Copy of `Tree of Life - Nature glossary`

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Tree of Life - Nature glossary Category: Animals and Nature > Natural life Date & country: 25/01/2014, USA Words: 214

amphizoic
See amphitrophic.

anoxic
An environment in which there is no free oxygen present. A situation that commonly arises in natural habitats when the biological demand for oxygen exceeds the supply, for example in sediments or when a site is organically polluted.

apical
Relating to the apex, the anterior pole.

allopatry (allopatric)
Species or populations occupying separate geographic areas. Compare to sympatry.

aloricate
No lorica present.

amino acid (amino acids)
Molecule that serves as the basic structural unit of proteins. General formula R

amoeba (amoebae)
Any organism in a polyphyletic grouping of organisms which move and feed using pseudopodia. For more information about amoebae see Amoebae Protists Which Move and Feed Using Pseudopodia.

amoeboid
Like an amoeba. Usually means that the organism has the capacity to produce pseudopodia.

alga (algal, algae)
A polyphyletic grouping of organisms with chloroplasts. Now divided into blue-green algae (eubacteria), cryptomonads, chlorarachniophytes, glaucophytes, dinoflagellates and other alveolates, euglenids (a group of Euglenozoa), various stramenopiles (also referred to as chromophytes, chrysophytes, heterokonts - including the diatoms and brown algae), haptophytes (= prasinophytes), green algae (green plants), and red algae. For more information see Algae Protists with Chloroplasts.

aerial
Pertaining to the air - as opposed to the land (terrestrial) or the water (aquatic).

aboral
Relating to position away from the mouth (cf. adoral).

abyssopelagic (abyssopelagic zone)
The part of the ocean that extends from 4000m to the sea floor. This zone is characterized by near- freezing temperatures and crushing water pressure.

actinopod (actinopods)
A type of pseudopod, needle-shaped, with internal skeleton formed from arrays of microtubules.

adoral
Relating to position toward the mouth (cf. aboral).