A Glossary of Ecological Terms
A Glossary of Ecological Terms
transpired by Craig Chalquist, PhD, ecopsychologist and author of Terrapsychology: Re-engaging the Soul of Place (2007)
- See also "Mind and Environment: A Psychological Survey of Perspectives Literal, Wide, and Deep." - Never, no never, did Nature say one thing and Wisdom another. – Edmund Burke
The glossary that follows assumes a definition of ecology--the study of interactions between organisms and their environment--much wider than what fits under the field's habitual statistical mask. Ecofeminism and ecopsychology are mentioned, for example, as are terms from organic gardening and permaculture. Because the life sciences messily overlap (that's life), terms from botany, biology, geology, chemistry, meteorology, and agriculture are included as well.
Although designed for technical correctness and clarity, this glossary follows the practice in the Jung and Freudglossaries at this site of letting in a bit of humor here and there: for levity, for anecdote, and for an occasional thumb in the puritanical eye that closes itself to any information not dressed up in stiff, Latinized nomenclature (see the entry for English, Latinized).
Abandoned Wells: a hazard because wells left on vacated lands can channel water contaminated by pesticides and fertilizer straight down into the water table. Some states in the U.S. offer incentives for sealing off these unused wells.
Abiotic: non-living. However, see Animism.
Ablation (Wastage): surface snow and ice loss from a glacier or covering of ice or snow.
Abrasion: the wearing away of rock surfaces by small particles moved by air or water. Abrasiveness also seems to be the one quality currently shared by most political appointees and prominent heads of state. See Ontogenetic Crippling.
Absorption: the passage of water and nutrients through cell membranes instead of by direct ingestion. Also refers to how objects convert the solar radiation they receive into heat.
Abundance: the
transpired by Craig Chalquist, PhD, ecopsychologist and author of Terrapsychology: Re-engaging the Soul of Place (2007)
- See also "Mind and Environment: A Psychological Survey of Perspectives Literal, Wide, and Deep." - Never, no never, did Nature say one thing and Wisdom another. – Edmund Burke
The glossary that follows assumes a definition of ecology--the study of interactions between organisms and their environment--much wider than what fits under the field's habitual statistical mask. Ecofeminism and ecopsychology are mentioned, for example, as are terms from organic gardening and permaculture. Because the life sciences messily overlap (that's life), terms from botany, biology, geology, chemistry, meteorology, and agriculture are included as well.
Although designed for technical correctness and clarity, this glossary follows the practice in the Jung and Freudglossaries at this site of letting in a bit of humor here and there: for levity, for anecdote, and for an occasional thumb in the puritanical eye that closes itself to any information not dressed up in stiff, Latinized nomenclature (see the entry for English, Latinized).
Abandoned Wells: a hazard because wells left on vacated lands can channel water contaminated by pesticides and fertilizer straight down into the water table. Some states in the U.S. offer incentives for sealing off these unused wells.
Abiotic: non-living. However, see Animism.
Ablation (Wastage): surface snow and ice loss from a glacier or covering of ice or snow.
Abrasion: the wearing away of rock surfaces by small particles moved by air or water. Abrasiveness also seems to be the one quality currently shared by most political appointees and prominent heads of state. See Ontogenetic Crippling.
Absorption: the passage of water and nutrients through cell membranes instead of by direct ingestion. Also refers to how objects convert the solar radiation they receive into heat.
Abundance: the