GLOSSARY

Abiotic factors: Environmental influences produced other than by living organisms; for example, temperature, wind patterns, humidity, pH, substrate rock type, and other physical and chemical influences.

Accommodation capacity: The measure of accommodation stock at a defined destination. May be given by various different measures: e.g. number of establishments; number of main units within an establishment (e.g. rooms, caravan stances); capacity in terms of residents (e.g. bedspaces).

Acid fallout: Molecules of acid formed from reactions high in the atmosphere involving nitrogen, sulfur oxides, and water vapour that settle pit of the atmosphere without any additional water.

Accreditation: A procedure to establish if a tourism business meets certain standards of management and operation.

Acid precipitation: Includes acid rains, acid fog, acid snow, and any other form of precipitation that is more acidic than normal (i.e., less than pH 5.6). Excess acidity is derived from certain air pollutants, namely sulfur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen. The effect can include: fish kills and eutrophication of lakes; tree kills leading to soil erosion; and physical corrosive damage to vehicles and buildings. Many historic buildings in Europe and NE United States are suffering damage from severe corrosion due to acid precipitation.

Adaptation: 1.The evolutionary process whereby a population becomes better suited to its habitat. This process takes place over many generations, and is one of the basic phenomena of biology; 2. The term adaptation may also refer to a feature which is especially important for an organism's survival For example, the adaptation of horses' teeth to the grinding of grass, or their ability to run fast and escape predators. Such adaptations are produced in a variable population by the better suited forms reproducing more successfully, that is, by natural selection.

Adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP): A multifunctional nucleotide used in cells as a coenzyme. It is often called the "molecula unit of currency" of intracellular energy transfer. ATP transports chemical energy within cells for metabolism. It is produced by photophosphorylation and cellular respiration and used by enzymes and structural proteins in many cellular processes, including biosynthetic reactions, motility, and cell division.

Adventure tour: A tour designed around an adventurous activity such as rafting or hiking.

Adventure tourism: A form of tourism in natural areas that incorporates an element of risk, higher levels of physical exertion, and the need for specialized skills.

Aerobe: An organism that utilizes atmospheric oxygen in its metabolic pathways. An organism that must have oxygen in order to survive is an obligate aerobe.

Agent: One who acts or has power to act as the representative of another. Most frequently in travel anyone other than a principal, such as a retail travel agent, receiving agent, ticket agent, local operator or wholesaler (usage uncommon in No. America).

Agroforestry: Production of tree crops in a manner similar to agriculture. Also production of trees along with regular crops.

Airline fare: Price charges for an airline ticket. Some of the categories are as follows: advance purchase excursion (APEX): heavily discounted excursion fare available on many international routes. Reservations and payment will be required well in advance of departure, with varying penalizes for cancellation; excursion: individual fares that require a round-trip within time limits, discounted from coach fare, limited availability; group: discounts from regular fares for groups; and regular or normal: any unrestricted fare.

All-inclusive: A form of package holiday where the majority of services offered at the destination are included in the price paid prior to departure (e.g. refreshments, excursions, amenities, gratuities, etc).

Alternative tourism: In essence, tourism activities or development that are viewed as non-traditional. It is often defined in opposition to large-scale mass tourism to represent small-scale sustainable tourism development. AT is also presented as an “ideal type”, that is, an improved model of tourism development that redresses the ills of traditional, mass tourism.

American plan: Type of rate that includes the price of the hotel room, breakfast, lunch and dinner. AP is the common abbreviation. See also room rates.

Anaerobe: 1. An organism capable of living in the absence of free oxygen (O₂); 2. Obligate anaerobe: An organism that must live without oxygen, for whom oxygen (O₂) is toxic.

Archaea: A group of single-celled microorganisms. A single individual or species from this domain is called an archaeon (sometimes spelled "archeon"). They have no cell nucleus or any other membrane-bound organelles within their cells. In the past they were viewed as an unusual group of bacteria and named archaebacteria, but since the Archaea have an independent evolutionary history and show many differences in their biochemistry from other forms of life, they are now classified as a separate domain in the three-domain system.

Artefact: An object; an item of material culture

Asthenosphere: A portion of the upper mantle just below the lithosphere that is involved in plate tectonic movements and isostatic adjustments. In spite of its heat, pressures keep it plastic, and it has a relatively low density. Seismic waves pass relatively slowly through the asthenosphere, compared to the overlying lithospheric mantle, thus it has been called the low-velocity zone (LVZ).

Atmosphere, a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass, by the gravity of the body and are retained for a longer duration if gravity is high and the atmosphere’s temperature is low. The Earth’s atmosphere consists, from the ground up, of the troposphere (which includes the planetary boundary layer or peplosphere as lowest layer), stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere (which contains ionosphere and exosphere) and also the magnetosphere.

Attraction: A place, event, building or area which tourists want to visit, a natural or man-made facility, location, or activity which offers items of specific interest to tourists.

Autotroph: 1. Literally “self eater”. Organisms capable of producing their own food. Contrast with heterotrophy. 2. An organism that produces complex organic compounds (carbohydrates, fats and proteins) from simple inorganic molecule using energy from light (by photosynthesis) or inorganic chemical reactions. They are able to make their own food and can fix carbon dioxide. Autotrophs can reduce carbon dioxide (add hydrogen to it) to make organic compounds. The reduction of carbon dioxide, a low-energy compound, creates a store of chemical energy. Most autotrophs use water as the reducing agent. But some can use other hydrogen compounds such as hydrogen sulfide. Autotrophs are the producers on a food chain such as plants on land and algae in water.

Background extinction rate: Normal rate of extinction as a natural part of the evolutionary process of various species as a result of changes in local environmental conditions and the actions of natural evolutionary forces. Extinctions not caused or contributed to by the actions of humans.

Backpacker: A visitor, for the purpose of a holiday or special event, who stays in a backpackers lodge/hostel.

Base: An aqueous substance that can accept hydronium ion. Bases are also the oxides or hydroxides of metals. A soluble base is also often referred to as an alkali if hydroxide ions (OH⁻) are involved. Alternative definitions of bases include electron pair donors (Lewis), and as sources of hydroxide anions (Arrhenius). In addition to this, bases can commonly be thought of as any chemical compound that, when dissolved in water, gives a solution with a hydrogen ion activity lower than that of pure water, i.e. a pH higher than 7.0 at standard conditions. Examples of common bases are sodium hydroxide and ammonia.

Bed and breakfast (B & B): Overnight accommodation usually in a private home or boarding house, with a full American-style or continental breakfast included in the rate, often without private bath facilities.

Binomial nomenclature: The two-name system, developed by Carolus Linnaeus (the founder of modern taxonomy), used to assign scientific names to all living things. Homo sapiens, for example, is the scientific name for humans. The first name is the genus name and is always capitalizes. This is sort of like your last name – it belongs to several of your close relatives, too, and it shows that you are all closely related. The second name is the species name. This is like your first name, which no one else in your circle of relatives possesses and so it uniquely identifies you. Memory tool: you probably know the meanings of the terms generic (i.e., general, broad) and specific (i.e., precise, exact). These terms come from the same origin as genus and species, so recalling their meaning will help you recall the relationship between the two portions of a scientific name.

Bioaccumulation: An increase in the concentration of a chemical in specific organs or tissues at a level higher than would normally be expected.

Bioclimatology: Branch of climatology that deals with the effects of the physical environment on living organisms over an extended period of time.

Biodiversity: 1.The variety of biotic factors found within a specified geographic region; 2. The combined differences of living things, generally classified in four broad categories.

Bioherm: A ncient organic reef of moundlike form built by a variety of marine invertebrates, including corals, echinoderms, gastropods, mollusks, and others; fossil calcareous algae are prominent in some bioherms. A structure built by similar organisms that is but not moundlike is called a biostrome. Bioherms and biostromes occur in sedimentary rock strata of geological ages, providing definitive information on paleoenvironments in the vicinity of their occurrence.

Biomass, the weight or total quantity of living organisms of one animal or plant species (species biomass) or of all the species on the community (community biomass), commonly referred to a unit area or volume of the habitat. The number of organisms, or the biomass, in an area at a given moment is the standing crop. The total amount of organic material produced by living organisms of a particular area within a set period of time, called the productivity, is usually measured in units of energy, such as gram calories per square metre per year.

Biome: 1.A specific type of terrestrial region inhabited by well-defined types of life, especially zones of vegetation that generally cannot live outside that specific region. Examples include types of deserts (“high desert” like the Mojave or “low desert” like the Chihuahua), grasslands (prairies, coastal dunes), and forests (lodgepole pine vs. taiga, temperate rain forest; bamboo forest, tropical rain forest, cloud forest, etc.;2. Biome, also called major life zone, the largest geographic biotic unit, a major community of plants and animals with similar life forms and environmental conditions. “Major life zone” is the European phrase for the North American biome concept.

Biophysical (natural) environment: The symbiosis between the physical and the biological life forms within environment, and includes all variables that comprise the Earth’s biosphere. The biophysical environment can be divided into two categories: the natural environment and the built environment, with some overlap between the two. Following the industrial revolution, the built environment has become an increasingly significant part of the Earth’s environment.

Biopoiesis: A process by which living organisms are thought to develop from nonliving matter, and the basis of a theory on the origin of life on Earth

Biosphere 1.Relatively thin stratum of the Earth’s surface and upper water layer that contains the total mass of living organisms, which process and recycle the energy and nutrients available from the environment; 2. All of earth’s ecosystems combined into one inclusive unit. Also called the “ecosphere”; 3.Biosphere is the global sum of all ecosystems. It can also be called the zone of life on Earth; 4. The portion of the earth and its atmosphere in which living organisms exist or that is capable of supporting life; 5. The living organisms composing the biosphere. “… all life on earth and the realms that support it, from the outermost reaches of the atmosphere to the deepest trenches of the seas.”

Biota: The animal and plant life of a region considered as a total ecological entity.

Biotic interaction: Association among living organisms in a biological community (amensalism; carnivore; commensalism; competition; food chain; herbivore; mutualism; parasitism; predation; symbiosis).

Booking form: A document which tour purchasers must complete which gives the operator full particulars about who is buying the tour. It states exactly what is being purchased (including options) and must be signed as acknowledgement that the liability clause has been read and understood.

Business Travel or Business Events: Travel for commercial rather than leisure purposes. Business travel is sometimes used as a cover-all to include what are sometimes referred to as “MICE” markets – meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions. Travel for a purpose and to a destination determined by a business, and where all costs are met by that business. Travel of 1: 365 days duration for the purpose of attending a convention or training, conducting official/government or private business.

Capacity management: A process that seeks to ensure that their organizations operate at optimum capacity whilst maintaining customer satisfaction levels.

Carrying capacity: The amount of animal or plant life (or industry) that can be supported indefinitely on available resources; the number of individuals that the resources of a habitat can support. Tourism: The amount of visitor activity that a site or destination can sustain.

Cash flow: monies available to meet the company’s daily operating expenses, as opposed to equity, accounts receivable or other credits not immediately accessible.

Cell: The functional basic unit of life. It is the functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life.

Cellular respiration (also known as 'oxidative metabolism'): The set of the metabolic reactions and processes that take place in organisms’ cells to convert biochemical energy from nutrients into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and then release waste products. The reactions involved in respiration are catabolic reactions that involve the oxidation of one molecule and the reduction of another. Respiration is one of the key ways a cell gains useful energy to fuel cellular reformations. It is very important.

Charter: A legal contract between an owner and an organisation for the hire of a means of transport for a particular purpose. An individual traveller will use an intermediary to arrange to be carried on the transport. Often applied to a flight which is the result of a charter.

Charter operations: 1. Term referring the transportation of pre-formed groups which have the exclusive use of the vehicle; 2. An operator authorized to arrange transportation, however, is not limited to dealing with pre-formed groups, but can itself form the tour group.

Chemical compound: A pure chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemical elements that can be separated into simpler substances by chemical reactions. They have a unique and defined chemical structure; they consist of a fixed ratio of atoms that are held together in a defined spatial arrangement by chemical bonds. Chemical compounds can be molecular compounds held together by covalent bond, salts held together by ionic bonds, intermetallic compounds held together by metallic bonds, or complexes held together by coordinate covalent bonds Pure chemical elements are not considered chemical compounds, even if they consist of molecules which contain only multiple atoms of a single element (such as H₂, S₈, etc.), which are called diatomic molecules or polyatomic molecules.

Chemotrophs: O rganisms that obtain energy by the oxidant of electron donating molecules in their environments. These molecules can be organic (organotrophs) or inorganic (lithotrophs).

City guide: A person who has a speciality of guiding in the city only.

Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and numerous other meteorological elements in a given region over long periods of time. Climate can be contrasted to weather which is the present condition of these same elements over periods up to two weeks.

Climatology: The science that studies climates and investigates their phenomena and causes.

Coastal plain: An area of flat, low-lying land adjacent to a seacoast and separated from the interior by other features. One of the world's longest coastal plains is located in eastern South America. The southwestern coastal plain of North America is notable for its species diversity. The Gulf Coastal Plain of North America extends northwards from the Gulf of Mexico along the Lower Mississippi River to the Ohio River, which is a distance of about 500 miles (about 800 km). During the Cretaceous age, the central area of the United States was covered by a shallow sea, which disappeared as the land rose. The coastal plain lying alongside the lower Mississippi River may be associated with a shallow sea which had existed 6 thousand years ago.

Cofactor: A non-protein chemical compound that is bound to a protein and is required for the protein's biological activity. These proteins are commonly enzymes, and cofactors can be considered "helper molecules" that assist in biochemical transformations.

Commission: The percentage of a selling price paid to a retailer by a supplier. In the travel industry, travel agents receive commissions for selling tour packages or other services.

Concierge: A hotel employee who handles restaurant and tour reservations, travel arrangements, and other details for hotel guests.

Confirmed reservations: An oral o written agreement by a supplier that he has received and will honor a reservation. Oral confirmations have no legal weight. Even written or telegraphed confirmations have specified or implied limitations, e.g.: a hotel not honoring a reservation after 6.pm., unless late arrival has been guaranteed in some manner.

Conservation biology: Multidisciplinary science created to deal with the crisis of maintaining the genes, species, communities, and ecosystems that make up earth’s biological diversity. Its goals are to investigate human impacts on biodiversity and to develop practical approaches to preserving biodiversity and ecological integrity.

Continental breakfast: At a minimum, a beverage (coffee, tea or milk) and rolls or toast. Fruit juice is often added.

Continental shelf: The extended perimeter of each continent and associated coast plain and was part of the continent during the glacial period, but is undersea during interglacial periods such as the current epoch by relating shallow seas (known as shelf seas) and gulfs.

Convergent boundary also known as a destructive plate boundary: An actively deforming region where two (or more) tectonic plates or fragments of lithosphere move toward one another and collide. As a result of pressure, friction, and plate material melting in the mantle, earthquakes and volcanoes are common near convergent boundaries.

Cost-benefit analysis: Estimates and comparison of short-term and long-term costs (losses) and benefits (gains) from an economic decision. If the estimated benefits exceed the estimated costs, the decision to buy an economic good or provide a public good is considered worthwhile.

Cryosphere: The science which collectively describes the portion of the Earth’s surface where water is in cold form, including sea ice, lake ice, river ice, snow cover, glaciers, ice caps and ice sheets and frozen ground (which includes permafrost). There is a wide overlap with hydrodsphere. The cryosphere is an integral part of the global climate system with important linkages and feedbacks generated through its influence on surface energy and moisture fluxes, clouds, precipitation, hydrology, atmosphere and oceanic circulation. Through these feedbacks processes, the cryosphere plays a significant role in global climate and in climate model response to global change.

Cultural tourism: Travel for the purpose of learning about cultures or aspects of cultures.

Debt-for-nature swap: Agreement in which a certain amount of foreign debt is cancelled in exchange for local currency investments that will improve natural resource management or protect certain areas in the debtor country from harmful development.

Deforestation: Removal of trees from a forested area without adequate replanting.

Demographics (demographic data): The characteristics of a human population as used in government, marketing or opinion research or the demographic profiles used in such research. Commonly used demographics include sex, race, age, income, disabilities, mobility (in terms of travel time to work or number of vehicles available), educational attainment, home ownership, employment status and even location.

Demographic transition: Hypothesis that countries, as they become industrialized, have declines in death rates followed by declines in birth rates.

Departure tax: Fee collected from the traveler by the host country at the time of departure.

Desert: A landscape form or region that receives very little precipitation. Deserts usually have a large diurnal and seasonal temperature range, with high daytime temperatures (in summer up to 45^o C or 113^o F), and low night-time temperatures (in winter down to 0^o C; 32^o F) due to extremely low humidity. Many deserts are formed by rain shadows, as mountains block the path of moisture and precipitation to the desert.

Desertification: Conversion of rangeland, rain-fed cropland to desert-0like land with a drop in agricultural productivity of 100% or more. It is usually caused by a combination of overgrazing, soil erosion, prolonged drought and climatic change.

Destination: The end point of a journey, the place to which a traveler is going. In the travel industry, any city, area or country which can me marketed as a single entity for tourism.

Diatomic molecules: Molecules composed only of two atoms, of either the same or different chemical elements. The prefix di- means two in Greek. Common diatomic molecules are hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon monoxide.

Dioxin: A synthetic, organic chemical of the chlorinated hydrocarbon class. It is one of the most toxic components known to humans, having many harmful effects, including induction of cancer and birth defects, even in extremely minute concentrations. It has become a widespread environmental pollutant because of the use of certain herbicides that contain dioxin as a component.

Divergent boundary or divergent plate boundary (also known as a constructive boundary or an extensional boundary): A linear feature that exists between two tectonic plates that are moving away from each other. These areas can form on the end of continents but eventually form ocean basins.

Domain (also superregnum, superkingdom, or empire): The highest taxonomic rank of organisms, higher than a kingdom. According to the three-domain system of Carl Woese, introduced in 1990, the Tree of Life consists of three domains: Archaea, Bacteria and Eukarya.

Domestic tourism: Travel within the country of residence.

Dwell time: Length of time a visitor spends at an attraction or destination. Dwell time is often taken into consideration when setting admission fees as a way of ensuring perceived value for money.

Ecological efficiency: The percentage of energy in biomass produced by one trophic level that is incorporated into biomass by the next highest trophic level.

Ecological fitness: The number of a parent’s young that live to reproduce; divided by two if sexual reproduction is involved.

Ecological succession: Process in which communities of plant and animal species in a particular area are replaced over time by a series of different and often more complex communities.

Ecologically sustainable development: Development in which the total human population size and resource use in the world (or in a region) are limited to a level that does not exceed the carrying capacity or the existing natural capital and is therefore sustainable.

Ecology: 1. The study of the relationships between organisms and their environments, including: the interactions of living organisms with one another and with their non-living surroundings, the flow of matter and energy in an environment, and the structure and functions of nature. Also called bionomics; 2. The relationship between organisms and their environment; 3. The branch of sociology that is concerned with studying the relationships between human groups and their physical and social environments. Also called human ecology; 4. The study of the detrimental effects of modern civilization on the environment, with a view toward prevention of reversal through conservation. A component of the field of human ecology; 5. the interdisciplinary scientific study of the interactions between organisms and their environment. Ecology is closely related to the disciplines of physiology, evolution, genetics and behaviour.

Ecosystem: 1. An ecological community of various plants, animals, and other organisms, interacting with each other and with nonliving resources in their environment, all functioning as a unit; 2. a natural unit consisting of all plants and animals and micro-organisms (biotic) factors in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical (abiotic) factors of the environment. The term “ecosystem” refers to the combined physical and biological components of an environment. An ecosystem is generally within the natural environment in which physical (abiotic) factors of the environment such as rocks and soil function together along with interdependent (biotic) organisms, such as plants and animals, within the same habitat. Ecosystems can be permanent or temporary. Ecosystems usually form a number of food webs.

Ecosystem services: Services vital to the support of human life, provided by intact natural ecosystems. These include the purification of air and water, detoxification and decomposition of wastes, regulation of climate, regeneration of soil fertility, and production and maintenance of biodiversity, from which key ingredients of our agricultural, pharmaceutical, and industrial enterprises are derived. Historically, the nature and value of Earth’s life support systems have largely been ignored until their disruption or loss highlighted their importance.

Ecotourism: The enterprises involved in promoting tourism of unusual or interesting ecological sites. Environmentally, culturally, and scientifically responsible tourism that takes great efforts to ensure tourism revenues benefit the local communities where tourism occurs, the local inhabitants benefit the most economically (revenues are not returned to the traveler’s country of origin) and native culture is not diluted with imported tourism cultures. Ecotourism safeguards the nature of the attraction that instigated the tourism and serves to strengthen conservation and scientific research efforts in the area. Very few large corporations who claim to engage in ecotourism actually do so. The most notorious and damaging of tourism industry – the cruise line industry – is an excellent example of a branch of travel that claims to be environmentally-friendly but is in fact extremely damaging, both culturally and ecologically/

El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO): Flip-flopping pressure in the South Pacific that trigger short-lived global changes in climate. Warm waters from the western Pacific move across the ocean, just below the equator, and significantly warm the eastern tropical Pacific.

Elevation of a geographic location: Its height above a fixed reference point, often the mean sea level. Elevation, or geometric height, is mainly used when referring to points on the Earth's surface, while altitude or geopotential height is used for points above the surface, such as an aircraft in flight or a spacecraft in orbit.

Endangered species: Wild species with so few individual survivors that the species could soon become extinct in all or most of its natural range.

Endangered Species Act: The United States federal legislation that mandates protection of species and heir habitats that are determined by scientific consensus to be in danger of extinction.

Environment: All external conditions and factors, living and nonliving (chemicals and energy), that affect an organism or other specified system during its lifetime; the earth’s life-support systems for us and all other formsof life – in effect another term for describing solar capital and earth capital.

Environmental education: Formal and informal learning processes that are designed to raise awareness and teach new values, knowledge and skills, in order to encourage more sustainable behaviour.

Environmental worldview: How individuals think the world works, what they think their role in the world should be, and what they believe is right and wrong environmental behaviour (i.e., ethics).

ERID, acronym: Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases. See emerging disease.

Escorted tour: 1. A pre-arranged travel program, usually for a group escorted by a tour manager or leader. In a fully conducted tour, the escort will also provide guide service throughout.

Eukaryote: An organism whose cells contain complex structures enclosed within membranes. The defining membrane-bound structure that sets eukaryotic cells apart from prokaryotic cells is the nucleus, or nuclear envelope, within which the genetic material is carried. All species of large complex organisms are eukaryotes, including animals, plants and fungi, although most species of eukaryotic protists are microorganisms.

Ethnobotany: The study of indigenous knowledge bases regarding plants and their uses.

Extant: A species that is still alive and reproducing. All species that currently live on earth are extant.

Extinct: A species that is no longer living on earth. All representatives of the species are dead. All the species that once occupied the earth but are no longer living are extinct. We know of their existence through studying the fossil record. Compare to extant.

Extinction: Complete disappearance of a species from the earth. This happens when a species cannot adapt and successfully reproduce under new environmental conditions, when it evolves (through a process called radiation) into one or more new species, or when every member of the species is killed by overpopulation, pollution, or other man-made causes.

FAM tour: An abbreviation for familiarization tour which is often a complimentary or reduced-rate travel program for travel agents, tour operators, travel writers or others to acquaint them with a specific destination or attraction, thereby helping to stimulate sales.

First law of human ecology: We can never do merely one thing. Any intrusion into nature has numerous effects, many of which are unpredictable. For example, one classic dilemma is the case of behavioral biologists who observe their study subjects at close range: are the observed behaviours truly natural or are they influenced by the researcher’s presence?

Food chain: Figure of speech describing the dependence of heterotrophs on other organisms for food, progressing in a series beginning with primary producers (plants) and ending with the largest carnivores. The food chain is used as a figurative image for educational purposes only. Real trophic systems resemble webs rather than chains. See food web.

Food web: The combination of all the feeding relationships that exist in an ecosystem. Most prey species are eaten by many different predators, and most predators eat more than one prey item. As a result, a picture of a trophic system with lines (representing ecological relationships) drawn between predators and prey soon resembles an intricate web.

Fossil fuel: Products of partial or complete decomposition of plants and animals that occur as crude oil, coal, natural gas, or heavy oils as a result of exposure to heat and pressure in earth’s crust over millions of years.

Force majeure: This is an unforeseeable or uncontrollable situation or train of events that would excuse a breach of contract.

Fossil: A remnant, impression, mineralized mold, amber encasement, or other trace of a once-living organism. Technically, anything that once lived and has been permanently preserved is a fossil, but the most common usage implies great age. This common usage of fossil generally refers to the mineralized remains or impressions preserved in stone (almost always sedimentary rock), of extinct organism from past geologic ages.

Fossil record: The cumulative taxonomic information and historical perspective provided by the wealth and diversity of fossils and related geologic data stored in the earth’s crust.

Fungus: A member of a large group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, Fungi, that is separate from plants, animals and bacteria.

Gateway: The point of access to a country or region, usually an airport or seaport, although certain frontier points and railway stations can be given the designation, city with an international airport, city, airport or area from which a flight or tour departs.

Gene pool: The sum total of all genes that exist among all the individuals of a species.

Genetic engineering (genetic modification): the direct human manipulation of an organism’s genetic material in a way that does not occur under natural conditions.

Genus ( pl. genera): 1.A group that includes all living things that have similar features;2.In biology a genus is a taxonomic unit (a taxon) used in the classification of living organisms. The composition of a genus is determined by a taxonomist. The standards foe genus classification are not strictly codified and hence different authorities often produce different classification for genera. In the hierarchy of the binomial classification system genus comes above species and below family.

Geochemical cycle: Developmental path followed by individual elements or groups of elements in the crustal and subcrustal zones of the Earth on its surface. The concept of a geochemical cycle encompasses geochemical differentiation (i.e., the natural separation and concentration of elements by Earth processes) and heat-assisted, elemental recombination processes.

Geochemistry: Scientific discipline that deals with the relative abundance, distribution, and migration of the Earth’s chemical elements and their isotopes.

Geodesy: Scientific discipline concerned with the precise figure of the Earth and its determination and significance.

Geographic race: A collection of human populations, usually rather similar physically, delimited by some natural boundary, such as an ocean. Populations from different geographic races are usually rather distinct in heredity, since the geographic boundary serves as a barrier to matting with other peoples; but no geographic race is truly discrete, each blending with neighbouring races to some extent in spite of natural obstacles. Thus, there is no single way of classifying mankind by biological race.

Geologic time scale: 1. Occurring at such a slow pace, or at such infrequent intervals, as to be imperceptible to humans; 2. Occurring in a pre-human era; 3. The whole of earth’s history, as opposed to the very recent period when humans have walked the earth. One common and effective means of conceptualizing the disparity between the geologic time scale and the human time scale is the “calendar year history model”, wherein the entire history of the planet is condensed into a single calendar year. In this model human ancestors do not appear until late December and Homo sapiens does not arise until the last second before midnight on December 31st.

Geology: The branch of science that deals with the earth’s history, particularly its physical history, as recorded in the substrate and the fossil record.

Geomorphic cycle: Also called geographic cycle or cycle of erosion, theory of the evolution of landforms. In this theory first set by William M. Davis between 1884 and 1934, landforms were assumed to change from “youth” to “maturity” to “old age”, each stage having specific characteristics.

Geomorphology: Scientific discipline concerned with the description and classification of the Earth’s topographic features. It is in large part the study of the formation of terrain or topography.

Geopolitics: The study of the influence of such factors as geography, natural resources, economics, and demography on the politics (especially the foreign policy) of nations.

Geosphere: The term is often used to refer to the densest parts of the Earth, which consist mostly of rock and regolith. Geosphere refers to the solid parts of the Earth and is used along with atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere to describe the systems of the Earth. In that context sometimes the term “lithosphere” is used instead of geosphere, however, the lithosphere only refers to the uppermost layer of the solid Earth (oceanic and continental crustal rocks and uppermost mantle).

Geosyncline: Linear trough of subsidence of the Earth’s crust within which vast amounts of sediment accumulate.

Global warming: The term given to the possibility that Earth’s atmosphere is gradually warming because of the greenhouse effect of carbon dioxide and other gases. Global warming is thought by many to be the most serious global environmental issue facing our society.

Grasslands (also called greenswards): Areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous (non-woody) plants (forbs). However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica. In temperate latitudes, such as northwest Europe and the Great Plains and California in North America native grasslands are dominated by perennial bunch grass species, whereas in warmer climates annual species form a greater component of the vegetation. Grasslands are found in most ecological regions of the earth

Greenhouse effect: A natural effect that traps heat in the atmosphere (troposphere) near the earth’s surface. Some of the heat flowing back toward space from the earth’s surface is absorbed by water vapour, carbon dioxide, ozone, and several other gases in the lower atmosphere (troposphere) and then radiated back toward the earth’s surface. If the atmospheric concentrations of these greenhouse gases rise and are nor removed by other natural processes, the average temperature of the lower atmosphere will gradually increase.

Greenhouse gases: Gases that absorb and emit radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The main greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere are water vapour, carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone. In our solar system the atmospheres of Venus, Mars and Titan also contain gases that cause greenhouse effects. Greenhouse gases greatly affect the temperature of the Earth; without them, Earth’s surface would be on average about 33^oC (59^o F) colder that at present.

Green Revolution: Refers to the development and introduction of new varieties of wheat and rice (mainly) that increased yields per acre dramatically in some countries.

Gross primary productivity: The rate at which an ecosystem’s producers capture and store a given amount of chemical energy as biomass in a given length of time.

Ground operator: A company or individual providing such services as hotel, sightseeing, transfers, and all other related services for groups. See receptive operator.

Group tour: A pre-arranged, pre-paid travel program for a group usually including all components. Also see packaged tour.

Habitat: An ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism. It is the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the physical environment that surrounds (influences and is utilized by) a species population.

Habitat fragmentation as the name implies, describes the emergence of discontinuities (fragmentation) in an organism's preferred environment (habitat). Habitat fragmentation can be caused by geological processes that slowly alter the layout of the physical environment or by human activity such as land conversion, which can alter the environment on a much faster time scale. The former is suspected of being one of the major causes of speciation. The latter is causative in extinctions of many species.

Hazardous waste: Any solid, liquid, or containerized gas that can catch fire easily, is corrosive to skin issue or metals, is instable and can explode or release toxic fumes, or has harmful concentrations of one or more toxic materials that can leach out.

High season: The period of the year when occupancy/usage of a hotel or attraction is normally the highest. High usage invariably means higher prices for rooms or admission. Also referred to as on-season or park season.

Human time scale: Occurring within a short enough time frame that the event can be perceived, remembered and recounted by humans through oral traditions, written histories or other mechanisms of human memory. Compare to geologic time scale.

Hybrid: The offspring of two parents from separate (though closely related) species. Usually sterile, though occasionally able to breed back into one of the parent lines. A hybrid can almost never produce viable offspring when mated with another hybrid. A common example is a mule, which is produced by breeding a horse with a donkey (note that the horse must be the mother due to the large size of the foal). Hybridization is fairly common among wind-pollinated plants, while hybridization is quite uncommon among higher animals.

Hydrologic cycle: Biogeochemical cycle that collects, purifies, and distributes the earth’s fixed supply of water from the environment to living organisms and then back to the environment.

Hydrosphere: 1.The earth’s liquid water(oceans, lakes, and other bodies of surface water and underground water), the earth’s frozen water(polar ice caps, floating ice caps, and ice in soil known as permafrost), and small amounts of water vapour in the atmosphere; 2. in physical geography describes the combined mass of water found on, under and over the surface of a planet.

Ice shelf: A thick, floating platform of ice that forms where a glacier or ice sheet flows down to a coastline and onto the ocean surface. Ice shelves are found in Antarctica, Greenland and Canada only. The boundary between the floating ice shelf and the grounded (resting on bedrock) ice that feeds it is called the grounding line. The thickness of ice shelves ranges from about 100 to 1000 meters.

Independent tout: An unescorted tour sold through agents to individuals. For one price, the client guaranteed air travel, hotel room attraction admissions and (typically) a car rental.

Indicator species: Species that serve as early warnings that a community or an ecosystem is being degraded. Fish and amphibians make particularly excellent indicator species. Large predators (those generally at the apex of the food pyramid) are also good indicators in many habitats.

Interspecific competition: Members of two or more species trying to use the same limited resources in an ecosystem.

Intraspecific competition: Two or more individual organisms of a single species trying to use the same limited resources in an ecosystem.

Keystone species: Species that play roles affecting many other organisms in an ecosystem.

Landform or physical feature comprises a geomorphological unit, and is largely defined by its surface form and location in the landscape, as part of the terrain, and as such is typically an element of topography.

Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land including physical elements such as landforms, living elements of flora and fauna, abstract elements like lights and weather conditions and human elements like human activity and built environment.

Land-use planning: Process for deciding the best present and future use of each parcel of land in an area.

Late successional plant species: Mostly trees that can tolerate shade and that form a relatively stable complex forest community.

Laterie: Priduct of rock decomposition with high iron and aluminum hydroxide content. Generally bright red to deep orange in colour; 2. Land, usually in the tropics, baked by the sun after deforestation removes the protective and restorative forest layer above the soil. Abiotic hardpack ground, red in colour. Normal soil microbiotic community, as well as macrobionic flora and fauna, are absent. Prone to extensive erosion due to lack of plant caver. Lateritized hillsides have contributed to several devastating and deadly landslides in tropical countries.

Laterization: The process of turning formerly healthy soils into laterie. What becomes of tropical forest lands when deforested and left exposed to the elements. The ground becomes extremely hard and cannot be penetrated by germinating forest seeds, so recolonization is slow or absent.

Lichen: A symbiotic relationship between a fungus and a moss. The moss does most of the work, producing sugar for the lichen’s collective metabolic pathways. Lichen are generally low-growing, vary in colour from bright orange to grey or black, and are often found growing on rocks and tree barks. An easy mnemonic to assist recall of the nature of a lichen’s symbiosis is: “A fungus took a liking to a moss, and now they live together.”

Lithosphere: The rigid outermost shield of a rocky planet. It comprises the crust and the portion of the upper mantle that behaves elastically on time scales of thousands of years or longer.

Low season: That time of the year at any given destination when tourist traffic, and often rates, are at their lowest. Also referred to as off-peak or off-season.

Marasmus: Nutritional-deficiency disease caused by a diet that does not have enough calories and protein to maintain good health.

Mass extinction: A catastrophic, widespread event in which major groups of species are wiped out over a relatively short period when compared to normal (background) extinction rates. There have been five major mass extinctions o natural causes (in at least one case due to an asteroid impacting the earth), in the earth’s history. We re now entering a sixth great mass extinction, this time of unnatural cause.

Meet and greet: Pre-purchased service for meeting and greeting a client/group upon arrival in a city, usually at the airport, pier, or rail station. Service may include assisting the client/’group with entrance formalities, collecting baggage, and obtaining transportation to the hotel.

Metabolism: The rate at which energy and material resources are taken up from the environment, transformed within an organism, and allocated to maintenance, growth and reproduction – is a fundamental physiological trait.

Molecule: A group of at least two atoms in a definite arrangement held together by covalent chemical bonds In the narrow use of the word, molecules are electrically neutral. Molecules are distinguished from polyatomic ions in this strict sense. However, in quantum physics, organic chemistry, and biochemistry, the term molecule is used less strictly and also is applied to molecular ions, charged organic molecules, and biomolecules.

Mound: A general term for an artificial heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. The most common use is in reference to natural earthen formation such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. The term may also be applied to any rounded area of topographically higher elevation on any surface. Artificial mounds have been created for a variety of reasons throughout history, including ceremonial (platform mound), burial (tumulus), and commemorative purposes (e.g. Kościuszko Mound).

Mutations: Changes in a genomic sequence; the DNA sequence of a cell’s genome or the DNA or RNA sequence of a virus/ Mutations are caused by radiation, viruses, mutagenic chemicals as well as error that occur during meiosis or DNA replication.

Mutualism: One category of symbiosis in which both participating species generally benefit.

Natural attraction: A tourist attraction that has not been made or created by people.

Natural resources: Nutrients and minerals in the soil and deeper layers of the earth’s crust; water; wild and domestic plants and animals; air; and other resources produced by the earth’s natural processes.

Natural selection: One of several gradual mechanisms through which evolution occurs. Process by which a particular beneficial gene (or set of genes) is reproduced more than other genes in succeeding generations due to selective pressures in the environment that favour the beneficial gene. The result of natural selection is a population that contains a greater proportion of organisms better adapted to certain environmental conditions.

Nature: In the broadest sense is equivalent to the natural world, physical world or material world. The term "nature" may refer to living plants and animals, geological processes, weather, and physics, such as matter and energy. The term is often refers to the "natural environment" or wilderness—wild animals, rocks, forest, beaches, and in general areas that have not been substantially altered by humans, or which persist despite human intervention. For, example, manufactured objects and human interaction are generally not considered part of nature, unless qualified as, for example, "human nature" or "the whole of nature".

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