Vocabulary

acid - Noun.  A sour, burning substance with a pH less than 7. 

acre - Noun.  A unit of area used to measure land.  One acre is equal to 43,560 square feet. 

adaptation - Noun.  A change in a living thing's body or actions that helps it better survive in its environment. 

amphibian - Noun.  A group of cold-blooded animals that live in the water when they are young and live on land when they are an adult.  Frogs and salamanders are amphibians.

blackwater river - Noun.  A river that is stained by broken down plant matter, making the water dark.

bore - Verb.  To dig a round hole by chipping away at wood, rock, or some other material. 

breed - Verb.  To reproduce.

carnivorous - Adjective.  Eats animals.

comet - Noun.  A mass of frozen gases that circles around the sun.  Comets have a bright, solid center surrounded by gases.  The gases often form a long tail in space. 

community - Noun.  A group of plants and animals of different species that live in the same place and interact. 

current - Noun.  Air or water that always moves in the same direction. 

decomposition - Noun.  The process of slowly breaking down dead matter by chemical change; Verb form: to decompose. 

den - Noun.  The place where a wild animal lives or rests. 

dense - Adjective.  Thick or crowded and hard to pass through.

depression - Noun.  A shallow hole in the ground that is lower than all of the land around it.

digest - Verb.  To break down food so that it can be used by the body.

disturbance - Noun.  Something that changes the natural balance in an ecosystem. 

diverse - Adjective.  Having many different types of plants and/or animals.

dormancy - Noun.  A state where an animal is very still, or asleep. 

drought - Noun.  A long period of time with little or no rainfall.  Droughts can hurt or kill plants if there is not enough water for them to survive. 

ecosystem - Noun.  A group of living things (plants and animals) and their non-living environment (air, water, soil). 

endangered species - Noun.  A plant or animal that is close to becoming extinct and needs special protection. 

erode - Verb.  To wear away rock, soil, or some other material by the action of water, wind, or ice. 

evaporation - Noun.  The act of turning liquid water into water vapor.

excrete - Verb.  To remove from the body. 

fire break - Noun.  An area of cleared land that stops a forest fire from spreading. 

fungus - Noun.  A type of plant that does not get its energy from the sun, like green plants do.  A fungus gets energy by breaking down living or dead plant and animal matter.   Examples of fungi are molds, rusts, mildews, mushrooms, and yeasts. 

germinate - Verb.  To start to grow. 

grub - Noun.  A soft, thick, worm-like insect larva. 

guard hair - Noun.  One of many hairs on the edges of the trap of a Venus Fly Trap.  The guard hairs tell the trap to close when an insect touches them.

hibernate - Verb.  To stay still or sleep through the winter. 

histosol - Noun.  A soil where the top layers are mostly made up of broken down plant matter, or peat. 

incubate - Verb.  To sit on eggs to keep them warm until they are ready to hatch. 

landscape - Noun.  The natural features of the land in a region. 

limestone - Noun.  A rock that is made of animal remains, such as shells and coral.  Limestone can be easily worn away by water over long periods of time.

lowland - Adjective.  Having to do with low or flat land. 

mating season - Noun.  The time of year, often in the Spring, when an animal reproduces.

meteor - Noun.  A small rock in the solar system that creates a streak of light when it enters the Earth's atmosphere. 

meteor rock - Noun.  A broken off piece of a meteor.

microbe - Noun.  An organism that is too small to be seen by the human eye. 

mineral soil - Noun.  A soil that is made up mostly of broken down pieces of rock.

mischaracterize - Verb.  To create a false idea or image of something.  

muzzle - Noun.  The jaws and nose of an animal. 

native - Adjective.  Living or growing naturally in a region. 

nocturnal - Adjective.  Sleeps during the day and is active at night. 

nutrient - Noun.  A chemical substance that living things need to live and grow.  Too many nutrients can pollute water.

omnivore - Noun.  An animal that eats both animals and plants. 

organic soil - Noun.  A soil that is made up mostly of broken down plant matter.

outcrop - Noun.  A large piece of rock that sticks up out of the ground. 

peat - Noun.  Partly broken down plant matter.

peatland - Noun.  A wetland that forms where the soil is too wet for plant matter to be fully broken down.  The soil in a peatland is covered by a layer of partly broken down plant material. 

prehistoric - Adjective.  Of the time before the earliest oral or written human history. 

range - Noun.  The region where a plant or animal naturally lives. 

roost - Noun.  A place where a bird rests or sleeps.   

sediment - Noun.  Weathered rock material laid down by water, wind, or melting ice. 

seedling - Noun.  A young plant that grows from a seed. 

shrub - Noun.  A short woody plant.

sinkhole - Noun.  A hole that forms where groundwater wears away limestone rock in the ground until the ground surface caves in.

spring - Noun.  A place where water comes up out of the ground. 

stem - Noun.  The main trunk of a plant that grows buds and shoots. 

submerge - Verb.  To cover with water.   

territory - Noun.  An area area where an animal of a group of animals lives and feeds.  Animals defend their territory from other animals that try to use it.

theory - Noun.  An idea in science that explains why something is the way it is.  A theory can not be proven to be true but it can be backed up by science. 

thicket - Noun.  A thick growth of shrubs or small trees. 

tide - Noun.  The rising and falling of the ocean or coastal waters each day.  Tides are caused by gravity and the pull of the sun and moon on the Earth's surface. 

transpiration - Noun.  The loss of water vapor from a plant or animal through the outer surface or pores. 

wetland - Noun.  An ecosystem where the soil is wet or covered with water for a long period of time each year.  Plants that live in wetlands must be adapted to life in wet soil.