amphibians: A group of animals that includes frogs, salamanders and caecilians. Amphibians have backbones and can breathe through their skin. Unlike reptiles, birds and mammals, unborn or unhatched amphibians do not develop in a special protective sac called an amniotic sac.
Atlantic: One of the world’s five oceans, it is second in size only to the Pacific. It separates Europe and Africa to the east from North and South America to the west.
biodiversity: (short for biological diversity) The number and variety of species found within a localized geographic region.
biologist: A scientist involved in the study of living things.
captive breeding: The breeding of an animal, often a species threatened with extinction, in a protected environment. The species is often raised in part to supply animals for reintroduction back into the wild.
Caribbean: The name of a sea that runs from the Atlantic Ocean in the East to Mexico and Central American nations in the West, and from the southern coasts of Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico down to the northern coasts of Venezuela and Brazil. The term is also used to refer to the culture of nations that border on or are islands in the sea.
climate: The weather conditions that typically exist in one area, in general, or over a long period.
climate change: Long-term, significant change in the climate of Earth. It can happen naturally or in response to human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels and clearing of forests.
clone: An exact copy (or what seems to be an exact copy) of some physical object. (in biology) An organism that has exactly the same genes as another, like identical twins. Often a clone, particularly among plants, has been created using the cell of an existing organism. Clone also is the term for making offspring that are genetically identical to some “parent” organism.
conservation: The act of preserving or protecting something. The focus of this work can range from art objects to endangered species and other aspects of the natural environment.
coral: Marine animals that often produce a hard and stony exoskeleton and tend to live on reefs (the exoskeletons of dead ancestor corals).
criteria: (sing. criterion) The standards, rules, traits or other things used to make a judgment or determination about something.
ecosystem: A group of interacting living organisms — including microorganisms, plants and animals — and their physical environment within a particular climate. Examples include tropical reefs, rainforests, alpine meadows and polar tundra. The term can also be applied to elements that make up some an artificial environment, such as a company, classroom or the internet.
endangered: An adjective used to describe species at risk of going extinct.
environment: The sum of all of the things that exist around some organism or the process and the condition those things create. Environment may refer to the weather and ecosystem in which some animal lives, or, perhaps, the temperature and humidity (or even the placement of things in the vicinity of an item of interest).
extinction: (adj. extinct) The permanent loss of a species, family or larger group of organisms.
factor: Something that plays a role in a particular condition or event; a contributor.
ferret: A mammal belonging to the family of animals that includes weasels, skunks, otters and badgers.
fin whale: The second-largest species of whale, it takes its name for the fin on its back tail. These speedy swimmers are black or dark brown-gray on the back and sides, but white below. A type of baleen whale, each eats up to two tons of food (often krill or small fish) per day. At birth, the whales span 18 feet long and weigh 0.9 to 1.4 metric tons (2,000 to 3,000 pounds). They reach adulthood at about 25 years old, live to be 90 and top out at weights of about 72 metric tons (79.4 U.S. tons).
fungi: (sing: fungus) Organisms with one or more cells that reproduce via spores and feed on living or decaying organic matter. Examples include mold, yeasts and mushrooms.
habitat: The area or natural environment in which an animal or plant normally lives, such as a desert, coral reef or freshwater lake. A habitat can be home to thousands of different species.
invasive: An adjective that refers to something that can invade some environment (such as an invasive species) or alter some environment (such as invasive medical procedures).
mammal: A warm-blooded animal distinguished by the possession of hair or fur, the secretion of milk by females for feeding their young, and (typically) the bearing of live young.
native: Associated with a particular location; native plants and animals have been found in a particular location since recorded history began. These species also tend to have developed within a region, occurring there naturally (not because they were planted or moved there by people). Most are particularly well adapted to their environment.
panda: (or giant panda) An endangered species in the bear family, found in the wild only in China. It has a distinctive white body with black coated limbs and dark spots around the eyes.
population: (in biology) A group of individuals (belonging to the same species) that lives in a given area.
predator: (adjective: predatory) A creature that preys on other animals for most or all of its food.
range: The full extent or distribution of something. For instance, a plant or animal’s range is the area over which it naturally exists.
reef: A ridge of rock, coral or sand. It rises up from the seafloor and may come to just above or just under the water’s surface.
resilient: (n. resilience) To be able to recover fairly quickly from obstacles or difficult conditions. (in materials) The ability of something to spring back or recover to its original shape after bending or otherwise contorting the material.
risk: The chance or mathematical likelihood that some bad thing might happen. For instance, exposure to radiation poses a risk of cancer. Or the hazard — or peril — itself. (For instance: Among cancer risks that the people faced were radiation and drinking water tainted with arsenic.)
savanna: A grassland containing some trees and shrubs. Most are fairly dry for part or much of the year.
shark: A type of predatory fish that has survived in one form or another for hundreds of millions of years. Cartilage, not bone, gives its body structure.
species: A group of similar organisms capable of producing offspring that can survive and reproduce.
system: A network of parts that together work to achieve some function. For instance, the blood, vessels and heart are primary components of the human body’s circulatory system. Similarly, trains, platforms, tracks, roadway signals and overpasses are among the potential components of a nation’s railway system. System can even be applied to the processes or ideas that are part of some method or ordered set of procedures for getting a task done.
threatened: (in conservation biology) A designation given to species that are at high risk of going extinct. These species are not as imperiled however, as those considered “endangered.”
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: A research agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, it was created in 1871 as the U.S. Commission on Fish and Fisheries. Fourteen years later, it acquired an office of ornithology (the science of birds). In 1905 it was renamed the Bureau of Biological Survey. It now has authority for research on and the conservation of land-based species, of freshwater species and of migratory birds.
wetland: As the name implies, this is a low-lying area of land either soaked or covered with water much of the year. It hosts plants and animals adapted to live in, on or near water.
whale: A common, but fairly imprecise, term for a class of large mammals that lives in the ocean. This group includes dolphins and porpoises.
