definitions

• biodiversity


  a variety of living organisms in an area
• clearfelling


  the removal of all trees in an area
• climate


  the long-term precipitation and temperature patterns of an area
• coral polyp


  a tube-shaped marine animal that lives in a colony and produces a stony skeleton. Polyps are the living part of a coral reef.
• deforestation


  clearing forests to make way for housing or agricultural development
• desertification


  the conversion of an area to have desert like qualities. Usually caused by overgrazing, prolonged drought or climate change
• land degradation


  a decline in the quality of land, which makes it less able to support agriculture or native vegetation
• leaching


  the process in which water runs through soil, dissolving minerals and carrying them into the subsoil
• leeward


  describes the area behind a mountain range, away from the moist prevailing winds
• logging


  the cutting down, processing and removal of trees from an area
• nocturnal


  active during the night
• organic matter


  decomposing remains of plant or animal matter
• prairie


  native grasslands of North America
• permafrost


  permanently frozen ground
• Pneumatophores


  exposed root system of mangroves, which enable them to take in air when the tide is in
• prevailing winds


  the dominant direction a wind blows from
• rain shadow


  the dry area on the leeward side of a mountain range
• urbanisation


  the process of economic and social change in which an increasing proportion of the population of a country or region live in urban areas
• salinity


  salt on the surface of the land, in soil or rocks, or dissolved in rivers and groundwater
• windward


  describes the side of the mountain that faces the prevailing winds
• Leeward


  The area behind a mountain range, away from the moist prevailing winds
• Windward


  The area facing a mountain range, exposed to the moist prevailing winds