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National
parks
large areas of countryside set aside for both the
enjoyment of people and the
conservation of the
environment. They exist in many countries but are delimited
and run differently according to prevailing conditions in
each place. For example, in the USA they are often areas of
extreme wilderness where very little development is allowed.
As the country is so large, this is possible. By contrast,
in the UK this approach cannot work as population density is
so high, and land so scarce, that areas set aside as
National Parks have to be rural areas where significant
numbers of people live and work. Thus much of the land in UK
National Parks is privately owned and conflict can arise
between owners, conservationists and tourist/recreational
users.
National
Trust
in the UK, an organisation tasked with preserving
historic and/or architecturally important buildings as well
as areas of beautiful landscape. Inherent in this goal is
that the preservation allows continued access by the general
public to places deemed to have significant cultural import.
National Trust locations charge entry fees, the organisation
has a membership, and an effort is made to encourage
donations.
Nation-state
a community organized under one government
according to an idea of nationhood or nationality derived
from, but not limited to, common ancestry, language,
customs, religion, land ownership.
Natural
decrease
in population studies, when the
death rate
is higher than the
birth rate.
Natural
increase
in population studies, when the
birth rate
is higher than the
death rate.
Natural
resources
the things we use that are provided in the
natural environment e.g. water, minerals, fuels, soil and so
on.
Nature
reserve
an area of land set aside to protect the
environment for its own sake. Development is prohibited and
access is extremely restricted, usually to the reserve
operators and scientists with a study connection to the
species within.
Neap
tide
a low
tidal range caused when the angle of a
line drawn from the sun to the earth and then to the moon is
90Ί. In this twice-monthly situation the gravitational pulls
of sun and moon are in opposition thus the
high tide
is not so high and the corresponding
low tide is not
so low.
Nearest
neighbour analysis
a measure of how clustered or evenly
spaced a distribution of points on a plane is.
Rn = 2đ √
(n/A)
where đ is the mean distance between
nearest neighbours, n is the number of
points, A is the area in which
the distribution occurs
Values range from 2.15 for an evenly spaced
distribution, through 1.0 for a random distribution to 0.0
for a highly clustered distribution.
Negative
correlation
where the rise of one variable corresponds to
the fall of another. It is important to note that
correlation is not an indicator of causality.
Negative
feedback
when the action of a system leads to a reduction
in that action. For example, wave erosion of a cliff may
undercut it and cause it to collapse. The fallen debris now
protects the cliff so less erosion takes place.
Neo-colonialism
the holding of political or economic
influence (or both) by one country over another.
Neo-Malthusianism
a contentious school which holds that
Mathuss theory of population dynamics is correct and
that modern contraceptive technology and widespread
acceptance of abortion are examples of preventative checks
to population growth.
Net
primary productivity
the amount of organic material
available for consumption in a given area.
GPP minus
losses due to plant respiration.
Network
points (vertices) joined by links. The links allow
transfers between the points. Examples might include roads,
railways, sewage pipes, mobile phones and so on. The links
are referred to as
infrastructure and the whole is
called a system. Networks take many different forms and have
different levels of
connectivity.
N ιvι
see
firn.
Newly
industrialised country
countries that have undergone rapid
industrialisation since the 1960s. The process occurs
when a determined effort is made to achieve
import
substitution and significantly increase exports of
manufactured goods through competitive pricing. The term is
most commonly applied to the four 'Asian tigers' of Hong
Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, but this is
becoming out of date. Most of Hong Kong's manufacturing
moved to mainland China in the 1990s for example, although
the factories are still managed from headquarter offices in
Hong Kong.
New town
the targeted and rapid expansion of a settlement (although
they may also be built from scratch) to alleviate the
pressure of overly high demand for housing in a region,
especially on existing cities.
NIC
see
newly industrialised country.
Nimby
acronym from 'not in my back yard' applied to people who may
agree to the idea of a development that is, on balance, of
high social value, but who don't want the development in
their own area because of the possible negative consequences
that go with it. These may be environmental (noise,
pollution) or social (changed class or racial structure).
The objections are often unfounded and based on conjecture
and prejudice. There is often a fear that changes will
devalue an area literally in terms of property prices. As
the most powerful people have the most success with the 'nimby'
argument, developments often become concentrated in poorer
areas giving strength to the 'nimby' case whereas if
developments were more evenly spread it may be found that
problems do not arise.
Nitrate
a nutrient essential to plant growth.
Nitrogen
cycle
series of flows in an
ecosystem
which move
nitrogen between various stores and allow it to perform
functions essential for life. At its simplest level,
nitrogen in the form of
nitrates is taken in by plant
roots and built into proteins which then enter herbivores.
Excretion and decay then return the nitrogen to the soil as
ammonia, which is converted back to nitrate by
bacteria.
Nivation
the expansion of a hollow through
freeze-thaw under
a patch of snow and the subsequent washing out of the
debris by meltwater.
Nivation
hollow
a circular depression in the ground, usually seen
in
periglacial areas, that has been created by
nivation.
Node
in a transport
network, a point where links join.
Nomad
a person without a permanent home who moves from place to
place throughout the year seeking
subsistence. Nomads
usually follow a
pastoral lifestyle and move with the
seasons to find grazing and water for their livestock as
they live in marginal areas where single locations cannot
provide support all the year round.
Non-government organisation
any charity or volunteer
association which takes on responsibility for a particular
cause. Often starting on a small-scale and in response to a
particular need e.g. a natural disaster, they can grow to
have national or global influence, for example the
National Trust and Greenpeace respectively.
Non-renewable resource
those resources considered to be
finite as our rate of use far outstrips the rate at which
they are formed e.g. coal.
Non-tariff barrier
a covert restriction to imported goods.
Governments may not wish to be seen to restrict trade but
can do so by introducing regulations, such as product labeling laws, which make it more difficult and more
expensive for overseas producers to operate in the market.
North
American Free Trade Area
Canada, Mexico and the USA. An
attempt to create a single market area on the model of the
European Union.
North
Atlantic Drift
the name for the warm
ocean current
in the North-East Atlantic that originates in the Caribbean
as the
Gulf Stream.
Northing
-
the horizontal gridlines on a map so called because their numeric value
increases from south to north.
North-South divide
the imaginary line separating the
mostly
EMDW of the North from the
ELDW of the
South.
NPP
see
net primary productivity.
Nuclear
energy
uranium is processed into uranium dioxide, which
undergoes nuclear fission. In this reaction, the uranium
nucleus splits and releases neutrons. Energy is released and
the neutrons split more atoms causing a chain reaction. The
energy is used to heat water and drive turbines to produce
electricity. Despite being one of the most efficient and
clean energy sources known, nuclear energy has been beset
with controversy because:
·
the
waste fuel is highly dangerous and there are issues with
moving and storing it.
·
accidents at nuclear plants, though rare, can be
catastrophic over a wide area e.g. Chernobyl.
·
the
technology for producing power takes a country well within
the capability of producing nuclear weapons.
Nucleated settlement
the arrangement of buildings in a
settlement in a tight cluster as a result of the
landscape e.g. on top of a hill, around a road junction, in
a meander loop and so on.
Nuιe
ardente
the superheated gases found in a
pyroclastic
cloud.
Nunatak
a mountain peak rising out from and above an
ice sheet.
Nutrient
any chemical or compound which is used by an organism in
order to survive and/or grow.
Nutrient
cycle
the movement of nutrients in the
ecosystem
between the three major stores of the
soil,
biomass and
litter. Nutrients are taken up from
the soil by plant roots to produce biomass. In its simplest
form this then dies and falls to the ground where it becomes
litter. The litter then decomposes and is returned to the
soil where the cycle begins again. Complications exist with
movement of nutrients within the biomass e.g. when plants
are eaten and then herbivores in their turn. There are also
inputs and outputs depending on the scale of ecosystem being
considered. Nutrients may enter through weathering or
migrating organisms. They may be lost by
leaching.
The proportion of nutrients held in each store and in flow
at any one time will be determined by the prevailing
conditions of each ecosystem.
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