Biology terms #3 NOTICE: you only have 10 words this time so you must do them all!
1.Logistic growth- when a population of organisms grows at a steady pace until it reaches its carrying capacity, then it levels off. (graph with an s-curve)
2.Exponential growth- when a population of organisms grows very rapidly because it has unlimited resources ( graph with a j-curve)
3.Stewardship- when people take responsibility for their environment and do things to minimize the negative impact humans have on the environment- like a protector for the environment.
4.Sustainable practices- using energy sources that are renewable and that don’t harm the environment. (wind power, hydroelectric power and solar power are examples of sustainable practices).
5.Invasive species- http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/alien-invaders-destructive-invasive-species-0299/ organisms that currently live in an area they are not naturally found, they do not have any natural predators and can grow out of control- they usually take over the habitat of another organism that is normally found in the area. (examples are: fire ants, kudzu, rabbits in Australia, the cane toad, northern snakehead)- they are a bad thing!
6.Bioaccumulation- a build up of toxins in the tissue of an organism from exposure to the toxin in their environment and the food they eat ( top predators are most affected).
7.Acid rain= http://www.epa.gov/acidrain/education/site_students/whatisacid.html sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides mix together to turn rain acidic- tree tops in the mountains look as if they have been burned, stone buildings begin to crumble and erode more quickly.
8.Greenhouse effect- when Ultraviolet (UV) rays enter the Earth’s atmosphere, some rays stay and some will bounce back out. This allows our planet to have a relatively stable temperature- it minimizes huge temperature shifts, this allows plants and animals to adapt more successfully to their environment.
9.Climate change- when the patterns of temperature and weather change over a large area due to “global warming” which is contributed to a build up of carbon dioxide and other “greenhouse” gases in our atmosphere- this makes it hard for the UV radiation to bounce out!
10.Deforestation- when a large wooded area is cleared, either by “clear cutting” or burning, this results in greater amounts of carbon dioxide accumulation in the atmosphere and less habitat for organisms.
