Copy of `Chichester harbour education - Marine conservation terms`

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Chichester harbour education - Marine conservation terms Category: Animals and Nature Date & country: 02/12/2007, UK Words: 104

adaptation
A change in the way an organism works or in its shape or behaviour which helps the plant or animal to survive in its surroundings.

additions
Things added on later.

alloy
A mixture of metals, or metals mixed with non-metals

AONB
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty: a precious landscape whose distinctive character and natural beauty are so outstanding that it is in the nation's interest to safeguard them.

aquatic
Relating to water. Plants or animals that live in or near water are called aquatic plants or aquatic animals.

archaeology
The study of past human lives and activities by finding and looking at evidence, such as graves, buildings, tools, and pottery.

artefact
Any object used, shaped or made by humans for example, a flint tool, pottery, coins.

arthropods
This is a big group of invertebrate animals. They all have jointed legs. It includes insects, crustaceans and arachnids (spiders).

basilica
A Roman building or early Christian church

beak
The hard mouth parts of a bird. The upper jaw is called the maxilla; the lower jaw is called a mandible. Sometimes called the ‘bill` rather than the beak.

Beaufort Scale
This is a scale to help sailors work out how strong the wind is by looking at the surface of the sea. It was developed in 1805 by Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort. There is now also a version for use on land. It goes from Force 0 to Force 12. Force 8 is a gale.

biodiversity
The variety of life on our planet: the abundance of different species, their genetic composition, and the natural communities, ecosystems, and landscapes in which they occur.

brackish
Water that is saline but not as salty as seawater

briquetage
Brickwork

burrows
Animals such as rabbits and water voles dig holes or tunnels in the ground to make a safe place to live or hide. These are called burrows.

butchering
Cutting up animals for meat

cargo
Goods that are carried by sea or land.

carnivore
An animal that feeds mainly by eating other animals.

carr
An area of wet land with bushes.

causeway
A raised path across a wet area.

channel
The deep (and often narrow) part of a stream, or estuary through which the main current flows providing the best passage for vessels.

chipped flint
A flint (tool) with an edge, sharpened by hitting the edge to remove small chips of flint.

coastal squeeze
Areas of saltmarsh or mudflat become trapped between hard sea defences and rising sea levels. Instead of moving inland as they would naturally do, they become smaller.

constructions
Things that are built.

coppice wood
Woodland in which areas of trees are cut down in turn to provide a supply of small poles.

copse
Another word for coppice wood.

corpse
Dead body.

crustacean
Crustaceans are animals with jointed legs (arthropods) and hard shells. They include crabs, lobsters and barnacles.

decomposer
A plant, animal or micro-organism that feeds on the bodies of dead, rotting organisms and their waste and converts the matter back into nutrients that can be used by plants growing in the soil. Decomposers include fungi, mushrooms, bacteria, worms, and insects such as millipedes.

deposition
Deposition, also known as sedimentation, is the process whereby material is added to a landform. Wind, water, or ice create a sediment deposit by laying down material that has been eroded and transported from another place.

designation
Various laws and policies protect special places or sites. If a site is designated then it is recognised as being protected under the relevant legislation or policy.

dissection
The cutting up of something (to look at what is inside).

Doomsday Book
A record of the villages and landowners of England, written in 1086.

ecology
The study of the ways that living things interact with each other and with their environment.

encaustic tiles
Tiles patterned using a stamp, then colours were applied to show up the pattern, and the tiles were baked.

enclosure
An area closed in by a barrier, such as a fence.

environment
All of the surroundings and conditions that affect living things, including air, water, land, natural resources, flora, fauna, humans and their interrelation

erosion
A process that wears the earth's surface away, causing soil to move from one place to another. Erosion occurs naturally from wind, water, and ice but human activities can make it worse

estuary
A body of water that is partly enclosed by land but is still connected to the open sea. Usually freshwater e.g. from a river flows into the estuary and seawater flows in and out with the tide. The two waters meet and mix.

evaporation
The changing of a liquid (or solid) to vapour (gas) when heat is applied. When salt water is heated, the pure water turns to vapour and the salt is left behind.

evidence
Facts, information or objects that indicate whether or not something is true.

exported
Sent out of the country

food chain
A series of plants and animals each depending on the next for food. A food chain shows who eats what! Energy is transferred from one organism to another through the food chain.

food web
The connections between every organism in a place, showing what they eat and are in turn eaten by. Food chains link together in a food web.

gabions
Steel wire mesh cages filled with stones that are often stacked and used to reduce erosion along steep slopes or for coastal defences.

geological
To do with the Earth, e.g.: rocks and soils

glacier
A slow moving mass of ice.

global warming
An average increase in the Earth's temperature, resulting in climate change such as different rainfall patterns, a rise in sea level, and a wide range of impacts on plants, wildlife, and humans. An increase in greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, is thought to be a cause of global warming.

goods
Things that are for sale

grazing
This is where only part of a plant is eaten and it can still continue to live and grow. Sheep and cattle graze on the grass in fields.

greenhouse effect
Gases in the air such as carbon dioxide and methane allow heat from the sun to reach the earth`s surface, but stop it leaving again. If more heat is trapped, the earth will warm up. “Greenhouse gases,' such as carbon dioxide are released into the air from burning gas, oil, coal, wood and other resources.

groynes
Low walls built perpendicular to a shoreline to trap sediment, such as sand, drifting along the shore. Groynes are usually made of wood, concrete or piles of large rocks.

habitat
The place or environment where a plant or animal naturally or normally lives and grows.

harbour
Protected stretch of water where vessels may safely anchor or tie up to the shore. People and goods can be transferred from sea to shore or the other way round. Harbours can be very busy places with passengers, cargoes and fishermen setting sail and returning. However some harbours are very quiet.

hearth
The floor of a fireplace.

herbivore
An animal that feeds mainly on plants

illegal
Against the law

imported
Brought into the country

incubate
Keeping eggs or embryos in the right conditions so that they can grow and develop. Birds to sit on their eggs keeping them warm until they hatch. Turtles and snakes will often bury their eggs to incubate underground by themselves.

insect
Insects are animals with jointed legs (arthropods) and external ‘skeletons`. They have 6 legs, e.g. flies, beetles and butterflies.

interdependence
The idea that everything in nature is connected to everything else; that plants and animals cannot survive without each other as they all have an effect on the environment in which they live as well as providing food for each other.

intertidal
The area of shore that is covered at high tide and uncovered at low tide. Also called the littoral zone.

invertebrate
An animal without a backbone. E.g. worms, molluscs, crustaceans, insects and spiders

jetty
A wall or structure built out from the shore, which might protect a harbour or reduce currents.

kiln
An oven for heating objects to high temperatures, such as clay pots.

knots
A unit for measuring speed. A boat going at one knot would travel one nautical mile in an hour. 1 knot = 1.85 km/hour. There is a speed limit of 8 knots within Chichester Harbour.

lagoon
An inland sea

lock
A lock is a device that lifts or lowers boats from one water level to another. Chichester marina has a lock so that boats go in or out even when the tide is high or low.

longshore drift
The process in which sediment is moved along a beach by waves that travel at an angle to the shore, or by tidal, wind-driven, or other currents.

managed realignment
Changing the coastline to adjust to the rise in sea level. This might involve removing old sea defences and building new ones further inland or allowing pieces of land to revert back from farmland to mudflat or saltmarsh by opening up sea defences.

marine
Associated with the sea. For example, a marine snail lives in the sea.

masonry
Stone or brickwork, used in building.

medieval
From the middle ages, around 1000 to 1500 AD

micro organism
An organism that is so small that it can be seen only under a microscope. Microorganisms include algae, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses.

migration
The movement of an animal from one region to another, usually when the seasons change. With birds, this usually involves the movement of a species between a breeding area and a wintering ground that might be a long way apart.

mollusc
Molluscs have no backbone. They have soft bodies and a shell, which may be inside (slug, octopus or cuttlefish) or outside their bodies (snails, cockles, oysters)

monastery
A place where monks live a holy life of prayer to God.

moorings
Chains or piles (posts) fixed to the bottom of the sea or water for boats to tie on to so they do not drift away. The chains are marked by having a buoy attached that floats on the surface.

navigation marks
These are posts or buoys visible above the water marking underwater features such as the position of channels or hazards such as rocks or mud banks. They help sailors find their way safely around the harbour and coast.

occupation
1) The time that people live somewhere, taking up space. E.g. “seasonal occupation� means living somewhere for part of the year. 2) The job someone does e.g. “seasonal occupation� as a fruit picker

pasture
An area where animals can eat grass

peasants
The poor, working people in the countryside

peninsula
Land sticking out into a sea or lake that is only joined to the mainland by a narrow strip of land.

permeable
A material that allows water to penetrate through it. Some rock layers, such as chalk, are permeable but water cannot travel through impermeable layers such as clay.

pollinate
To transfer pollen from the flower of one plant to another plant of the same species. The pollen fertilizes the flower and it can then develop into a fruit or seed. Bees and other insects are important plant pollinators

pontoon
A pontoon is a floating structure sticking out from the shore. It allows people to get to deep water without getting their feet wet!

rock berm
An embankment built of rock used to prevent inflow or outflow of material from an area.

saline
Salty water, such as seawater or the water where sea and freshwater meet and mix.

sand dune
A hill of sand heaped up by the wind.

sea defences
Any structures or devices used to prevent the sea from flooding the land or buildings.

seasonal
To do with the seasons, e.g.; Winter. Not all year round.

settlement
A place where a group of people live

shaft
The long narrow pole that is the handle of an axe, or the stick part of an arrow.

shingle
Any rock fragments (small stones or pebbles) bigger than 2mm in diameter are classified as shingle. Unlike sand, shingle is not moved by the wind but by waves.

silt
Mud, clay or leaves that collect at the bottom of a river, stream or lake.

sluice gate
A gate fitted to a channel of water to control the flow.

species
A group of organisms that share similar characteristics and can interbreed with one another to produce fertile offspring

stabilise
Become more steady, to change less.

thatch
A house roof made from plant stems (such as reeds) held in place by ropes and sticks.

timber
Wood, or made from wood