Los Angeles County Outdoor Science School |
Los Angeles County Outdoor Science School |
Here is the glossary of science terms which students at Outdoor Science School receive in their journals.
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Non-living (refers to natural things that are not alive and never were, such as sun, water, air, and minerals).
Adaptation:
Special equipment or behavior that a living thing has which helps it survive in its environment.
Amphibian:
An egg-laying animal which lives in water when born and on land when adult and has breathable, smooth skin.
Aquatic:
Living in water.
Single celled living things, some which aid in decomposition.
Biotic:
Living, organic (Refers to living things even after they die).
The method of hiding something by making it looks like its surroundings.
Carnivore:
An animal that eats only meat (other animals).
Chaparral:
A hot, dry ecosystem which is found mainly on south or east facing hillsides or at lower elevations and which has mostly shrubs.
Chlorophyll:
A green substance in producers' leaves necessary for photosynthesis.
Condensation:
The part of the water cycle in which water vapor changes to liquid form and forms clouds.
Conifer:
A non-flowering tree or shrub with seed-bearing cones and needle-like or scale-like leaves.
Conservation:
The wise use and saving of natural resources.
Constellation:
A grouping of stars that, from our point of view, forms an object.
Consumer:
A living thing that eats other living things; animals.
Cycle:
A series of continuous changes which return to a starting point.
Loses leaves at the end of the growing season; i.e., some plants lose all their leaves in the fall and grow them back in the spring.
Decomposer:
A living (biotic) thing which feeds on dead things and breaks them down into soil. Examples: Fungus, bacteria, and invertebrates.
Decomposition:
The decaying or rotting of dead things into the soil.
Desert:
A hot, dry ecosystem which receives less than ten inches of precipitation per year.
Diurnal:
Most active during the day.
The study of the interactions between living things and their environments.
Ecosystem:
A community of interconnected living and non-living things.
Environment:
Everything that surrounds an organism.
Erosion:
The movement of rock and soil from one place to another by forces of water, wind, walking, etc.
Evaporation:
The changing of water molecules in a lake or ocean to vapor, which rises into the air.
Evergreen:
Remaining green throughout a plant's life.
Evolution:
The continuing process of change over time by which living things have developed their structures.
The passage of energy (food) from organism to organism.
Food Web:
Interrelated food chains in an ecosystem.
Forest:
An ecosystem which is semi-moist and has trees.
Fungus:
A living thing without chlorophyll which gets its nutrients from decaying things. Examples: yeasts, molds, and mushrooms.
The arrangement of food, water, shelter, area, and oxygen which meets the needs of a living thing.
Herbivore:
An animal that eats only plants.
One of the main three rock types. Formed by cooled molten rock (lava or magma).
Insect:
An egg-laying invertebrate with six legs and three body parts (head, thorax, and abdomen).
Interdependence:
Reliance of living things upon both the abiotic and biotic elements of their environment that are necessary for survival.
Invertebrate:
An animal without a backbone. Examples: insects, worms, and spiders.
An animal which gives live birth, produces milk for its young, and has hair.
Metamorphic Rock :
One of the main three rock types. Formed by heat and pressure.
Mineral:
The basic material of which rocks are made.
A substance made by nature and used by humans.
Natural Selection:
The process in which changes (mutations) in living things allow living things with the best adaptations to reproduce, and causes living thing without these adaptations to have less chance of survival.
Nocturnal:
Active mostly at night.
Nutrients:
Building blocks of food, needed by living things for growth.
An animal which eats both plants and animals.
The process by which producers (plants) use chlorophyll to make their own food in their leaves from non-living (abiotic) things.
Plate Tectonics:
The movement of the crustal plates of the earth.
Precipitation:
Moisture falling from the sky, such as rain, snow, hail, or sleet.
Predator:
An animal which kills other animals for food.
Prey:
An animal which is killed by another animal for food.
Producer:
A living (biotic) thing which makes its own food in its body from non-living (abiotic) things. Example: Green plants.
To break down a material into its parent form and recreate new materials from it.
Reptile:
A type of egg laying animal with scaly skin.
Riparian:
An ecosystem which has fresh water year-round and plants such as willows and cottonwoods.
The solid waste made and excreted by an animal from those parts of its food that it cannot digest.
Scavenger:
An animal that feeds ono already dead animals (carrion) and/or garbage.
Sedimentary Rock:
One of the main three rock types. Formed by compacted layers of sediments (small particles of a rock or soil).
Species:
A group of similar living things that are able to breed and produce fertile offspring under natural conditions.
The movement of water on or below the surface of the earth.
An animal with a backbone. Examples: mammals, birds, reptiles.
The breakdown of rocks into soil.
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Last Revised: March 17, 2006
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