Glossary
Animals~
Multi-cellular organisms make
up the Kingdom Animalia.
Carnivore~ Animals that only eat meat.
Chordata~ All vertebrates belong to this phylum.
Cold-blooded animal~ Cold-blooded animal is
one that changes its body temperature with its surroundings.
Community~ The living part of an ecosystem. It is made up
of populations.
Consumers~ Organisms (or animals) that eat other organisms
for food.
Decomposers~ Organisms that break down waste materials
and dead organisms. Example: Worms.
Diversity~ The quality or state of being diverse, different,
or varied.
Ecology~ The study of the relationship between organisms
and their environment.
Ecosystem~ A group of organisms in an area that interact
with one another (community), together with their
non-living environment.
Endangered Species~ Those that may become extinct
within a short period time.
Endemic~ Native to a particular place.
Extinction~ The disappearance of a species from the Earth.
Food Chain~ The way in which energy is transferred through a community.
Habitat~ The place where a population lives.
Herbivore~ Animals that only eat plants.
Invertabrate~ Any animal without a backbone, invertebrates make
up approximately 97% of all animals.
Mammals~ Are warm-blooded vertebrates and have 2 main characteristics,
hair someplace on their body and mammary glands that produce
milk for their young. (examples of mammals are humans, dogs, bats, elephants)
Niche (NIHCH)~ The function an organism plays in he
habitat.
Omnivores ~ Animals that eat both meat and plants.
Population ~ Organisms of the same species living together
in a particular place.
Predators~ Are organisms that capture and kill other animals for
food.
Prey~ Organisms that are killed or eaten by a predator.
Producers~ Green plants that produce their own food.
Scavengers~ Eat the flesh of dead animals.
Species~ Group of organisms that are able to interbreed and produce
young.
Species of Concern~ Those species that are a step away from being
threatened.
Threatened Species~ Those species that are a
step away from being endangered.
Vertebrate~ Any animal that has a backbone. Although there
are a large number of vertebrate species, the vertebrates make up approximately
3% of the animal kingdom.
Warm-blooded Animal~ A warm-blooded animal is one that keeps a
nearly constant body temperature regardless of the temperature of its surroundings.