Glossary Flashcards
Carnivore:
An animal that eats meat
Herbivore:
An animal that eats plants
Omnivore:
An animal that eats both plants and meat
Nocturnal:
An animal that sleeps in the day and wakes at night
Burrow:
A hole dug by an animal
Venomous:
Poisonous
Endangered:
When there are not many animals of a species left on earth
Camouflage:
When an animals colours help it blend into its surroundings
Echolocation:
Using sound echos to locate objects
Biodiversity:
the variety of plant and animal life in the world or in a particular habitat, a high level which is usually considered to be important and desirable.
Flora:
I’m the plants if a particular region, habitat or geological period.
Fauna:
The animal of a particular region, habitat or geological period.
Population shift:
A change in numbers of population.
Trends:
Refers to changes over time and can include changes in ranging behaviours (eg distance and route) and distribution, biogeography (eg. Size of population) and life history (eg birth and death rates).
Speciation:
The formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution.
Scales:
Increase/decrease depending on food, water, shelter, predator/prey etc.
Individual species:
Evolution example - peppered moth.
Communities:
Evolution example - reef
Ecological niches:
The role or position a species has in its environment. How it meets its needs for food, water, shelter, how it survives, and how it reproduces. A species niche includes all of its interactions with the biotic and abiotic factors in its environment.
Demes:
A population of organisms within which the exchange of genes is completely random. I.e, all mating combinations between individuals of the opposite sexes have the same probability of occurrence.
Drought and famine:
Drought are usually long periods of insufficient rainfall. Famines are extremely shortages of food that causes people to die of starvation.
