Special Places: Eco-lessons from the National Parks in Atlantic Canada

Special Places Terms

Abiotic
Nonliving. For example, rocks, soils and waters.

Biodiversity
The variety of life on Earth, including all the different plants and animals.

Biome
A large land (terrestrial) ecosystem such as a forest, grassland, or desert.

Biotic
Living organisms.

Boreal
Cool, temperate regions of the northern part of the Earth, where we find vast forests of evergreen trees such as black spruce and balsam fir.

Carnivore
An animal that feeds on other animals.

Carrying Capacity
Maximum population of a particular species that a given area of habitat can support over a given period of time.

Clear Cutting
Harvesting of all trees in a large area, leaving extensive cutovers.

Community
An interacting population of various species in an area.

Competition
Two or more individual organisms of a single species or different species using the same scarce resources in an ecosystem.

Coniferous Trees
Cone-bearing trees, mostly evergreens, that have needleshaped or scale-like leaves. They produce wood known commercially as softwood.

Conservation
Careful preservation and protection of ecological processes and biodiversity of the environment.

Consumer
Organisms that cannot produce their own food and must get it by eating or decomposing other organisms; generally divided into primary consumers (herbivores), secondary consumers (carnivores) and microconsumers (decomposers).

COSEWIC
Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.

Deciduous Trees
Trees that lose their leaves every fall. For example, oak, maple, poplar and birch.

Decomposers
These are the living things which feed off dead plants and animals and reduce their remains to minerals and gases again. Examples include mushrooms and bacteria.

Ecodistricts
Found within ecoregions and are characterized as distinctive arrangements of landforms, relief, surficial geologic material, soil, water bodies, vegetation, wildlife and land uses.

Ecological Integrity
A national park has ecological integrity when the structure and function of its ecosystems are not stressed by human activity and are likely to persist. In other words, “healthy plants and animals living in a healthy environment.”

Ecological Succession
Process in which communities of plant and animal species in a particular area are replaced over time by a series of different communities.

Ecology
A science that studies the relationship between organisms and their environment.

Ecoregions
Subdivisions of the ecozone characterized by distinctive large order land forms, micro-climates, vegetation, soils, water, wildlife and regional human activity patterns/use. Ecoregions are the bridge between the subcontinental scale ecozones and the more localized ecodistricts

Ecosystem
All the living and nonliving things in a certain area, including soil, air, water, animals and humans. A lake is one example of an aquatic ecosystem.

Ecozones
An area of the Earth’s surface representative of large and very generalized units characterized by interactive and adjusting abiotic and biotic factors.

Endangered Species
A species of plant or animal threatened with extinction or imminent extirpation.

Environment
Circumstances, objects or conditions by which organisms or communities survive.

Environmental Impact
Effects on any natural and cultural resources that result from human use.

Extinct Species
A species that no longer exists anywhere, such as the dinosaur.

Extirpated Species
A local species of plant or animal that no longer exists in its natural region but exists elsewhere.

Food Chain
A sequence of organisms, each of which uses the next, lower member of the sequence as a food source.

Food Web
A complex network of many interconnected food chains and feeding interactions.

Habitat
The area where an animal, plant or microorganism lives and finds food, water, shelter, living space and the other essentials it needs to survive.

Herbivore
Plant-eating organism.

Invasive Species
Non-native species that compete with local species for food and space.

Keystone Species
A species, such as the beaver, that affects the survival and abundance of many other species in its community.

National Park
A relatively large area containing representative examples of major natural regions, features, or scenery of national or international significance. National park ecosystems are not heavily altered by humans and they are protected by national governments.

Natural Resources
Any part of the environment that species depend on for their survival.

Natural Selection
Process by which some genes and gene combinations in a population of a species are reproduced more than others when the population is exposed to an environmental change or stress.

Niche
Within a habitat, a special area with special conditions that supplies a species with factors necessary for its survival. A beaver dam is one example of a niche.

Non-native Species
An exotic species that is neither native nor naturalized to the natural region and that has been introduced as a result of human activity.

Old-growth Forest
Uncut, virgin forest containing massive trees that are often hundreds of years old.

Omnivore
An animal organism that can use both plants and animals as food sources.

Organism
Any form of life.

Photosynthesis
A complex process that takes place in the cells of green plants. Radiant energy from the sun is used to combine carbon dioxide (CO 2) and water (H2O) to produce oxygen.

Population
Group of individual organisms of the same species living within a particular area.

Predation
Situation in which an organism of one species (the predator) captures and feeds on parts or all of an organism of another species (the prey).

Preservation
The act of protecting a natural and cultural resource against eventual damage through control of human activity or natural phenomena.

Prey
This is the food source for predators.

Producer
Organism that uses solar energy (green plant) or chemical energy (some bacteria) to manufacture its own food from inorganic nutrients.

Rare Species
A native species of plant or animal which exists in low numbers or in isolated areas.

Scavengers
Species such as crows or seagulls which feed on dead or decaying organisms.

Species
Plants, animals or microorganisms that are so similar that they can have offspring.

Sustainable Development
The concept and practice of development that ensures that use of a resource or environment does not degrade the usefulness of the resource for future generations.

Sustainable Use
Using a natural resource responsibly, so it will still be available in the future. For example, making sure that trees grow in areas where the older ones have been cut down.

Threatened
A native species of plant or animal that is likely to become endangered in its natural region if steps are not taken to protect it.

Wildlife
Plants or animals not cultivated or domesticated by humans.

Wildlife Conservation
Activity of protecting, preserving, managing and studying wildlife and wildlife resources.