Abiotic factors are the nonliving components of the environment.

Adaptation is a responsive strategy in which it is accepted that an event with potential impacts on the environment is expected to occur and plans are made to adjust to the impacts.

Adaptations are heritable traits that increase the likelihood of an individual's survival and reproduction.

Anomalous means different than what is normal or expected.

Anthropocentric means a human-centered view of our relationship with the environment.

Anthropogenic climate change refers to climate change that result from human actions.

An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem that exists in a body of water such as the ocean, lakes, ponds, rivers and wetlands.

Biocentric means a view of our relationship with the environment that considers the effects of actions on all living things in the environment.

Biodiversity is the total of all organisms in an area, taking into account the diversity of species, their genes, their populations and their communities.

A biogeochemical cycle, or nutrient cycle, is the path of a nutrient through an ecosystem.

Biological indicators are species that can be used to monitor the health of an environment or ecosystem.

Biotic factors are the living components of ecosystems.

Climate change is a change in the average weather that a given region experiences, including all features associated with the weather such as temperature, wind patterns and precipitation.

The competitive exclusion principle states that two species competing for the same resource cannot coexist at constant population values, if other ecological factors remain constant.

Cultural perspectives is the learning context that reflects a humanistic perspective which views teaching and learning as cultural transmission and acquisition.

Denitrification is a multi-step chemical process in which nitrates in the soil are reduced by denitrifying bacteria and ultimately released to the atmosphere.

Desertification is the degradation of once-fertile rangeland or tropical dry forest into non-productive desert.

Ecocentric means a view of our relationship with the environment that considers actions in terms of their damage or benefit to the integrity of biotic and abiotic factors in the environment.

Ecological goods and services are the benefits to all living organisms that arise from the ecological functions of healthy ecosystems.

Ecoregions are large areas of land or water that contain a geographically distinct assembly of natural communities that share a large majority of their species and ecological dynamics and share similar environmental conditions.

An ecosystem is the biotic communities and associated abiotic components that interact in a defined geographic area.

Ecozones are the broadest biogeographic divisions of earth's land surface and have roughly the same land features, climate and organisms throughout them.

Energy flows are the passage of energy in a one-way direction through an ecosystem.

An environmental impact assessment is an assessment of the positive and negative environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program or project prior to the decision to proceed with the action and results in an environmental impact statement.

Erosion is the removal of material from one place and its transfer to another by the action of wind or water.

Eutrophic means a water body that is rich in phosphates, nitrates and organic nutrients that promote a proliferation of plant life, especially algae.

Feedback loops are circular processes in which a system's output serves as the input to that same system.

Fertilizer is a substance that promotes plant growth by supplying essential nutrients such as nitrogen or phosphate.

Food security means to have an adequate, reliable and available food supply to all people at all times.

Greenhouse gases are gases, including water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons and tropospheric ozone, that absorb infrared radiation.

Integrated pest management is a combination of pest control methods that keep the size of a pest population low enough to prevent substantial economic loss.

Integrated watershed management is a combination of the best waste management techniques into a consolidated program to deal effectively with solid waste.

Invasive species are species foreign to a region that spread rapidly if free of predators, parasites or resource limitations that may have controlled their population in their native habitat.

A keystone species is a species that has a disproportionate effect on its environment relative to its biomass.

Marine ecosystems include salt marshes, intertidal zones, estuaries, lagoons, coral reefs, the deep sea and the sea floor.

Mitigation is a responsive strategy in which efforts are made to prevent or minimize the anticipated results of environmental change.

Natural capital is Earth's resources and processes that sustain living organisms.

Net primary productivity is the rate at which all the plants in an ecosystem produce net useful chemical energy.

Nitrification is the conversion of ammonium ions by bacteria into nitrite ions and then into nitrate ions.

Nitrogen fixation is the process by which nitrogen gas combines with hydrogen to form ammonium ions which can be taken up by plants.

Non-point source pollution is pollutants that enter bodies of water over large areas rather than being concentrated at a single point of entry.

Oligotrophic means a water body that has low-nutrient and high-oxygen conditions.

Photochemical smog is brown-air smog caused by light-driven reactions of primary pollutants with normal atmospheric compounds.

Place-based learning refers to the learning of traditional knowledge, processes and practices from living in a particular place.

Plant morphology is the study of the physical form and external structure of plants.

Plant physiology is the study of the functioning of plans.

Point source pollution is water pollution that can be traced to a specific spot.

Pollination is an interaction in which one organism transfers pollen from one flower to the ova of another, fertilizing the female flower, which subsequently grows into a fruit.

The precautionary principle is a practice that involves making decisions about adopting a new technology or chemical product by assigning the burden of proof of its safety to its developers.

A riparian zone is the interface between land and a river or stream.

Scientific inquiry is the learning context that reflects an emphasis on understanding the natural and constructed world using systematic empirical processes that lead to the formation of theories that explain observed events and that facilitate prediction.

Scientific literacy is an evolving combination of the knowledge of nature, skills, processes and attitudes students need to develop inquiry, problem-solving and decision-making abilities to become lifelong learners and to maintain a sense of wonder about and responsibility towards the natural and constructed world.

Soil is the uppermost layer of Earth's crust, which supports terrestrial plants, animals and microorganisms.

Soil degradation is damage to soils, typically through loss of organic matter or moisture, or loss of soils, typically through erosion.

Soil productivity is the capacity of soil, in its normal environment, to support plant growth.

Solubility is the amount of a substance that dissolves in a given quantity of solvent at specified conditions of temperature and pressure to produce a saturated solution.

STSE dec

ision making is the learning context that reflects the need to engage citizens in thinking about human and world issues through a scientific lens in order to inform and empower decision making by individuals, communities and society.

STSE, which stands for science, technology, society and the environment, is the foundation of scientific literacy that is concerned with understanding the scope and character of science, its connections to technology and the social context in which it is developed.

Sustainability is the ability to meet humanity's current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

Sustainable agriculture is an agricultural method that maintains soil productivity and a healthy ecological balance while having minimal long-term effects.

A system is an assemblage of parts and their relationship forming a functioning entity or whole.

Technological problem solving is the learning context that reflects an emphasis on designing and building to solve practical human problems.

Temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of particles in matter; it is measured in degrees Celcius (°C).

The tragedy of the commons is an economic theory of a situation within a shared-resource system in which individual users acting independently and rationally according to their own self-interest behave contrary to the common good of all users by depleting that resource.

Wetlands are lands that shallow fresh water covers for at least part of the year.

A worldview is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the entirety of the individual or society's knowledge and point of view.