- Industry: Biology
- Number of terms: 15386
- Number of blossaries: 0
- Company Profile:
Terrapsychology is a word coined by Craig Chalquist to describe deep, systematic, trans-empirical approaches to encountering the presence, soul, or "voice" of places and things: what the ancients knew as their resident genius loci or indwelling spirit. This perspective emerged from sustained ...
Encefalopatia spongiforme bovina (BSE), una malattia infettiva mortale che degenera il sistema nervoso centrale dei bovini. Si potrebbe avere evoluto dallo scrapie, una simile malattia che infetta le pecore e capre. In Gran Bretagna, la pratica di alimentare il bestiame con i resti di altri bovini non conosciuti per essere infettato ha contribuito a diffondere la malattia nei mid-1980s. (Dato come industria di imballaggio della carne li considera comunque, nessuna meraviglia che le mucche sono pazza.)
Industry:Biology
Annual or seasonal shedding of foliage from trees and shrubs. Conserves water by cutting down on transpiration and nutrients by reducing what the leaves required. Deciduous trees are useful in gardens because they give shade in summer, let in light in winter, and drop leaves that enrich the soil when decomposed. They are best transplanted when dormant (late autumn to early spring).
Industry:Biology
The evolution of a new species. This usually happens through either geographical separation over long periods of time, or through reinforcement, in which subtle differences in characteristics like calls or wing markings are more favored in mates. When Agrodiaetus butterflies live together, for example, the males tend to develop markings that distinguish them by species. Females of the same species prefer them. This provides the kind of breeding barrier an ocean or mountain range might.
Industry:Biology
Hydrocarbon liquid commonly drilled from sedimentary layers packed with marine matter left over from the Carboniferous days. Its dark, spellbinding, "oildorado" properties include convincing large groups of people to vote against cheap public transportation and elevating pirates and robber barons into heads of nation-states. See Peak Oil.
Industry:Biology
Cycling of nitrogen from the air and soil to plants, animals, and then back to the environment. Bacteria, legumes, and algae convert atmospheric nitrogen into nitrates that enter plant roots before turning into protoplasm that decomposers eventually break down again.
Industry:Biology
For food and resources. Types: interference (by direct attack), exploitation (forced to share a resource), scramble (everyone gets something), contest (one competitor gets it all), and restrictive (preventing someone else from getting it); also, inter- and intraspecific modes (between or within species). Competition tends to characterize less mature ecosystems. Note: there is some debate about how much of the "competition" and "dominance" we see in the natural world is projected there by observers who take such behaviors in overmanaged human societies for granted.
Industry:Biology
Hydrocarbon liquid commonly drilled from sedimentary layers packed with marine matter left over from the Carboniferous days. Its dark, spellbinding, "oildorado" properties include convincing large groups of people to vote against cheap public transportation and elevating pirates and robber barons into heads of nation-states. See Peak Oil.
Industry:Biology
The classification of life, starting with Aristotle's attempts. Botanist Carl Linneaus worked out a system in 1735 whose primary categories are still in use. From largest to smallest, here is how we fit them:
* Kingdom: Animalia (animals)
* Phylum: Chordata (with nerve chords)
* Subphylum: Vertebrata (and backbones)
* Superclass: Gnathostomata (and jaws for biting)
* Class: Mammalia (the young feed on mother's milk)
* Order: Primata (primates
* Suborder: Haplorrhini (dry-nosed)
* Family: Hominidae (erect, walking mammals)
* Genus: Homo (humans and their close relatives, all now extinct but us)
* Species: Homo sapiens (this two-name genus/species form is called binomial nomenclature)
Industry:Biology
An alternative high-yield farming method devised by John Jeavons. Drawing on traditional Chinese practices, Steiner's biodynamic farming, and French Intensive, the biointensive approach aims to grow soil rapidly, cut water consumption, and maintain optimal food production (the claim is that 100 square feet can feed one person for a year). The keystone: double-dug raised convex beds a meter or two wide oriented in a north-south axis for adequate sunlight. Small paths between rows minimize soil compaction and maximize plant microclimates. Leaves of mature plants just touch ("living mulch"). Steps for initial bed preparation include:
# Soak area for two hours, let dry for two days. # Loosen soil 12 inches deep with a spading fork and remove weeds. # Water for five minutes and let soil rest a day. # Spread compost, water five minutes, let soil rest a day. # Double dig to 24 inches; dig, don’t pulverize, and don’t turn over the upper layer. Dig when moist to avoid wrecking the soil structure. # Rake level, water 5 minutes, let rest a day. # Compost with a 50% soil mixture. # Plant seeds in beds 2-10 inches high. Space seeds hexagonally. # Water. # Water lightly daily in late afternoon.
Industry:Biology
Depletion of oxygen in water to less than 2 miligrams/liter. An excess of nutrients (eutrophication) from fertilizer runoffs, air pollution, sewage, soil erosion, and other sources can spark enough algal growth to deprive the water of oxygen and kill off fish and other organisms that need it.
Industry:Biology
