Ecology

Ecology

Industry: Biology

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Ecology

Aphids

Biology; Ecology

Soft-bodied insects that eat green leaves. Ants corral them and protect them from predators to milk them of the honeydew they excrete. Most gardeners consider them pests.

Mineralization

Biology; Ecology

Decomposition of organic matter into its inorganic (mineral) components (e.g., petrified wood). In archeology, the replacement of fossil bone with water-borne minerals.

Helophyte

Biology; Ecology

A cryptophyte (a plant whose reproductive organs are underground or underwater) that flourishes in water or waterlogged soil. Cattails, rushes, and reeds are helophytes.

Chert

Biology; Ecology

Hard and dense sedimentary rock, light grey to dark grey (flint), composed of quartz crystals and silica derived from marine fossils. Usually found in limestone nodules.

Buffer prey

Biology; Ecology

A species targeted by a predator that usually eats a different species. This happens when the preferred species is depleted or the buffer species is unusually numerous.

Ten percent law

Biology; Ecology

Only about ten percent of the chemical energy available at one trophic level in a food chain is converted into a usable form for organisms at the next trophic level.

Ozone

Biology; Ecology

A three-atom oxygen molecule that in its gaseous state screens ultraviolet radiation. The protective ozone layer hangs 10 to 50 kilometres above the Earth's surface.