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Terms and Definitions
Endangered:
The species faces immediate extinction.
Threatened:
The species is likely to become endangered if the factors affecting its
vulnerability are not reversed.
Rare:
The species exists in low numbers throughout its wild range.
Consumers:
Consumers cannot make their own food from the sun. They must eat
other things to get energy. They come in three different varieties:
Herbivores (animals that eat only plants)
Carnivores (animals that eat only animals)
Omnivores (eat both plants and animals)
Decomposers:
Decomposers are insects, fungi and micro-organisms that eat dead
material. They return the nutrients to the soil for plants to use again.
Producers:
A producer is something that can make its own food. Animals are
unable to do this. Since producers can make food from the sun they
are usually the beginning of a food chain.
Ecosystem:
An ecosystem consists of four parts. It begins with the sun at the top
which provides energy to our green plants. Green plants such as grass
use the sun to produce sugar and protein in order to grow. The
ecosystem consists of producers and consumers. Plants are producers
in the ecosystem chain. Animals that are consumers are next in the
ecosystem. Some of these animals are known as herbivores, which eat
only plants. Carnivores are the animals that get their energy from
eating other animals. The next category is omnivores, which are the
people and animals, that eat plants and animals. The end of the
ecosystem consists of another group of life which is the decomposers.
Decomposers such as bacteria and fungi eat dead plants.
Biome:
Biome is a term that refers to a large area that has a particular climate,
particular vegetation and animal life. There are 7 major biomes in the
world:
Temperate – broad leafed deciduous trees, shrubs as undergrowth,
lichens and mosses.
Grassland – many species of grasses, some bushes and occasional trees
Desert – some cacti, flowers, thorny bushes and shrubs
Coniferous Forest – coniferous trees, black spruce and fir
Tundra – lichens and mosses with grassland and small shrubs
Savannah – grasses with some scattered deciduous trees
Tropical Rain Forest – many trees and plants, as well as vines
Two Main Groups of Animal
Most of the world's large and familiar animals belong to a group of animals called
vertebrates. All vertebrate animals possess an internal skeleton made of bones and in
particular, have a backbone or spine made up of a series of bones called vertebrae.
Vertebrates make up less than 3% of the world's animals.
Most animals are invertebrates. They do not have a bony skeleton inside their
bodies. Some animals such as insects, spiders or crabs have a hard outer shell
(exoskeleton) which provides support and protection for the soft body inside.
Five Vertebrate Classes
Vertebrates are grouped into 5 classes based on features of their body structure,
mode of reproduction and internal physiology. Students should be able to sort vertebrates
into the 5 classes based on easily observable features like skin covering, type of limb and
habitat.
Fish - live in water, breathe with gills, have skin covered with scales, have fins, lay
soft eggs and are cold-blooded.
Amphibians - the young live in water, adults live on land, the young breathe with
gills, adults breathe with lungs, have moist, scale-less skin, have 4 legs, lay soft eggs
and are cold-blooded.
Reptiles - mainly live on land, breathe with lungs, have scaly skin, have 4 limbs or
no limbs (snakes), lay eggs with leathery shells and are cold-blooded.
Mammals - mainly live on land, breathe with lungs, have fur or hair covering their
body, most have 4 legs (or 2 legs and 2 arms), give birth to live young, feed their
young on milk produced by mammary glands and are warm-blooded.
Birds - live on land, breathe with lungs, have feathers covering their body, have
2 legs and 2 wings, most can fly, lay eggs with hard shells and are warm-blooded.
Warm-blooded and Cold-blooded
The terms warm-blooded and cold-blooded refer to the ways animals maintain their
internal body temperature. Cold-blooded or exothermic animals cannot regulate their body
temperature directly; it is determined by the temperature of their surroundings.
Warm-blooded or endothermic animals are able to generate their own heat and can
maintain a constant internal temperature.