the process of photosynthesis in plants which in turn produces nutrients (energy) for plants.

a concept that describes the quantity of energy that flows through a living system.

the sum total of surroundings that influence the life and development of an organism.

an organization whose primary purpose is to initiate public or legal action in a specific direction influencing public policy or action.

any world citizen who uses information and educational processes to help people analyze the merits of the many and varied points of view, usually present on a given environmental issue. This citizen is not the mediator, negotiator, nor activist, but is rather a developer of skills and information which prepares learners to participate in environmental decision making.

a general set of attitudes and values held by an individual that influences his or her choice and behavior consistent with maintaining a quality environment.

a condition existing in one's surroundings which may be dangerous or threatening to health and safety. Examples: air, water, or soil pollution or a toxic spill.

a person who is concerned about the impact of people on the quality of the environment.

the limiting effect of environmental conditions on the numerical growth of a population.

a fast-spreading, sometimes unstoppable, disease.

the loosening and movement of soil by wind, moving water, ice, and landslides.

to calculate approximately something such as size, number, or cost.

a personal or social moral code.

a term used by environmental economist to describe the value that is held of a resource through knowledge of its continued existence. Example: persons who may never see or encounter a rare species may contribute to its protection.

a foreign plant or animal introduced into an area where it is not native.

learning by doing; it is an open-ended, multi-dimensional approach whereby the educator provides experience for the learner.

a scientific test undertaken to discover some unknown information or to prove or disprove something.

having bounds or limits; capable of being counted or measured; the opposite of infinite.

the transfer of energy from the source in plants through a series of animals, with repeated eating and being eaten. Example: a green plant, a leaf-eating insect, and an insect-eating bird would form a simple food chain.

an interlocking pattern of food chains.

a community of plants and animals in which trees are the most conspicuous members.

an application of scientific, economic, and social principles to the administration of a forest for specified objectives.

coal, oil, and other energy sources that formed over millions of years from the remains of ancient plants and animals.

forested or shrubby wetlands.

any chemical preparation used to control fungus.

the science that deals with the history and composition of the earth's crust.

change in the earth's climate.

a point of view that considers the worldwide implications of such matters as acid rain, cutting of the rain forest, drought, scarce resources, hunger, over-populations, and disease.

a plant community in which grasses are the dominant species.

the term given to domestic waste water composed of wash water from sinks, kitchen sinks, bathroom sinks and tubs, and laundry tubs.

usually refers to animals that feed directly upon grasses and plants associated with them.

a natural effect that releases heat in the atmosphere near the earth's surface. Energy radiates from the sun to the earth and warms it. Some of this energy is radiated from the earth to several gasses of the lower atmosphere, water vapor and carbon dioxide being the most abundant. This warms the gasses and the surface of the earth.

any plant producing a protective mat to prevent erosion.

the kind of place in which an organism, population, or community lives.

the time required for a chemical sample to lose half of its radioactivity or the time required for a living thing to eliminate half of the amount of a substance taken in.

the ability to live in ways that preserve the environment and to disrupt the natural ecosystems as little as possible.

any waste material which can be harmful to the health of living organisms.

a substance or preparation for killing plants.

a plastic resin most familiar in milk jugs or laundry bottles.

an approach that emphasizes the complex systematic interrelationships between members of a system based on the idea that "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts".

a species whose presence or absence suggests the quality of a particular environment.

a naturally occurring or native species.

the mixing of a number of factors to create a new entity.

composed of matter other than living things or matter produced by living things.

any preparation used to control insects.

the bringing together of different parts into a functional or unified whole.

the relationships by which things are connected to and dependent upon each other.

utilizing information in a coordinated way from a variety of fields of learning in order to deal adequately with all dimensions of issues.

an organization whose primary purpose is to raise public consciousness, encourage the passage of legislation, or communicate with like groups over a common interest.

the interdependencies of living things with one another and with the various elements of their environment.

an animal or plant species that has been brought into area where the species was not indigenous. Introduced species can compete with, and possibly cause problems for, native species. Also called exotic or non-native species.

species which have roles in an ecosystem which affect many other species.

a method of processing garbage by creating a hole in the ground with a bottom which should not allow liquids to seep out, and adding garbage which is usually covered by six inches of soil.

ways in which people use the land. It includes use for forests, crops, pastures, wild lands, parks, roads, industry, and towns.

the process by which materials on or in soil are dissolved and carried by water seeping through the soil.

processing and absorbing information and skills by a variety of methods, such as listening or doing.

the continuous sequence of changes undergone by an organism from one primary form to the development of the same form again.

the cost of any item compared to how long it lasts.

influences in the life history of any organism, e.g., food, water, shelter, space, disease, predation, climatic conditions, pollution, hunting, poaching, soil conditions, and accidents. When one or more of these exceeds the limit of tolerance of a species, it becomes a threat for the population of that species.

the hunting or trapping of animal to sell for profit.

a "small habitat" within a larger one in which environmental conditions differ from those in the surrounding area. Example: a hole in a tree trunk or an animal carcass is a microhabitat within the forest.

living organisms so small that individually they can only be seen with the aid of a microscope.

the cultivation of a single kind of living thing (such as corn or cotton) on a piece of land, to the exclusion of other kinds of living things.

using the same resource in a number of different ways for different purposes; e.g. mining, logging, camping can all occur within a forest habitat.

a species that is indigenous to an area occurring naturally rather than introduced.

Materials or processes, found in nature, which are directly or indirectly useful to people. Not something which people have made.

a process in nature resulting in the survival and perpetuation of only those forms of living things having certain favorable characteristics that enable them to adapt best to a specific environment.

a method of garbage handling where garbage is dumped in one place and not covered or kept from wildlife, or kept out of the water supply.

pertaining to living things and compounds produced by them and to compounds containing carbon.

a method of gardening or farming in which soil fertility is maintained with compost and natural fertilizers, insects are used to eat other harmful insects, and environmental controls are used rather than commercial products.

a living thing.

use of outdoor settings to teach a wide variety of activities and concepts. Advocates of this approach believe concepts about the natural environment are best taught outdoors.

consuming more than what is required to maintain a usual standard of living.

the process that occurs when cattle, sheep, goats, or other animals graze too small an area for too long a period. Overgrazing often results in soil erosion, the destruction of vegetation, and other problems.

depletion of a plant or animal resource which could be managed for sustainability.

a form of oxygen, O3.

a protective layer of ozone high in the earth's atmosphere that filters out much of the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation.

an organism which lives on or in another species and takes nutrients from it.

a substance used to kill or control living things considered pests such as weeds, insects, fungi, algae, rodents, etc,. It includes herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides.

things which can be broken down by light.

the process by which plants use the sun's energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugar and oxygen. It is a process of capturing the sun's energy and storing it in chemical compounds.

human made materials consisting of large molecules called polymers; usually made from petroleum.

to hunt, kill, or collect a plant or animal illegally.

pollution that comes from a particular source, such as from a factory, or sewage treatment plant, or home.

a human caused changed in the physical, chemical or biological conditions of the environment that creates an undesirable effect on living things.

a plastic resin most familiar in the expanded foam form. Examples; foam cups, peanut-shaped packing beads, insulation. Unexpanded polystyrene is a rigid plastic.

an interbreeding group of animals or plants of the same species that live in the same area.

the time, space, and environmental conditions that determine the carrying capacity of the land of a given area.

a measure of the current density of a species of animal or plant.

an area stretching from central Iowa, north through Minnesota; the Dakotas, and northeastern Montana, into the Canadian provinces of Albera, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, characterized by a fairly flat landscape of deep and shallow marshes, wet meadows, and rich soils. The wetlands, dubbed "potholes" are the result of past glacial action.

decisions made at the time of purchase or use, with choices based on whether or not an item is consistent with environmental disposal. Examples: choosing recycleable food or beverage packaging as opposed to non-recycleable; choosing products that are not excessively packaged.

action which maintains an area intact for the protection of the natural resources of the area.

an area maintained for the protection of biological diversity.

an organism which uses the sun's energy (green plant) or chemical energy (some bacteria) to make organic compounds it needs.

a species that has a small number of individuals and/or has a limited distribution. A rare species may or may not be endangered or threatened.

the process of sorting and collecting waste materials which are then reprocessed, resold, or reused.

a proliferation of a marine plankton that is toxic and often fatal to fish. This natural phenomenon may be stimulated by the addition of nutrients or other factors.

replanting an area with trees after logging, fire, disease, or drought.

a haven or sanctuary for wildlife that may allow regulated hunting, but which is managed for the maintenance of the habitat and user species.

returning plants or animals to an area where they lived but have now become extinct.

a resource that can be replaced through natural processes if it is not overused or contaminated. For example, water and trees are renewable resources.

the use of a facility designed to house, feed, and educate people about the environment.

a portion of an environment which people value and see as available for use.

the ways in which natural resources are distributed throughout a region or the world. Examples: the U.S. is rich in timber, agricultural land. South Africa is rich in many metals, and gemstones.

any product which can either be reused in its present form or used for a different purpose.

the analysis of short or long term danger of technologies or natural processes.

saltwater wetlands that occur along many coasts of a gulf, sea, or ocean.

a refuge for wildlife where hunting is illegal.

a method of putting garbage in a hole which limits the chance that garbage will cause health problems for either humans or wildlife.

a park like grassland with scattered trees or clumps of trees.

ways of finding explanations in which we use observation, identification, description, and experimentation.

ability to recognize each place in the environment as having unique characteristics.

the series of communities that follow one another in a natural succession, as in the change from a bare field to a mature forest.

any chemical preparation used to control unwanted trees.

the science and art of cultivating forest crops.

the residue left on the ground after felling timber.

felling and burning trees to make the land usable for agriculture.

an inlet from a river; backwater, tideflat; a creek in a marsh.

low-level ozone, soot, sulfur compounds, and other pollutants in the atmosphere that cause poor visibility and create hazardous conditions for living things.