Exploring Earth’s Biotic and Abiotic Components
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Abiotic
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Composed of nonliving or inorganic matter
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Atmosphere
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The thin layer of gases surrounding Earth
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Biosphere
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All living organisms on Earth, including plants and animals, as well as microorganisms
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Biotic
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Composed of living organisms
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Cartography
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The science of making maps
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Climate
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The long-term average weather condition at a particular location
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Concentration
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The spread of something over a given area
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Connection
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Relationships among people and objects across the barrier of space
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Conservation
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The sustainable management of a natural resource
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Contagious diffusion
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The rapid, widespread diffusion of a feature or trend throughout a population
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Cultural ecology
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A geographic approach that emphasizes human-environment relationships
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Culture
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The body of customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits that together constitute a group's distinct tradition
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Density
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The frequency with which something exists within a given unit of area
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Diffusion
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The process of spread of a feature or trend from one place to another over time
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Distance decay
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The diminishing in importance and eventual disappearance of phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin
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Distribution
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The arrangement of something across Earth's surface
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Ecology
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The scientific study of ecosystems
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Ecosystem
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A group of living organisms and the abiotic spheres with which they interact
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Environmental determinism
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A nineteenth and early twentieth-century approach to the study of geography which argued that the general laws sought by human geographers could be found in the physical sciences. Geography was therefore the study of how physical environment caused human activities
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Expansion diffusion
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The spread of a feature or trend among people from one area to another in an additive process
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Formal region (or uniform or homogeneous region
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An area in which everyone shares in common one or more distinctive characteristics
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Functional region (or nodal region)
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An area organized around a node or focal point
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Geographic information science (GIScience)
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The development and analysis of data about Earth acquired through satellite and other electronic information technologies
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Geographic information system (GIS)
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A computer system that stores, organizes, and displays geographic data
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Global Positioning System (GPS)
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A system that determines the precise position of something on Earth through a series of satellites, tracking stations, and receivers
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Globalization
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Actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope
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Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
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The time in the zone encompassing the prime meridian, or 0 degrees longitude
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Hearth
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The region from which innovative ideas originate
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Hierarchical diffusion
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The spread of a feature or trend from one key person or node of authority or power to other persons or places
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Housing bubble
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A rapid increase in the value of houses followed by a sharp decline in their value
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Hydrosphere
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All of the water on and near Earth's surface
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International Date Line
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An arc that for the most part follows 180 degrees longitude, although it deviates in several places to avoid dividing land areas. When you cross the international Date Line heading east (toward America), the clock moves back 24 hours, or one entire day. When you go west (toward Asia), the calendar moves ahead one day.
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Latitude
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The numbering system used to indicate the location of parallels drawn on a globe and measuring distance north and south of the equator (0 degrees)
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Lithosphere
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Earth's crust and a portion of upper mantle directly below the crust
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Location
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The position of anything on Earth's surface
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Longitude
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The numbering system used to indicate the location of meridians drawn on a globe and measuring distance east and west of the prime meridian (0 degrees)
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Map
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A two-dimensional, or flat, representation of Earth's surface or a portion of it
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Map scale
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The relationship between the size of an object on a map and the size of the actual feature on Earth's surface
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Meridian
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An arc drawn on a map between the North and South poles
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Network
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A chain of communication that connects places
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Nonrenewable resources
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Something produced in nature more slowly than it is consumed by humans
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Parallel
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A circle drawn around the globe parallel to the equator and at right angles to the meridians
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Pattern
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The geometric or regular arrangement of something in a study area
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Place
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A specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular characteristic
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Polder
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Land created by the Dutch by draining water form an area
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Possibilism
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The theory that the physical environment may set limits on human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to the physical environment and choose a course of action from many alternatives.
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Preservation
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The maintenance of resources in their present condition, with as little human impact as possible
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Prime meridian
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The meridian, designated as 0 degrees longitude, that passes through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England
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Projection
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A system used to transfer locations on Earth's surface to a map
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Region
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An area distinguished by a unique combination of trends or features
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Regional (or cultural landscape) studies
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An approach to geography that emphasizes the relationships among social and physical phenomena in a particular study area
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Relocation diffusion
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The spread of a feature or trend through bodily movement of people from one place to another
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Remote sensing
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The acquisition of data about Earth's surface from a satellite orbiting the planet or from other long-distance methods
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Renewable resource
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Something produced in nature more rapidly that it is consumed by humans
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Resource
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A substance in the environment that is useful to people, is economically and technologically feasible to access, and is socially acceptable to use
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Scale
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Generally, the relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and Earth as a whole
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Site
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The physical character of a place
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Situation
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The location of a place relative to anther place
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Space
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The physical gap or interval between two objects
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Space-time compression
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The reduction in the time it takes to diffuse something to a distant place as a result of improved communications and transportation systems
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Stimulus diffusion
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The spread of an underlying principle even though a specific characteristic is rejected
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toponym
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The name given to a portion of Earth's surfact
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Transnational corporation
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A company that conducts research, operates factories, and sells products in many countries, not just where its headquarters or share holds are located
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Uneven development
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The increasing gap in economic globalization of the economy
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Vernacular region (or perceptual region)
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An area that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity
