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Dictionary for
Life Cycles of Plants and Animals |
community
noun
an interacting population of various kinds of individuals (as
species) in a common location
conservation
noun
a careful preservation and protection of something; especially
: planned management of a natural resource to prevent
exploitation, destruction, or neglect
consumer
noun
an organism requiring complex organic compounds for food which
it obtains by preying on other organisms or by eating
particles of organic matter -- compare PRODUCER
egg
noun
an animal reproductive body consisting of an ovum together with
its nutritive and protective envelopes and having the capacity
to develop into a new individual capable of independent existence
food chain
food pyramid
noun
an arrangement of the organisms of an ecological community according
to the order of predation in which each uses the next
usually lower member as a food source food web
food web
noun
the totality of interacting food chains in an ecological community
generation
noun
the average span of time between the birth of parents and that
of their offspring
habitat
noun
the place or environment where a plant or animal naturally or
normally lives and grows hibernation
hibernate
verb
to be or become inactive or dormant
larva
noun
the early form of an animal (as a frog or sea urchin) that at
birth or hatching is fundamentally unlike its parent and must
metamorphose before assuming the adult characters
life cycle
noun
a series of stages through which something (as an individual,
culture, or manufactured product) passes during its lifetime
metamorphosis.
noun
a marked and more or less abrupt developmental change in the
form or structure of an animal (as a butterfly or a frog)
occurring subsequent to birth or hatching
migrate
verb
to pass usually periodically from one region or
climate to another for feeding or breeding population
population
noun
the total of individuals of the same species occupying an area
producer
noun
any of various organisms (as a green plant) which produce
their own organic compounds from simple precursors
(as carbon dioxide and inorganic nitrogen) and many of which
are food sources for other organisms pupa
pupa
noun
a stage of a metamorphic insect (as a bee, moth, or beetle) that
occurs between the larva and the adult, usually enclosed in a
cocoon or protective covering, and undergoes internal changes
by which larval structures are replaced by those typical of the
adult
reproduction
noun
to produce (new individuals of the same kind) by a sexual or
asexual process
species
noun
a class of individuals having common attributes and designated
by a common name an individual or kind belonging to a biological
group
system
noun
a group of related natural objects or forces
Dictionary definitions courtesy of:
Merriam-Webster On-line Collegiate
Dictionary
http://www.m-w.com/home.htm