Natural resources
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1) Lithosphere – The outer crust of the Earth.
2) Hydrosphere – The region which includes all the earth's liquid water, frozen water and small amounts of water vapor in the earth's atmosphere.
3) Atmosphere – The mass of air surrounding the Earth.
4) Biosphere – The life-supporting zone of the Earth where the atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere interact and make life possible.
5) Biotic factors – The living components of the environment.
6) Abiotic factors – The non-living components of the environment.
7) Wind – Movement of air from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure.
8) Air pollution - The presence of particulates, noxious gases, or other impurities in the air that harm human or environmental health.
9) Smog – The combination of smoke particles with the tiny droplets of fog.
10) Acid rain - Rain that has become acidic due to mixing with acids like sulphuric and nitric acid that are released into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels.
11) Osmoregulation - Control of water and electrolyte balance in the body.
12) Humus – The highly decomposed residue of living materials that is a part of soil.
13) Topsoil – The topmost layer of soil that contains humus and living organisms in addition to soil particles.
14) Soil pollution- Removal of useful soil components and addition of substances which adversely affect the soil fertility and harm the biodiversity living in it.
15) Biogeochemical cycle – The cyclic transformation of chemicals through interacting biological, geological and chemical processes that causes transfer of energy and matter amid the various components of the biosphere, leading to a balance between them.
16) Water cycle – The whole process in which water evaporates and falls on the land as rain and later flows back into the sea via rivers.
17) Nitrification – The process of converting reduced nitrogen (as ammonia or ammonium) to its more oxidized forms (nitrite or nitrate ions).
18) Denitrification – A process in which anaerobic bacteria convert nitrate ions into nitrogen gas.
19) Ammonification – The process in which organic forms of nitrogen are converted into ammonia or ammonium ion by heterotrophic bacteria.
20) Green house effect – The process in which green house gases like carbon dioxide, cause thermal radiation emitted by the Earth's surface to be reflected back down, therefore causing the increase in worldwide average temperatures.
21) Global warming - An increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere, brought about by the enhanced greenhouse effect.
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