Glossary
| Term | Term description |
|---|---|
| value |
The importance, worth, or usefulness of something. |
| value of sustainability |
The value of using a resource of the natural world with prudence, so that it remains healthy and able to support its role in the ecosystem and meets the reasonable needs of future human generations. |
| variable components |
Components that fluctuate based on anthropocentric impact and other natural causes- components such as methane, water vapor, and carbon dioxide are dependent on various factors that can be tremendously impacted by human actions. |
| vascular plants |
Plants having specialized tissues (xylem and phloem) that conduct water and synthesized foods, as any fern, gymnosperm, or angiosperm. |
| vertabrates |
Any of numerous chordate animals of the subphylum Vertebrata, characterized by a segmented spinal column and a distinct well-differentiated head. The vertebrates include the fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. |
| vertebrate |
Members of a large group of animals of the subphylum Vertebrata (or Craniata), characterized by having a backbone. Vertebrates are bilaterally symmetrical and have an internal skeleton of bone or cartilage, a nervous system divided into brain and spinal cord, and not more than two pairs of limbs. Vertebrates have a well-developed body cavity (called a coelom) containing a chambered heart, large digestive organs, liver, pancreas, and paired kidneys, and their blood contains both red and white corpuscles. Vertebrates include fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. |
| visible light |
The range of electromagnetic radiation that can be detected by the human eye. |
| vision quest |
A rite of passage in some Native American cultures that provides a person with a deep understanding of their life purpose. |
| volcanic lava |
Molten rock that issues from a volcano or from a fissure in the surface of the Earth. |
| voltmeter |
An instrument used for measuring electrical potential difference between two points in an electrical circuit. |
| Vostok ice core study |
The Vostok ice core was drilled from a site considered one of the least hospitable sites on Earth, since its altitude is 3,500 meters and its average yearly temperature is minus 55° C. The analysis of this ice core provides a record of the atmosphere during the last four climatic cycles. For the first time, researchers were able to establish, over such a long period, a simultaneous record of temperature variations, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and oxygen proportions in the atmosphere, of the quantity of dust blown from the desert and aerosols from sea spray. |