Compiled by Professor Meg Lowman’s conservation biology classes at New College of Florida (2007)

Arthropod – invertebrates such as spiders, insects and crustaceans of the phylum Arthropoda that feature a segmented body, jointed legs, and a hard exoskeleton

Biomass – an energy term for the weight of living matter in a habitat, usually expressed as dry weight of plant material, or dry weight of insects, etc.

Birdo – a slang term for a very enthusiastic bird watcher

Brown food web – the interconnected chain of organisms responsible for decay on the forest floor, a region that tends to be predominantly brown in color

Canopy – green, leafy portion of a plant, often supported by woody structures, that contains chlorophyll for photosynthesis

Carabineer – oval-shaped, mechanical metal device used to fasten ropes or secure attachment points in mountaineering, caving or tree climbing

Conifer – evergreen trees with needles (not leaves) that typically produce naked seeds in cones

Cotyledons – two leaves produced by a seed upon germination

Decomposition – process whereby dead material breaks down and recycles back into the soil as nutrients

Drip tip – a feature of leaves of tropical trees whereby the point is elongated to a sharp point, presumably to channel water off the leaf during rain showers

Emergent – tropical tree that grows above the height of the forest canopy

Entomologist – scientist who studies insects and their kin

Epiphylly – the covering on leaf surfaces, especially in moist tropical forests, composed of a diversity of organic matter including mosses, lichen, fungi, and micro-organiams inhabiting them

Epiphyte – plant that lives in the canopies of trees, procuring its nutrients and water from the air and using its host tree only for physical support

Ethnobotanist – scientist who studies the economic uses of plants such as medicines, foods and materials

Flush – the event of leafing out synchronously

Green food web – the interconnected chain of organisms involved in photosynthesis and the interactions within the forest canopy

Hammock – an ecosystem in which forests exist on slightly elevated patches of land, usually surrounded by wetter ecosystems such as marshes; occurs in Florida

Herbarium – standardized dried collection of labeled plants used for scientific study

Herbivore – animal (e.g. sloth, beetle) that consumes green leafy tissue

Herbivory – process by which animals consume green foliage

Host specific – an organisms that is specific tone food plant and will die without it

Island Biogeography – biological concept that explains why smaller isolated spaces have fewer species than larger tracts

Jason Expedition – distance learning program founded by Robert Ballard whereby students explore remote regions of the world to study science via satellite telecommunication from classrooms or museums

Jumar – toothed metal device utilized in mountaineering, caving or tree climbing to ascend up a rope

Mycorrhizae – fungi that live in association wit the roots of a plant, and may confer an advantage to that individual by enhancing nutrient and water uptake

Mutualism – relationship between two organisms in which both benefit from being together

Nutrient cycling – movement of organic compounds from living organisms to dead and decaying material, usually through the circular pattern of production in green plants to growth to death on the forest floor to decomposition in the soil and uptake back into green plants

Ornithology – scientific study of birds

Palynologists – scientists who study the history of plant by analyzing pollen grains from deposits fossils such as sediments in lakes or cores in soil

Pioneer species – a colonizing or early settler species on a disturbed or open tract of land, usually succeeded by late successional species

Predators – an organism that survives by feeding or in some way preying on other organisms

Pollinator – organism that aids in plant reproduction by transferring pollen

Photosynthesis – process whereby the green tissue in plants contain cells called chlorophyll that are capable of utilizing the energy of sunlight to manufacture organic compounds that form the basis of all food chains

Pteridophytes – scientific term for ferns

Replication – part of the careful design of a scientific experiment that involves repeated units or treatments

Sun leaf – leaf grown in the sunny part of a plant, with physiological characteristics such as small, thick and tough that are functional in high-light conditions

Shade leaf - leaf grown in the shaded part of a plant, with physiological characteristics such as large, thin, and soft that are functional in low light conditions

Succession – the gradual changes in ecosystem composition that occur over time

Tardigrades – microscopic invertebrates that inhabit every continent of the world, and have the unique ability to exist in suspended animation when conditions are unfavorable

Taxonomist – scientist who classifies organisms