42 of the ESS glossary’s terms, each with the part of the syllabus where you first meet it.
The model, proposed by James Lovelock and developed with Lynn Margulis, of the Earth as a single self-regulating system in which life and its surroundings interact through feedback to keep conditions suitable for life.
An area at the centre of an oceanic gyre where floating debris, mostly plastic fragments and lost fishing gear, accumulates at unusually high concentrations.
A genetic technique that makes a modification inherited at a higher rate than normal, so that it spreads through a wild population, proposed for reducing malaria-carrying mosquitoes or invasive predators.
The range of different genes and alleles within one species or population, which allows individuals to differ in heritable characteristics.
The direct alteration of an organism's DNA using biotechnology, for example by inserting a gene from another species, to give it a new characteristic.
A group of closely related species that share many characteristics; the first part of a binomial name, written with a capital letter.
Deliberate, large-scale intervention in the Earth's climate system to counter global warming, either by reflecting sunlight away from the Earth or by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The separation of populations by a physical barrier such as a river, sea, mountain range or habitat gap, which stops them interbreeding.
A subdivision of a geological period, lasting from thousands to tens of millions of years, whose boundaries are defined by changes in rock strata and fossils.
The system that divides Earth's 4.5-billion-year history into eons, eras, periods and epochs, with boundaries marked by major geological and biological events in the rock record.
The solid, non-living part of the Earth system, made of rocks, minerals, sediments and soil, including the lithosphere.
Heat from the Earth’s interior, brought to the surface as hot water or steam and used to generate electricity or to heat buildings directly.
The continued catching and killing of marine animals by fishing gear, such as nets, lines and traps, that has been lost or abandoned at sea.
A cold interval within an ice age, lasting tens of thousands of years, when ice sheets expand, sea level falls and atmospheric carbon dioxide is low, about 180–200 ppm in recent cycles.
The balance between the solar energy Earth absorbs and the energy it returns to space as reflected sunlight and emitted infrared radiation, which sets the planet's mean temperature.
A unit of area equal to one hectare of land or water with the world-average biological productivity, used to measure ecological footprints and biocapacity.
The increase in the mean global surface temperature of the Earth, caused mainly by the enhanced greenhouse effect; one part of climate change.
A measure of how much warming a given mass of a gas causes over a set period, usually 100 years, compared with the same mass of carbon dioxide, which has a value of 1.
The informal name for a Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point: an agreed point in a rock or sediment sequence at one site that marks the start of a geological time unit.
The steepness of a line on a graph, calculated as the change in the vertical value divided by the change in the horizontal value; on a time graph it gives the rate of change.
The period beginning about 2.4 billion years ago when oxygen produced by photosynthesising cyanobacteria first built up in the Earth’s atmosphere and shallow oceans.
An approach to building design and construction that minimises harm to health and the environment over a building’s whole life through eco-friendly materials, low energy and water use and safe practices.
A building designed, built and operated to reduce its use of energy, water and materials and its harmful effects on health and the environment over its whole life.
A measure of economic output that subtracts the monetary value of environmental costs, such as resource depletion and pollution damage, from gross domestic product.
A crop, often a legume, that is grown and then ploughed back into the soil to add organic matter and nutrients instead of being harvested.
The rapid rise in cereal yields in many low- and middle-income countries from the 1950s and 1960s, based on high-yielding varieties, irrigation, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.
A roof partly or completely covered with soil and vegetation, which insulates the building, slows rainwater run-off, cools the surrounding air and provides habitat.
Land in an urban area partly or completely covered by grass, trees, shrubs or other vegetation, such as parks, gardens, playing fields and river corridors.
A tax on an activity or product that harms the environment, such as carbon, landfill or plastic bags, designed to discourage the harm and make the polluter pay.
A vertical surface of a building covered with plants rooted in soil or a growing medium fixed to the wall, which insulates and cools the building, traps dust and provides habitat.
The natural process by which greenhouse gases absorb infrared radiation emitted by the Earth’s surface and re-emit it in all directions, keeping the surface about 33 °C warmer than it would otherwise be.
A gas in the atmosphere, such as water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane or nitrous oxide, that absorbs and re-emits infrared radiation emitted by the Earth’s surface, so less escapes directly to space.
The use of marketing, advertising or public relations to make a company, product or policy appear more environmentally friendly than it really is, instead of changing harmful practices.
Lightly used wastewater from showers, baths, washbasins and washing machines, which can be filtered and reused for flushing toilets or watering gardens.
The total monetary value of all final goods and services produced and sold in a country in a given period, usually one year.
An index of collective well-being used by the government of Bhutan as an alternative to GDP, covering domains such as health, education, culture, good governance and ecological resilience.
The total rate at which producers fix energy or carbon by photosynthesis or chemosynthesis per unit area per unit time, before respiratory losses.
The total gain in biomass or energy by an organism or trophic level per unit area per unit time, before any is lost in respiration.
The rate at which consumers absorb energy or biomass from food, equal to food ingested minus faecal losses, per unit area per unit time.
Water held underground in the pores and cracks of soil and rock below the water table, where the ground is fully saturated.
The slow transfer of water through saturated rock or sediment, which feeds springs, rivers, lakes and the sea.
The accumulated droppings of seabirds or bats, rich in nitrogen and phosphate, which add nutrients to soils and have been mined as fertiliser.