GLOSSARY

Adaptation - change in structure, form, or function that produces a better adjustment of an organism to its environment

Algae - simple, one-celled or multi-celled organisms found in water; includes seaweeds and pond scum; usually considered plants

Amphibian - a class of cold-blooded, scaleless vertebrates including frogs, toads, newts, and salamanders that usually begin life in the water as tadpoles with gills and later develop lungs

Anadromous - usually applies to fish, spend adult stages in saltwater but move to freshwater to reproduce

Animal - any living being that is not a plant, bacterium, etc.; typically differs in ability to move voluntarily and presence of a nervous system

Antler - solid, usually branched, and annually shed horn of members of the deer family

Aquatic - growing or living in or upon water

Arthropod - a major group of segmented invertebrates having jointed legs; includes insects and crustaceans

Bird - a class of warm-blooded vertebrates with feather-covered bodies and forelimbs modified into wings

Boreal - northern, pertaining to the northern zone of plant and animal life lying just below the tundra

Brackish - somewhat salty; as the marshes near the sea

Carnivore - a meat or flesh eater

Carrion - the decaying flesh of a dead body

Catadromous - usually applies to fish; spend adult stages in freshwater but move to saltwater to reproduce

Colony - a group of bacteria, plants, or animals of the same kind living together in close association

Coniferous - an order of plants that bears its seeds in cones; usually an evergreen tree or shrub, as the pine or spruce

Courtship - a behavioural act, process, or period of seeking a mate

Crustacean - a class of arthropods including the shrimp, barnacles, and lobsters;,which usually live in the water and have a hard outer shell

Deciduous - falling off at a certain season or stage of growth, as some leaves, horns, teeth, and insect wings do; also refers to a group of trees that shed leaves each year as maples and birches

Decompose - to break up into the basic components or parts; to rot

Diurnal - active during the daytime

Ecosystem - community of living and non-living materials; can range in size from a drop of pond water to the earth

Endangered - threatened with imminent extinction or extirpation

Extinct - no longer exists on the planet

Extirpated - no longer existing in Nova Scotia, but found elsewhere

Fungi - a group of plants that have no green chlorophyll pigment; true roots, stems, or leaves; reproduce by spores; includes the molds, mildews, and mushrooms

Game animal - animals that may be legally killed for sport or food

Gestation - the period of carrying young in the uterus from conception to birth

Habitat - the environment in which an organism naturally occurs; includes the arrangement of food, water, shelter, and space which an organism needs to survive

Hardwood - any tough, heavy timber with a compact structure; also refers to any of the broad-leaved trees that yield hardwood, as the maples and birches

Herbivore - plant eater

Hibernate - to pass the winter with the body in a slowed state, typically with lower body temperature and reduced heart and breathing rate

Home range - area in which an animal travels in the course of normal activities

Incubate - to keep eggs, embryos, or bacteria in a favourable environment for hatching or developing

Inorganic - not composed of hydrocarbons; not formed of living matter

Insect - a class of arthropods with the body divided into three parts, three pairs of legs, and usually two pairs of wings; includes the beetles, flies, bees

Insectivore - insect eater

Introduced - organism that is carried to a new area where it did not occur naturally

Invertebrate - any animal without a backbone; any animal which is not a fish, amphibian, reptile, bird, or mammal

Krill - a small shrimp-like crustacean

Larva - the early, free-living, immature stage of an animal that changes structure as an adult

Mammal - a class of warm-blooded, usually hairy, vertebrate animals that feed young with milk from the female mammary glands

Marine - of the sea or ocean

Metamorphosis - a change in form

Microscopic - so small as to be invisible except when viewed through a microscope

Migrant - an animal that moves between areas; usually associated with changing seasons or reproduction

Mixedwood - group of trees including both coniferous and deciduous trees

Mollusc - a group of invertebrates with soft bodies; often protected by shells; includes the clams, snails, slugs, squids

Native - organism that occurs naturally in an area

Nectar - a sweet liquid in many flowers

Nestling - young bird not ready to leave the nest

Nocturnal - active during the night

Non-game - all wildlife species that are not commonly killed for sport or food

Nymph - the young of an insect with incomplete metamorphosis, or change, which differs from the adult mainly in size

Omnivore - eater of both plant and animal material

Organic - derived from living organisms; made up of hydrocarbon compounds

Organism - a living thing

Parasite - an organism that lives in or on a different organism from which it derives nutrition or protection without benefiting the host; usually doing harm

Plant - a living organism that has cellulose cell walls; lacks sensory organs; cannot move voluntarily; can usually create its own food from carbon dioxide

Pollinate - to move pollen between the reproductive parts of a flower

Population - the number of individuals of a species in a defined area at a particular time

Precocial - referring especially to birds whose young are covered with down and are able to run about and leave the nest when newly hatched

Predator - an organism that captures and feeds on other organisms

Prey - an organism that is captured and fed upon by another organism

Protist - any of a group of one-celled organisms having characters found in both plants and animals; includes algae, yeasts, bacteria, and protozoans

Protozoan - any of a group of microscopic organisms made up of only one cell or a colony of similar cells

Pupa - an insect in the non-feeding stage of development between larva and adult; often spent in a cell or cocoon

Range - area over which a species occurs

Reptile - a class of cold-blooded, scaly vertebrates; includes snakes, turtles, lizards, and crocodiles

Scavenger - an organism that feeds on dead or decaying matter

Seabird - a bird living on or near the sea, like a puffin or tern

Shorebird - a bird that feeds or nests on the shores of oceans or rivers; like curlews or sandpipers

Softwood - any light, easily cut wood; those trees with this type of wood like spruce and pine

Songbird - a bird that sings a musical song; used to refer to a whole group of birds such as sparrows, warblers, thrushes

Spawn - to produce or deposit eggs, sperm, or young, usually used with aquatic animals

Species - a biological classification for a group of like organisms that can breed and produce fertile offspring

Species-at-risk - species that are at risk of not maintaining a healthy, long-term breeding population, usually due to low numbers; includes those species designated as vulnerable, threatened, and endangered

Terrestrial - growing or living on land or in the soil

Territory - area occupied by an animal for breeding, nesting, or feeding and actively defended

Threatened - likely to become endangered unless situation changes

Torpor - a temporary, inactive state; may be assumed by an organism for protection, especially from unfavourable environmental conditions

Vertebrate - organism with a backbone; includes fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals

Vulnerable - at risk because of low numbers or restricted area of occurrence

Waterfowl - a water bird; usually used to refer to ducks, geese, and swans