- BFS
- About us
- Parents
- Students
- Sixth Form
- Contact us
- VLE
- Open Event
- Open Event
- Open Event
- Sixth Form Subject Videos
- Assessment in KS3
- Exam - Advance information
Abiotic | components in an ecosystem that are non-living environmental factors such as climate (temperature and rainfall), soil, water temperature and light |
Biome | global-scale ecosystems such as a tropical rainforest or deciduous woodland |
Biotic | components in an ecosystem that are living such as plants and fish |
Component | an individual part or element of a wider system |
Consumer | organism that eats herbivores and/or plant matter |
Decomposer | organisms such as bacteria or fungi that break down plant and animal material |
Ecosystem | a community of plants and animals that interact with each other and their physical environment |
Food chain | connections between different organisms (plants and animals) that rely upon one another as their source of food |
Food web | a complex hierarchy of plants and animals relying on each other for food |
Global atmospheric circulation | large scale circulation (movement) of the atmosphere |
Global ecosystems | large scale ecosystem, such as tropical rainforest or tundra |
Lines of latitude | lines that run parallel to Earths Equator, measured in degrees |
Nutrient cycle | on-going recycling of nutrients between living organisms and their environment |
Producer | an organism or plant that is able to absorb energy from the sun through photosynthesis |
Achuar tribe | a primitive tribe of about 11,000 who live in the Peruvian Amazon |
Biodiversity | the variety of life in the world or a particular ecosystem |
Canopy | the continuous layer of branches in a forest, which in tropical rainforests hosts the majority of plant and animal species |
Carbon sink | the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere |
Climate | the average weather over a long period of time |
Climate change | a long-term change in the earth's climate, especially a change due to an increase in the average atmospheric temperature |
Conservation | managing the environment in order to preserve, protect or restore it |
Debt reduction | countries are relieved of some of their debt in return for an agreement that they preserve and protect their natural environments |
Deforestation | the cutting down and removal of forest |
Ecotourism | nature tourism usually involving small groups with minimal impact on the environment |
Equator | an imaginary line that divides Earths surface into a northern and southern hemisphere |
Global warming | the increase of global temperatures |
Hardwood | important resource provided by tropical rainforests |
Indigenous tribes | native to a particular place, usually living in harmony with the natural environment, using resources without causing long-term harm |
Infertile soil | soil which is unable to reproduce or sustain life |
International agreements | promises made between countries and/or organisations to mitigate the destruction of natural habitats |
Leaching | heavy rainfall quickly dissolves and carries away nutrients in rainforest soils, leaving behind infertile red, iron-rich soil called latosol |
Mineral extraction | the removal of solid mineral resources from the earth |
Oil palm | raw material extracted from tropical rainforests |
Protection | actions taken before a hazard strikes to reduce its impact, such as educating people or improving building design |
Selective logging | sustainable forestry management where only carefully selected trees are cut down |
Slash and burn | a method of land clearing that involves the use of fire, which creates valuable nutrients to help plants grow, but can grow out of control and destroy large areas of forest |
Soil erosion | removal of topsoil faster than it can be replaced, due to natural (water and wind action), animal, and human activity |
Subsistence farming | a type of agriculture producing only enough food and materials for the benefit of a farmer and their family |
Sustainability | actions that meet the needs of the present without reducing the ability of future generations to meet their needs |
Transmigration | people removed from one place and moved to another |
Tropical rainforest | global-scale ecosystem mainly found close to the Equator, characterised by high temperatures, high rainfall and huge biodiversity |
Accessibility | the ease of access to a place |
Adventure tourism | a type of tourism that involves the travel to a remote or exotic location to pursue physically challenging activities such as hiking or kayaking |
Arctic Ocean | ocean located in the northern hemisphere within the Arctic Circle |
Conservation group | an organisation that helps protect threatened and endangered environments or wildlife e.g. the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) |
Extreme temperatures | temperatures that present challenges for people, animals and plants living in in certain environments |
Fragile | vulnerable, or easily damaged |
Geothermal energy | energy generated by heat stored deep in the Earth |
International agreements | promises made between countries and/or organisations to mitigate the destruction of natural habitats |
Oil spill | the accidental leakage of oil from rigs or refineries into the surrounding area, resulting in severe environmental damage and pollution |
Permafrost | permanently frozen ground, found in polar and tundra regions |
Polar | the most extreme cold environment with permanent ice, i.e. Greenland and Antarctica |
Pollution | chemicals, noise, dirt or other substances which have harmful or poisonous effects on an environment |
Tundra | a vast, flat, treeless Arctic region of Europe, Asia, and North America where the subsoil is permanently frozen |
Wilderness areas | a natural environment that has not been significantly modified by human activity |
Air pollution | harmful emissions, or other substances, that enter Earths atmosphere |
Economic opportunities | chances for people to improve their standard of living through employment |
Favela | a squatter settlement in a Brazilian city |
Formal economy | the type of employment where people receive a regular wage, pay tax, and have certain rights such as paid holidays and sick leave |
Global city | urban area with an important role in the global economy |
Inequalities | differences between people, in terms of factors such as; poverty, wealth, wellbeing, employment opportunities, housing, education etc. |
Informal economy | employment outside the official knowledge of the government |
Land use | the way in which land is used, or has been modified or managed by people |
Megacities | an urban area with a total population of more than ten million people |
Migration | when people move from one area to another |
Natural increase | birth rate minus the death rate of a population |
Pollution | the presence of chemicals, noise, dirt or other substances which have harmful or poisonous effects on an environment |
Pull factors | the attractions and opportunities of a place that encourage people to move there |
Push factors | the negative aspects of a place that encourage people to move away |
Quality of life | how good a persons life is, measured by such things of housing and environment, access to education, healthcare, how secure people feel and how happy they are with their lifestyle |
Ruralurban migration | when people move from rural to urban areas |
Sanitation | measures designed to protect public health, such as providing clean water and disposing of sewage and waste |
Service industries | the economic activities that provide various services ? commercial, professional, social, entertainment and personal |
Site and service scheme | where a local authority provides land and services for residents to build homes |
Squatter settlement | an area of (often illegal) poor-quality housing, lacking in services like water supply, sewerage and electricity |
Traffic congestion | when there is too great a volume of traffic for roads to cope with, and traffic slows to a crawl |
Urban growth | the increase in the area covered by cities |
Urbanization | when an increasing percentage of a country's population live in towns and cities |
Abrasion | (1) rocks carried along a river wear down the river bed and banks |
Arch | a wave-eroded passage through a small headland. This begins as a cave which is gradually widened and deepened until it cuts through |
Attrition | rocks being carried by the river smash together and break into smaller, smoother and rounder particles |
Bay | a wide coastal inlet, often with a beach, where areas of less resistant rock have been eroded by the sea |
Beach | a zone of deposited material that extends from the low water line to the limit of storm waves |
Beach nourishment | adding new material to a beach artificially, through the dumping of large amounts of sand or shingle |
Berm | a low ridge on a sandy beach created by swash, usually marks the high tide line |
Biological weathering | a type of weathering caused by flora and fauna, such as plant roots growing in cracks in the rock or animals burrowing into weak rocks |
Carbonation | weathering of limestone and chalk by acidic rainwater |
Cave | a large hole in a cliff caused by waves forcing their way into cracks in the cliff face |
Cavitation | the explosive force of air trapped in the cracks of rock |
Chemical weathering | the decomposition (or rotting) of rock caused by a chemical change within that rock |
Cliff | a steep high rock face formed by weathering and erosion |
Coastal management | strategies used to defend coastal environments, divided into three different approaches: hard engineering, soft engineering and managed retreat |
Coastal realignment | the establishment of a new coastline as part of managed retreat, often allowing flooding to occur over low-lying land to protect farmland, roads and settlements |
Concordant coastline | a straight coastline with a single rock running parallel to the coast |
Constructive waves | a powerful wave with a strong swash that surges up a beach |
Corrosion | chemical erosion caused by the dissolving of rocks and minerals by sea water |
Deposition | occurs when material being transported by the sea is dropped due to the sea losing energy |
Destructive waves | a wave formed by a local storm that crashes down onto a beach and has a powerful backwash |
Discordant coastline | an indented coastline made up of headlands and bays formed when different rocks reach the coast |
Dune | deposit of sand which has been blown inland by onshore winds |
Dune fencing | fences constructed on sandy beaches to encourage the formation of new sand dunes to protect existing dunes |
Dune regeneration | building up dunes and increasing vegetation to prevent excessive coastal retreat |
Erosion | wearing away and removal of material by a moving force, such as a breaking wave |
Fault | a crack or line of weakness in rock |
Fetch | the distance of open water over which the wind can blow |
Freeze-thaw weathering | a common process of weathering in a glacial environment involving repeated cycles of freezing and thawing that can make cracks in rock bigger |
Gabions | steel wire mesh filled with boulders used in coastal defences |
Geological structure | the way that layers of rock are folded or tilted |
Grid reference | a map reference that indicates a location using numbered vertical and horizontal lines that run up and down, and increase in value from bottom to top of the map |
Groyne | a wooden barrier built out into the sea to stop the longshore drift of sand and shingle, and allow the beach to grow |
Headland | a rocky coastal promontory (highpoint of land) made of rock that is resistant to erosion: headlands lie between bays of less resistant rock where the land has been eroded by the sea |
Hydraulic power | process where breaking waves compress pockets of air in cracks in a cliff; the pressure may cause the crack to widen, breaking off rock |
Jurassic Coast | a 154km stretch of coast in East Devon and Dorset which was made a World Heritage Site in 2001 because of its geological importance |
Landform | a physical feature of the Earths surface |
Landslide | the movement of rock, earth or debris down the slope of a hill. Also known as a landslip |
Longshore drift | transport of sediment along a stretch of coastline caused by waves approaching the beach at an angle |
Marram grass | type of grass that is adapted to windy, exposed conditions and is used in coastal management to stabilise sand dunes |
Mass movement | downhill movement of weathered material under the force of gravity |
Mechanical weathering | physical disintegration or break up of exposed rock without any change in its chemical composition, i.e. freezethaw |
Mudflats | areas of fine sediment deposits which over time can develop in saltmarshes |
Mudflow | when saturated soil and weak rock flow down a slope |
OS map | highly accurate maps drawn by Ordnance Survey, the national mapping agency for Great Britain |
Recurved end | strong winds or tidal current cause the end of a spit to become curved |
Reprofiling | increasing the height and width of beaches by dumping and shaping of dredged sand or shingle |
Rock armour | large boulders deliberately dumped on a beach as part of coastal defences |
Rockfall | a fragment of rock breaks away from the cliff face, often due to freeze-thaw weathering |
Rotational slip | slump of saturated soil and weak rock along a curved surface |
Salt weathering | a weathering process where salt crystals grow and expand in the cracks and holes of rock, creating pressure which eventually causes fragments of rock to break away |
Saltation | hopping movement of pebbles along a river or sea bed |
Saltmarshes | important natural habitats often found in sheltered river estuaries behind spits where there is very little flow of water |
Scree | accumulation of fragments of weathered rock |
Sea wall | concrete wall aiming to prevent erosion of the coast by reflecting wave energy |
Sliding | loose surface material becomes saturated and the extra weight causes the material to become unstable and move rapidly downhill |
Solution | the dissolving of rocks such as limestone and chalk by sea water |
Spit | depositional landform formed when a finger of sediment extends from the shore out to sea, often at a river mouth |
Stack | isolated pillar of rock left when the top of an arch has collapsed |
Suspension | small particles carried in river flow or sea water, i.e. sands, silts and clays |
Swash | the forward movement of a wave up a beach |
Traction | heavy particles rolled along the sea bed |
Transportation | the movement of eroded material |
Tsunami | huge waves caused by earthquakes |
Wave refraction | wave energy is reduced in bays as the water gets shallower |
Waves | ripples in the sea caused by the transfer of energy from the wind blowing over the surface of the sea |
Wave-cut platform | rocky, level shelf at or around sea level representing the base of old, retreated cliffs |
Agribusiness | intensive farming aimed at maximizing the amount of food produced |
Carbon footprint | measurement of the greenhouse gases individuals produce, through burning fossil fuels |
Development | the progress of a country in terms of economic growth, the use of technology and human welfare |
Energy conservation | reducing energy consumption by using less energy and existing sources more efficiently |
Energy mix | the range of energy sources of a region or country, both renewable and non-renewable |
Energy security | uninterrupted availability of energy sources at an affordable price |
Food miles | the distance covered supplying food to consumers |
Fossil fuels | a natural fuel such as coal or gas, formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms |
Fracking | the process of extracting gas from gas shale where fluids at high pressure are injected to fracture the shale rock, allowing the gas to escape |
Grey water | recycled domestic waste water |
Import | goods and services bought by residents of a country from another country |
Organic produce | food produced without the use of chemicals such as fertilisers and pesticides |
Renewable energy | a resource that cannot be exhausted, e.g. wind, solar and tidal energy |
Resources | a stock or supply of something that has value or a purpose |
Resource management | control and monitoring of resources so that they do not become exhausted |
Undernourishment | a food intake below that needed to sustain a healthy life |
Undernutrition | when people do not eat enough nutrients to cover their needs for energy and growth, or to maintain a healthy immune system |
Water deficit | when demand for water is greater than supply |
Water quality | measured in terms of the chemical, physical and biological content of the water |
Water stress | when the demand for water exceeds supply in a certain period, or when poor quality restricts its use |
Water surplus | when the supply of water is greater than demand for water |
Water transfer | matching supply with demand by moving water from an area with water surplus to another area with water deficit |
Aquifer | underground water source |
Bund | a small dam which diverts water away from a stream to irrigate fields, usually made of stones and lined with leaves to make it waterproof |
Dam and reservoir | a barrier built across a valley to interrupt river flow and create a man-made lake to store water and control river discharge |
Desalinisation | the process of removing salt from seawater to produce fresh water |
Drought | a long, continuous period of dry weather |
Evaporation | the process of water changing from liquid to vapour |
Grey water | recycled domestic waste water |
Groundwater | freshwater source that is found beneath the Earths surface |
Groundwater management | regulation and control of water levels, pollution, ownership and use of groundwater |
Infrastructure | the basic equipment and structures (such as roads, utilities, water supply and sewage) that are needed for a country or region to function properly |
Irrigation | artificial application of water to the land or soil |
Johed | small earth dam for catching rainwater as a drinking water source, found in the Thar Desert, Pakistan |
Over abstraction | when groundwater is used more quickly than it is being replaced |
Pat system | irrigation channels that transfer water to the fields |
Permeable rocks | rocks that allow water to pass through them |
Pollution | chemicals, noise, dirt or other substances which have harmful or poisonous effects on an environment |
Sustainability | actions that meet the needs of the present without reducing the ability of future generations to meet their needs |
Taanka | underground storage systems about 3m in diameter and 3-4m deep which collect surface water from roofs |
Water conflict | disputes between different regions or countries over the distribution and use of water |
Water conservation | the preservation, control and development of water resources, both surface and groundwater, and prevention of pollution |
Water deficit | when the demand for water is greater than the supply of water |
Water insecurity | when water availability is insufficient to ensure the good health and livelihood of a population, due to short supply or poor quality |
Water pollution | the contamination of water by substances that are harmful or poisonous to the environment, and make water supplies unsuitable for drinking |
Water quality | measured in terms of the chemical, physical and biological content of the water |
Water recycling | process of extracting and reusing useful substances found in waste |
Water security | availability of a reliable source of acceptable quantity and quality of water |
Water stress | when the demand for water exceeds supply in a certain period, or when poor quality restricts its use |
Water surplus | when the supply of water is greater than demand for water |
Water transfer | matching supply with demand by moving water from an area with water surplus to another with water deficit |
Waterborne diseases | diseases like cholera and typhoid caused by microorganisms in contaminated water |