Collins Dictionary of Environmental Science [antikvár]

PREFACE At no other time in our history has the need to understand the environment been more urgent. The sophistication, magnitude and diversity of the ways in which we alter the biosphere continues to grow, often in advance of our ability to deal with any resulting side-effects; the bio-engineering of new strains of plants and animals, the removal of vast tracts of the rain forests, the extensive use of synthetic agricultural chemicals, and the effects of the many types of pollution are just some of the ways by which the character of life on this planet is being altered. As the pace of this change increases, so too does the study of it. The past two decades have witnessed a growing awareness of the effects of human activity upon our planet's resources and during this period environmental science has evolved as a multidisciplinary field of study to examine the interaction of people and their environment. In the UK, as elsewhere, at the secondary and particularly the tertiary level, courses are being offered in a wide range of subjects which are all covered by the blanket term of environmental science, including environmental planning, heritage management, ecology, conservation policy, and countryside management. However, concern for, and interest in, the world in which we live is not the prerogative of the academic; as ecological issues increasingly attract media attention, so terms which were previously used only by environmental scientists have become articles of everyday speech, for example, CFCs, the greenhouse effect and reactor core meltdown. The Dictionary is thus intended to be of use to a variety of readers. Whilst primarily aimed at those studying environmental science or any of its component topics either in the final year at school or at university, it is hoped that it will also prove to be an invaluable source book for the lay reader as the public debate over environmental issues becomes increasingly technical. The Dictionary covers four major areas of study: the physical world, the biological world, the built environment, and the agro-economic infrastructure. In dealing with each of these, the underlying objectives have been to emphasize those topics which demonstrate the interaction of people and their environment and where possible to place each term within an international context. In compiling the Dictionary the authors took particular care to minimize problems likely to be caused by international variations in the interpretation of widely used terms and, as far as possible, to include the newest environmental