Glossary
B
- bacteria
- - microscopic living organisms which can cause illness, participate in fermentation or decompose
- bison
- - large animal related to the cow found in North American plains
C
- cannibals
- - any life form that eats its own kind
- carbon dioxide
- - a gas that plants use in the making of food
- carnivores
- - animals that eat other animal life
- circulating
- - to move in a circular pattern
- crayfish
- - a freshwater creature smaller but similar to a lobster
D
- decomposer
- - a life form that breaks down dead plant and animal tissues into simpler substances
- decomposition
- - the process done by the decomposer
- dependent
- - relying on something else to complete a task
E
- energy
- - the ability to work
F
- food chain
- - a system that carries energy through living organisms
- fungi
- - a living organism from the family that includes molds, mushrooms, and yeasts
H
- herbivores
- - animals that eat plants
I
- illness
- - unwell - to be sick
L
- larvae
- - the young of certain organisms
M
- maggots
- - the young of certain flies
- microbes
- - microscopic living organisms
- minerals
- - a type of matter that is neither plant nor animal and is often found in soil
N
- nutrients
- - matter that gives nourishment
O
- omnivore
- - animals that eat both plants and animals
P
- photosynthesis
- - the process plants use to turn sunlight and carbon dioxide into sugar energy
- predators
- - animals who hunt their food
- primary consumers
- - the first level of the food chain after producer - an herbivore or omnivore which eats plant life
- process
- - a series of actions in a system
- produce
- - to cause
- producers
- - plants are the producers in the food chain because they are the cause of passing food energy
S
- scavengers
- - an animal or other organism that does not kill its own food, but eats off of food left by other forms of life
- secondary consumer
- - a carnivore or omnivore which eats primary consumers
- shrew
- - small rodent similar to a mouse or rat
- survival
- - to continue to live
T
- tertiary
- - third in order, rank, level, stage, formation, etc
W
- wild
- - in the natural part of the world - not cared for by humans