The UK International Review Group on Acid
Rain (1997) reported a decline in the base
cation deposition in Europe and North America
since the early 1970s. The review group also
found a decrease in base cation effectiveness in
reducing SO
2
emissions. Other international
research groups indicate that base cation data
are relatively uncertain.
Basel Convention The Basel Convention on
the Control of Transboundary Movements of
Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal is an
international agreement on hazardous and other
wastes. The Convention has 170 signatories, and
seeks to protect human health and the environ-
ment against the adverse effects resulting from
the generation, management, transboundary
movements, and disposal of hazardous and other
wastes. The Basel Convention was enacted in
1989 and became effective in 1992.
Batch heater Also known as an integral col-
lector storage system or bread box system.
Simple passive solar hot water system which
consists of one or more storage tanks placed in
an insulated box that has a glazed side facing
the Sun. Cold water first passes through the
solar collector, which preheats the water. The
water then continues on to the conventional
backup water heater, providing a reliable source
of hot water. They are useful only in mild-freeze
climates because the outdoor pipes could freeze
in severe cold weather. During the winter, they
should be protected from freezing or drained.
See also:
Solar collector, residential use
Batesian mimicry Mimicry adaptation that helps
preserve certain species and maintain biodi-
versity. Refers to two or more species that are
similar in appearance, but only one of which is
armed with spines, stingers, or toxic chemistry,
while its apparent double lacks these traits.
The second species has no defense other than
resembling the more toxic species and is
protected from certain predators by its resem-
blance to the unpalatable species, which the
predator associates with a certain appearance
and a bad experience. Mimicry is used by both
predator and prey.
Batesian mimicry is named for Henry Walter
Bates, a British scientist who studied mimicry
in Amazonian butterflies during the mid- and
late-nineteenth century. Examples of Batesian
mimicry are the several species of butterflies
that mimic toxic Heliconid butterflies. Another
butterfly mimic is the nontoxic Papilio memmon
of Indonesia. Each female butterfly (regardless
of coloration) can produce one or more dif-
ferent female forms that mimic any of five other
species of foul-tasting butterflies. Batesian
mimicry is also found in venomous coral snakes
and the harmless milk and king snakes. Both
snakes are marked with alternating yellow, red,
and black bands, causing possible predators to
avoid both. The deadly coral snake has bands
in the order red, yellow, black; while the harm-
less species have the pattern red, black, yellow,
although there are exceptions. See:
Meullerian
mimicry
Battery 1. Energy storage device that produces
electricity by a chemical action. It consists of
two of more electrochemical cells enclosed in a
container and electrically interconnected in an
appropriate series/parallel arrangement to provide
operating voltage and current levels.
2. Applies to a single cell if it constitutes the
entire electrochemical storage system.
Research conducted independently by a
number of countries, the European Union (EU),
and the United Nations has shown that there
are adverse environmental and health effects
from large quantities of heavy metals (such as
cadmium and nickel), acid and alkali that leak
from discarded batteries. Batteries dumped into
landfills will disintegrate and leak toxic sub-
stances into groundwater, soil, and air, eventually
polluting the food people consume.
Battery 27