Glossary
A
- abundant
- - Lots of something
- agriculture
- - Related to farming
- anaerobic
- - Living without oxygen
- aquatic
- - Living in water
- aquifers
- - Underground water storage
- archeological
- - Related to the study of ancient people
B
- brackish
- - A mixture of sea water and fresh water
C
- chemical reactions
- - A scientific process that involves rearranging the chemical structure of a molecule
- consumes
- - Eats
- contaminant
- - Harmful substance deposited in the air or water or land
- contiguous
- - Touching or near
D
- decomposing
- - To break something down
- dredged
- - Dug up
E
- ecosystems
- - Habitats
- erosion
- - To move soil from one location to another through water, wind, etc
- estuaries
- - Areas near the ocean where salt and fresh water mix together
I
- invertebrates
- - Animals without backbones
M
- microscopic
- - So small it can only be seen through a microscope
N
- non-native
- - Does not normally grow or exist in that location
- noxious
- - Harmful
P
- photosynthesis
- - The process that allows plants to convert sunlight into food
- pollutants
- - Waste products that are harmful
- primary consumers
- - Animals at the first level of a food chain who eat mostly plants
- properties
- - The qualities of an object that define it
- purifiers
- - Things that clean
R
- respiration
- - A plant's version of breathing
- runoff
- - Water that drains or flows off the surface of the land
S
- saturated
- - Full, no more room, super wet
- sediments
- - Fine dirt and soils that sink to the bottom of a body of water
U
- urban expansion
- - The process in which towns and cities grow - through more building and creating - spreading out
V
- vertebrates
- - Animals with backbones
W
- water cycle
- - The continuous circulation of water in systems throughout the planet, involving condensation, precipitation, runoff, evaporation, and transpiration
- water treatment system
- - A process that cleans water - either natural or man-made
