Important Vocabulary about the Great Lakes

This Thursday, we have a special program from Shintu Cherian from the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. Shintu has very kindly given us some of the words she might be using; so please acquaint yourselves with the following:

Presentation on Great Lakes

By Shintu Cherian, Coordinator, Multicultural Environmental Stewardship Program

Vocabulary for reference

Bioaccumulation: the term used to describe how an animal stores

harmful substances or chemicals (such as pesticides) in the body.

Consumer: Organism that eats other organisms for food

Decomposer: An organism that obtains energy from decaying

organic material.

Drainage Basin: It is an extent of land where water from rain or snow

melt drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, dam,

estuary, wetland, sea or ocean.A drainage basin acts like a funnel

collecting all the water within the area covered by the basin and

channeling it into a waterway.

Ecosystem: A group/community of organisms interacting with their

environment.

Endangered Species: Animals or Plants facing possible extinction

in the wild (the danger of no longer existing in the wild)

Food chain: The feeding relationships of species that transfer energy

through the organisms in a community.

Food web: The complex interconnection of food chains in an

ecosystem.

Habitat: The local environment in which a specified organism,

population, or species lives, characterized by physical and chemical

features, and the presence of certain other species.

Lake: Body of water larger and deeper than a pond

Non native species: Plants and animals that are not native to an

environment, introduced intentionally or accidentally. When these

plants or animals out compete and crowd out native species for

space, light, and nutrients, they are considered to be invasive.

Ocean: The large body of salt water surrounding the great continents

or land masses, and divided by the land masses into several distinct

portions, each of which is called an ocean. The Atlantic, Pacific,

Indian and Arctic Oceans

Plankton: Microscopic plants and animals floating in the sea or fresh

water, including larvae of larger creatures. They are at the bottom of

the food chain, being eaten by filter feeders and larger larvae.

Pesticides: Chemicals used to prevent insects and other crops from

destroying crops.

Pollution: Human and natural contamination of the environment by

chemicals or heat energy to the extent that existing habitats are

threatened or populations of organisms are endangered.

Population: A group of organisms of the same species that live in

the same area at the same time

Predator: An organism that kills and consumes another organism

(prey); includes animals eating other animals, and animals eating

plants.

Prey: An organism that is killed and eaten by another organism.

Producer: An organism that makes its own food

River: A natural stream of water with a large volume

Sea: A large body of water but smaller than on ocean

Solar energy: Energy from the Sun in the form of light and heat

energy.

Threatened Species: are animals or plants that are likely to be

endangered if factors threatening it are not reversed or removed.

Water cycle: The process, involving evaporation and condensation,

by which the Earth's water circulates through the environment.

If you like, feel free to write a paragraph using six to seven of the vocabulary items and post it to your blog.