Biology Glossary

Term	Definition	Link
Arthropod	an invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton (external skeleton), a segmented body, and jointed appendages	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthropod
Biodiversity	the degree of variation of life forms within a given species, ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiversity
Bryophyte	all embryophytes (land plants) that do not have true vascular tissue and are therefore called 'non-vascular plants'	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryophyte
Chalcidoids	superfamily Chalcidoidea is one of the largest groups of parasitoid wasps. The species are usually very small and have reduced wing venation. Many have iridescent or other striking coloration. Although some kinds of chalcidoids are plant feeders, most are parasitoids of other insects and are thus considered beneficial. Accordingly, many species are used in biological control programs.
Convergent Evolution	the acquisition of the same biological trait in unrelated lineages.	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergent_evolution
Fabaceae	commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, are a large and economically important family of flowering plants	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabaceae
Fauna	all of the animal life of any particular region or time.	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fauna
Flora	the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous native plant life	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flora
Gene Ontology	major bioinformatics initiative to unify the representation of gene and gene product attributes across all species	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Ontology
Hemiptera	an order of insects most often known as the true bugs	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemiptera
Herbarium	collection of preserved plant specimens	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbarium
Herpetology	branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and gymnophiona) and reptiles (including snakes, lizards, amphisbaenids, turtles, terrapins, tortoises, crocodilians, and the tuataras)	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpetology
Holocene	a geological epoch which began at the end of the Pleistocene (around 12,000 14C years ago) and continues to the present	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene
Hymenoptera	one of the largest orders of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees and ants	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymenoptera
Lichens	composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic relationship between a fungus and a photosynthetic partner	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichen
Locality	the fact or condition of having a location in space or time; a particular place, situation, or location
Macro-organisms	large enough to be seen by an unaided eye
Macrofungi	the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushroom
Miocene	a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about 23.03 to 5.332 million years ago	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miocene
Morphology	branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morphology_(biology)
Mycology	branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycology
Neogene	a geologic period and system in the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) Geologic Timescale starting 23.03 ± 0.05 million years ago and ending 2.588 million years ago	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neogene
Non-vascular Plant	plants without a vascular system (xylem and phloem)	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-vascular_plant
Oligocene	a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 34 million to 23 million years before the present (33.9±0.1 to 23.03±0.05 Ma)	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligocene
Ontology	philosophical study of the nature of being, existence, or reality, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology
Ordovician	a geologic period and system, the second of six of the Paleozoic Era, and covers the time between 488.3±1.7 to 443.7±1.5 million years ago	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordovician
Ornithology	the study of birds	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ornithology
Paleomammalogy	the branch of zoology that studies the mammals of past geologic ages
Paleontology	study of prehistoric life	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleontology
Parasitoids	an organism that spends a significant portion of its life history attached to or within a single host organism in a relationship that is in essence parasitic; unlike a true parasite, however, it ultimately sterilises or kills, and sometimes consumes, the host	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasitoid
Pennsylvanian	in the ICS geologic timescale, the younger of two subperiods (or upper of two subsystems) of the Carboniferous Period. It lasted from roughly 318.1 ± 1.3 to 299 ± 0.8 Ma (million years ago)	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvanian
Phenotype	the composite of an organism's observable characteristics or traits, such as its morphology, development, biochemical or physiological properties, phenology, behavior, and products of behavior (such as a bird's nest)	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenotype
Phylogenetic	study of evolutionary relation among groups of organisms (e.g. species, populations), which is discovered through molecular sequencing data and morphological data matrices	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phylogenetic
Semantic	relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs, and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata.	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantics
Taxonomic	defining groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics and giving names to those groups	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxonomy
Vascular Plant	plants that have lignified tissues for conducting water, minerals, and photosynthetic products through the plant	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vascular_plant
Zoology	the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoology