Glossary
Apex Predators also known as an alpha predator, super predator, top predator or top-level predator, is a predator residing at the top of a food chain on which no other creatures predate.
Bycatch the unwanted fish and other marine creatures caught during commercial fishing for a different species.
Critically Endangered a species which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild. It is the highest risk category assigned by the IUCN Red List for wild species.
Convergence The process whereby organisms not closely related (not monophyletic), independently evolve similar traits as a result of having to adapt to similar environments or ecological niches.
Ecological Value benefits a species brings to its ecosystem, such as nutrient cycling, natural services and predator prey relationships.
Ecosystem one or more communities of different species interacting with one another and with the chemical and physical factors making up their nonliving environment.
Emissions the production and discharge of something, especially gas or radiation.
Endangered (of a species) wild species with so few individual survivors that the species could soon become extinct in all or most of its natural range.
Endemic (of a species) species that is found in only one area. Such species are especially vulnerable to extinction.
Entangled to make tangled; ensnarl; intertwine.
Extinction (of a species, family, or other larger group) complete disappearance of a species from the earth. It happens when a species cannot adapt and successfully reproduce under new environmental conditions or when a species evolves into one or more new species.
Food Source any substance containing nutrients, such as carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, that can be ingested by a living organism and metabolized into energy and body tissue
Foraging (of a person or animal) search widely for food or provisions.
Food chain Series of organisms in which each eats or decomposes the preceding one.
Gestation the process of carrying or being carried in the womb between conception and birth.
Habitat place or type of place where an organism or population of organisms lives.
Haul out activity the behaviour associated with pinnipeds (true seals, sea lions, fur seals and walruses), of temporarily leaving the water between periods of foraging activity for sites on land or ice.
Mass Extinction Catastrophic, widespread, often global event in which major groups of species are wiped out over a short time compared with normal (background) extinctions.
Multing (of an animal) shed old feathers, hair, or skin, or an old shell, to make way for a new growth.
Natural gases Underground deposits of gases consisting of 50-90% by weight methan gas and small amounts of heavier gaseous hydrocarbon compounds such as propane and butane.
Nutrient cycling the movement and exchange of organic and inorganic matter back into the production of living matter.
Instrumental Value (of a species) ways a species benefits humans, such as ecotourism, medicine, genetic information.
Overfishing Harvesting so many fish of a species, especially immature individuals, not enough breeding stock is left to replenish the species and it becomes unprofitable to harvest them.
Pinniped Belonging to the Pinnipedia, a suborder of carnivores with limbs adapted to an aquatic life,including the seals and walruses.
Population group of individual organisms of the same species living in a particular area.
Predators organism that captures and feeds on some or all parts of an organism of another species (the prey).
Predator-prey relationship Relationship that has evolved between two organisms, in which one organisms, in which one organism has become the prey for the other, the latter called the predator.
Prey organism that is killed by an organism of another species (the predator) and serves as its source of food.
Pupping (of female dogs, seals and certain other animals) give birth to young.
Restricted range A species range is the area where a particular species can be found during its lifetime. A species having a restricted range means it can be found in a very particular or small geographic area.
Sub-population the assemblage of a specific type of organism living in a given area or all the individuals of one species in a given area.
REFERENCES
Dictionary.com. Retrieved December 9, 2015, from Dictionary.com Website: http://dictionary.reference.com/
Miller, Tyler G. Living In the Environment, pgs G1-G12, Brooks Cole.
Science Daily. Retrieved December 9, 2015 from ScienceDaily website: http://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/convergent_evolution.htm