Glossary abundance: the quantity, or number, of a particular species or type of animal or plant abyssal zone: the deep ocean zone that begins where light penetration ends adaptation: a characteristic, like a body part or behavior, that helps a plant or animal survive in its environment barbels: fleshy whiskers used to "taste" the bot-tom of the ocean buoyancy: the ability of an object to float carnivore: an animal that eats other animals colonies: groups of animals of the same type that live or grow together condense: to come together conservation: the act of saving something from loss or harm crustacean: a type of aquatic arthropod with ten appendages, such as a crab, shrimp, or lobster dive site: a location on the reef often visited by scuba divers diversity: the number of different species or types of animals evaporate: to convert into vapor habitat: the place where a plant or animal lives; its home herbivore: an animal that eats plants invertebrates: animals without backbones nature trail: a marked trail designed to lead people through a natural environment in a way that highlights and protects resources non-renewable resource: a resource that can not be replaced after harvesting oceanography: the science of studying the oceans pelagic zone: the open sea photosynthesis: the process through which plants use energy from the sun to make food from water, carbon dioxide and nutrients phylum: major scientific groups used to classify animals plankton: ocean plants and animals that float and drift with ocean currents, usually microscopic polyp: the individual coral animal predator: an animal that hunts and eats other animals producer: an organism that produces food quadrat: a square used to conduct scientific surveys renewable resource: a resource that replaces itself after harvesting so that it can be harvested again salinity: the concentration of salt in a solution scavenger: an animal that eats dead plants and/or animals tides: the rise and fall of sea level along the coast twice each day tidal zone: the area of the coast covered at high tide and exposed at low tide transect: a line used for conducting scientific surveys tropical: a region where the climate is always warm, located between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn at 23.5° north and south latitude vertebrates: animals with backbones water cycle: the movement of water via evaporation from the ocean, lakes, and other water bodies to the atmosphere, then back to the water body through condensation and precipitation |