- Industry: Biology
- Number of terms: 15386
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Terrapsychology is a word coined by Craig Chalquist to describe deep, systematic, trans-empirical approaches to encountering the presence, soul, or "voice" of places and things: what the ancients knew as their resident genius loci or indwelling spirit. This perspective emerged from sustained ...
Cutting away stems or branches to improve a plant's vigor. Candidates include branches with a lot of bulk but little foliage, weak branches, V-shaped crotch branches, water sprouts, crisscrossed branches, double leaders, shaded branches, and crown sprouts.
Industry:Biology
Anything that eats or damages what we eat. Too many pests mean not enough predators, like fish or birds for mosquitos and gopher snakes for gophers, who also avoid daffodils, elderberry cuttings, and castor beans. Teas made of chamomile, stinging nettle, comfrey, or horsetail discourage harmful fungi. Marigolds control whiteflies, spearmint, tansy, and pennyroyal control ants, Mexican marigold controls nematodes and root pests, as do French marigolds; yellow nasturtiums decoy black aphids, which are repelled by spearmint, stinging nettle, southernwood, and garlic, and borage repels tomato worms while attracting helpful bees.
Industry:Biology
The hypothesized passing on of something learned, but not through the discredited Lamarckian theory of evolution (the inheritance of what previous generations experienced). Walking upright could be an example, as a band of our ancestors imitated some forgotten hominid who preferred that style of locomotion and then gave rise to descendants whose genes favored the behavior. The Baldwin Effect fills in a gap in how natural selection is thought to work by explaining how learnings normally invisible to it become innate.
Industry:Biology
An aminosugar and polysaccharide (an insoluble carbohydrate spun from interwoven simple sugars) found in some fungi cell walls and in insect exoskeletons. Although abundantly produced--almost as much so as cellulose--some insecticides prevent it from cycling.
Industry:Biology
Enriching a soil's nutrition and CEC (cation exchange capacity) by adding decomposed organic matter to it. Grass clippings, kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, and even certain kinds of weeds will serve when mixed with brown matter (dry twigs, newspaper), but not animal fat, meat, oil, or cat or dog feces. A properly built, moistened, and aerated pile will gradually heat up as microorganisms break it down into humus; for faster results, shred the materials before composting, keep sponge-moist, and turn the pile every three days, shoveling undigested matter at its edges into its baking heart. It is ready to spread on soil when flaky brown and no longer hot. A thin layer of soil on the pile gets it off to a start. A pile of less than three cubic feet may not heat up properly.
Industry:Biology
A plant's reproductive organs that produce seeds for growing new plants. Flowers usually have vivid colors making them one of the most beautiful productions of nature.
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Industry:Biology
The accumulation of particles into small masses that fall out of liquid suspension, usually to settle on the bottom. Salt does this with clay particles. It can also be used to separate contaminants from wastewater.
Industry:Biology
Species survival in unstable environments through rapid colonization and reproduction, low mobility, and high death rates. "It's better to burn out than to fade away. " Contrast with Equilibrium Success Strategy.
Industry:Biology
A phytoplankton algae (dinoflagellate) bloom that spreads naturally just offshore but can be triggered by nutrients dumped into the water. Red tides can cause fish kills and infect shellfish with biotoxins.
Industry:Biology
The strengthening of a harmful and usually toxic substance as it moves up the food chain, as with DDT growing 400 times deadlier in seagulls and other carnivores than when first ingested by marsh animals.
Industry:Biology
