- ecosystem
- The sum of all living (biotic) and dead (abiotic) elements which compose a functional unit in a given space (e.g. a meadow, a forest)
- ecotone
- The transition zone from one to another type of ecosystem (e.g. from forest to shrubland)
- eluviation
- Removal of soil material in suspension or in solution from surface horizons, and its deposition in a lower horizon. Removal in solution is called leaching.
- endemic
- Restricted to a specified region or locality. To speak of a taxon as endemic without specifying an area is meaningless.
- ephemeral plant
- Plant which completes its whole life cycle within less than one year
- equilibrium line
- The boundary between the accumulation area and the ablation area
- equilibrium line altitude (ELA)
- the altitude on a glacier where the annual addition (accumulation) of mass is exactly compensated by the annual disappearance (ablation) of mass
- ericaceous
- Belonging to the Ericaceae plant family
- erosion
- The gradual wearing away of land by water, wind and general weather conditions; the diminishing of property by the elements
- evaporation
- Endothermic physical process in which liquid water changes into water vapor (100 °C at 1 atm). Absorbs 80 calories/gram latent heat. Ice evaporating directly to water vapor is called sublimation.
- evapotranspiration
- The sum of all vapour losses of an ecosystem, i.e. including evaporation from dead surfaces (soil), transpiration by plants and vapourisation of interception (the surface water film on plants after rain)
|
back
to top