<- Homepage: Expedition Fiordland: putting the eco in ecosystem field trip
algae
Primitive plants that can make food from sunlight.
aquifers
Areas underground that hold water.
angler
Person who goes fishing.
biodiversity
The number and variety of living things found within a region. From the two words 'biological' and 'diversity'.
bloom
An excessive growth of a particular species.
carnivore
An animal which eats other animals.
condensation
Water vapour changes from a gas to a liquid through condensation. Condensation occurs when water vapour is cooled down.
catchment
An area surrounding a waterway that drains into that waterway.
consumer
Animals are consumers because they cannot produce their own energy.
decomposers
Fungi and bacteria that break down organic matter such as leaves.
didymo
A freshwater algae sometimes called 'rock snot'.
endemic
Unique to a place an not found anywhere else.
ecological restoration
Assisting damaged or destroyed ecosystems.
ecology
Ecology is all about living things and how they interact with each other and their surroundings.
ecosystem
A community of living things and the environment in which they live.
environment
All the external factors influencing the life and activities of people, plants, and animals e.g. other animals and plants, water, soils, weather, daylight.
evaporation
Changing from a liquid into a vapour.
fauna
Animal life in general.
fiord
A long, narrow, deep inlet of the sea between high cliffs, typically formed when a glacier flows down to the coast and is flooded by seawater when the glacier retreats.
food chain
An arrangement of organisms in a community according to which organism is eaten or eats another. Food chains always start with a plant (or plants).
food web
A system of food chains linked to one another. habitat The home or surroundings of an organism e.g. river.
glacier
A slowly moving mass or river of ice formed by the accumulation and compaction of snow on mountains or near the poles.
habitat
The natural home or environment of a plant or animal.
herbivore
An animal that only eats plants. introduced species A plant or animal that has been brought by people to an area where it did not naturally live.
introduced
Species that are not native and have arrived due to human activity.
invertebrate
Any animal that does not have a spinal cord at any stage of its life such as worms, insects, spiders, crustaceans and molluscs.
irrigation
Water that is used for farming or growing crops.
native
Naturally found in a location, but may be found in more than one country.
niche
How an organism makes a living. It describes things such as an organism's life history, its habitat, its position in a food chain and food web and its geographic range. No two species can occupy the same niche in the same environment for a long time.
omnivore
An animal, such as humans, that can eat both plants and animals. organic matter Anything that is, or used to be, living.
organism
An individual form of life, such as a plant, animal, bacterium, protist or fungus.
pest
Any animal or plant that has a harmful effect on an ecosystem.
photosynthesis
The chemical process which algae and green plants use to produce food. Photosynthesis needs carbon dioxide, water and sunlight.
Pioneer species
The first species to establish or grow in an area after it has been cleared.
precipitation
Clouds form, join together and grow. Water vapour condenses into water droplets as it cools. These droplets grow in size as the temperature drops until eventually they become too heavy and it rains, snows or hails, depending on the temperature.
predator
Any animal that preys on or hunts another animal for food.
prey
An animal that is hunted and killed by another animal (a predator) for food.
phytoplankton
Tiny organisms, mainly single celled algae floating near the water's surface, that use photosynthesis to obtain food from sunlight, carbon dioxide and water. (From the Greek words 'phyton' or 'plant', and 'planktos' meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter').
producer
A plant can make its own energy from the sun through photosynthesis.
reptile
An animal with a backbone of a class that includes snakes, lizards, crocodiles, turtles, and tortoises. They have a dry scaly skin and typically lay soft-shelled eggs on land.
riparian
Situated or taking place along or near the bank of a river.
sediment
Material, originally suspended in a liquid, that settles at the bottom of the liquid when it is left standing for a long time. Material eroded from rocks that is transported by water, wind, or ice and deposited elsewhere.
species
Animals or plants of the same type. The members of the same species are able to interbreed and produce fertile offspring.
stressors
Ecosystem stressors are physical, chemical, and biological factors that impact the health and function of ecosystems. Stressors can be natural, such as storms and fires or caused by people, such as climate change and pollution.
sustainable
Using natural resources without destroying the ecological balance of an area.
tidal
Relating to the tides.
tide
The cyclical rise and fall of the sea occurring about every twelve hours. Tides are caused by the combined effects of the rotation of the Earth and the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and the Sun.
tipping point
Tipping points occur when small shifts in human pressures or environmental conditions bring about large, sometimes abrupt changes in a system and the system changes from one state to another. It is difficult for these changes to be reversed.
tracking tunnel
A tunnel which allows an animal of a certain size to pass through it so it can leave its footprints on an inked piece of card on the tunnel floor. Often these tunnels are baited with food such as peanut butter to attract animals.
transpiration
Plants release water through pores (holes) in their leaves. The process of transpiration returns some moisture from the soil back into the atmosphere.
urbanisation
The development and modification of a once natural landscape for human settlement.
water vapour
Water in its gaseous state. Water that is heated turns from a liquid to a gas.
zooplankton
Small and microscopic animals, mainly crustaceans and fish larvae, floating near or on the water's surface.
