Second Quarter Science Vocabulary - Sixth Grade - Mr. Benton

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39.   photosynthesis - the process in leaves which turns carbon dioxide and water into sugar as food for the plant 

40.   carbon dioxide - a gas which makes up less than 4% of our atmosphere, but is necessary for photosynthesis;  chemical symbol:  CO2

41.   energy - the ability to do work; comes in many forms - chemical energy, heat energy, electrical energy, etc.

 42.   transpiration:  process in which water travels from root to other parts of a plant; excess water then escapes from a plant through the stomates of the plant's leaves

43.   xylem - tiny tubes in the stem of a plant that carry water from the roots to the rest of the plant

44.   stomate -  an opening in the surface of a leaf through which gasses and evaporated water pass

45.   guard cells - pair of cells that surround a stomate and open and close to allow water vapor and gasses to pass in and out of a leaf

46.   pistil - the female part of a flower

47.   ovary - the rounded base of the pistil inside of which are found the eggs which will become seeds when fertilized

48.   pollen - small particles containing DNA, produced on the anther of a flower, which fertilize the eggs of another flower to form seeds

49.  stamen - the male part of a flower, which produces pollen

50.  fertilization -  the joining of egg and sperm in sexual reproduction to form the first cell of a new organism

51.  population- all of the members of one species in one place

52. ecosystem - organisms interacting in their environment with other organisms and with non-living factors

53. community - two or more organisms of different species

54. individual - one single organism

55. abiotic / biotic - non-living / living

56.  adaptation - a characteristic of an organism that helps it survive in its habitat

57.  food web - a diagram showing the feeding relationships among organisms in an ecosystem; arrows show the flow of energy in the food web

58.  trophic level:  the position of an organism in an ecosystem related to its feeding habits; e.g.: producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, etc.

59.  producer -  an organism that converts light energy into chemical energy (food).  Plants are producers, as are green algae and blue-green bacteria

60.  consumer - any organism that is not able to make its own food and must consume food from another source

61.  decomposer - organisms that obtain food by breaking down dead material into chemicals that can be recycled through the ecosystem

62.  autotroph/  heterotroph - an autotroph is an organism which makes its own food (like a plant, a producer);  a heterotroph is an organism that must eat other organisms for its energy needs ( like an animal, a consumer)

63.  primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary:   referring to trophic consumer levels, these words mean first, second, third and fourth

64.  herbivore - plant eater, a primary consumer

65.  carnivore - meat eater; a consumer in a food web that eats other consumers

66.  biomass - the combined weight (mass) of all of the biotic material in an area or ecosystem.

67."10% rule" - on average, only 10% of energy and matter consumed by an organism at a lower trophic level is passed on to the next higher consumer level because most energy is used by any given organism to perform life processes.

68.  limiting factor - any influence which reduces the reproductive capacity of a population

  carrying capacity - the ability of an ecosystem to sustain (keep alive) a certain number of individuals

69.  reproductive potential- the number of offspring that an individual might possibly give birth to 

70.  carrying capacity - the number of a population of one species that an ecosystem can keep alive

71.  detritivore - an organism like a worm or beetle that eats dead material (detritus) but doesn't break the material down into its simplest form (and is therefore not referred to as a decomposer in our book)

72.  omnivore - an organism that eats everything; plants and animals

73.  carbohydrate - sugar and starch are examples of carbohydrates; chemical compounds made of carbon, hydrogen and           oxygen

74.  calorie - a unit of measurement of heat energy:  one calorie raises the temperature of one milliliter of water by one degree Celsius

75.  extinction - the complete disappearance (death) of a species

76.  species - a group of similar organisms that can only reproduce sexually within that group

 

 

POSSIBLE FUTURE VOCABULARY:

.  reproduce -  create a new organism of the same species

.  stage -  the flat platform of a microscope on which the slides and specimens are placed for viewing

.  objective lens -  the interchangeable lenses just above the stage on a microscope

  diaphragm - a circular disc with round holes under the stage of a microscope that allows varied amounts of light to pass up through the specimen on the stage

.  inverted  -  turned upside down

.  power - the magnification of one lens on a microscope; for example:  the eyepiece is usually 10 power, written 10X

.  mitochondrion - an organelle that "burns" sugar in a cell to release energy for life processes

 

 

 

carbohydrate - a sugar or starch; the source of energy in many foods; the chemical formula contains carbon, hydrogen and oxygen

calorie - the amount of heat energy needed to raise the temperature of one milliliter of water one degree Celsius

 

  tap root - a thick central root of some plants (different from fibrous roots)

  phloem:  tiny tubes in a plant that carry food from the leaves to the other parts of the plant

  leaf - usually green part of a plant in which most photosynthesis takes place, producing food for the whole plant

 guard cells - curved cells which surround the openings in leaves, (forming stomates)

  photosynthesis - the process in leaves,  which use the sun's energy to turn water and carbon dioxide into food (sugar) for a plant. 

 

  

  chlorophyll - a green pigment in leaves, that is necessary for photosynthesis

  pollen tube -  a hollow tube which grows from pollen grain stuck on the stigma, down through the style to the ovary, allowing the sperm (male DNA) to travel to the eggs in the ovary of a flower

  anther -  the tip of the stamen where pollen is produced

  stigma -  the sticky top of the pistil, which captures and holds pollen

  gastropod - any animal like a snail whose stomach ('gastro') serves as its foot ('pod')

  tentacles - on a snail, the structures on the head which serve as eyes and nose

  cold-blooded - type of animal whose body temperature is the same as its surroundings ("ectothermic")

  estivation - a condition similar to dormancy: a deep resting state which snails go into when it is very dry; similar to hibernation in cold weather animals

  hermaphroditic - having both male and female sex organs; snails are hermaphroditic

 dispersal- spreading out from a central starting point, as seeds do from a parent plant

 

  phylum - subgroup of a kingdom  (plural is "phyla")

 

 anthropomorphism - attributing human thoughts and behaviors to non-human organisms 

  genus -  subgroup of a Family in taxonomic classification (plural is "genera")  A genus is divided into species.

 

 exoskeleton - tough, rigid, protective outer layer of an insect's body

  thorax - the middle of three sections making up an insect's body (with head and abdomen)

.  metamorphosis - life cycle of changes in insects; can be complete or incomplete