Term | Definition |
consumer | Those organisms that obtain energy by feeding on other organisms and their remains. |
decomposer | An organism, often microscopic in size, that obtains nutrients by consuming dead organic matter, thereby making nutrients accessible to other organisms; examples of decomposers include fungi, scavengers, rodents and other animals. |
shredder | Through chewing and/or grinding, microorganisms feed on non-woody coarse particulate matter, primarily leaves. |
dichotomous | describes the type of branching in plants that results when the growing point (apical bud) divides into two equal growing points, |
pest | A label applied to an organism when it is in competition with humans for some resource. |
integrated pest management | A variety of pest control methods that include repairs, traps, bait, poison, etc. to eliminate pests. |
ecosystem | A community of living organisms and their interrelated physical and chemical environment. |
environment | The total of the surroundings influencing each living being’s existence, including physical, biological and all other factors. |
homeostasis | The tendency for a system by resisting change to remain in a state of equilibrium. |
abiotic | A nonliving factor or element (e.g., light, water, heat, rock, energy, mineral). |
biotic | An environmental factor related to or produced by living organisms. |
biomes | A major ecological community of organisms adapted to a particular climatic or environmental condition on a large geographic area |
niche | The role played by an organism in an ecosystem; its food preferences, requirements for shelter, special behaviors and the timing of its activities (e.g., nocturnal, diurnal), interaction with other organisms and its habitat. |
acid deposition | Precipitation with a pH less than 5.6 that forms in the atmosphere when certain pollutants mix with water vapor. |
stream order | Energy and nutrient flow that increases as water moves toward the oceans (e.g., the smallest stream (primary) that ends when rivers flow into oceans). |
topographic map | is the ordered projection of a sensory surface, like the retina or the skin, or an effector system, like the musculature, to one or more structures of the central nervous system. |
watershed | The land area from which surface runoff drains into a stream, channel, lake, reservoir or other body of water; also called a drainage basin. |
wetlands | Lands where water saturation is the dominant factor determining the nature of the soil development and the plant and animal communities (e.g., sloughs, estuaries, marshes). |
hydrology | study of water |
groundwater | Water that infiltrates the soil and is located in underground reservoirs called aquifers. |
mitigation | The policy of constructing or creating man-made habitats, such as wetlands, to replace those lost to development. |
lentic | Relating to or living in still water |
lotic | Relating to or living in actively moving water. |