Climate
The longterm manifestations of WEATHER. (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 6th ed)
Climate Change
Any significant change in measures of climate (such as temperature, precipitation, or wind) lasting for an extended period (decades or longer). It may result from natural factors such as changes in the sun's intensity, natural processes within the climate system such as changes in ocean circulation, or human activities.
Greenhouse Effect
The effect of GLOBAL WARMING and the resulting increase in world temperatures. The predicted health effects of such long-term climatic change include increased incidence of respiratory, water-borne, and vector-borne diseases.
Tropical Climate
Cold Climate
Global Warming
Increase in the temperature of the atmosphere near the Earth's surface and in the troposphere, which can contribute to changes in global climate patterns.
Ecosystem
A functional system which includes the organisms of a natural community together with their environment. (McGraw Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 4th ed)
Rain
Water particles that fall from the ATMOSPHERE.
Seasons
Atmosphere
Trees
Woody, usually tall, perennial higher plants (Angiosperms, Gymnosperms, and some Pterophyta) having usually a main stem and numerous branches.
Geography
Weather
The state of the ATMOSPHERE over minutes to months.
Conservation of Natural Resources
The protection, preservation, restoration, and rational use of all resources in the total environment.
Temperature
The property of objects that determines the direction of heat flow when they are placed in direct thermal contact. The temperature is the energy of microscopic motions (vibrational and translational) of the particles of atoms.
Population Dynamics
Oceans and Seas
A great expanse of continuous bodies of salt water which together cover more than 70 percent of the earth's surface. Seas may be partially or entirely enclosed by land, and are smaller than the five oceans (Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Antarctic).
Desert Climate
A type of climate characterized by insufficient moisture to support appreciable plant life. It is a climate of extreme aridity, usually of extreme heat, and of negligible rainfall. (From McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 4th ed)
Arctic Regions
The Arctic Ocean and the lands in it and adjacent to it. It includes Point Barrow, Alaska, most of the Franklin District in Canada, two thirds of Greenland, Svalbard, Franz Josef Land, Lapland, Novaya Zemlya, and Northern Siberia. (Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p66)
Models, Theoretical
Biodiversity
Climatic Processes
Characteristic events occurring in the ATMOSPHERE during the interactions and transformation of various atmospheric components and conditions.
Snow
Agriculture
The science, art or practice of cultivating soil, producing crops, and raising livestock.
Humidity
A measure of the amount of WATER VAPOR in the air.
Meteorology
The science of studying the characteristics of the atmosphere such as its temperature, density, winds, clouds, precipitation, and other atmospheric phenomena and aiming to account for the weather in terms of external influences and the basic laws of physics. (From McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 6th ed)
Forecasting
Organizational Culture
Acclimatization
Adaptation to a new environment or to a change in the old.
Environment
Animal Migration
Crops, Agricultural
Cultivated plants or agricultural produce such as grain, vegetables, or fruit. (From American Heritage Dictionary, 1982)
Mediterranean Region
Earth (Planet)
Planet that is the third in order from the sun. It is one of the four inner or terrestrial planets of the SOLAR SYSTEM.
El Nino-Southern Oscillation
El Nino-Southern Oscillation or ENSO is a cycle of extreme alternating warm El Niño and cold La Nina events which is the dominant year-to-year climate pattern on Earth. Both terms refer to large-scale changes in sea-surface temperature across the eastern tropical Pacific. ENSO is associated with a heightened risk of certain vector-borne diseases. (From http://www.elnino.noaa.gov/lanina_new_faq.html, accessed 5/12/2020)
Water Movements
Water Cycle
Circulation of water among various ecological systems, in various states, on, above, and below the surface of the earth.
Floods
Geology
Geological Phenomena
Environmental Policy
Soil
The unconsolidated mineral or organic matter on the surface of the earth that serves as a natural medium for the growth of land plants.
Population Growth
Increase, over a specific period of time, in the number of individuals living in a country or region.
Hydrology
Science dealing with the properties, distribution, and circulation of water on and below the earth's surface, and atmosphere.
Biomass
Introduced Species
Non-native organisms brought into a region, habitat, or ECOSYSTEM by human activity.
Plant Development
Processes orchestrated or driven by a plethora of genes, plant hormones, and inherent biological timing mechanisms facilitated by secondary molecules, which result in the systematic transformation of plants and plant parts, from one stage of maturity to another.
Antarctic Regions
Environmental Health
Africa, Eastern
The geographical area of Africa comprising BURUNDI; DJIBOUTI; ETHIOPIA; KENYA; RWANDA; SOMALIA; SUDAN; TANZANIA; and UGANDA.
Fossils
Remains, impressions, or traces of animals or plants of past geological times which have been preserved in the earth's crust.
Baltic States
Altitude
Meteorological Concepts
The atmospheric properties, characteristics and other atmospheric phenomena especially pertaining to WEATHER or CLIMATE.
Droughts
Animal Distribution
A process by which animals in various forms and stages of development are physically distributed through time and space.
Carbon Dioxide
A colorless, odorless gas that can be formed by the body and is necessary for the respiration cycle of plants and animals.
Models, Biological
Reindeer
A genus of deer, Rangifer, that inhabits the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and America. Caribou is the North American name; reindeer, the European. They are often domesticated and used, especially in Lapland, for drawing sleds and as a source of food. Rangifer is the only genus of the deer family in which both sexes are antlered. Most caribou inhabit arctic tundra and surrounding arboreal coniferous forests and most have seasonal shifts in migration. They are hunted extensively for their meat, skin, antlers, and other parts. (From Webster, 3d ed; Walker's Mammals of the World, 5th ed, p1397)
Endangered Species
Anthozoa
Phytoplankton
Free-floating minute organisms that are photosynthetic. The term is non-taxonomic and refers to a lifestyle (energy utilization and motility), rather than a particular type of organism. Most, but not all, are unicellular algae. Important groups include DIATOMS; DINOFLAGELLATES; CYANOBACTERIA; CHLOROPHYTA; HAPTOPHYTA; CRYPTOMONADS; and silicoflagellates.
Environmental Monitoring
The monitoring of the level of toxins, chemical pollutants, microbial contaminants, or other harmful substances in the environment (soil, air, and water), workplace, or in the bodies of people and animals present in that environment.
Environmental Pollution
Contamination of the air, bodies of water, or land with substances that are harmful to human health and the environment.
Abies
Rivers
Large natural streams of FRESH WATER formed by converging tributaries and which empty into a body of water (lake or ocean).
Marine Biology
The study of the origin, structure, development, growth, function, genetics, and reproduction of organisms which inhabit the OCEANS AND SEAS.
Plants
Multicellular, eukaryotic life forms of kingdom Plantae (sensu lato), comprising the VIRIDIPLANTAE; RHODOPHYTA; and GLAUCOPHYTA; all of which acquired chloroplasts by direct endosymbiosis of CYANOBACTERIA. They are characterized by a mainly photosynthetic mode of nutrition; essentially unlimited growth at localized regions of cell divisions (MERISTEMS); cellulose within cells providing rigidity; the absence of organs of locomotion; absence of nervous and sensory systems; and an alternation of haploid and diploid generations.
Disease Vectors
Seawater
Biological Evolution
Nitrogen Cycle
The circulation of nitrogen in nature, consisting of a cycle of biochemical reactions in which atmospheric nitrogen is compounded, dissolved in rain, and deposited in the soil, where it is assimilated and metabolized by bacteria and plants, eventually returning to the atmosphere by bacterial decomposition of organic matter.
Geographic Mapping
Carbon
Spheniscidae
Pinus
A plant genus in the family PINACEAE, order Pinales, class Pinopsida, division Coniferophyta. They are evergreen trees mainly in temperate climates.
Public Health
Phylogeography
Oxygen Isotopes
Stable oxygen atoms that have the same atomic number as the element oxygen, but differ in atomic weight. O-17 and 18 are stable oxygen isotopes.
Food Chain
The sequence of transfers of matter and energy from organism to organism in the form of FOOD. Food chains intertwine locally into a food web because most organisms consume more than one type of animal or plant. PLANTS, which convert SOLAR ENERGY to food by PHOTOSYNTHESIS, are the primary food source. In a predator chain, a plant-eating animal is eaten by a larger animal. In a parasite chain, a smaller organism consumes part of a larger host and may itself be parasitized by smaller organisms. In a saprophytic chain, microorganisms live on dead organic matter.
Uncertainty
Adaptation, Physiological
The non-genetic biological changes of an organism in response to challenges in its ENVIRONMENT.
Plant Physiological Phenomena
The physiological processes, properties, and states characteristic of plants.
Wetlands
Environments or habitats at the interface between truly terrestrial ecosystems and truly aquatic systems making them different from each yet highly dependent on both. Adaptations to low soil oxygen characterize many wetland species.
Disasters
Carbon Cycle
The cycle by which the element carbon is exchanged between organic matter and the earth's physical environment.
Species Specificity
The restriction of a characteristic behavior, anatomical structure or physical system, such as immune response; metabolic response, or gene or gene variant to the members of one species. It refers to that property which differentiates one species from another but it is also used for phylogenetic levels higher or lower than the species.
Agricultural Irrigation
The routing of water to open or closed areas where it is used for agricultural purposes.
Poaceae
A large family of narrow-leaved herbaceous grasses of the order Cyperales, subclass Commelinidae, class Liliopsida (monocotyledons). Food grains (EDIBLE GRAIN) come from members of this family. RHINITIS, ALLERGIC, SEASONAL can be induced by POLLEN of many of the grasses.
Volcanic Eruptions
The ash, dust, gases, and lava released by volcanic explosion. The gases are volatile matter composed principally of about 90% water vapor, and carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen. The ash or dust is pyroclastic ejecta and lava is molten extrusive material consisting mainly of magnesium silicate. (From McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 4th ed)
Safety Management
The development of systems to prevent accidents, injuries, and other adverse occurrences in an institutional setting. The concept includes prevention or reduction of adverse events or incidents involving employees, patients, or facilities. Examples include plans to reduce injuries from falls or plans for fire safety to promote a safe institutional environment.
Ice
The solid substance formed by the FREEZING of water.
Demography
Public Policy
Heat Stress Disorders
Lakes
Inland bodies of still or slowly moving FRESH WATER or salt water, larger than a pond, and supplied by RIVERS and streams.
Insect Vectors
Adaptation, Biological
Changes in biological features that help an organism cope with its ENVIRONMENT. These changes include physiological (ADAPTATION, PHYSIOLOGICAL), phenotypic and genetic changes.
Geologic Sediments
A mass of organic or inorganic solid fragmented material, or the solid fragment itself, that comes from the weathering of rock and is carried by, suspended in, or dropped by air, water, or ice. It refers also to a mass that is accumulated by any other natural agent and that forms in layers on the earth's surface, such as sand, gravel, silt, mud, fill, or loess. (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 4th ed, p1689)
Time Factors
Elements of limited time intervals, contributing to particular results or situations.
Indian Ocean
A body of water covering approximately one-fifth of the total ocean area of the earth, extending amidst Africa in the west, Australia in the east, Asia in the north, and Antarctica in the south. Including the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, it constitutes the third largest ocean after the ATLANTIC OCEAN and the PACIFIC OCEAN. (New Encyclopaedia Britannica Micropaedia, 15th ed, 1990, p289)
Picea
A plant genus in the family PINACEAE, order Pinales, class Pinopsida, division Coniferophyta. They are evergreen, pyramidal trees with whorled branches and thin, scaly bark. Each of the linear, spirally arranged leaves is jointed near the stem on a separate woody base.
Quercus
Geographic Information Systems
Air Pollution
The presence of contaminants or pollutant substances in the air (AIR POLLUTANTS) that interfere with human health or welfare, or produce other harmful environmental effects. The substances may include GASES; PARTICULATE MATTER; or volatile ORGANIC CHEMICALS.
Foraminifera
An order of amoeboid EUKARYOTES characterized by reticulating pseudopods and a complex life cycle with an alternation of generations. Most are less than 1mm in size and found in marine or brackish water.
Betula
Hot Temperature
Presence of warmth or heat or a temperature notably higher than an accustomed norm.
Africa, Northern
Ozone
The unstable triatomic form of oxygen, O3. It is a powerful oxidant that is produced for various chemical and industrial uses. Its production is also catalyzed in the ATMOSPHERE by ULTRAVIOLET RAY irradiation of oxygen or other ozone precursors such as VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS and NITROGEN OXIDES. About 90% of the ozone in the atmosphere exists in the stratosphere (STRATOSPHERIC OZONE).
Spatio-Temporal Analysis
Techniques which study entities using their topological, geometric, or geographic properties and include the dimension of time in the analysis.
Water Supply
Urbanization
Solar Activity
Fisheries
Coral Reefs
Euphausiacea
An order of pelagic, shrimplike CRUSTACEA. Many consume ZOOPLANKTON and a few are predacious. Many antarctic species, such as Euphausia superba, constitute the chief food of other animals.
Computer Simulation
Australia
Herbivory
The act of feeding on plants by animals.
Natural History
A former branch of knowledge embracing the study, description, and classification of natural objects (as animals, plants, and minerals) and thus including the modern sciences of zoology, botany, and mineralogy insofar as they existed at that time. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries it was much used for the generalized pursuit of certain areas of science. (Webster, 3d ed; from Dr. James H. Cassedy, NLM History of Medicine Division)
Biota
Spacecraft
Hares
Africa, Western
The geographical area of Africa comprising BENIN; BURKINA FASO; COTE D'IVOIRE; GAMBIA; GHANA; GUINEA; GUINEA-BISSAU; LIBERIA; MALI; MAURITANIA; NIGER; NIGERIA; SENEGAL; SIERRA LEONE; and TOGO.
Water
Fishes
Ericaceae
Extreme Heat
High temperature weather exceeding the average and of several weeks duration. Extreme heat is a dangerous situation that can bring on health emergencies in susceptible people.
Predatory Behavior
Pollen
The fertilizing element of plants that contains the male GAMETOPHYTES.
Amphibians
VERTEBRATES belonging to the class amphibia such as frogs, toads, newts and salamanders that live in a semiaquatic environment.
Bays
An area of water mostly surrounded by land, usually smaller than a gulf, and affording access to the sea.
Plant Weeds
A plant growing in a location where it is not wanted, often competing with cultivated plants.
Plant Transpiration
The loss of water vapor by plants to the atmosphere. It occurs mainly from the leaves through pores (stomata) whose primary function is gas exchange. The water is replaced by a continuous column of water moving upwards from the roots within the xylem vessels. (Concise Dictionary of Biology, 1990)
Time
Queensland
A state in northeastern Australia. Its capital is Brisbane. Its coast was first visited by Captain Cook in 1770 and its first settlement (penal) was located on Moreton Bay in 1824. The name Cooksland was first proposed but honor to Queen Victoria prevailed. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p996 & Room, Brewer's Dictionary of Names, 1992, p441)
Environmental Remediation
Removal of ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTANTS or contaminants for the general protection of the environment. This is accomplished by various chemical, biological, and bulk movement methods, in conjunction with ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING.
Carbon Sequestration
Any of several processes for the permanent or long-term artificial or natural capture or removal and storage of carbon dioxide and other forms of carbon, through biological, chemical or physical processes, in a manner that prevents it from being released into the atmosphere.
Radiometric Dating
Juniperus
A plant genus of the family CUPRESSACEAE. The species are slow growing coniferous evergreen trees or shrubs.
Tibet
An autonomous region located in central Asia, within China.
Borneo
Flowers
The reproductive organs of plants.
Malta
An independent state consisting of three islands in the Mediterranean Sea, south of Sicily. Its capital is Valetta. The major island is Malta, the two smaller islands are Comino and Gozo. It was a Phoenician and Carthaginian colony, captured by the Romans in 218 B.C. It was overrun by Saracens in 870, taken by the Normans in 1090, and subsequently held by the French and later the British who allotted them a dominion government in 1921. It became a crown colony in 1933, achieving independence in 1964. The name possibly comes from a pre-Indoeuropean root mel, high, referring to its rocks, but a more picturesque origin derives the name from the Greek melitta or melissa, honey, with reference to its early fame for its honey production. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p719 & Room, Brewer's Dictionary of Names, 1992, p330)
Maps as Topic
Archaeology
The scientific study of past societies through artifacts, fossils, etc.
Cold Temperature
An absence of warmth or heat or a temperature notably below an accustomed norm.
Models, Statistical
Spatial Analysis
Plant Leaves
Expanded structures, usually green, of vascular plants, characteristically consisting of a bladelike expansion attached to a stem, and functioning as the principal organ of photosynthesis and transpiration. (American Heritage Dictionary, 2d ed)
Internationality
Air Pollutants
Gadus morhua
A species of fish in the cod family GADIDAE, known as the Atlantic cod. It is one of the most important commercial FISHES.
Aquatic Organisms
Organisms that live in water.
Asia
The largest of the continents. It was known to the Romans more specifically as what we know today as Asia Minor. The name comes from at least two possible sources: from the Assyrian asu (to rise) or from the Sanskrit usa (dawn), both with reference to its being the land of the rising sun, i.e., eastern as opposed to Europe, to the west. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p82 & Room, Brewer's Dictionary of Names, 1992, p34)
Malaria
A protozoan disease caused in humans by four species of the PLASMODIUM genus: PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM; PLASMODIUM VIVAX; PLASMODIUM OVALE; and PLASMODIUM MALARIAE; and transmitted by the bite of an infected female mosquito of the genus ANOPHELES. Malaria is endemic in parts of Asia, Africa, Central and South America, Oceania, and certain Caribbean islands. It is characterized by extreme exhaustion associated with paroxysms of high FEVER; SWEATING; shaking CHILLS; and ANEMIA. Malaria in ANIMALS is caused by other species of plasmodia.