fifth grade glossary（glossary fifth grade）.doc

Fifth 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 Alfred Wegener - a German scientist who compiled a tremendous amount of evidence for the existence of Pangaea Apex predator - the highest consumer level (the top predator) of a food chain or food pyramid Arcuate – oriented in a curved alignment, or arc Asthenosphere – a zone of the earths mantle that lies beneath the lithosphere and consists of several hundred kilometers of deformable rock Atlantic Ocean – formed after the breakup of Pangaea, when the continents began to drift apart Backwash – the water returning back down the beach face toward the surf zone after a wave has washed up on the beach Berm - a terrace formed by wave action along the backshore of a beach Biotic - living Bycatch - the portion of a fishing catch that is discarded as unwanted or commercially unusable Carnivore – an animal that preys on other animals Caudal fin - the tail of fishes and some other aquatic vertebrates Clay - soils made up of sediment with very tiny particle sizes that is plastic-like when wet Climate - the average weather conditions (temperature, rainfall, air pressure, humidity and cloudiness) of an environment Coast - the land region in that is adjacent to the ocean and is regularly influenced by the actions of the ocean Coastal plain – the land region that is adjacent to the coast and is characterized by flat land and many wetlands? Community - all of the different plant and animal populations that share a common environment Consumer - heterotrophic organism that ingests other organisms or organic matter in a food chain Continental crust – this type of crust is less dense and more massive than oceanic crust Continental Drift Hypothesis – Wegener’s theory that Pangaea broke apart, or rifted, and the continents “drifted” to their modern locations; that the less-