S279 Our dynamic planet: Earth and life
Glossary for Book 2
acritarch Any small non-calcareous, non-
siliceous organic structure that cannot otherwise be
classified.
adiabatic From the Greek for ‘impassable’ – a
reference to the fact that heat passes neither from
or to a substance undergoing an adiabatic process.
advection Transfer of heat by physically moving
material.
albedo The fraction of incoming solar radiation
that is reflected from a surface.
anoxic Without oxygen, or oxygen poor.
aphelion The point on an orbit which lies
furthest from the Sun.
atmospheric window The range of longwave
radiation leaving the Earth system between
8–13 µm where there is relatively little absorption.
autotrophic Organisms that manufacture their
own food.
bacteria Very small, single-celled life forms: the
most primitive living beings.
bicarbonate ion (HCO3–)
biogeochemical cycle Global cycling of an
element used by organisms.
biological pump The transfer of carbon from
surface waters to the deep ocean.
biolimiting Nutrients that can become
completely used up by phytoplankton, thus
preventing the growth of further organisms.
biomes Distinct ecosystem types.
biota All the plant and animal life of a region.
boundary layer The relatively still and humid
layer of air next to the ground.
Cambrian Explosion The diversification of
modern bilaterian life at the beginning of the
Phanerozoic.
Copyright © 2007 The Open University
carbohydrates Sugars, starches, and cellulose,
which contain C, H and O forming chains of simple
sugars and which function primarily in energy
storage, energy transport, and plant structure.
carbonate compensation depth, CCD The
depth in the ocean at which the proportion of
calcium carbonate remaining falls to less than 20%
of the total sediment.
carbonate ion (CO32–).
carbonate platforms Broad, shallow, submarine
plateaux.
carbonate system The reactions that occur
between gaseous carbon dioxide and its various
aqueous forms.
carbon fixation A process found in autotrophs,
usually driven by photosynthesis, whereby carbon
dioxide is converted into organic compounds.
chalk A distinctively fine-grained kind of
limestone.
chemical equilibrium A dynamic balance
between forward and reverse reactions.
Chloroplasts The organelles that effect
photosynthesis in green plant cells.
chromosomes Separate strands of genes, usually
in pairs, contained in the nucleus of a cell.
conduction Spread of heat energy through a
solid, e.g. the heating of a saucepan handle when
the pan is heated.
convection The transfer of heat by circulation
through a gas or liquid.
Coriolis effect The deflection of winds relative
to the surface of the Earth resulting from the
rotation of the Earth below air masses.
crown groups A group of closely related
organisms which includes the common ancestor
plus all its descendents.
1.1
cycads Plants that may represent the evolutionary
link between ferns and flowering plants.
decarbonation reactions A reaction during the
heating of silicate and oxide minerals releasing CO2.
diamicrite An unsorted mixture of rock that is of
glacial origin.
diploid Doubling up of chromosomes in the cell
nucleus.
Ediacaran Period The last 70 Ma or so
(610–540 Ma) of the Proterozoic.
electromagnetic spectrum The ordered series of
all known types of electromagnetic radiation,
arranged by wavelength ranging from short cosmic
rays through gamma rays, X-rays, ultraviolet
radiation, visible radiation, infrared radiation,
microwaves, to the long wavelengths of radio
energy.
endosymbiotic hypothesis The idea that
organelles were once independent prokaryotes that
took up symbiotic residence inside ancestral
eukaryotic host cells.
endothermic Reactions that require energy.
epeirogenic changes See isostatic changes.
eukaryotic cell A cell with a true nucleus as well
as sub-cellular organelles.
eustatic changes Worldwide sea-level changes
that affect all oceans, e.g. due to the formation and
melting of land ice.
evapotranspiration The process in plants
whereby water drawn up from the soil by roots is
lost to the atmosphere through pores in leaves.
evolutionary faunas Sets of major groups of
animals, each set showing a characteristic pattern
of family turnover.
evolutionary radiations Phases of significant
increase in numbers of species within groups of
organisms.
exothermic Reactions that release energy.
extremophile An organism that can tolerate, or
requires, environmental conditions considered
extreme to people.
false rings Tree growth rings found in fossils
showing interruptions during the summer growing
season.
fitness An individual’s production of offspring,
themselves surviving to be capable of reproduction,
relative to other individuals.
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flood basalts Vast accumulations of horizontal
basaltic rocks rapidly erupted from fissures over
large areas.
forcing function An external input to the Earth’s
climate system.
gametes Parental cells, e.g. eggs and sperm.
gene duplication The assignment of Hox genes
to control the development of other body parts.
GEOCARB model A model for the evolution of
the carbon cycle and of atmospheric CO2 over
geological time.
GSSP (Global Stratotype Section and Point)
An internationally agreed upon stratigraphic
section which serves as the reference section for a
particular boundary on the geologic time scale.
glossopterids Deciduous trees with distinctive
tongue-shaped leaves.
Greenhouse effect The absorption of outgoing
longwave radiation and the subsequent re-radiation
that keeps the Earth’s average surface temperature
at ~15 °C.
gross primary production (GPP) The total
amount of carbon fixed via photosynthesis by plants.
gymnosperms The seed-bearing plants.
Hadley circulation The latitudinal-vertical
component of a helical circulatory system.
halite pseudomorphs Casts of sediment filling
often cube-shaped voids from which the original
halite crystals had been dissolved.
haploid Cells containing only a single set of
chromosomes.
herbaceous Non-woody plants.
heterotrophic Organisms that consume organics
or other organisms, whether plants of animals, to
obtain energy.
homeostasis Systems of self-regulation that
maintain stable conditions within the organism in
the face of a range of environmental perturbations.
hox genes Genes responsible for ‘pattern
formation’ – that is, the overall arrangement of
appendages – on the body of an organism.
hydrological cycle The movement of water that
underpins the cycling of many other constituents
through the Earth–atmosphere–ocean system.
hyperthermophiles Organisms need high
temperatures to grow (generally greater than 60 °C).
intermediate scale (carbon cycle) Up to
hundreds of thousands of years involving chemical,
biological and physical components.
Intertropical Convergence Zone (or ITCZ)
The place where the wind systems of the two
hemispheres meet.
isostatic (or epeirogenic) changes Sea-level
changes caused by vertical movements of the crust.
Such movements may be caused by changes in the
thickness and/or density of the lithosphere, and by
loading or unloading with ice or sediments.
kerogen Dense residue enriched in carbon
formed in an oxygen-poor environment.
late Ediacaran 550 Ma ago.
leaf margin analysis A widely used method that
applies present-day correlations between the
proportion of species with untoothed leaves and
mean annual temperature to estimate
palaeotemperatures from fossil megafloras.
leaf physiognomy The shape size and margin
analysis of a leaf.
lignin The carbon in plant structural material.
long scale (carbon cycle) Geological timescale
of up to hundreds of millions of years, involving
rocks and sediments.
macrophagy The ability to ingest and digest
food extracellularly by allowing the development
of the gut.
mantle plumes Upcurrents of magma rising from
the boundary between the mantle and the core,
deep within the Earth
marine snow Clumps or aggregates of fluffy
debris in the oceans made up of dead and dying
algal cells and bacteria.
mass extinction World-wide extinction of many
species.
meiosis Cell division which halves the number of
chromosomes, whilst also exchanging segments of
DNA between the matching chromosome pairs of
the diploid parents.
mesoscale eddies Intermediate size eddies about
50–250 km across (i.e. about a quarter of the size
of mid-latitude atmospheric cyclones and
anticyclones).
microfossils Microscopic fossils.
midvein The main vein running through a leaf
(also known as primary vein).
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Milankovich cycles Changes in climate resulting
from seasonal fluctuations caused by changes in
elements of the Earth’s orbit, i.e. eccentricity, tilt
of the rotational axis and longitude of perihelion.
mitochondria A eukaryote organelle responsible
for the energy supply derived from aerobic
respiration.
mitosis Cell division that conserves chromosome
numbers in the nucleus.
molecular clock theory The idea that as
evolutionary lineages diverge from a common
ancestor so too do their sequences as a
consequence of cumulative mutational change in
each lineage.
molecular phylogenies Comparisons between
organisms that use genetic sequences to determine
how similar they are.
mountain-forcing model A model that suggests
changes in atmospheric CO2 concentrations are
driven primarily by changes in chemical
weathering rates.
net primary production (NPP) The carbon that
is not released back into the atmosphere via plant
respiration.
NLR (nearest living relatives) technique
Assumes that ancient plants and plant communities
lived under similar conditions to those of their
nearest living relatives.
nutrients Elements necessary for growth in a
form that can be used by organisms.
organelles Minute, intracellular structures
serving a specific function in the life processes of
the cell.
particulate organic carbon (POC) Fragments
of organic carbon, e.g. in soil.
perihelion The point on an orbit which lies
closest to the Sun.
pH Hydrogen ion concentration in water, where a
low pH corresponds to a high hydrogen ion
concentration and vice versa.
phloem The vascular tissue which enables
movement of the products of leaf photosynthesis
(such as sugars) to the rest of the plant.
photic zone The sunlit surface waters of the
oceans.
photosynthesis The process undertaken by
organisms to build their own organic material from
CO2 and H2O, also producing O2.
physical erosion The break up of rocks e.g. by
the action if ice, changes of temperature, that is not
due to chemical change.
physiognomy The architecture of the plant or
community applied when the fossils are in the form
of vegetative organs, particularly leaves.
phytoplankton Minute floating algae: the
primary producers of the oceans.
polar front The boundary between warm tropical
air and the underlying cold polar air
polar jet stream A high-level, fast air current
that in each hemisphere flows around the Earth
above the polar front.
primary production The process of building
living material by fixing carbon.
progymnosperms The woody dominant canopy
formers in the earliest forests.
prokaryotic cells Cells whose DNA is not bound
into a nucleus and which lacks organelles
radiogenic strontium,, 87Sr The product of
radioactive decay of one of the isotopes of
rubidium, 87Rb.
residence time A measure of the average length
of time an individual molecule, e.g. water in the
hydrological cycle, spends in any particular stage.
respiration The release, by organisms, of energy
stored in organic matter.
rhizoids Small root-hair-like appendages along
rhizomes that anchored the planet to its substrate.
rhizome The prostrate stem of early land plants.
rudists A group of bivalves that peaked in
abundance and diversity during the late Mesozoic
whose morphology consisted of a lower, roughly
conical valve that was attached to the seafloor or to
neighboring rudists, and a smaller upper valve that
served as a kind of lid for the organism.
salinity The measure of concentration of
dissolved salts.
secondary veins Second series veins in a leaf
that branch off the midvein.
sedimentary succession Sequence of
sedimentary strata.
sensible heat Heat which can be felt, or sensed.
sensitivity The size of the response of a system
to a forcing of given magnitude.
sessile An organism that does not move itself
about and is often attached to a substrate.
sexual reproduction The mixing together of
genes from different individuals.
shocked quartz Quartz with microscopic
deformation along planes, resulting from asteroid
and comet impacts, i.e. intense pressure.
short scale (carbon cycle) Biological timescale
of months/years to decades.
snowball Earth The hypothesis that proposes
that the Earth was entirely covered by ice in part of
the Cryogenian and Ediacaran periods of the
Proterozoic era, and perhaps also at other times in
Earth history.
steady-state model A model that assumes that
the system has attained equilibrium.
symbiont An organism that is associated with
another in a mutually beneficial relationship.
taphonomy The study of sedimentological and
biological evidence relating to explanations of
fossilization phenomena.
taxa A taxonomic category or group, such as a
phylum, order, family, genus, or species.
taxonomic hierarchy The classification of
organisms into a nested series of increasingly
inclusive groups (taxa) from species to kingdoms.
tertiary veins Third series veins in a leaf that
branch from secondary veins.
thermohaline The oceans’ deep temperature-
salinity circulation system.
transpiration The loss of water from a plant’s
leaves.
troposphere The lower atmosphere, making up
~80% of the total mass of the atmosphere.
water masses Homogeneous bodies of water
formed by deep mixing.
xylem The primary water-conducting tissue in
plants.
zooplankton The animal component of plankton;
animals suspended or drifting in the water column
including larvae of many fish and benthic
invertebrates.