Toad in Trouble

Glossary

1. Abundance - relative degree of plentifulness (Merriam-Webster, 2018)

2. Amphibian - any of a class (Amphibia) of cold-blooded vertebrates (such as frogs, toads, or salamanders) intermediate in many characters between fishes and reptiles and having gilled aquatic larvae and air-breathing adults (Merriam-Webster, 2018)

3. Bequest Value - the willingness of people to pay to protect some forms of natural capital for use by future generations (Miller, 2014)

4. Biodiversity - variety of different species, genetic variability among individuals within each species, variety of ecosystems, and functions such as energy flow and matter cycling (Miller, 2014)

5. Biome - terrestrial regions inhabited by certain types of life, especially vegetation (Miller, 2014)

6. Breeding - to produce (offspring) by hatching or gestation (Merriam-Webster, 2018)

7. Captive Breeding - the process of breeding animals in controlled environments within well-defined settings, such as wildlife reserves, zoos and other commercial and non-commercial conservation facilities (National Geographic Society, 2015)

8. Carrying capacity - the maximum population of a given species that a particular habitat can sustain indefinitely (Miller, 2014)

9. Climate - physical properties of the troposphere of an area based on analysis of its weather records over a long period of time (at least 30 years) (Miller, 2014)

10. Community - populations of all species living and interacting in an area at a particular time (Miller, 2014)

11. Competition - two or more individual organisms of a single species or two or more individuals of different species attempting to use the same scarce resources in the same ecosystem (Miller, 2014)

12. Conservation - sensible and careful use of the natural resources by humans (Miller, 2014)

13. Deforestation - removal of trees from a forested area (Miller, 2014)

14. Diversity - an instance of being composed of differing elements or qualities: an instance of being diverse (Miller, 2014)

15. Ecological extinction -  there are so few members of a species that they are unable to carry out their role in an ecosystem (Miller, 2014

16. Endangered species - wild species with so few individual survivors that the species could soon become extinct in all or most of its natural range (Miller, 2014)

17. Endemic - found or native to only one area (Miller, 2014)

18. Ephemeral - depressions with impeded drainage, usually in forest landscapes, that hold water for a period of time following snowmelt and spring rains but typically dry out by mid-summer (O’Connor, 2017)

19. Existence Value - a monetary value placed on a resource or species just because it exists or has the right to live, even though we may never see it or use it (Miller, 2014)

20. Extinction - complete disappearance of a species from the earth due to the species not being able to adapt and successfully reproduce under new environmental conditions (Miller, 2014)

21. Food chain - series of organisms in which each eats or decomposes the preceding one (Miller, 2014)

22. Food Web - complex network of many interconnected food chains and feeding relationships (Miller, 2014)

23. Generalist species - Species that can live in many different types of environments, and have a varied diet are considered generalists (Carr, n.d.)

24. Habitat - place or type of place where an organism or population of organisms live (Merriam-Webster, 2018)

25. Habitat fragmentation - the process by which habitat loss results in the division of large, continuous habitats into smaller, more isolated remnants (Wiley, 2010)

26. Habitat Specialists- can live only in a narrow range of conditions

27. Hybridization - the process of an animal or plant breeding with an individual of another species or variety (Merriam-Webster, 2018)

28. Indicator species - species whose decline serves as early warnings that a community or ecosystem is being degraded (Miller, 2014)

29. Intrinsic Value - Value of an organism, species, ecosystem, or the earth’s biodiversity based on its existence regardless of whether it has any usefulness to humans (Miller, 2014)

30. Macronutrient - a chemical element or substance that is essential in relatively large amounts to the growth and health of a living organism (Merriam-Webster, 2018)

31. Metamorphosis - change of physical form, structure, or substance especially by supernatural means (Merriam-Webster, 2018)

32. Natural resources - industrial materials and capacities supplied by nature (Merriam-Webster, 2018)

33. Niche - physical, chemical, and biological conditions that a species needs to live and reproduce in an ecosystem (Merriam-Webster, 2018)

34. Nutrient cycling - the use, movement, and recycling of nutrients in the environment (Bailey, 2017)

35. Pesticide - Any chemical designed to kill or inhibit the growth of an organism that people consider undesirable (Miller, 2014)

36. Pollutants - particular chemical or form of energy that can adversely affect the health, survival, or activities of humans or other living organisms (Miller, 2014)

37. Population - A group of organisms of one species that interbreed and live in the same place at the same time (Merriam-Webster, 2018)

38. Range of tolerance - the range of environmental conditions that are tolerable for survival in a species (Gonzalez, 2018)

39. Renewable energy - from an energy resource that is replaced rapidly by a natural process such as power generated from the sun or from the wind (ScienceDaily, 2017)

40. Resilience - an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change (Merriam-Webster, 2018)

41. Ripple effect - a spreading, pervasive, and usually unintentional effect or influence (Merriam-Webster, 2018)

42. Salientian - of relating to toads and frogs (Myers, 2018)

43. Secondary consumer - Secondary consumers are organisms that eat primary consumers for energy (Biology Dictionary, 2017)

44. Sustainable - the ability to be sustained, supported, upheld, or confirmed;  the quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources, and thereby supporting long-term ecological balance (Merriam-Webster, 2018)

45. Tadpole - a frog or toad larva that has a rounded body with a long tail bordered by fins and external gills soon replaced by internal gills and that undergoes a metamorphosis to the adult (Merriam-Webster, 2018)

46. Taxonomy - orderly classification of plants and animals according to their presumed natural relationships (Merriam-Webster, 2018)

47. Trophic cascade - the population declines or extinction of species with strong connections to such species and to a breakdown in ecosystem services that depend on those connections (Miller, 2014)

48. Urbanization - the quality or state of being urbanized or the process of becoming urbanized (Merriam-Webster, 2018)

49. Vulnerable - open to attack or damage (Merriam-Webster, 2018)

50. Wetlands - land or areas (such as marshes or swamps) that are covered often intermittently with shallow water or have soil saturated with moisture (Merriam-Webster, 2018)

 

Glossary References

 

Bailey, R. (2017, November 7). How Nutrients Cycle Through The Environment. Retrieved from

https://www.thoughtco.com/all-about-the-nutrient-cycle-373411

 

Carr, J. (n.d.). Adaptations: Specialist and Generalist. Retrieved January 16, 2018, from

http://vetmed.illinois.edu/wildlifeencounters/grade9_12/lesson2/adapt_info/specialist.html

 

“Definition and Examples of Biology Terms.” Biology Dictionary, 2017, biologydictionary.net/.

 

“Dictionary by Merriam-Webster: America's most-Trusted online dictionary.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, 2018,  

www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary.

 

Gonzalez, K. (2018). Range of Tolerance: Definition & Factors. Retrieved from https://study.com/academy/lesson/range-of-tolerance-definition-and-lesson.html

 

O'Connor, R. (2017, November 28). Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved January 16, 2018, from https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/EndangeredResources/Communities.asp?mode=detail&Code=CLEPH390WI

 

Max. (2011, July 29). Generalists vs. Specialists (And the Specialist's Dilemma). Retrieved January   16, 2018, from https://futureblind.com/2011/07/29/generalists-vs-specialists-and-the-specialists-dilemma/

 

Miller, G. T., & Spoolman, S. (2014). Living in the environment: Principles, connections, and

solutions (Eighteenth ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

 

Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. (2018). The

Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed at http://animaldiversity.org.

 

National Geographic Society. (2015, August 07). Introduction to Captive Breeding. Retrieved

January 16, 2018, from https://www.nationalgeographic.org/activity/introduction-captive-breeding/

 

“Renewable Energy.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 2017 www.sciencedaily.com/terms/renewable_energy.htm.

 

Wiley. (2010, November). Ecological Consequences of Habitat Fragmentation. Retrieved January 16, 2018, from http://www.els.net/WileyCDA/ElsArticle/refId-a0021904.html