acidic: An adjective for materials that contain acid. Acidic materials often are capable of dissolving away some minerals such as carbonate, or preventing their formation in the first place.
bivalve: An invertebrate that lives in a two-part, hinged shell. Most bivalves filter their food from the waters that slosh past them. Bivalves include clams, oysters, scallops and mussels.
carbon: A chemical element that is the physical basis of all life on Earth. Carbon exists freely as graphite and diamond. It is an important part of coal, limestone and petroleum, and is capable of self-bonding, chemically, to form an enormous number of chemically, biologically and commercially important molecules. (in climate studies) The term carbon sometimes will be used almost interchangeably with carbon dioxide to connote the potential impacts that some action, product, policy or process may have on long-term atmospheric warming.
colleague: Someone who works with another; a co-worker or team member.
dead zone: An area of open water where oxygen levels are so low that oxygen-dependent organisms cannot live.
ecosystem: A group of interacting living organisms — including microorganisms, plants and animals — and their physical environment within a particular climate. Examples include tropical reefs, rainforests, alpine meadows and polar tundra.
element: (in chemistry) Each of more than one hundred substances for which the smallest unit of each is a single atom. Examples include hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, lithium and uranium.
eruption: (in geoscience) The sudden bursting or spraying of hot material from deep inside a planet or moon and out through its surface. Volcanic eruptions on Earth usually send hot lava, hot gases or ash into the air and across surrounding land. In colder parts of the solar system, eruptions often involve liquid water spraying out through cracks in an icy crust. This happens on Enceladus, a moon of Saturn that is covered in ice.
extinct: An adjective that describes a species for which there are no living members.
extinction: The permanent loss of a species, family or larger group of organisms.
field: An area of study, as in: Her field of research is biology. Also a term to describe a real-world environment in which some research is conducted, such as at sea, in a forest, on a mountaintop or on a city street. It is the opposite of an artificial setting, such as a research laboratory.
food web: (also known as a food chain) The network of relationships among organisms sharing an ecosystem. Member organisms depend on others within this network as a source of food.
fossil: Any preserved remains or traces of ancient life. There are many different types of fossils: The bones and other body parts of dinosaurs are called “body fossils.” Things like footprints are called “trace fossils.” Even specimens of dinosaur poop are fossils. The process of forming fossils is called fossilization.
graduate student: Someone working toward an advanced degree by taking classes and performing research. This work is done after the student has already graduated from college (usually with a four-year degree).
Great Dying: The name for a period of time roughly 252 million years ago when at least 70 percent of all land species and 96 percent of ocean species went extinct. It was the greatest mass extinction in Earth’s history. These species fell victim to changing climate and ecological changes.
marine: Having to do with the ocean world or environment.
organism: Any living thing, from elephants and plants to bacteria and other types of single-celled life.
oxygen: A gas that makes up about 21 percent of Earth’s atmosphere. All animals and many microorganisms need oxygen to fuel their growth (and metabolism).
paleontologist: A scientist who specializes in studying fossils, the remains of ancient organisms.
Permian: A time in the distant geologic past, about 250 million to 300 million years ago. Many reptiles rose to prominence on land; these were not yet dinosaurs. Many large invertebrates ruled the oceans during this period. But most would die off at the end of the Permian, as it gave way to a new geologic period known as the Triassic.
pristine: An adjective referring to something that is in original or near-original condition. It means something is somewhat old but in a seemingly “untouched” or unaltered condition.
sea: An ocean (or region that is part of an ocean). Unlike lakes and streams, seawater — or ocean water — is salty.
shale: A fine-grained sedimentary rock made by compressing layers of clay-rich sediment for millions of years.
skeptical: Not easily convinced; having doubts or reservations.
species: A group of similar organisms capable of producing offspring that can survive and reproduce.
sponge: Something that sops up liquids or other materials and holds them until squeezed out or removed in some other way. (in biology) A primitive aquatic animal with a soft, porous body.
sulfur: A chemical element with an atomic number of sixteen. Sulfur, one of the most common elements in the universe, is an essential element for life. Because sulfur and its compounds can store a lot of energy, it is present in fertilizers and many industrial chemicals.
toxic: Poisonous or able to harm or kill cells, tissues or whole organisms. The measure of risk posed by such a poison is its toxicity.
Triassic Period: A time in the distant geologic past, about 200 million to 250 million years ago. It’s best known as the period during which dinosaurs first emerged.
trove: A collection of valuable things.
undergraduate: A student who is attending college but has not yet graduated.
uranium: The heaviest naturally occurring element known. It’s called element 92, which refers to the number of protons in its nucleus. Uranium atoms are radioactive, which means they decay into different atomic nuclei.
wake: An area of disturbed air or water left behind an object (such as a boat or animal) moving through it. Or a term for the collective events kicked off by a momentous decision or occurrence.