The Pelagic Dictionary of Natural History of the British Isles: Descriptions of all Species with a Common Name

By Dr. Peter Jarvis

A unique collection of concise but detailed information on 10,000 animals, plants, fungi and algae of the British Isles. Every species with an English common name is included.

The compendium is in two parts. The first, smaller part, looks at various terms that people interested in natural history may come across. The second provides information on individual species or species groups, with entries on those with English (common) names, as well as selected families, orders, classes, etc. In the case of marine organisms, entries are given for intertidal and subtidal invertebrate species, and generally speaking for fish species that might be observed inshore. Indication is often given on distribution as well as whether a species is common, scarce or something in between. For some species a note is made of population size and trends. Comments are made where appropriate on etymology, both of the English name and the binomial.

No other natural history dictionary or cognate publication relating to the British Isles is as comprehensive in taxonomic cover.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pelagic Publishing
• Release date: Jan 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9781784271961

Dr. Peter Jarvis

Peter Jarvis has an academic background in Geography and Environmental Science and was latterly an Honorary Research Fellow at Birmingham University. He was President of the Birmingham Natural History Society and has sat on the national committees of UK Man and the Biosphere (Urban Programme) and the Royal Society for Nature Conservation. His output includes refereed academic articles, wildlife journalism and several books, including Ecological principles and environmental issues (2000).

Book preview

Part I: Terms

A

ABAPTATION The process by which the present-day match between an organism and its environment has been determined by evolutionary forces acting on its ancestors.

ABAXIAL Relating to the side away from the axis of a plant’s lateral organ, for example leaf, usually the underside; opposite of adaxial.

ABDOMEN In insects, spiders and crustaceans, the section of the body furthest away from the head and attached to the thorax, and containing digestive and reproductive organs. In vertebrates, it contains the reproductive and alimentary systems.

ABIOTIC Non-living.

ABMIGRATION A northward summer migration of birds without a corresponding southward migration the previous autumn; movement of an individual from one breeding area to another by pairing in a winter flock with a bird from the new area and travelling there with it on spring migration, examples being found where winter flocks contain birds from different breeding grounds mixed together, particularly seen in dabbling ducks.

ABRASION Wear of feathers, which may change the appearance of birds by reducing tail and wing length, or by revealing a different colour from that at the tip.

ABSCISSION LAYER Cork layer forming at base of leaf stalk of deciduous tree in autumn, causing leaf to fall (abscission).

ACCESSORY FRUIT See pseudocarp.

ACCIDENTAL See vagrancy.

ACCLIMATISATION Adaptation of an introduced species to new conditions so that it can breed and spread.

ACCRESCENT Botanical name for the description of an organ, like the calyx, which continues to grow after flowering.

ACHENE Dry fruit that does not split open to release the single seed.

ACICLE The slenderest prickle of a bramble, often not more than a stiff bristle.

ACICULAR Pointed, like a needle, for example of a leaf.

ACIDIC With a pH below 7; see alkaline and pH.

ACORN Nut of the oak tree.

ACROCARP Type of moss in which the female sex organs and hence the capsules are borne at the tips of stems or branches. Acrocarps are usually unbranched and erect, forming a mounded colony. See pleurocarp.

ACTINOMORPHIC The shape of sea anemones and many flowers that are radially symmetrical.

ACULEATE Pointed or with prickles. In insects, having a sting, the Aculeata comprising ants, bees and stinging wasps.

ACUMINATE Leaf shapes that taper to a point.

ADAPTATION An anatomical, physiological or behavioural feature that makes a living organism better suited to its particular way of life.

ADAPTIVE RADIATION The evolution of two or more distinct species from a single original stock, each of the new species being adapted to a new environment.

ADAXIAL Relating to the side towards the axis of a plant’s lateral organ, for example leaf, usually the upper side; opposite of abaxial.

ADIPOSE TISSUE Loose connective tissue whose main role is to store energy in the form of fat. Brown adipose tissue or brown fat is used in thermoregulation and is particularly important in newborn and hibernating mammals. See also subcutaneous fat.

ADNATE Botanical description for an organ which is joined to another organ, like a leaf joined to a stem, stamens to petals, or fungal gills to the stem.

ADNEXED GILLS Fungal gills with a narrow attachment to the stem.

ADRENALINE A hormone that prepares an animal’s body for fight or flight in response to danger.

ADULT Having reached the final developmental stage.

ADVENTITIOUS Formed accidentally or in an unusual anatomical position, for example roots developing from aerial tissue.

ADVENTITIOUS COLORATION Superficial staining of (part of) a body, as in swans when their necks may be stained a rusty colour by the presence of iron in the water.

ADVENTIVE Non-native.

AEROBIC Requiring or living in the presence of air or oxygen.

AEROBIC RESPIRATION Chemical process that uses oxygen to release energy from food.

AESTIVAL Relating to summer.

AESTIVATION State of dormancy in animals involving a period of deep and prolonged sleep, or torpor, that occurs in the summer or dry season in response to heat and drought.

AFFORESTATION Planting stands of trees on previously unforested or non-woodland areas, usually for commercial and/or recreational purposes.

AFTERSHAFT A supplementary small feather growing from the underside of the base of the shafts of certain feathers in birds.

AGARIC Fungus with a cap (pileus) and stalk (stipe), with gills on the underside of the cap.

AGONISTIC BEHAVIOUR Often used as a synonym of ‘antagonistic behaviour’ and refers to aggressive activity such as fighting, threatening, displaying and feigning, or avoidance and escaping, connected with conflict between social animals of the same species. However, this also includes ‘synagonistic display’, which is non-aggressive social behaviour, for example courtship.

AGRESTAL Plants growing wild in arable land.

AGROSTOLOGY The branch of systematic botany dealing with grasses.

AIGRETTE An elongated ornamental plume or crest that appears on the head of grey herons and egrets.

AIPHYLLUS Synonym of evergreen, particularly in a horticultural context.

AIR SAC An air-filled cavity in a bird’s body that forms a connection between the lungs or respiratory system and bone cavities, helping breathing and temperature regulation – birds have at least five. Also a thin-walled extension of an insect’s tracheae which increases the efficiency of gaseous exchange.

ALAR, ALATE Relating to wings; used of ants, aphids and other insects which have both winged and wingless forms.

ALBINISM, ALBINO Lack of melanin pigment in the body, showing white body parts and pink eyes.

ALBUMEN The ‘white’ of an egg, being a protein store for the embryo.

ALEVIN A newly hatched fish, still attached to the yolk, particularly used of trout and salmon. Once the yolk has been eaten, the alevin become fry, emerge from the gravel, move towards the light and start to feed on tiny insects in the water.

ALGAL BLOOM See bloom (3) and eutrophication.

ALGAL MAT A covering of cyanobacteria on the surface of sediments in shallow water, or on the water itself.

ALGIVOROUS Feeding on algae.

ALGOLOGY The study of algae, synonymous with phycology.

ALIEN A species introduced to a region through deliberate or accidental human activity.

ALIMENTARY SYSTEM A long tube, called the gut, or alimentary canal, along which food passes and is gradually digested.

ALKALINE With a pH above 7; see acidic and pH.

ALLELOPATHY Release by an organism, usually a plant, of a chemical substance that inhibits the germination or growth of other organisms.

ALLEN’S RULE The contention that within an animal species the extremities of the body tend to be longer in the warmer regions of its distribution and shorter in the cooler regions.

ALLOCHTHONOUS Moved from an original location or region.

ALLOGAMY Cross-fertilisation; fertilisation of a flower by pollen from another flower, especially one on a different plant.

ALLOGENIC A change in plant succession resulting from a change in the abiotic environment, in contrast to autogenic change.

ALLOMETRY Growth of one part of an organism faster or slower than that of the whole organism.

ALLOMONE A chemical substance produced and released by an individual of one species that affects the behaviour of a member of another species to the benefit of the originator. Production of allomones is a common form of defence, especially by plant species against insect herbivores, but is also used for example by the bee orchid to produce a scent that attracts its bee pollinators, which in turn receive a food reward.

ALLOPARENTING Care of young by a non-related individual.

ALLOPATRIC Refers to different species or subspecies with areas of distribution that do not overlap; see sympatric.

ALLOPOLYPLOID An interspecific hybrid which has doubled its chromosomes and so is able to breed; most hybrids are sterile.

ALLOPREENING Preening of one individual by another, often seen during courtship, and helping in pair-bonding.

ALOPECOID Resembling a fox (c.f. vulpine).

ALTITUDINAL MIGRATION Movement of upland animals, particularly birds, down to a lower level for the winter and back to higher levels for breeding.

ALTRICIAL Animals that hatch in an undeveloped state, often blind and completely dependent on their parent(s); the opposite of precocial.

ALTRUISM Behaviour detrimental to an individual but favouring the survival or spread of that individual’s genes, for example by benefiting a relative.

ALULA A structure consisting of three to five feathers growing on a bird’s ‘thumb’, also known as the ‘bastard wing’. It controls the airflow over the leading edge of the wing, reducing stalling when landing or flying at slow speeds. Also a lobe on the trailing edge of a fly’s wing.

AMBERGRIS Aromatic substance found in the intestines of the sperm whale, which can be seen cast up on the shore or floating on the sea. Used in the cosmetic industry for fixing and intensifying perfumes.

AMBIENT Relating to the immediate environment, for example ambient temperature.

AMBIVALENCE Showing fear and aggression simultaneously, as in territory holders that both attack and retreat when displaying.

AMENTACEOUS Bearing catkins.

AMINO ACIDS The building blocks of proteins. There are 20 common types of amino acid. They join together in special sequences to form different proteins.

AMMOCOETES Larval form of lampreys.

AMPLEXICAUL A leaf with its base clasping or surrounding the stem, for example seen in teasel.

AMPLEXUS Where a male frog or toad clasps the back of a female when mating, during which he fertilises eggs released into the water.

ANADROMOUS, ANADROMY Behaviour of animals such as eels and salmon which live in the sea as adults and migrate into fresh water to breed. The opposite of catadromous.

ANAEROBIC Living in the absence of air or oxygen; see anoxic. Anaerobic respiration, a chemical process that releases energy from food without the need of oxygen.

ANAMORPH The asexual reproductive stage of a fungus, often mould-like.

ANASTOMOSING Name given to the veins on a leaf when each loops round to reconnect with the next one, so forming a network.

ANATOMY The study of the bodily structure of animals. The study of the functioning of the body is ‘physiology’.

ANCIENT Habitat such as woodland or pasture with semi-natural character that has existed since 1600 CE or before.

ANDRODIOECIOUS A dioecious plant in which hermaphrodite and male flowers occur on different plants.

ANDROECIOUS Plants bearing only male flowers.

ANDROECIUM The group of male parts of a flower; all the stamens.

ANDROMONOECIOUS A monoecious plant in which hermaphrodite and male flowers occur on the same plant.

ANECIC Of earthworms, species that make permanent vertical burrows in soil.

ANEMOCHORY Dispersal of organisms by wind.

ANEMOPHILY Pollination of flowers by the wind.

ANGEL Use of radar to track flocks of birds. The traces of the flocks are known as angels.

ANIMAL A multicellular living organism that lives by taking in food. Animals (Animalia) make up one of the five kingdoms of nature, the others being Monera, Protista, Fungi and Plantae.

ANIMALCULE Tiny, usually microscopic animals.

ANISODACTYL The commonest arrangement of toes in birds, with 3 toes forward and one back.

ANNUAL (PLANT) A plant that completes its life cycle in one year.

ANNUAL RING Ring of wood laid down in stem and branches of tree or shrub (and in shells) during one growing season. See also growth ring.

ANNULUS 1) A ‘ring’ around the stipe (stem) of an agaric fungus, a remnant of the partial veil. 2) In some ferns, a ring of cells around the sporangium.

ANOESTRUS A period of sexual inactivity in females between breeding, particularly in mammals; outside the breeding season.

ANOINTING See self-anointing.

ANOXIC Lacking oxygen.

ANTAGONISTIC DISPLAY A type of behaviour involving aggression, such a display being well seen in the defence of territory. This is also commonly known as ‘agonistic display’.

ANTENNA One of the paired sense organs, sometimes known as ‘feelers’, on the head of an invertebrate or anthropod. An animal uses its antennae to feel or to taste, as well as sensing vibrations and smells.

ANTHER The part of the stamen that produces pollen, usually at the end of a stalk (filament).

ANTHERIDIUM The male sex organ in algae, bryophytes, pteridophytes and fungi.

ANTHESIS The flowering time (strictly, pollen-shedding time) of a plant.

ANTHOCYANIN The red, blue and purple pigments in the sap of plants, which gives us the autumn colours of the dying leaves.

ANTHRACNOSE A fungal disease responsible for diseases on many woody plant species. Infected plants develop dark, water soaked lesions on stems, leaves or fruit.

ANTHROPOCHORY Dispersal of organisms, including seeds, eggs, etc. by human activity.

ANTHROPOMORPHISM The practice of ascribing human qualities to animals other than mankind.

ANTING Where birds self-anoint by rubbing ants on to their feathers using the formic acid to rid themselves of parasites.

ANTLER Bone extensions of the skull grown by male deer as objects of sexual attraction and as weapons in fights for control of harems. They are shed and regrow each year. As they grow they are covered with skin richly supplied with blood vessels – ‘velvet’ – that is shed or rubbed off when growth is complete. A mature red deer stag may have 12–15 branches (tines or points). Reindeer are the only species where females also have (smaller) antlers. See switch.

ANVIL A stone or hard object used by song thrush to smash open the shells of snails to eat the soft insides.

APERTURE An opening in some kinds of mollusc shell where the body emerges for locomotion, feeding, etc.

APEX Tip of a stem or other organ.

APEX PREDATOR A predator at the ‘top’ of the food chain, itself without a predator.

APIARY A place where bees are kept; an apiarist is a bee-keeper.

APICAL MERISTEM See meristem.

APICULATE Leaf with a small abrupt point at the apex.

APOCARPOUS A plant in which the gynoecium has multiple, distinct (free, unfused) carpels.

APOGAMY In ferns, apomictic reproduction in which a gametophyte develops directly into a sporophyte without fertilisation.

APOMATIC, APOMICTIC (noun APOMIXIS) Relating to a plant whose seeds are formed (or in ferns the whole plant) without normal fertilisation; progeny are all female and genetically identical to the mother plant.

APOSEMATIC COLORATION From the Greek apo + sema = ‘away’ + ‘sign’, bright colours that warn predators that an animal is dangerous or toxic if attacked, for example the black and yellow stripes of bees and wasps.

APOTHECIUM A wide, open, saucer-shaped or cup-shaped fruiting body of a fungus or lichen.

APPENDAGE A projection from the body, such as a limb or a crest.

APPETITIVE BEHAVIOUR Activity increasing the chances of successfully achieving a goal, for example a hungry animal looking for food. Consummatory behaviour follows achievement of the goal.

APPRESSED A botanical description of organs that are pressed together but not joined, as in sepals to petals, or hairs lying flat against a stem.

APTERY, APTEROUS Wingless, for example in insects such as fleas and worker ants.

AQUATIC Relating to water as opposed to land (which is terrestrial).

AQUILINE Of or like an eagle; (of a nose) curved like an eagle’s beak.

AQUIPRATA Communities of plants where surface water is an important factor, for example wet meadows.

ARABLE Ploughed land, sown with cereal and other crops.

ARACHNOLOGY The scientific study of Arachnida – eight-legged invertebrates, such as spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites or harvestmen.

ARANEOLOGY The scientific study of spiders.

ARBOREAL Living in trees.

ARBORETUM A place where (usually) rare trees or shrubs are cultivated.

ARCHAEOPHYTE An introduced plant associated with human activity and present in the British Isles before around 1500; see neophyte.

ARCTIC-ALPINE Relating to species that occur at high latitude and high elevation.

ARENICOLOUS Growing, living or burrowing in sand.

ARENOPHILOUS Plants adapted to living in sandy areas.

ARIL Fleshy cup formed from fused cone scales surrounding seeds.

ARISTATE In plants, having a pointed, bristle-like tip such as the awn of a grass; in insects (particularly in true flies), having a lateral bristle on an antenna.

ARISTOTLE’S LANTERN The dental apparatus of a sea urchin’s mouth on the underside of its body, used for biting and rasping, named after the description Aristotle gave it from its resemblance to a horn lantern.

ARRAY Collective noun for hedgehogs.

ARRESTED MOULT When the moulting of a bird is suspended for a period to be resumed later, for example the common tern which completes its moult after migration.

ASCENDENT MOULT While primary moult usually follows a descendent (outward) order, a few bird species have an ascendent (inward) moult. See also descendent moult.

ASCOCARP The fruiting body (sporocarp) of an ascomycete fungus, with different shapes: see apothecium (the commonest shape), cleistothecium, gymnothecium and perithecium.

ASCUS The sac-like organ in which ascomycete fungi produce sexual spores.

ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION Reproduction in which there is only one parent; includes parthenogenesis (q.v.). The young have exactly the same chromosomes as the parent, and therefore the same characteristics.

ASPERGILLOSIS A number of diseases caused by a fungal mould (Aspergillus), particularly affecting the respiratory system, and found especially in wildfowl and gallinaceous birds.

ASSOCIATION A stable, broad plant community within a particular geographical unit.

ASYMMETRICALLY POSITIONED EARS As in nocturnal owls, one ear being positioned higher than the other for good directional hearing.

ASYNCHRONOUS Occurring at different times, as in birds laying eggs at intervals to ensure survival of first born.

ATLANTIC CLIMATE Wet and mild, thus influenced by the Atlantic Ocean.

ATLASSING Collecting data for use in compiling an atlas showing the distribution of animals, particularly birds, in a particular area.

ATROPHY Partial or complete wasting away of a body part or, loosely, reduction in size for example the swift’s legs and feet have become atrophied as their lifestyle has become aerial.

ATTIRE Deer antlers.

AURICLE 1) In botany, an ear-shaped lobe, appendage or extension at the base of a leaf (especially in grasses) or petal. 2) The external mammalian ear.

AUSTRAL Southern.

AUSTRINGERS Old falconry term for keeping hawks, particularly goshawks.

AUTECOLOGY The study of the ecology of a single species.

AUTOCHORY Dispersal of seeds or spores by the parent.

AUTOCHTHONOUS Taxa originating in its current location; not allochthonous (q.v.).

AUTOGAMY Self-fertilisation.

AUTOGENIC A self-generated change in plant succession; see also allogenic.

AUTOLYCISM Making non-parasitic or non-commensal use of activities of another animal, as in birds taking advantage of human activities, for instance using buildings for nesting and arable fields for feeding.

AUTOTOMY Spontaneous severance a limb or tail (that later regrows) as an anti-predator defence mechanism, for example a lizard snapping off its tail when caught by a predator.

AUTOTROPH An organism that can synthesise complex organic compounds from simple substances, for example plants synthesising carbohydrates by photosynthesis, or microbial organisms using chemosynthesis. See primary producer.

AVIAN Of birds.

AVICULTURE The keeping and breeding of birds in captivity.

AVIFAUNA The birds found in a particular area, or a description of them.

AWN Stiff bristle-like appendage on the tip of a plant, particularly barley, oats and a number of grasses.

AXI The angle between the stem and a branch, leaf or bract.

AXILLA Body part equivalent to the underarm or armpit.

AXILLARIES Feathers covering the ‘armpit’ of a bird, where the underwing joins the body.

AXILLARY 1) In plants, arising from an axil. 2) In birds, feathers growing from the axilla.

B

BACKBONE Spine; a flexible chain of bones running from the head to the tail in a vertebrate.

BACTERIOLOGY The scientific study of bacteria.

BACULUM The penis bone which aids sexual reproduction by maintaining stiffness during sexual penetration, found in bats, rodents, insectivores, cats, dogs, foxes, seals and mustelids.

BALEEN PLATES The fringed plates that hang from the roof of the mouth of the largest types of non-toothed whale. Baleen plates filter zooplankton from seawater.

BALLISTOSPORE A fungal spore that is discharged explosively.

BALLOONING A method of dispersal in spiderlings, which climb to a raised point paying out a length of silk until the wind catches them, lifting and transporting the animals often long distances.

BAND Collective name for a group of jays.

BARACHORY Dispersal of seeds or spores by gravity (i.e. falling to the ground).

BARB A horizontal branch from the shaft (rachis) of a feather, also called a ‘ramus’. It carries the ‘barbules’ which are so arranged that those on one barb interlock with those of its neighbours, being held by tiny hooks called ‘barbicels’ or ‘hamuli’.

BARBEL A whisker-like sensory organ near the side of the mouth of such fish as barbel, carp and catfish, which house the taste buds and aid the search for food in muddy water.

BARBICEL, BARBULE In feathers, see barb.

BARK The tough outer woody layer of a tree or shrub, the inner bark consisting of living tissue, and the outer bark including dead tissue on the surface.

BARREN(S) 1) Old-fashioned name for heathland, or more generally low-nutrient soil. 2) In animals, incapable of bearing offspring.

BASAL BRISTLE Small feather at the base of a bird’s beak.

BASAL KNOB See knob.

BASE A substance that, in solution, can bind hydrogen ions and has a pH >7, reacting with an acid to yield a salt and water.

BASE STATUS Base-rich soils are rich in basic elements such as lime, strictly with a pH above 7 but in practice generally taken to be a pH of 5.5 or above. Base-poor soils typically have a pH below 4.5.

BASIDIUM A microscopic group of spore-forming cells found on the fruiting bodies of basidiomycete fungi. The presence of basidia is one of the main characteristic features of the Basidiomycota. A single toadstool may have a million basidia.

BAST FIBRE Fibre collected from the phloem of economic crops such as flax and hemp, and certain trees, for instance lime.

BASTARD WING See alula.

BATESIAN MIMICRY See mimicry.

BATOLOGY The study of brambles, this being a large apomictic group producing a large number of microspecies.

BEAK 1) Multifunctional projection from the head (also called the bill or rostrum), particularly in birds, used for eating, feeding young or partner, manipulation, grooming, capturing or killing prey, courtship and fighting. 2) A rigid projection from a fruit tip. 3) In orchid flowers, a projection separating an anther from the surface of the stigma beneath it.

BEE BREAD The food of bee larvae, a mixture of pollen and honey, and sometimes plant oils and gland exudates.

BEE DANCE Movement by honeybees to communicate direction and distance of (usually food) resources. A round dance occurs for nearby resources, typically <10–20 m from the nest; as the distance to the resource increases, the round dance transforms into a waggle dance, akin to a figure-of-eight movement.

BEESWAX Wax (mainly esters of fatty acids and various long-chain alcohols) excreted by glands of the worker honeybee, used to create cells for storing honey and protecting larvae and pupae.

BENTHOS The fauna and flora of the bottom of a lake or the sea.

BERR A fleshy fruit produced from a single flower with hard-coated seeds.

BEVY Collective name for a flock of larks, a group of partridge or quail, or a group of roe deer.

BIANNUAL Occurring twice a year.

BIENNIAL A plant that completes its life cycle every two years, flowering in the second year.

BIFID Divided into two.

BILATERAL SYMMETRY Arrangement of the parts of a body, flower, etc. such that an imaginary central line or plane divides it into mirror halves.

BILL See beak.

BILLING A pair of birds gently touching bills or caressing with their bills, also called ‘nebbing’.

BI-LOBED PETALS Partly split petals.

BINDING-TO A falconry term, grasping prey by a raptor in mid-air, often at the end of a stoop.

BINOCULAR VISION Vision using two eyes to gauge depth, with a three-dimensional effect.

BINOMIAL NOMENCLATURE International, universally accepted system of naming species. Invented by Linnaeus, the system uses two Latin names, the genus name and the species name.

BIOCOENOSIS A community of interacting organisms inhabiting a habitat or biotope.

BIODIVERSITY The number of species or amount of genetic variation in a particular area.

BIOFILM A group of microorganisms in which cells stick to each other on a living or non-living surface, often embedded in what is technically an extracellular polymeric substance, more informally referred to as slime.

BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLE Movement of a chemical element from the physical environment through the living environment back to the physical environment. See also nutrient cycling.

BIOLOGICAL CLOCK An internal mechanism in organisms that controls the periodicity of particular activities, for example metabolic changes, sleep cycles or photosynthesis. Daily rhythms are called circadian. Also, in animals, a clock that measures ageing throughout the body.

BIOLOGICAL CONTROL Use of predators, parasites, diseases or competitors to control or suppress a pest population.

BIOLOGY The academic study of living organisms in both its general and particular aspects. Biology is basically divided into ‘botany’, the study of plants, ‘zoology’, the study of animals, and ‘microbiology’, the study of microscopic organisms. It also has various more generalised divisions, such as ecology, physiology and taxonomy.

BIOLUMINESCENCE Production of light by a living thing; also known as phosphorescence. Particularly associated with some marine life but also evident in, for example, some fungi and insects such as glow-worms.

BIOMAGNETISM Magnetic fields produced by living organisms.

BIOMASS The mass of living organisms in a defined area or habitat, usually measured as total weight or weight per unit area.

BIOME Ecosystems (biotic communities together with their general physical environment) that extend over large geographical areas, taking their name from the dominant, climatic climax vegetation, and broadly corresponding to a climatic region. Although the landscape would naturally incorporate other vegetation types, and indeed now contains little if any natural vegetation, the biome of the British Isles is temperate deciduous forest.

BIOMETRY Application of mathematical or statistical methods in biology; concerned with the accurate measurement of the characteristics of living things such as dimensions and weights.

BIOSPHERE All the parts of the Earth that are inhabited by living things, including the land, earth and the air.

BIOTA All the species of living plants and animals (and microorganisms) occurring within a certain area or region.

BIOTIC FACTOR The influence or effect of a living thing on a habitat or ecosystem.

BIOTOPE An area of uniform environmental conditions providing a living place for a particular biological community; see habitat.

BIOTYPE A group of animals or plants of fixed genetic make-up, adapted to some usually environmental condition.

BIPEDALISM A form of terrestrial locomotion in which an animal moves by means of its two rear limbs or legs.

BIPINNATE A pinnate leaf with leaflets that are themselves pinnate.

BIRKS Vernacular Yorkshire name for birchwood.

BISERRATE Serrate, with each ‘tooth’ toothed again.

BISEXUAL Possessing both male and female reproductive organs, for example a flower with both stamens and pistils; hermaphroditic.

BIVOLTINE Animals producing two broods in a year.

BLANKET BOG An ombrogenous bog, or ‘flow’, the peat accumulating on (near) flat terrain above the water table, relying on rainfall.

BLASTOCHORY Plant dispersal using offshoots or runners.

BLAZE In birds, a coloured patch at the base of the beak.

BLOOD A complex bodily fluid in animals that delivers substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away.

BLOODSUCKER An animal that sucks blood, for example leech, mosquito or horsefly.

BLOOM 1) One or more flowers on a plant. 2) Waxy, easily removed, often whitish film or covering on fruit, leaves, etc. 3) Rapid algal growth in response to rising temperature and abundant nutrients. 4) Collective noun for jellyfish.

BLOSSOM The flowers of fruit trees, emerging in spring profusion; insects provide the cross-pollination necessary for fruit production.

BLOW SPOUT Seen during expiration of large whales when the surface: water vapour-rich air in the lungs is forced out, expands and cools, causing the vapour to condense and become visible. Whale spouts are therefore not of water.

BLOWHOLE Breathing hole, equivalent to nostrils, on a dolphin or whale, located on the top of its head.

BOG The habitat and plant community associated with wet areas where acid conditions reduce the decomposition rate of plant material, which accumulates to form peat. Types of bog in Britain are blanket, raised, valley, soligenous (also mire or fen) and quaking bog (see all).

BOLE The unbranched trunk or stem of a tree.

BOLLING Trunk or stump of pollarded tree.

BONE 1) A unit of the vertebrate skeleton. 2) The dense connective tissue from which the skeleton is made, mainly of calcium and phosphate salts and collagen. Bones support and protect the body’s organs, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, and enable mobility.

BOOK LUNGS Respiratory organs found in arachnids, over which haemolymph passes to allow oxygen absorption, probably evolved from book gills which are external equivalents in horseshoe crabs.

BOOTED Where no scales are present on a bird’s leg, the legs being instead covered by a continuous skin, for example in the thrushes (Turdidae).

BOREAL Northern.

BORON A micronutrient essential for maintaining cell wall integrity, though excess leads to necrosis. Boron probably plays a number of essential roles in animals, but the physiology is little understood.

BOSCUS The wood or undergrowth produced by coppicing.

BOTANY The scientific study of plants.

BOTULISM Severe food poisoning caused by toxins produced by Clostridium botulinum bacteria, found in stagnant water and affecting waterfowl (and humans).

BOUQUET Collective noun for pheasants.

BRACE A pair of animals, particularly of game birds or waterfowl.

BRACHYPTERY In insects, a species or a sex with both sets of wings reduced (i.e. have become vestigial) so that the animal is flightless. Absence of wings is called aptery (q.v.).

BRACKISH Slightly salty; a mixture of fresh water and salt water, for example in estuaries and lagoons, with a fauna that includes some salt-tolerant freshwater species, a few marine taxa, and some species limited to the brackish conditions.

BRACT (Usually) modified leaf associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower or inflorescence.

BRACT SCALE Thin, papery, seed bearing structure rising from cone axis above cone scales.

BRACTEOLE A small, secondary bract; above a bract or on a lateral branch.

BRAILING A method of temporary flight constraint by tying a bird’s wing making it unable to fully open the wing.

BRAKE An area covered by scrub or bracken.

BRANCH A more or less lateral stem that arises from the main stem (trunk) or another branch.

BRASHING Removing the lower (especially dead) branches of trees in a plantation, usually up to 2 m height. The removed material is the brash.

BREAST BAND A broad zone of colour along a bird’s breast also known as a ‘pectoral band’ or a ‘gorget’. The ring ousel has a white band, for example.

BRECK Medieval term for an area of heathland broken up for cultivation before being allowed to revert to grass-heath habitat.

BRECKLAND A multi-habitat region, but characteristically heather- and gorse-dominated sandy heathland in northern Suffolk and southern Norfolk. The Breckland Biodiversity Audit (2011) identified 12,845 species which included 28% of species in th UK Biodiversity Action Plan (including 72 species found nowhere else in the British Isles).

BREEDING Producing offspring by mating. In birds and mammals, breeding also means raising the young.

BREEDING CYCLE The complete sequence of reproductive activity, for example in many birds from initial courtship and pair formation through nesting to the final independence of the young.

BROAD A shallow lake formed in a depression caused by medieval peat digging. Broads are mainly found in north-east Norfolk and Ireland, and fringing reed habitats are valuable for wetland birds, including rarities such as bittern and bearded tit.

BROAD-LEAVED TREES Trees with wide leaves, in contrast with the needle-like leaves of conifers, and usually deciduous.

BROC, BROCC, BROCK Traditional name for a badger, the first being Old Irish, Manx and Scottish Gaelic.

BROOD The young hatched from a single clutch of eggs; collective name for pheasants and hens.

BROOD NEST 1) Built by parent birds for the young to rest up in; it may or may not be the nest in which it was hatched. 2) In bee-keeping, the part of the hive box containing the honeycomb.

BROOD PARASITE Birds and insects using hosts of the same or different species to raise their young. Intraspecific brood parasitism is seen in some duck species, interspecific parasitism as with the cuckoo and cuckoo bees which lay their eggs in the nests of other species.

BROOD PATCH A featherless area on a bird’s underside which develops at the time of year when the eggs need incubating. Superficial blood vessels facilitate tranfer of heat to the eggs. Feathers are generally shed naturally but some ducks and geese may pluck the feathers (and use them as nest lining).

BROODING Warming or shading of the eggs or young by the parent bird sitting over them, depending on ambient temperature.

BROWN ADIPOSE TISSUE See adipose tissue.

BROWN EARTH A soil type generally developing under deciduous woodland and associated with mull (q.v.) humus.

BROWSE, BROWSING To feed by continual nibbling on twigs, leaves and other vegetation above ground level.

BRUMATION Dormancy in amphibians and reptiles, similar to hibernation (q.v.) in mammals but differing in the metabolic processes involved. Similar to hibernation brumation is triggered by lowering temperatures and a decrease in the hours of daylight during autumn.

BRYOLOGY The scientific study of mosses, liverworts and hornworts.

BUCCAL Of the mouth or, more specifically, the cheek.

BUCK The male of the fallow, roe and muntjac deer.

BUD 1) In botany, an undeveloped shoot, usually found on an axil or stem tip, from which a leaf, flower or new stem might emerge. 2) In zoology, an outgrowth that could develop into a new individual, an example of asexual reproduction.

BUD SCALES In many woody plants, hard, often sticky protective modified leaves that cover and protect the delicate bud. See also cataphyll.

BUILDING Collective noun for rooks.

BULB Swollen underground food storage organ formed of succulent leaves or scales.

BULBIL A small bud or tuber-like structure formed at the base of a leaf in place of a flower, which breaks off and grows into a new plant; common in lilies.

BULLATE In plants, with the surface raised into swellings resembling blisters.

BUR(R) 1) A seed or dead fruit with hooks or bristles that catch on the fur of passing animals allowing dispersal. 2) A large, often fairly hemispherical outgrowth on a tree-trunk.

BUSH General name for low woody plant or vegetation; interchangeable term with shrub.

BUSKING The aggressive territorial defensive display of a male mute swan in which he advances over the water towards an intruder with his neck drawn back and wings arched, proceeding with a jerky movement because, as opposed to normal practice, he paddles with both feet in unison.

BUTTERFLY FLIGHT Seen for example in ringed plover which has a slow, fluttering and often erratic type of flight display.

BUZZ POLLINATION Also known as sonication, where bees, on landing on a flower, rapidly contract their indirect flight muscles to produce strong vibrations (generating forces of up to 30 G) that expel pollen from the flower’s anthers. Around 8% of flowering plants have poricidal (q.v.) anthers, where pollen is hidden inside a tube-like anther, accessible through a small pore at the tip. Most of these species do not offer nectar: the only reward for the bee is the pollen that is expelled through buzz pollination.

C

CACHE, CACHING Storage or hoarding of food by animals.

CADUCOUS Dropping off or shedding at an early stage of development, for example amphibian gills, or leaves, sepals and stipules of certain plants.

CAESPITOSE Growing in dense tufts.

CALAMISTRATED WEB Spider web formed from silk produced by the spinning organ (cribellum), enlarged versions called cobwebs.

CALAMISTRUM A row of specialised leg bristles used by spiders to comb out bands of silk with a woolly texture.

CALAMUS Part of a quill; in a feather the hollow, unfeathered part of the rachis which inserts into a skin follicle.

CALCAR Outgrowth from the heel of a bat, partly supporting the wing membrane round the tail.

CALCAREOUS Soils or rocks containing calcium carbonate.

CALCICOLE, CALCIPHILE A plant needing or preferring soils or water high in calcium carbonate.

CALCIFICATION The process of hardening when calcium carbonate is laid down by cells.

CALCIFUGE A plant that grows better in acid soils and avoids calcareous conditions.

CALCIUM 1) An element essential for plant growth, strengthening cell walls and involved in stomatal behaviour and root development. 2) In vertebrate animals, it is important in the cell physiology and biochemistry, and vital in bone formation and in the health of the muscular, circulatory, and digestive systems. 3) Some invertebrates use calcium compounds for building their exoskeleton (shells and carapaces) or endoskeleton (e.g. echinoderm plates and poriferan calcareous spicules).

CALLOW Arthropod lacking hardness and adult colour just after ecdysis or emergence from pupation (in insects in the teneral phase).

CALLUNETUM Plant community dominated by heath or heather.

CALYPTRA A protective cap on the capsule of a moss or liverwort.

CALYX All the sepals of a flower.

CAMBIUM A tissue layer in the stems, branches and roots of vascular plants lying between the phloem and xylem.

CAMOUFLAGE Use of colour, pattern and shape by animals for disguise or concealment, making them hard to see (see crypsis), allowing them to blend in with their surroundings. See also mimicry and disruptive coloration.

CAMPANULATE Shaped like a bell.

CAMPODEIFORM Body shape of typically predatory insect larvae that have well-developed legs, antennae and a flattened body, for example lacewings and many species of beetles.

CANINE 1) Of or like a dog or other canid. 2) A pointed tooth between the incisors and premolars of a mammal, often enlarged in carnivores.

CANOPY The uppermost layer of branches in a woodland (tree crowns).

CANT See coupe.

CAPILLARY Hair-like (Latin capillus = ‘hair’), in botany, zoology and soil science coming to mean a tube which has an internal diameter of hair-like thinness, for example the narrowest type of blood vessel (one cell thick).

CAPITATE Having a head or headlike (Latin caput = ‘head’).

CAPITULUM A condensed head of flowers, especially of Asteraceae, the inflorescence made up of closely packed flowers reaching the same level on a flattened axis.

CAPSULE 1) Dry fruit which splits open to release its seeds. 2) In mosses and liverworts, the spore-bearing part on top of the seta (q.v.).

CARAPACE Dorsal section of the exoskeleton or shell of tortoises and crustaceans.

CARAVAN Young shrews travel by forming a ‘caravan’ behind the mother, each carrying the tail of the sibling in front in its mouth.

CARBOHYDRATE A group of compounds containing only carbon, hydrogen and oxygen that includes sugars and starch, cellulose and chitin.

CARINA See sternum.

CARNASSIAL TEETH Modified molars or premolars (usually the fourth upper premolar and the first lower molar) in some mammalian carnivores (e.g. red fox, stoats and weasels) that allow teeth in the upper and lower jaws to move against each other in a shearing action.

CARNIVORE 1) An animal that eats other animals. 2) Carnivorous plants such as sundew that trap and digest insects and other arthropods to supplement nutrients in nutrient-poor habitats such as bogs.

CARPEL The basic unit of the reproductive part of the female flower, containing the unfertilised seeds; may be solitary to many, fused or separate.

CARPUS, CARPAL The group of small bones between the main part of the forelimb and the metacarpus in terrestrial vertebrates. In birds, the outermost wrist joint, forming the bend in the wing.

CARR From Old Norse kjarr = ‘swamp’, a type of waterlogged wooded vegetation, often a successional stage between swamp and woodland. See also fen carr.

CARRION The decaying flesh of dead animals, eaten by scavenging animals, insect larvae, etc.

CARTILAGE Flexible, resilient, skeletal tissue that covers and protects the ends of long bones at the joints.

CARUNCLE 1) In plants, a reduced, often brightly coloured aril, or an elaiosome (q.v.). 2) A fleshy appendage, for example a bird wattle. Caruncula is Latin for ‘fleshiness’.

CARYOPSIS An achene in which the ovary wall is fused with the seed coat, typical in grasses and cereals.

CAST Collective noun for falcons and hawks.

CASTE One of three or more functionally specialised forms, distinguished morphologically, making up a population among social insects, for example in honeybees usually queen, drone (male) and worker.

CASTING See pellet.

CASUAL A non-native plant or animal species of which populations do not persist in the wild, and therefore dependent on repeated reintroductions.

CATADROMOUS, CATADROMY Fish that spend most of their life in fresh water and migrate to the sea to reproduce, the young then migrating back, usually to their natal river. The opposite of anadromous.

CATAFLEXISTYLY A morphological change whereby flowers function first as a female then as a male.

CATAPHYLL A reduced, small scale-like leaf often covering a dormant bud, often containing resin. Many plants have both ‘true leaves’ (euphylls) which perform the majority of photosynthesis, and cataphylls that are modified for other specialised functions.

CATERPILLAR The wingless larva of moths, butterflies and sawflies.

CATKIN Elongated cluster of single-sex flowers bearing scaly bracts and usually lacking petals. Many trees bear catkins, including willows, poplars, alder, hazel, birches and oaks. In many species only the male flowers form catkins, and the female flowers are single (hazel, oak), a cone (alder) or other types (mulberry). In other plants (e.g. willows and poplars) both male and female flowers are borne in catkins, known as dioecy (q.v.). Wind carries pollen from male to female catkins.

CAUDAL Of the tail.

CAUDAL GLAND See subcaudal gland and supracaudal gland.

CAULDRON Collective noun for raptors.

CAULINE Growing on a stem, especially on the upper part, usually referring to leaves.

CAVERNICOLOUS Living in caves or caverns.

CECIDIUM A plant gall produced, for example, by an insect or a fungus.

CELL The living unit that make up most organisms, consisting of jelly-like cytoplasm held in by a membrane. At the centre of most cells is a nucleus.

CELL (WING) The area of an insect’s wing enclosed by a number of veins. An open cell is partly bordered by the wing margin.

CELLULOSE An organic compound that is the most important structural component of the cell wall of green plants and algae.

CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM See nervous system.

CEPHALOTHORAX The fused head and the thorax of spiders, mites and some crustaceans.

CERCI Paired appendages on the rearmost segments of a number of arthropods, for example bristletails, earwigs and mayflies, serving as pinching weapons, sensory organs or mating structures.

CERE From Latin cera = ‘wax’, a structure made of skin situated at the base of the upper mandible and containing the nostrils, found for example in raptors (providing a sexual signal of fitness), owls and skuas.

CEREAL A grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain, for example wheat, barley, oat and rye.

CERNUOUS Pendulous or drooping, of a bud, flower or fruit, or the capsule of a moss.

CERVIX, CERVICAL 1) (Of the) neck. 2) (Of the) the narrow neck-like passage forming the lower end of the uterus.

CHAEOTAXY The arrangement of bristles on an insect or mite, or the taxonomy based on their size and position.

CHAETA 1) Stiff hair or bristle on an insect. 2) Chitinous bristles on the outside of an earthworm or polychaete used in gripping the burrow.

CHAMAEPHYTE From Greek chamai + phyton = ‘dwarf’ or ‘on the ground’ + ‘plant’, a plant where the perennating bud is at or near the ground.

CHARM Collective noun for finches.

CHATTERING Collective noun for starlings.

CHELICERAE Appendages at the front of the mouth (biting jaws) of spiders and other arachnids, in some species also used for defence and digging.

CHEMOSYNTHESIS Synthesis of organic compounds by bacteria or other living organisms using energy derived from reactions involving inorganic chemicals, typically in the absence of sunlight.

CHEMOTAXIS Change in the direction of movement (towards or away from) in response to a chemical stimulus.

CHIPPING The breaking of the eggshell prior to hatching.

CHITIN A tough carbohydrate found in the external skeleton of insects, crustaceans and spiders, and in the cell wall of fungi.

CHLOROPHYLL The green pigment in plants which absorbs sunlight as part of the process of photosynthesis.

CHLOROPLAST A plastid in green plant cells which contains chlorophyll and in which photosynthesis takes place.

CHLOROSIS A mineral deficiency or disease in plants which inhibits chlorophyll production, turning leaves yellow or pale green.

CHROMOSOME From Greek chroma + soma = ‘colour’ + ‘body’, a DNA molecule – a thread-like structure of nucleic acids and protein – found in the nucleus of most living cells, carrying the information in the form of genes needed to control the structure and development of the cell. Most cells have two copies of each chromosome.

CHRYSALIS The hard protective pupal case of butterfly or some moths when undergoing metamorphosis. See pupa and cocoon. The term is derived from the metallic gold coloration found in the pupae of many butterflies, from Greek chrysos = ‘gold’.

CHURRING, CHIRRING A prolonged trilling noise made by some birds (e.g. nightjar) and insects (e.g. crickets).

CILIA Hair-like structures on a plant or microscopic animal. In animals cilia can beat to make a cell move or to move things nearby.

CILIUM A minute thread-like organ that moves in unison with other cilia to move a protozoan organism or provide with food.

CIRCADIAN From Latin circa + dies = ‘around’ + ‘day’, any biological process (e.g. metabolic or behavioural) that displays an endogenous rhythm of about 24 hours. These circadian rhythms are driven by a circadian clock, and are widely seen in all living organisms.

CIRCALITTORAL ZONE That part of the sublittoral zone below about 5 m, dominated by sessile animals.

CIRCINATE An arrangement of bud scales or young leaves in a shoot bud (see vernation), for example seen in ferns.

CIRCUMSCISSILE Fruits that shed their seed by splitting along a circumference with the top coming off like a lid.

CLADODE A flattened green stem resembling a leaf.

CLAMOUR Collective noun for rooks.

CLASS Highest subdivision of a phylum, itself subdivided into orders.

CLASSIFICATION The arrangement of (extinct and) living organisms in taxonomic groups according to observed similarities, with taxonomy (q.v.) the branch of biology concerned with classification.

CLAUSILIUM A calcareous structure found in the door snails (Clausiliidae), a spoon- or tongue-shaped ‘door’ which can slide down to close the shell aperture.

CLAVATE Club-shaped, often applied to insect antennae.

CLAW 1) In plants, the narrow basal part of a sepal or petal. 2) In animals, a sharp, usually curved, nail on the foot used to seize, tear, scratch, dig, etc.

CLEAVES Two halves of a deer’s foot.

CLEIDONIC EGG An egg enclosed by a shell that isolates it from the surrounding environment, as laid by reptiles and birds.

CLEISTOCARPOUS 1) In mosses, having the capsule opening irregularly without an operculum. 2) In fungi, having or forming cleistothecia.

CLEISTOGAMY Describing specialised, usually very small flowers which self-pollinate and set seed without opening.

CLEISTOTHECIUM An ascocarp that is spherical rather than the usual cup shape.

CLIMATIC CLIMAX A stable plant community in a state of dynamic equilibrium characterised as the theoretical end point of succession (q.v.) in a particular climatic region. This was formerly viewed as the only kind of climax possible (monoclimax theory), but is now seen as one of a number of possible outcomes (see polyclimax theory).

CLIMAX The final stage of succession (q.v.) in relation to a key environmental control such as climate, fire, extreme topography or human activity, stable but remaining in a state of dynamic equilibrium. See also climatic climax, plagioclimax, subclimax and polyclimax theory.

CLIMBER A plant that uses another for support.

CLINE Gradual character changes between animal or plant populations over a large area, usually in response to an environmental gradient.

CLITELLUM The saddle on an earthworm or leech, a swollen region near the head that as a viscid sac secretes mucus that facilitates copulation, later secreting a cocoon that covers the animal and into which the eggs are laid.

CLOACA A bifunctional urogenital cavity at the lower end of the alimentary system, through which urine and excreta are passed, and providing access to the reproductive system, into which sperm is passed and out of which eggs are laid. All amphibians, birds, reptiles and a few mammals (none native to Britain) have this opening.

CLONE A cell, cell product or organism that is genetically identical to the unit or individual from which it was derived. In nature this occurs through asexual reproduction.

CLOVEN HOOF A hoof split into two toes (cleaves), found on members of the mammalian order Artiodactyla, for example deer, cattle, goats, sheep and pigs. The two cleaves are homologous to the third and fourth fingers of the hand.

CLUTCH A single batch or hatch of eggs.

CLYPEUS Lowest part of an insect’s face, above the labrum (q.v.).

COARSE (FISH) Freshwater fish other than salmonids, which are game fish.

COB Male swan.

COBWEB From Anglo-Saxon and Old English words kobbe = ‘spider’ + webb = ‘to weave’, an enlarged calamistrated web (q.v.) incorporating strands of proteinous silk of great strength and high adhesive quality, and of various designs.

COCOON A silk case that protects certain invertebrates – most moths (but not butterflies), bees, fleas, spiders and worms – as they change from larvae to adults.

COELOM The principal body cavity in most animals, fluid-filled, located between the intestinal canal and the body wall, providing space for the growth of internal organs and acting to absorb shock. In earthworms it helps movement by allowig muscles to contract and expand; also coelomic fluid is excreted as protection against drying out or predation.

COHORT A group of same-aged individuals.

COITION Alternative name for copulation.

COLD-BLOODED ANIMAL See ectotherm and poikilotherm. The term is misleading: the blood temperature of the animal varies with ambient environmental temperature, and so need not be ‘cold’.

COLD STRATIFICATION Seeds of some perennial plants require cold moist conditions, giving this term, before dormancy is broken and germination is triggered.

COLEOPTILE From Greek coleos + ptilon = ‘sheath’ + ‘feather’, a sheath surrounding the apical meristem of monocotyledon seeds that protects the shoot’s growing tip as it pushes through the soil to the surface.

COLLAGEN A fibrous protein providing strength and elasticity, a major component of the connective tissue of an animal.

COLLET The meeting point between stem and root.

COLONISATION The invasion of a ‘new’ site by colonists leading to the establishment of a viable population.

COLONY, COLONIAL Conspecific individuals living and reproducing in close association with, or connected to, one another. Some animals are obligatory colonial organisms, for example slime moulds, corals and honeybees.

COLUMELLA The central spiral in the shell of a gastropod, and a similar axial structure in corals, and the sporangia of some fungi, mosses and hornworts.

COMB See wattle.

COMMENSALISM A relationship between two animals of benefit to one (the commensal), for example acquiring nutrients, protection or locomotion (see phoresis), but with a neutral impact on the other (the host).

COMMENSURAL POINT See gape.

COMMUNITY A functionally interacting assemblage of plants and animals.

COMPARTMENT Area of managed woodland.

COMPETITION Interaction between individuals of the same species (intraspecific competition) or different species (interspecific competition) for a limited resource such as food or space. Males can display to compete for females in courtship, involving intersexual competition. Male–male combat, to acquire females, is intrasexual competition. Exploitation competition occurs where a resource is in limited supply, with the competitively superior individual or species more likely to be successful. Interference competition occurs where one competitor denies the other access to a limited resource by excluding it from the resource, for example by occupying the space in which the resource is located.

COMPOUND 1) In plants, of a leaf or flower composed of a number of parts. 2) In animals, where a number of individuals independently perform some vital functions but are connected to form a united colony, for example corals and bryozoans.

COMPOUND EYE An eye consisting of a number of small visual units (ommatidia), as found in insects, arachnids and crustaceans.

CONCHOLOGY Study of mollusc shells. See also malacology.

CONDUPLICATE An arrangement of bud scales or young leaves in a shoot bud (see vernation).

CONE In conifers the reproductive structure that in males (usually herbaceous and inconspicuous) carries pollen, and in females (on woody scales) the ovules which when fertilised produce seeds.

CONGENERIC Belonging to the same genus.

CONGREGATION Collective noun for plovers.

CONGRESS Collective noun for ravens.

CONIDIA The asexual, non-motile spores of a fungus.

CONK The woody fruiting body of bracket fungi.

CONKER The shelled seed of horse-chestnut, an abbreviation of the children’s game ‘Conquerors’.

CONNATE The condition where similar organs of a plant (e.g. sepals and petals) have united. In yellow-wort, for instance, leaves appear in opposite pairs but are fused together around the stem.

CONSERVATION See nature conservation.

CONSPECIFIC Belonging to the same species.

CONSUMER In ecology, a living thing that eats other living things. Apart from plants, which make their own food (i.e. are producers), most living things are consumers. Primary consumers are herbivores, secondary consumers predators or omnivores. See heterotroph.

CONTOUR FEATHER Any of the feathers which form the outline of an adult bird’s plumage, helping in streamlining, insulation, waterproofing, etc.

CONVERGENT EVOLUTION The process by which two separate taxa evolve similar structures through adapting to similar environments and living in a similar way.

CONVOCATION Collective noun for eagles.

CONVOLUTE An arrangement of bud scales or young leaves in a shoot bud (see vernation).

CONY Rabbit and rabbit fur.

COPPER 1) A micronutrient required by plants for photosynthesis and the activation of several enzyme, assisting in the metabolism of carbohydrates and proteins; deficiency leads to chlorosis and leaf necrosis. Deficiency is problematic in wheat, oat, carrot and spinach production. 2) In animals copper is critical in the functioning of organs and metabolic processes. Copper deficiency is associated with livestock diseases: swayback in sheep and goats (lack of limb co-ordination in lambs and kids) and falling disease (sudden heart failure) in cattle.

COPPICE Woodland management in which shrubs or trees are cropped by cutting them down to a stump (stool), allowing multi-stem regrowth into poles that are harvested, usually at intervals of 12–15 years. Coppice is normally divided into compartments or coupes (q.v.), also known as fells, cants or haggs. Coppice-with-standards is coppice within which ‘standard’ trees are retained within the coupe to reach maturity and provide timber.

COPROPHAGY The eating of animal dung.

COPROPHILOUS Dung-loving; living in or growing on dung.

COPSE A small group of trees, the term being a contraction of ‘coppice’ dating from the late sixteenth century.

CORBICULUM The pollen basket on the hind legs of many bees, formed by stiff hairs.

CORDATE Heart-shaped.

CORIACEOUS From Latin corium = ‘leather’, leaves and other plant organs with a tough leathery texture.

CORM A swollen, flattened, underground stem covered by papery scales.

COROLLA All the petals of a flower.

CORONA A series of petal-like structures, either outgrowths from the petals or as modified stamens, for example seen in daffodils.

CORTEX The outermost layer of an organ; in plants, found between the epidermis and vascular bundles.

CORTICOLOUS Growing in or on bark, for example many species of lichen.

CORTINA A web-like veil in fungi, for instance found in Cortinarius.

CORYMB A raceme with the lower pedicels longer than the upper so that the flowers are all borne at more or less the same time and create a flat-topped inflorescence.

COSTA A ridge, or the central vein of a leaf.

COSTAL MARGIN 1) In vertebrates, the lower edge of the chest or thorax. 2) In insects, the front margin of a wing immediately behind the leading edge.

COTYLEDON The first leaves of a germinating plant (one in monocotyledons, two in dicotyledons, and two or more in gymnosperms), usually different in appearance from subsequent leaves.

COUMARIN Aromatic substance described as the scent of new-mown hay, found plants such as meadowsweet, woodruff and sweet vernal-grass.

COUNTERSHADING A method of camouflage with dark colour on the back (dorsal side) of a body normally exposed to daylight and light colour (often white) on the ventral side which would be shaded, giving the body a more uniform shade and a perceived lack of depth.

COUPE A clear-felled or rotationally coppiced area of woodland (also known as fells, cants or haggs). Coupes are normally at least 0.5 ha, but under the UK Woodland Assurance Standard certification standard no more than 10% of semi-natural woodlands >10 ha in size should be felled in any five-year period. Large coupes have the advantage of deterring deer from entering.

COURTSHIP Often ritualised display behaviour that prompts and facilitates mate selection (usually by the female) or that forms a bond between a male and female before mating.

COURTSHIP FEEDING An example of a nuptial gift (q.v.).

COVER Collective noun for coots.

COVERT 1) Small wood where game animals can hide. 2) A feather covering the base of a main flight or tail feather of a bird, helping to smooth airflow, or as in ear coverts concealing the ear opening.

COVEY A group (usually a family group) of ptarmigans, quails or partridges.

COXA The base of the insect leg, articulating with the body.

CRAW A bird’s crop, or more generally an animal’s stomach.

CREMASTER Cluster of hooks gripping a silk pad at the hind end of a butterfly or moth pupa, supporting the dependent pupa.

CRENATE, CRENULATE With blunt, rounded or scalloped teeth.

CREPUSCULAR Active at twilight.

CREST A tuft of feathers on the upper part of the head, also called a ‘horn’, seen for example on lapwing, skylark and hoopoe.

CRIBELLUM The silk-spinning organ possessed by some spiders.

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED With a very high risk of extinction, categorised in the IUCN Red List as the most severe conservation status for wild populations.

CROP An expanded, muscular pouch near the gullet or throat of a bird, part of the digestive tract, used to store food prior to digestion in the gizzard.

CROSS-BREEDING, CROSS-POLLINATION Allo­gamy; reproduction by parents of different genotypes, and in plants transfer of pollen from the anthers of one plant to the stigma of another.

CROWN 1) The totality of an individual plant’s above-ground parts, including stems, leaves and reproductive structures. 2) More specifically, in trees the branches, leaves and reproductive structures extending from the trunk or main stem.

CROZIER The tightly coiled unopened leaf of a fern.

CRUSTOSE Crust-like, for example in describing some lichen and coralline algae.

CRYPSIS, CRYPTIC COLORATION From Greek crypsis = ‘hiding’, a colour or pattern using camouflage or mimicry that allows an animal to avoid detection by making it difficult to see against its background, either to facilitate predation, for example crab spider, or to reduce the chances of predation, for example ground-nesting birds and species of moth such as peppered moth.

CRYPTOBIOSIS A physiological state in which an organism’s metabolic activity is reduced to an undetectable level to survive a period of adverse environmental conditions, for example freezing or desiccation. See, for example, tardigrade.

CRYPTOFAUNA The fauna of concealed habitats or microhabitats.

CRYPTOGAM A plant that reproduces by spores, not seeds, for example algae, bryophytes and pteridophytes.

CRYPTOPHYTE A plant whose perennating buds are below ground level or the water surface.

CRYPTOZOA Small but non-microscopic invertebrates that live in darkness and under conditions of high relative humidity, for example in the wet soil underneath rocks and in leaf litter.

CUCKOO-SPIT White froth seen on stems or shoots of a variety of plants in late spring, secreted by the young of the froghopper nymph, the froth protecting their bodies from desiccation. These bugs are therefore also known as spittlebugs and cuckoo-spit insects.

CULL Selective killing of animals to reduce numbers.

CULM The hollow, jointed stem of a grass, especially that bearing the flower.

CULMEN The ridge along the top of a bird’s upper mandible.

CULTIVAR A plant variety that has been selectively bred for desired properties.

CUNEATE Wedge-shaped.

CUPULE 1) In botany, in the Fagaceae, a structure protecting the fruit of an oak, beech or sweet chestnut: in oak holding the acorn in a cup, in beech and sweet chestnut completely enclosing the nut(s), splitting open when mature. The cupule is covered by scales, which in sweet chestnut take the form of sharp spines, giving the nut protection from seed predators. 2) A cup-shaped outgrowth of the thallus of some liverworts. 3) The fruiting body of certain cup fungi. 4) In entomology, a sucker on the feet of some species of fly, or a structure on the head of some aquatic beetles.

CURRAG Manx and Irish for acidic boggy ground.

CURSORIAL Adapted for running.

CUSHION PLANT A compact plant with leaves