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| The area where two tectonic plates move towards each other. Ex: "Ring of Fire" |
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| The area where two tectonic plates move away from eah other. Ex: Mid-Atlantic Ridge |
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| Tectonic plates that move along strike-slip faults. Ex: San Andreas Fault |
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| Faults that move horizontally. |
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| The Super-Continent that was made up of the combined continents years ago. It was broken apart by divergent plate movement until the continents drifted to their current locations. |
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| Formed at subduction zones where oceanic plates are pushed into the mantle under continental plates. |
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| The result of built up pressure along fault lines caused by roks becoming stuck. |
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| The result of underwater eathquakes caused by the collision of oceanic plates. |
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| Creates global wind patterns by deflecting wind through through the Earth's rotation. |
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| Formed when too much groundwater is removed from underground. |
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| Rocks formed from cooling lava. |
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| Rocks formed from compacted sediments in the ground. |
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| The increase of salt in soil. It can be prevented by more efficently using water during irrigation to limit the salt in it. It can be corrected by removing leaching the salts out of the water. |
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| A species used to tell when something is wrong in the environment. Ex: Frogs, Daffodils, Eagles |
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| A species that effects all other species in its ecosystem. |
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| A species native to the area it is found in. |
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| A species that moves from one are to another. Often disrupts the ecosystem of the area it moves to. Ex: Rabbits in Australia, European Starling and Kudzu in the United States. |
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| A species that requires extremely precise conditions in their habitats. More effected by environmental change because they are unable to adapt. |
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| A species that has broad requirements for a habitat, allowing it to adapt to most changes. |
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| Areas of the world distinguished by varying climates, plant life and animal life. |
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| The process by which plants use solar energy to convert carbon dioxide into create energy and glucose, while releasing oxygen at the same time. |
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| The process by which plants convert carbon into organic matter using the oxidation of inorganic molecules or methane as a source of energy. |
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| Organisms that produce their own food, almost exclusively plants. Ex: Algae |
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| Organisms that feed on producers for energy. Almost exclusively herbivores. Ex: Plankton |
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| Consumers who get their energy from consumers on lower trophic levels. Primarily carnivores, but may include omnivores. Ex: Trout |
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| Consumers at the top of the food chain. Typically carnivores, but can be omnivores as well. Ex: Great White Shark |
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| The mass of organsms at each trophic level. |
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| The accumulation of a substance in a single organism. Ex: Tobacco hornworm concentrating nicotine to toxic levels |
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| As chemicals and other materials pass through the food chain, it becomes more concentrated in higher trophic levels. |
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| When part of an ecosystem is disturbed, but not completely destroyed, allowing the ecosystem to regrow using what is left from the original. Ex: Forest regrowing after a forest fire |
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| New ground, completely devoid of life, slowly begins to create life and a new ecosystem. Ex: Volcanic rock slowly becoming a grassland and than a forest. |
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| The process by which a "dead zone" is created in water. Nitrates and phosphorus enter the water through runoff or erosion from fertilizers and creates an algae bloom in the water. This algae than attracts several microorganisms which feed on it and use up the oxygen, killing everything in that area when there is no oxygen left. |
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| When different populations of the same species are seperated for varyin reason, each population begins to develop traits better suited to their new environment. Given enough time, the two populations may even become two seperate species. |
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| The cycle that carbon goes through regularly. Humans impact this cycle by removing carbon from the earth. Sources of carbon include living organisms and and the carbonates in the ocean. A sink of carbon would be fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum. |
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| The cycle by which nitrogen travels through the Earth. One way humans affect it is by adding excess ntrogen in fertilizers. One example of a source of nitrogen is in the atmosphere. A nitrogen sink are inorganic fertilizers. |
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| The cycle by which water moves. Humans affect it by erecting dams and changing the course of rivers. Sources of water include lakes and streams. An example of a water sink is a dam. |
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