Glossary (Version 8.4)

A regularity in data portrayed in graphs or maps, for example, a decline in population density or rainfall in Australia with increasing distance from the coast.

People’s subjective assessment of places and environments.

A part of the earth’s surface that is identified and given meaning by people, which may be perceived, experienced, understood and valued differently.

A graph showing age and sex composition of a population.

Preservation is an act of maintaining the existing condition of environmental areas as yet untouched by humans. Alternatively, conservation is a careful management of an environment and natural resources, acknowledging that they may be changed in order to affect a better future for humankind, but not if the impacts on them are too great.

Actions taken in advance to decrease or eliminate the impact of a hazardous event on people, communities and the environment, by actions including, for example, lessening the hazard and reducing the vulnerability of a community. Preparedness refers to actions taken to create and maintain a capacity of communities to respond to, and recover from, natural disasters, through measures like planning, community education, information management, communications and warning systems.

Unprocessed, original materials collected by a student, for example, field notes from observations, measurements taken from experiments, or responses received from a survey or questionnaire.