Download Great Lakes Invaders! Program Vocabulary

Great Lakes Invaders! Program Vocabulary
Aquatic - having to do with water
Ballast Water – water carried by ships for balance and stability
Barrier – a natural feature, human-built structure or technology that prevents passage
Biodiversity – variety of life
Biomass – the mass if living things in an area
Bivalve – any mollusks, including mussels and clams, having a shell consisting of two valves
hinged together
Carnivore – a meat eater
Common Name - the familiar name used by everyday people to refer to any species
Consumer – an organism that east food produced by another organism
Crustaceans – Group of aquatic arthropods having an exoskeleton, like crab, lobster, crayfish,
and shrimp
Decomposer – an organism that feeds on dead plant and animal matter, breaking it down for
reuse by plants
Detritus – organic matter that is either waste material from an organism or decomposing plants
and animals
Ecosystem – self-sustaining community of organisms
Environment – All the conditions, circumstances, and influences surrounding and affecting the
development of an organism
Exotic Species – plant or animal that does not naturally occur in a specific location or
ecosystem
Freshwater – Water that is not salty; water that contains less than 1,000 mg/L of dissolved
solids. Typically more than 500 mg/L of dissolved solids is undesirable for drinking and many
industrial uses
Food Chain – feeding relationships between organisms in an ecosystem (simplified)
Food Web – a series of interlocking food chains; shows how energy is passed from one group
to another
Habitat – the place where a population lives and its surroundings, both living and non-living
Herbivore – a plant eater
Host – an organism that harbors and provides nourishment to a parasite
Invasive Species – a non-native animal or plant that has profound negative impacts on an
ecosystem
Life Cycle – the series of changes in form undergone by an organism in development from its
earliest stage to the recurrence of the same stage in the next generation
Macro-invertebrate – small animals, which can be seen with an eye, that do not have
backbone
Native Species – species that naturally occur or live in a particular area or region
Nonindigenous species – species living outside the area they evolved
Omnivore – an organism that eats both plants and animals
Parasite – a living organism that lives in or on another organism but gives nothing in return
Photosynthesis – biochemical reaction whereby plant cells utilize solar energy to produce
sugars (food for growth), by products include water and oxygen.
Phytoplankton – microscopic plants that float in the water and are eaten by aquatic animals
Predator – meat-eater that captures its food alive
Prey – an organism that is hunted or caught for food
Producer – an organism that produces its own food, such as a green plant
Productive – biologically active, supporting a diversity of aquatic life
Reproduce – process by which organisms make their own kind
Research – careful search or investigation to make discoveries
Sampling – the process of taking a small amount of an item or object for testing or analysis
Sediments – soil, sand, and minerals that settle at the bottom of a body of water
Spawn – to breed and deposit eggs
Veliger- zebra mussel larvae
Zooplankton – microscopic aquatic animals eaten by larger aquatic animals