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Definition
| Self-feeding organisms (through processes such as photosynthesis). These are known as producers. |
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| The build-up, or concentration, of toxins within organisms. |
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Definition
| The dry mass of living or formerly living matter in a given environment. |
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| All living organisms on Earth. |
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| Synthesis of organic compounds from energy derived by chemical reactions, used by fungi and bacteria |
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| Organisms (such as bacteria and fungi) that digest and recycle organic debris and waste, a process that results in the release of inorganic compounds. |
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Definition
| The rate at which energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next. |
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Definition
| A visual representation of the biomass at each trophic level of a given ecosystem. At the base of the pyramid are the primary producers (e.g. plants), and at the top of the pyramid are the tertiary consumers. |
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Definition
| A functioning, interacting system composed of one or more living organisms and their effective environment, both physical and biological. |
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Definition
| A complex interrelated series of links between producers and consumers |
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Definition
| Organisms that feed on others. These are known as consumers. |
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Definition
| Released energy of a given thing. |
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Term
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Definition
when the result of a process influences the operation of the process itself in such a way as to reduce changes. Negative feedback tends to make a system self regulating
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Definition
| The efficiency with which a system converts energy input to energy output. |
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Definition
| Capture electromagnetic energy to convert to chemical energy, incorperating carbon, hence forming new plant tissue and biomass, and freeing oxygen. |
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Definition
| A response to changing conditions which stimulates further reactions within a given system. (e.g. a cliff eroded by strong winds). |
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Definition
| The energy that a body possesses by virtue of its position that is potentially transformable into another form of energy |
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Definition
| A measure of the energy a given system produces. (e.g. plants produce energy through photosynthesis) |
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Definition
The oxidative process occurring within living cells by which the chemical energy of organic molecules is released in a series of metabolic steps involving the consumption of oxygen and the liberation of carbon dioxide and water
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Definition
| People or societies that live off what they can hunt or harvest from Earth. |
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Definition
| Civilisations controlling the movement and dispersion of water and sediment through systems of terraces and channels |
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Term
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Definition
| The transition from hunter-gatherer society to agricultural society. |
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Definition
| a subsistence pattern in which people make their living by tending herds of large animals |
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| Pleistocene overkill hypothesis |
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Definition
| Theory that humans caused extinction of megafauna by hunting their young. |
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Definition
| The raising of food only for oneself, not to sell; Energy in is less than energy out. |
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Definition
| Erosional processes which have been exacerbated by disturbance of the surface, commonly anthropogenic vegetation removal |
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Definition
| A fan-shaped deposit of sediment formed where a stream's velocity drops as it emerges from a narrow canyon onto a wider valley floor. |
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Definition
| General term for sediment deposited by fluvial processes. |
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Definition
| General level below which streams cannot incise their valley; ultimately the sea, but locally may be a lake or resistant rock bar. |
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Definition
| Coarse sediment carried in a stream or glacier by sliding, rolling or saltating. |
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Term
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Definition
| Streams with multiple channels that separate and rejoin, typically in areas of high sediment load. |
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Definition
| Ability of streams to do geomorphic work; proportional to velocity cubed. |
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Definition
| Stream's ability to move particles of a specific size; function of a stream's velocity. |
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Definition
| Accumulation where streams reach a lake or the sea. |
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Term
| dendritic drainage patterns |
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Definition
| Drainage patterns similar to the branches of a tree |
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Term
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Definition
| Velocity of stream multiplied by its width and depth. |
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Definition
| Area of land where surface water converges to a single point usually the exit of the basin |
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Definition
| Total length of all stream channels divided by basin area; typically low in deserts and high in humid tropics. |
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Definition
| Boundary between different drainage basins. |
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Definition
| A stream found in an area too dry to have spawned such a waterway |
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Definition
| A relatively flat area along a stream channel that is prone tpo flooding and receives alluvium deposits from these events |
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Definition
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Definition
| Precipitation that does not reach the soil but is captured by canopy leaves and the forest floor |
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Definition
| Raised area of land between two streams in the same drainage basin |
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Definition
| Water particles move in parallel flow paths with no disturbance between flows |
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Definition
| A cross section of a stream or valley beginning at the source and continuing to the mouth, drawn to illustrate the gradient of the stream |
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Definition
| Surface run-off that occurs when rainfall exceeds infiltration or when soil saturation levels are reached |
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Term
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Definition
| Small channel from concentration of surface runoff. |
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Term
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Definition
| All soil pore spaces entirely water-filled. |
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Definition
| The load of dissolved particles. |
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Definition
| Headwater streams cut back through divides and divert tributary from neighbouring valley. |
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Term
| superimposed drainage patterns |
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Definition
a naturally evolved drainage system that became established on a preexisting surface, now eroded, and whose course is unrelated to the present underlying geological structure
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Term
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Definition
| The portion of the sediment that is carried by a fluid flow which settles slowly enough such that it almost never touches the bed. It is maintained in suspension by the turbulence in the flowing water and consists of particles generally of the fine sand, silt and clay size |
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Term
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Definition
| Results from incision of floodplain deposits. |
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Term
| trellis drainage patterns |
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Definition
| Occurs where streams join rivers at right angles as a result of dipping or folded strata. |
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Term
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Definition
| The level below which the ground is completely saturated with water with all pore spaces filled |
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