Fourth Grade Glossary
Abiotic – nonliving
Adaptation - an alteration or adjustment in structure or habits, often hereditary, by which
a species or individual improves its condition in relationship to its environment
Amphibian - animal capable of living both on land and in water
Anadromous - migrating from the sea to fresh water to spawn
Artificial reef - uses homemade objects such as concrete balls made specifically for
reefs, and donated objects such as shipping containers, barges and ex-military ships, to
create reef habitat
Average annual rainfall – the average amount of rainfall that a particular area receives
per year
Average temperature – the usual (mean) temperature of an area
Biodiversity - the variability among living organisms on the earth, including the
variability within and between species and within and between ecosystems (variety of
life)
Biotic - living
Bird - warm-blooded, egg-laying, feathered vertebrates with forelimbs modified to form
wings
Caste – a specialized level in a colony of social insects, in which the members, such as
workers or soldiers, carry out a specific function
Classification - the systematic grouping of organisms into categories on the basis of
evolutionary or structural relationships between them; taxonomy
Cold-blooded - an organism that regulates its body temperature largely by exchanging
heat with its surroundings
Colonial - living in, consisting of, or forming a colony
Community - the region occupied by a group of interacting organisms
Development - the series of changes which animal and vegetable organisms undergo in
their passage from the embryonic state to maturity, from a lower to a higher state of
organization
Diversity - state of difference; dissimilitude; unlikeness
Drone – male bees that the queen bee uses to reproduce with
Ecological biodiversity - the variety of different wildlife communities found in an area
Ecosystem - an ecological community together with its environment, functioning as a
unit
Ecotone - transitional zone between two communities containing the characteristic
species of each
Ectothermic - an organism that regulates its body temperature largely by exchanging
heat with its surroundings
Elevation - the height of a thing above a reference level; altitude
Endothermic - an organism that generates heat to maintain its body temperature,
typically above the temperature of its surroundings; warm-blooded
Entomology - scientific study of insects
Fish - cold-blooded aquatic vertebrates, characteristically having fins, gills, and a
streamlined body
Fly fishing – using the environmental needs of a fish, and the characteristics of the
insects upon which they feed to replicate these insects with their flies to have a better
chance of catching a fish
Frequency -the property or condition of occurring at frequent intervals
Functional biodiversity - variety of biological processes a particular ecosystem performs
Genetic biodiversity - the variety of genes within a breeding population
Habitat needs – the characteristics that a habitat must have in order to support a
population
Haploid - A structure for housing bees, especially honeybees (a colony of bees living in
such a structure)
Impermeable - impossible to permeate
Impoundment – man-made wetlands constructed canals, drains, floodgates and trunks to
control the amount of water in the rice fields
Larva - the newly hatched, wingless, often wormlike form of many insects before
metamorphosis
Mammal - any of various warm-blooded vertebrate animals including humans,
characterized by a covering of hair on the skin and, in the female, milk-producing
mammary glands for nourishing the young
Mayfly - slender insect with delicate membranous wings having an aquatic larval stage
and terrestrial adult stage usually lasting less than two days
Molt - to shed periodically part or all of a coat or an outer covering, such as feathers,
cuticle, or skin, which is then replaced by a new growth
Morphological polymorphism - the specialization of forms for the division of labor
within a colony
Niche - the particular area within a habitat occupied by an organism
Nursing worker – bees that feed the developing larvae; the nursing behavior of the
females is influenced by the queen
Nymph - the larval form of certain insects, usually resembling the adult form but smaller
and lacking fully developed wings
Permeable - that can be permeated or penetrated, especially by liquids or gases
Pitch - the distinctive quality of a sound, dependent primarily on the frequency of the
sound waves produced by its source
Pupa - the nonfeeding stage between the larva and adult in the metamorphosis of insects,
during which the larva typically undergoes complete transformation within a protective
cocoon or hardened case
Region - an area of interest or activity
Reptile - any of various cold-blooded, usually egg-laying vertebrates of the class
Reptilia, having an external covering of scales or horny plates and breathing by means of
lungs
Reservoir - a natural or artificial pond or lake used for the storage and regulation of
water
Rice trunk gate – used to take advantage of the natural tidal fluctuations in the Coastal
Plain rivers to flood and drain the fields
River Otter - sociable aquatic animal widely distributed along streams and lake borders
in North America
Round Dance - when a foraging bee finds food close to the beehive, it performs its
simplest dance where it runs around in a small circle to alert the other bees of the food
source
Runoff - rainfall not absorbed by soil
Social colony – the queen, workers, and drones that comprise all the castes and form a
community
Social insect –animals that live in colonies and have social castes within their
community; individuals of this species cannot exist except in close association with
others of their species
Sound waves – movement of sound through the air or other materials in a wave form
created by the vibration of some object and detected by causing a sensor to vibrate
Species biodiversity – the number of different species found in an environment
Swarming - a large number of insects or other small organisms, especially when in
motion, or a group of bees with a queen bee in migration to establish a new colony; when
the queen bee’s ability to lay eggs diminishes
Taxonomy - the classification of organisms in an ordered system that indicates natural
relationships
Topography - the surface features of a place or region on a map, indicating their relative
positions and elevations
Transect – a research method that is used by biologists to determine species biodiversity
in an environment; a line is established through an area, and all of the plant and animal
species observed along this line are identified and counted
Vibrissae - any of the long stiff hairs that project from the snout or brow of most
mammals
Waggle dancing - a form of communication among honeybees usually to communicate
sources of food
Warm-blooded - an organism that generates heat to maintain its body temperature,
typically above the temperature of its surroundings