Camouflage - Physical adaptations that will allow an organism to blend into its surroundings becoming effectively invisible.

Canal -  Canals are man-made waterways, usually connecting existing lakes, rivers, or oceans. They are used for transportation, often by barges or narrow boats on smaller canals, and by ships on ship canals that connect to the ocean.

Carnivore - A consumer (organism) that eats animals.

Community - All the living organisms present in an ecosystem.

Coniferous - Any tree or shrub that has cones (pine trees).

Conservation - Careful preservation and protection of natural resources from loss, harm, or waste, planned management of a natural resource to prevent exploitation, destruction or neglect.

Consumer - An organism that is not capable of making food from non-living substances; must eat other organisms or parts of organisms to obtain energy.

Contaminant  - Harmful substance deposited in the air or water or land.

Crustacean - The group of animals having a hard shell and joint body parts; crabs or shrimp. Cycle: A sequence of repeating events.

Dam - A barrier built across a body of water

DDT - A poisonous insecticide harmful to animals and humans, no longer manufactured in North America.

Decay - To rot; the breakdown of disintegration of matter.

Deciduous - Any plant that sheds its leaves annually.

Decomposer - An organism which consumes organic waste, reducing it to simple nutrients that can be used again by living things; decomposers include: moulds, insects, worms, and fungi.

Deep - Water Habitat - Aquatic habitats, such as in lakes, rivers and oceans, where surface water is permanent and deeper than 6.6 feet most of the year.

Delta - The fan-shaped area at the mouth or lower end of a river, formed by eroded material that has been carried downstream and dropped in quantities larger than can be carried off by tides or currents.

Detritus  - Dead and dying plants; can also be bits of animal remains; forms base of nutrient web in wetlands.

Detritivore - any organism that consumes detritus.

Diversion project - A restoration strategy that involves ‘diverting’ river water through a structure that directs the water and sediments to a specific strategic locale. This method, though expensive, is effective as it mimics the flooding that is responsible for the creation and maintenance of coastal wetlands prior to the construction of flood protection levees.

Dormant - Period when a plant is not actively growing, but is still alive.  For most wetland plants this happens in the winter.

Dredge - A process of removing or disturbing layers of sediment, primarily to clear channels and ponds of excessive sediments. Dredging is carried to maintain navigable waterways. To clear out the mud and sediment from a wetland area subsequent to filling it.

Drought -  A period of very dry weather.

Dune - a low hill of drifted sand in coastal areas that can be bare or covered with vegetation.

Ecology - The study of the interactions between living things and their environment. The branch of biology that studies the interaction of living organisms with each other and their environment.

Ecosystem - An organic community of plants and animals viewed within its physical environment (habitat). The ecosystem results from the interaction between soil, climate, vegetation and animal life. The relationship of living organisms between themselves and the non-living environment in a specific area.

Emergent - Erect rooted herbaceous plants that can tolerate flooded soil conditions, but not extended periods of being completely submerged, e.g. cattails. Water plants with roots and part of the stem submerged below water level, but the rest of the plant is above water.

Emergent Wetland - A wetland class dominated by emergent plants. Emergent wetlands include marshes and wet meadows. (Abbreviated EM).

Endangered - A species that is in danger of extinction or extirpation throughout all or a significant portion of its Canadian Range.

Endemic  – native only to a particular area.  Hawaii has the highest percentage of endemic plants in the world. 99% of Hawaiian insects and land shells are endemic; as are 98% of birds, and 89% of flowering plants.

Erosion - The gradual wearing away of land forms or soil due to the action of glaciers, water or wind.

Estuary - an environment where terrestrial, freshwater, and seawater (saline) habitats overlap.

Eutrophication - A high concentration of organic matter and mineral nutrients, such as phosphates and nitrates, can cause the over-fertilization of aquatic ecosystems. This results in excessively high levels of production and decomposition. Eutrophication can hasten the aging process of a pond or lake due to the rapid buildup of organic remains.

Evergreen - Any plant that keeps its leaves throughout the year.

Exoskeleton - The hard outer covering which supports or protects the soft tissue of an organism such as the shells on turtles, snails and lobsters.

Extirpated - A species that no longer exists in the wild in Canada but exists elsewhere.

Fair Test - A science inquiry where all variables are held constant; only one variable is manipulated all other variables are held constant.

Fen - Low lying, wet land; covered wholly or partly by shallow, usually stagnant water; typically a fen has peaty soil that ranges from very alkaline to slightly acidic.\

Fertile - Something that is very productive; enhancing the growth of new life.

Fertilizer - A mix of nutrients added to soil to make it richer.

Fiber - Thready substance, such as a fibrous root.

Fill - The process where low lying, wet land is filled with top soil in an attempt to make it arable or suitable for construction.

First - Order Consumer - Animals which consume plants - herbivores such as deer or mice.

Fix - To make more stable; plant roots fix soil making it more resistant to erosion.

Floating Plants - Water plants with floating leaves; may be free-floating, such as duckweed, or attached to the bottom by a root system as in the case with pond lilies.

Food Chain - Interrelations of organisms that feed upon each other, transferring energy and nutrients. Typically solar energy is processed by plants who are eaten by herbivores which in turn are eaten by carnivores: sun -> grass -> mouse -> owl

Food Web - Interconnected food chains in an ecosystem.

Forested Wetland - A wetland class where the soil is saturated and often inundated, and woody plants taller than 20 feet form the dominant cover, e.g. red maple, American elm, and tamarack. Water tolerant shrubs often form a second layer beneath the forest canopy, with a layer of herbaceous plants growing beneath the shrubs. (Abbreviated FO).

Freshwater - Water without salt in it, like ponds and streams.

Fry - Baby fish.

Gills - Organs that enable aquatic animals to obtain oxygen from the water.

Glacier - A mass of moving ice and snow.

Gleyed Soil - Mineral wetland soil that is or was always wet; this results in soil colors of gray, greenish gray, or bluish gray.

Global Warming - an increase of the earth's temperature by a few degrees resulting in an increase in the volume of water which contributes to sea-level rise.

Ground Water - Water found at and beneath the water table in the zones of soil and bedrock, which are saturated.

Ground Water Discharge - Ground water that emerges at the land surface, in the form of springs or seepage areas. Ground water can also discharge into rivers (via bank seepage) and sustain flow during the drier months.

Groundwater Recharge – The process whereby infiltrating rain, snowmelt or surface water enters and replenishes the ground water stores.

Habitat -The environment in which the requirements of a specific plant or animal are met. The place where an animal and plant community naturally occur.

Herbivore - A consumer (organism) that feeds on plants.

Hydric Soil - A soil that is saturated, flooded or ponded long enough during the growing season to develop anaerobic (oxygen lacking) conditions in the upper part of the soil. Hydric soils are generally poorly drained or very poorly drained. Soils low or absent in oxygen due to their saturation in water.

Hydrology (as in wetlands) - Amount and period of time that water is present.

Hydrophyte - A plant or animal that can, and often must, live in water.

Hydrophytic vegetation  - Plants adapted to wet soil.

Hypothesis - A prediction in combination with a reason why events will occur; a because statement.

Indigenous – a species native to the area.

Intermittent Stream  - Streams, which flow primarily during the wet seasons when the water table is high, and remain dry for a portion of the year. Most intermittent streams flow for a good portion of the year.

Knee - A part of the root of a wetland tree which emerges from the water in which the tree is growing.

Levee - A levee (from the French for "raised") is a natural or artificial embankment, usually earthen, which parallels the course of a river. Usually the term levee in implies a man made feature constructed for the purpose of flood control.

Load - Amount of contaminant / pollutant / sediment being carried by a stream, river, or other waterway.

Mammals - Warm-blooded animals that bear their young live.

Mangroves - Tropical evergreen trees found in swamps.

Marsh - A marsh is a type of freshwater, brackish water or saltwater wetland that is found along rivers, pond, lakes and coasts. Marsh plants grow up out of the water. Typically marshes are composed of grass-like herbaceous plant communities. An emergent wetland that is flooded either seasonally or permanently. Marshes support the growth of emergent plants e.g. cattails, bulrushes, reeds, sedges, and floating-leaved plants e.g. pondweeds and submergents.

Migrate - To travel over a distance with the change of season.

Mollusk - A group of invertebrate animals who have soft, non-segmented body covered, usually, by a hard shell; snails, clams, oysters, mussels and slugs are mollusks.

Mudflat - a muddy, low-lying strip of ground usually submerged, more or less completely, by the rise of the tide; found in association with barrier islands and cheniers (a beach ridge) along the coast.

Muskeg - Wet, spongy ground; a synonym for bog.

Natural levee - A natural embankment that parallels the course of a river or bayou. A natural levee is built up over time by seasonal flooding of uncontained rivers and bayous. A natural levee is generally shorter and broader than an artificial levee.

Naturalist - A person who appreciates, studies and interprets the natural environment.

Niche - The way of life of an organism; how it get its food, its behavior and impact on other organisms and habitat. The location and function of a living organism in its environment.

Non-Persistent Plant - Species of plants whose above ground growth breaks down when the plant goes dormant.

Nonpoint Source Pollution - indirect or scattered sources of pollution that enter a water system such as drainage or runoff from agricultural fields, airborne pollution from crop dusting, runoff from urban areas (construction sites, etc.)

Nutrients - A substance that provides the nourishment needed for the survival of an organism, nutrients or other pollutants.

Nymphs - Immature form of insects, such as dragonflies, damselflies, and mayflies. The nymph resembles the adult but is lacking wings. This type of insect does not have a pupa stage.

Omnivore - A consumer (organism) that eats both animals and plants.

Open Water - A wetland class consisting of areas of open water less than 6.6 feet deep. There are often submerged or floating-leaved plants in the shallower portions along the edges of the waterbody. (Abbreviated OW).

Organic Material - Anything that is living or was living; in soil it is usually made up of nuts, leaves, twigs, bark, etc.

Organic Waste - The decaying or decayed matter from once living organisms.

Organism - A living entity that include: plants, animals, monevans, protistans and fungi.

Palustrine - Palustrine wetlands include all fresh water wetlands dominated by trees, shrubs, emergents, mosses or lichens. It also includes wetlands lacking suchvegetation, but with all of the following characteristics: 1) area <20 acres, 2) maximum water depth <6.6 feet, and3) salinity <0.5%. (Abbr. P).

Parasites - Animals or plants that feed off living organisms; the host organism is usually harmed by the presence of the parasite.

Peat - Organic material (leaves, bark, nuts) that has decayed partially.  It is dark brown with identifiable plant parts, and can be found in peatlands and bogs.

Perennial Stream - A stream that normally flows year-round in all years because it is sustained by groundwater discharge as well as by surface runoff.

Persistent Emergent Plant - Species of plants whose stems show above the water and do not deteriorate when the plant goes dormant (e.g. cattails).

Photosynthesis - Process by which green plants (chlorophyll containing) make food by combining carbon dioxide and water using energy from sunlight.