TERM | GROUP | DEFINITION | |
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ECOLOGICAL TERM | NP | ECOLOGICAL | Pronunciation: Etymology: For many years organisms were grouped according to their ecological functions coupled with their scale. In general, this is the way in which organisms were grouped in the 5 Kingdom system of Margulis and Schwartz (1982, 1988, and 1998). With the return to a Darwinian concept of taxonomic systems, organisms are classified according to their relatedness or phylogenetic relationships. So, old groupings like animal, plant, fungus, alga, protozoa, and bacteria can be viewed as classification of ecological function rather that true relationships of descent. |
ECTOPHLOIC SIPHONOSTELE | NP | PLANTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: An ectophloic siphonostele is a type of siphonostele with phloem in a ring outside of the xylem. |
EGG | N | ANIMALS, PLANTS, PROTISTS | Pronunciation: EG Etymology: The word is from a 14th century dialect of English (aeg, meaning egg). The egg is a large non motile gamete, which occurs in life cycles with small, motile gametes called sperm. These gamete types occur in oogamous taxa like the Animalia, the Embryophyte Plants, Diatoms, and organisms scattered throughout the eukaryotes. |
ELATER | N | PLANTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: In the sporangia of liverworts and horsetails, small twisted cells that push the spores out of the sporangium. |
EMBRYOPHYTE | N | PLANTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: A term for all plants that are not algae; Having an embryonic sporophyte dependent on the gametophyte for at least the first part of its life. |
EMBRYOSAC | N | PLANTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: The embryo sac is the mature megagametophyte inside the ovule of a flowering plant. |
ENATION | N | PLANTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: An enation is a photosynthetic appendage that has no vascular tissue. |
ENDOBIOTIC | ADJ | ECOLOGICAL | Pronunciation: Etymology: Endobiotic (adj.) means “living within”. This refers to endosymbionts. |
ENDOGENOUS BUD | NP | PROTISTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: An endogenous bud forms to the inside of the cell in certain suctorian ciliates. |
ENDOPODITE | N | ANIMALS | Pronunciation: Etymology: Endopodite is the inner branch of a biramous arthropod limb. |
ENDOSKELETON | N | ANIMALS | Pronunciation: Etymology: An endoskeleton is an internal skeleton made by mesodermal tissue. |
ENDOSOME | N | PLANTS, PROTISTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: An endosome (=nucleolus) is a darker-staining body within the nuclei of certain eukaryotes. They are the sites of ribosome production. |
ENDOSPERM | N | PLANTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: The nutritive storage tissue that grows from the fusion of a sperm cell with polar nuclei in the embryo sac. |
ENDOSPORE | N | BACTERIA | Pronunciation: Etymology: Endospores are produced within the bounds of the parent cell. |
ENDOSYMBIONT | N | ANIMALS, PLANTS, PROTISTS, FUNGI, BACTERIA | Pronunciation: Etymology: An endosymbiont is a living cell that has become symbiotic within the host cell. Thus, the endosymbiont and the host become interdependent. Mitochondria and chloroplasts (among others) are common endosymbionts. |
ENTEROCOELIC | ADJ | ANIMALS | Click here |
ENTIRE | ADJ | PLANTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: With an unbroken margin; not tooted or lobed. |
EPIDERMIS | N | ANIMALS, PLANTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: Epidermis is living tissue on the exterior of plant axes and appendages. It usually is free of chloroplasts and secretes the waxy cuticle. |
EPIGYNOUS | ADJ | PLANTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: With the sepals, petals and stamens inserted near the top of the ovary. |
EPIMERITE | N | PROTISTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: An epimerite is the anterior part of a cephaline gregarine that is separated from the rest of the cell by a septum. |
EPIPHYTE | N | ECOLOGICAL | Pronunciation: Etymology: A plant that grows on another plant but does not derive nourishment from it. |
EPISTOME | N | ANIMALS | Pronunciation: Etymology: The epistome is a part of the head in different arthropods. It is the region behind the mouth in insects and between the antennae and the mouth in crustaceans. It also is the preoral lobe of phoronids. |
EPITHECA (EPITHECAE) | N | PROTISTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: The epitheca is the portion of the dinoflagellate cell that lies anterior to the cingulum. |
EPIVALVE | N | PROTISTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: An epivalve is the larger of the two overlapping valves of diatoms. |
ERYTHROCRUORIN | N | ANIMALS | Pronunciation: Etymology: Erythrocruorin is a heme-protein respiratory pigment of many different invertebrates (e.g. crustaceans, annelids, and mollusks). |
EUCARPIC | ADJ | FUNGI | Pronunciation: Etymology: Thallus consists of rhizoids and sporangium. |
EUSPORANGIUM (EUSPORANGIA) | N | PLANTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: A eusporangium is the most common spore-bearing structure in plants. Eusporangia develop from more than one cell and usually have a wall of several cell layers. Contrast a eusporangium with a leptosporangium. |
EUSTELE | N | PLANTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: A eustele is a stele type characteristic of most seed-bearing plants and a few ferns and fern allies. Although other stele types can function to make wood, the eustele is the most common one. Vascular bundles characteristically are arranged in a circle around a region of pith. The cortical parenchyma is continuous with the pith through rays which separate the vascular bundles. Xylem is on the inside and phloem is on the outside of each bundle. |
EUTROPHIC | ADJ | ECOLOGICAL | Pronunciation: Etymology: A eutrophic environment is a body of water in which growth is not limited by nutrient availability. The heavy growth and subsequent die-off of biomass often leads to the absence of oxygen in eutrophic waters, resulting in fish kills. Usually, high levels of phosphate lead to eutrophic conditions in freshwater while nitrogen appears to be the limiting element in marine environments. |
EVANESCENT | ADJ | FUNGI | Pronunciation: Etymology: Quickly deteriorating asci. |
EVERSIBLE PHARYNX (EVERSIBLE PHARYNGES) | NP | ANIMALS | Pronunciation: Etymology: The eversible pharynx is opening to the gut and feeding structure in turbellarians. |
EVERSIBLE PROBOSCIS (EVERSIBLE PROBOSCISES OR PROBOSCIDES) | NP | ANIMALS | Pronunciation: Etymology: An evertible proboscis is a proboscis that can be extended usually by hydrostatic muscular contraction. |
EVOLUTION | N | EVOLUTION | Click here |
EXARCH | ADJ | PLANTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: An exarch (adj) stele is one that has the protoxylem on the outside of the xylem bundle. |
EXCAVATE | N OR V | PROTISTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: An excavate is a feeding groove that terminates in a cytostome on the surface of certain taxa within the Excavata. Usually, they are associated with a recurrent or posteriorly-directed flagellum. |
EXOGENOUS BUD | NP | PROTISTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: An exogenous bud forms to the outside of the cell in certain suctorian ciliates. |
EXOPODITE | N | ANIMALS | Pronunciation: Etymology: An exopodite is the outer branch of an arthropod biramous limb. |
EXOSKELETON | N | ANIMALS | Click here |
EXOSPORE | N | BACTERIA | Pronunciation: Etymology: Exospores are spores that “bud off” of the vegetative cells or asexual structures. |
EXTINCTION | N | EVOLUTION | Click here |
EXTRACELLULAR SYMBIONT | NP | ECOLOGICAL | Pronunciation: Etymology: An extracellular symbiont lives in the tissues and between the cells of the host. |
EXTRANUCLEAR SPINDLE | NP | PROTISTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: An extranuclear spindle elaborates outside of the bounds of the nuclear envelope (the nuclear envelope does not break down). |
EYESPOT | N | ANIMALS, PLANTS, PROTISTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: An eyespot is a light-sensitive structure that does not form an image. This can be part of an organelle as in the chloroplast of certain microbial eukaryotes. It can be an elaborate structure that involves a light-sensitive swelling at the base of a flagellum (as in the euglenoids) or it can be a multicellular structure as in planarians. |