This page is not for human environment or economics or ethics topics. It is for ecology, which is a science. A rule of thumb: if the article talks about the likely impact on humans, it's an environment topic, only the most global of which belong here. If it's an impact by humans, it does belong here. If it's about only one or a small or local group of species, it's a biology topic, only the most basic of which belong here. The phrase built environment refers to the manmade surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging from the large-scale civic surroundings to the personal places. ... Face-to-face trading interactions on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor. ... Ethics (from the Ancient Greek Ä“thikos, the adjective of Ä“thos custom, habit), a major branch of philosophy, including genetics is the study of values and customs of a person or group. ... Part of a scientific laboratory at the University of Cologne. ... This page aims to list articles related to the natural environment. ... This page aims to list articles related to biology. ...

A

• adaptive management
• aerobic metabolism
• Allee effect
• Alternative biochemistry
• anaerobic metabolism
• ape extinction
• atmosphere
• autecology
• autopoïesis
• autotroph

Adaptive management is an approach to ecological management. ... Look up Aerobic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Allee effect is a phenomenon in biology named after W. C. Allee, who first wrote extensively on it. ... Alternative biochemistry is the biochemistry of alien life forms that differ radically from those on earth. ... Anaerobic respiration refers to the oxidation of molecules in the absence of oxygen to produce energy. ... Ape extinction, particularly great ape extinction, is one of the most widely held biodiversity concerns. ... Layers of Atmosphere - not to scale (NOAA)[2] Earths atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth and retained by the Earths gravity. ... Population ecology is a major subfield of ecology—one that deals with the dynamics of species populations and how these populations interact with the environment. ... Autopoiesis literally means auto (self)-creation (from the Greek: auto - αυτό for self- and poiesis - ποίησις for creation or production) and expresses a fundamental complementarity between structure and function. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

B

• bacteria
• biodegradable
• biodiversity
• bioinvader
• biome

Phyla/Divisions Actinobacteria Aquificae Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi Chlamydiae/Verrucomicrobia Chloroflexi Chrysiogenetes Cyanobacteria Deferribacteres Deinococcus-Thermus Dictyoglomi Fibrobacteres/Acidobacteria Firmicutes Fusobacteria Gemmatimonadetes Nitrospirae Omnibacteria Planctomycetes Proteobacteria Spirochaetes Thermodesulfobacteria Thermomicrobia Thermotogae Bacteria (singular, bacterium) are a major group of living organisms. ... Biodegradation is the decomposition of material by microorganisms. ... Rainforests are among the most biodiverse ecosystems on earth Biodiversity is the variation of taxonomic life forms within a given ecosystem, biome or for the entire Earth. ... Purple flowers of the highly invasive Pattersons Curse infest the Warrumbungle National Park in New South Wales, Australia. ... A biome is a major class of ecologically similar communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms. ...

C

• carbon cycle
• carrying capacity
• climate
• climate change
• conservation biology
• community assembly theory
• community ecology
• competition
• competitive exclusion principle
• cooperation

The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged between the biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere of the Earth (other astronomical objects may have similar carbon cycles, but nothing is yet known about them). ... Carrying capacity is the population level that can be supported for an organism, given the quantity of food, habitat, water and other life infrastructure present. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Community ecology is the study of the distribution, abundance, demography, and interactions between coexisting populations (not precisely synonymous with population ecology). ... Competition is the act of striving against another force for the purpose of achieving dominance or attaining a reward or goal, or out of a biological imperative such as survival. ... The competitive exclusion principle, sometimes referred to as Gauses Law of competitive exclusion or just Gauses Law, states that two species that compete for the exact same resources cannot stably coexist. ... This article is about cooperation as used in the social sciences. ...

D

• damming
• decomposition

Scrivener Dam, in Canberra, Australia, was engineered to withstand a once-in-5000-years flood A dam is a barrier across flowing water that obstructs, directs or retards the flow, often creating a reservoir, lake or impoundment. ... “Spoilage” redirects here. ...

E

• ecocide
• ecological restoration
• ecological selection
• ecological succession
• ecophagy
• ecopoiesis
• ecoregion
• ecosynthesis
• ecosphere
• ecosystem
• ecosystem function
• ecosystem services
• ecozone
• environmental restoration
• eutrophication
• evaporation
• exobiology
• extinction

Ecocide is the killing of an ecosystem, which includes consuming it and using it to feed some other process or system - ecophagy. ... Restoration ecology is the study of returning degraded ecosystems and landscapes to a reference state where ecological communities and processes are re-established. ... Ecological selection (or environmental selection or survival selection or individual selection or asexual selection) refers to natural selection minus sexual selection, i. ... Secondary succession: trees are colonizing uncultivated fields and meadows. ... A term coined by Robert Freitas, that means, literally, the consuming of an ecosystem. ... Ecopoiesis is a neologism created by Robert Haynes. ... An ecoregion, sometimes called a bioregion, is a relatively large area of land or water that contains a geographically distinct assemblage of natural communities. ... Ecosynthesis is a term used to describe the use of introduced species to fill niches in a disrupted environment, with the aim of increasing the speed of ecological restoration. ... A false-color composite of global oceanic and terrestrial photoautotroph abundance, from September 1997 to August 2000. ... An ecosystem, a contraction of ecological and system, refers to the collection of biotic and abiotic components and processes that comprise and govern the behavior of some defined subset of the biosphere. ... Ecosystem services are processes by which the natural environment produces resources useful to people. ... An ecozone or biogeographic realm is the largest scale biogeographic division of the earths surface based on the historic and evolutionary distribution patterns of plants and animals. ... Environmental restoration is a term common in the citizens’ environmental movement. ... Eutrophication is caused by the increase in an ecosystem of chemical nutrients, typically compounds containing nitrogen or phosphorus. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Astrobiology (in Greek astron = star, bios = life and logos = word/science), also known as exobiology (Greek: exo = out) or xenobiology (Greek: xenos = foreign) is the term for a speculative field within biology which considers the possible variety of extraterrestrial life. ... The Dodo, shown here in illustration, is an often-cited[1] example of modern extinction. ...

F

• feedback
• fire ecology
• food chain
• food web
• founder population

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Feedback loop. ... Fire is a component of the environment. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Figure 1. ... When a species invades a new area, especially an island, the original, small population is called a founder population. ...

G

• global ecophagy
• gross primary production

As originally coined and first defined by Robert Freitas, the term ecophagy means, literally, the consuming of an ecosystem. ... Primary production is the fixation of light energy into chemical compounds (the construction of sugars from CO2 and water; photosynthesis). ...

H

• habitat
• habitat connectivity
• habitat corridors
• habitat fragmentation
• homeostasis
• human ecology
• hydrosphere
• hydrologic cycle

Habitat (which is Latin for it inhabits) is the place where a particular species lives and grows. ... A wildlife corridor is the artificial joining of fragmented habitats. ... Habitat fragmentation is a process of environmental change important in evolution and conservation biology. ... Homeostasis is the property of an open system, especially living organisms, to regulate its internal environment to maintain a stable, constant condition, by means of multiple dynamic equilibrium adjustments, controlled by interrelated regulation mechanisms. ... Human ecology is an academic discipline that deals with the relationship between humans and their natural, social and created environments. ... The movement of water around, over, and through the Earth is called the water cycle, a key process of the hydrosphere. ... The water cycle—technically known as the hydrologic cycle—is the circulation of water within the earths hydrosphere, involving changes in the physical state of water between liquid, solid, and gas phases. ...

I

• Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis
• Invasive species

The Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis is an ecological hypothesis which proposes that that biodiversity is highest when disturbance is neither too rare nor too frequent. ... Lantana invasion of abandoned citrus plantation; Moshav Sdey Hemed, Israel The term invasive species refers to a subset of introduced species or non-indigenous species that are rapidly expanding outside of their native range. ...

J

K

L

• lichen
• light
• light pollution
• lithosphere
• logistic curve

Lichenes from Ernst Haeckels Artforms of Nature, 1904 Lichens are symbiotic associations of a fungus (the mycobiont) with a photosynthetic partner (the photobiont also known as the phycobiont) that can produce food for the lichen from sunlight. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Electromagnetic radiation. ... This time exposure photo of New York City shows sky glow, one form of light pollution. ... The tectonic plates of the Lithosphere on Earth. ... The logistic function or logistic curve is defined by the mathematical formula: for real parameters a, m, n, and . ...

M

• metabolic theory of ecology
• micro-climate
• molecular assembler
• molecular engineering
• mutualism

Metabolic rate may relate to organismal temperature and dimensions Researchers at the Santa Fe Institute, including ecologists James Brown, Brian Enquist, Jamie Gillooly and physicist Geoffrey West, helped to develop the metabolic theory of ecology. ... Categories: Stub | Ecology ... A molecular assembler is a molecular machine capable of assembling other molecules given instructions, energy, and a supply of smaller building block molecules to work from. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Ant-aphid mutualism: the aphids are protected against predators by the ants who cultivate the aphids for their secretions of honeydew, a food source. ...

N

• natural resource
• negative feedback loop
• neutralism
• niche
• nitrogen cycle
• nutrient

Negative feedback is a type of feedback, during which a system responds so as to reverse the direction of change. ... Neutralism describes the relationship (or lack thereof) between two species which do not interact with or affect each other. ... Two lichenes species on a rock, in two different ecological niches In ecology, a niche is a term describing the relational position of a species or population in an ecosystem. ... Schematic representation of the flow of Nitrogen through the environment. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

O

P

• phosphorus cycle
• pioneer species
• pollination
• pollinator decline
• political ecology
• pollution
• population
• protocooperation

The phosphorus cycle is the biogeochemical cycle that describes the movement of phosphorus through the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. ... Media:Example. ... A flower-fly pollinating a Common Daisy (Bellis perennis) Pollination is an important step in the reproduction of seed plants: the transfer of pollen grains (male gametes) to the plant carpel, the structure that contains the ovule (female gamete). ... Pollinator decline is based on observations made at the end of the twentieth century of the reduction in abundance of pollinators in many ecosystems worldwide. ... Political ecology is an umbrella term for a variety of projects that involve politics and the environment. ... It has been suggested that Pollutant be merged into this article or section. ... Protocooperation is where two species interact with each other beneficially; they have no need to interact with each other they interact purely for the gain that they receive from doing this. ...

Q

R

• restoration ecology
• run-off

Restoration ecology is the study of returning degraded ecosystems and landscapes to a reference state where ecological communities and processes are re-established. ... Run-off, composed of a mixture of water and soil along with any other organic or inorganic substances that may exist in the land, is the product of precipitation, snowmelt, over-irrigation, or other water coming in contact with the earth and carrying matter to streams, rivers, lakes, and other...

S

• soil
• source-sink dynamics
• speciation
• sulfur cycle
• symbiosis
• synecology
• system

For the American hard rock band, see Soil (band). ... Caution! This Article Is Under Construction This article or section is currently in the middle of an expansion or major revamping. ... Charles Darwins first sketch of an evolutionary tree from his First Notebook on Transmutation of Species (1837) Speciation is the evolutionary process by which new biological species arise. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Meat Ants harvest Leaf Hoppers for their honey dew. ... Community ecology is the study of the distribution, abundance, demography, and interactions between coexisting populations (not precisely synonymous with population ecology). ... System (from Latin systēma, in turn from Greek sustēma) is a set of entities, real or abstract, comprising a whole where each component interacts with or is related to at least one other component. ...

T

• temperature
• terrestrial ecology
• terrestrial ecoregion
• trophic level

Fig. ... Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... In ecology, the trophic level (Greek trophē, food) is the position that an organism occupies in a food chain - what it eats, and what eats it. ...

U

V

• Verhulst equation
• virology
• virus
• Volterra-Lotka equations

The logistic function or logistic curve is defined by the mathematical formula: for real parameters a, m, n, and . ... Virology, often considered a part of microbiology or of pathology, is the study of organic viruses: their structure and classification, their ways to infect and exploit cells to reproduce and cause disease, the techniques to isolate and culture them, and their potential uses in research and therapy. ... Groups I: dsDNA viruses II: ssDNA viruses III: dsRNA viruses IV: (+)ssRNA viruses V: (-)ssRNA viruses VI: ssRNA-RT viruses VII: dsDNA-RT viruses A virus is a microscopic particle (ranging in size from 20 - 300 nm) that can infect the cells of a biological organism. ... The Lotka-Volterra equations, also known as the predator-prey equations, are a pair of first order, non-linear, differential equations frequently used to describe the dynamics of biological systems in which two species interact, one a predator and one its prey. ...

W

• waste
• water cycle
• water vapour
• watershed
• web of life

WASTE is a peer-to-peer and friend-to-friend protocol and software application developed by Justin Frankel at Nullsoft in 2003 that features instant messaging, chat rooms & file browsing/sharing capabilities. ... The movement of water around, over, and through the Earth is called the water cycle. ... Boundaries: Phase, Pressure, Temperature Evaporation/Sublimation Whenever a water molecule leaves a surface, it is said to have evaporated. ... This article includes a list of works cited but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... Food chains and food webs and/or food networks describe the feeding relationships between species in a biotic community. ...

X

Y

Z