Ecology

Ecology

Industry: Biology

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Ecology

Convectional precipitation

Biology; Ecology

When heat from the ground rises, cools, saturates the air, and falls, most often as rain from a highly localised storm. Common along the equator and deep inside continents.

Artesian

Biology; Ecology

Water pushed upward by the hydrostatic pressure of a confined aquifer. Overuse of artesian wells lowers the water table and sometimes makes nearby land sink (subsidence).

Reclamation

Biology; Ecology

Reclaiming apparently useless lands for human development, as when an ecologically rich wetland is drained and converted into cropland. Also: reusing or recycling water.

Meiofauna

Biology; Ecology

Microscopic animals (nematodes, copepods, etc. ) that live on the bottom of a lake or sea, usually between sand grains. The macrofauna (like fish) depend on them for food.

Eluviation

Biology; Ecology

Movement of humus, chemical substances, and mineral particles from the upper layers of a soil to lower layers by the downward movement of water through the soil profile.

Deadhead

Biology; Ecology

To remove spent blossoms in order to encourage new flowers. Also, avid if heavy-lidded collectors of Jerry Garcia T-shirts, skeleton costumes, handmade jewelry, and hemp.

Ecocentric

Biology; Ecology

Term coined by Warwick Fox in preference to biocentric (environment-centered). Both contrast with the more human-focused perspective prevalent in industrialised nations.