algae
Primitive plants that can make food from sunlight.
aquifers
Areas underground that hold water.
awa
River or stream
BioBlitz
A BioBlitz is an event that focuses on finding and identifying as many species as possible in a specific area over a short period of time.
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.
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.
flora
Plant life in general.
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.
forest
A complex ecological system in which trees are the dominant life-form.
genus
Set of closely related species (plural = genera).
habitat
The natural home 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.
humus
Dark organic material in soils produced by rotting plant and animal material.
introduced species
A plant or animal that has been brought by people to an area where it did not naturally live.
invertebrate
Any animal that does not have a spinal cord at any stage of its life such as worms, insects, spiders, crustaceans and molluscs.
litter
Surface layer of the forest floor.
microbe
Microscopic organism.
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.
nutrients
The chemicals and minerals that are used by plants to grow from its roots to the leafy canopy.
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.
photosynthesis
The chemical process which algae and green plants use to produce food. Photosynthesis needs carbon dioxide, water and sunlight.
population
All the members of a species living in the same area and able to breed together.
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.
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.
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 of the same type. The members of the same species are able to interbreed and produce fertile offspring.
spores
Reproductive cells - like seeds.
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.
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.
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.
wastewater
Water that has been used for domestic or industrial purposes and probably contains contaminants. It must be treated before it can safely be returned to a clean waterway.
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.
