Glossary
A
- accommodate
- - Help or solve a need
- accommodation
- - Home
- algae
- - Simple plant - often grows near water
- aquatic
- - Living in or near water
B
- biodiversity
- - Variety of living things on earth including plants, animals, bacteria, and other living organisms
- buoyant
- - Ability to float
- burrow
- - Dig into the ground
C
- carnivores
- - Animals that eat other animals
- cartilage
- - The stiff tissue found at the end of a human's nose, in the outer ear, and other locations
- chambers
- - Separate sections or containers
- characteristics
- - Traits
- chlorophyll
- - A green chemical in plants that helps them create their own food
- circumstances
- - Situations
- classified
- - (classify) grouping by similar traits
- claws
- - Long nail-like parts of paws - used for digging and hunting
- cold-blooded
- - Cannot regulate body temperature
- conserve
- - Protect
D
- digestion
- - The process that converts food to energy
E
- environment
- - Surroundings
- established
- - Created
- exoskeleton
- - Outer protective layer
- extreme
- - More than necessary - over the top
F
- food chain
- - Simple system that carries energy through living organisms
- food web
- - Complex system that carries energy through living organisms
G
- gas bladder
- - Fish organs that fill with gas to regulate buoyancy
- gelatinous
- - Jelly-like
- generate
- - Create
- gills
- - Parts of a fish that gathers oxygen from the water for breathing
H
- herbivores
- - Animals that eat only plants
- hibernation
- - Sleeping through winter
I
- invertebrates
- - animals without backbones
L
- larvae stage
- - Infant stage of an animal that changes through metamorphosis
M
- metamorphosis
- - To change - as in from caterpillar to butterfly, or tadpole to frog
- migrate
- - To move seasonally from one area to another
- molars
- - Flat back teeth used for chewing
N
- nerves
- - Cells in the body that carry messages from and back to the brain
- nervous system
- - Brain and the nerves involved
- nutrition
- - Food energy
O
- omnivores
- - Animals that eat both plants and animals
P
- populations
- - Groups of living organisms
- prehensile
- - Body parts with the ability to grab or grasp
- prey
- - animals that are hunted as food
- primary consumer
- - Plant eaters
R
- regulate
- - Control
- regurgitate
- - Throw up
- restructure
- - Reorganize or rebuild
S
- scales
- - Fish and reptile skin is layered in smaller sections - strong protection
- scavenge
- - Eat food that is already dead or garbage
- secondary consumer
- - Eats primary consumers
- sensory
- - Backbone - houses nerves
T
- talons
- - Sharp claws of a bird
V
- venomous
- - Poisonous
- vertebrates
- - Animals with a backbone
W
- warm-blooded
- - Controls its own body temperature
