CONSERVATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does conservation mean? 

• CONSERVATION (noun)
  The noun CONSERVATION has 3 senses:

1. an occurrence of improvement by virtue of preventing loss or injury or other change

2. the preservation and careful management of the environment and of natural resources

3. (physics) the maintenance of a certain quantities unchanged during chemical reactions or physical transformations

  Familiarity information: CONSERVATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONSERVATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An occurrence of improvement by virtue of preventing loss or injury or other change

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

conservation; preservation

Hypernyms ("conservation" is a kind of...):

advance; betterment; improvement (a change for the better; progress in development)

Derivation:

conservationist (someone who works to protect the environment from destruction or pollution)

conserve (keep in safety and protect from harm, decay, loss, or destruction)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The preservation and careful management of the environment and of natural resources

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("conservation" is a kind of...):

preservation; saving (the activity of protecting something from loss or danger)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "conservation"):

conservancy (the official conservation of trees and soil and rivers etc.)

soil conservation (protection of soil against erosion or deterioration)

oil conservation (the conservation of petroleum resources)

water conservation (the conservation of water resources)

Derivation:

conservationist (someone who works to protect the environment from destruction or pollution)

conserve (keep in safety and protect from harm, decay, loss, or destruction)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(physics) the maintenance of a certain quantities unchanged during chemical reactions or physical transformations

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("conservation" is a kind of...):

principle (a basic truth or law or assumption)

Domain category:

natural philosophy; physics (the science of matter and energy and their interactions)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "conservation"):

conservation of charge; conservation of electricity (the principle that the total electric charge of a system remains constant despite changes inside the system)

conservation of energy; first law of thermodynamics; law of conservation of energy (the fundamental principle of physics that the total energy of an isolated system is constant despite internal changes)

conservation of mass; conservation of matter; law of conservation of mass; law of conservation of matter (a fundamental principle of classical physics that matter cannot be created or destroyed in an isolated system)

conservation of momentum (the principle that the total linear momentum in a closed system is constant and is not affected by processes occurring inside the system)

conservation of parity; mirror symmetry; parity; space-reflection symmetry ((physics) parity is conserved in a universe in which the laws of physics are the same in a right-handed system of coordinates as in a left-handed system)

Derivation:

conserve (keep constant through physical or chemical reactions or evolutionary change)

 Context examples 

An international team of 60 scientists, working together as the 2ndFOR Network, has completed studies on the effects of forest conservation and secondary forest regeneration across 43 regions in Latin America.

(Natural regeneration of tropical forests helps global climate mitigation and forest restoration, NSF)

Mapping the nutrient profiles in rocks for their carbon uptake potential could help drive conservation efforts, the researchers said.

(New source of global nitrogen discovered: Earth’s bedrock, National Science Foundation)

The authors recommend that toy companies and others who use endangered species as trademarks donate some of their profits to wildlife conservation.

(Study: Popularity of Wildlife Can Harm Public's Perception, VOA)

While the loss of these animals is concerning for species conservation, now researchers at the University of Florida have shown that overhunting can have widespread effects on the forest itself.

(Overhunting of large animals has catastrophic effects on trees, NSF)

DNA barcoding revealed the continuous fishing and trafficking of these protected species, thus giving clear evidence that the current conservation models and methods of monitoring are not working, the study concluded.

(New way to save endangered sharks – and our seafood, SciDev.Net)

This study confirms what was already suspected by conservation scientists: “Amphibians are the most endangered vertebrates on the planet”.

(Deadly fungal disease ‘caused greatest biodiversity loss ever recorded’, SciDev.Net)

Organic food is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations.

(Organic food, NCI Thesaurus)

The Peptidase Family-M12B (Reprolysin Family, Adamalysins) consists of evolutionarily-related zinc metalloproteases of structural and functional similarity based on sequence conservation or residue identity.

(Peptidase Family M12B, NCI Thesaurus)

Amino acid conservation between CD16, other Fc receptors, and related Ig suggest similar structures and modes of association.

(IgG Fc Receptor IIIA, NCI Thesaurus)

A stored copy of genetic information of a species in a preferred environment for conservation purposes.

(Gene Bank, NCI Thesaurus)