Tetrapods: Out on a limb

Glossary of Key Terms

• Amniotic Egg:
  An egg with membranes that protect and nourish the developing embryo, allowing reproduction on land without drying out. A key evolutionary innovation for reptiles, birds, and mammals.

• Arboreal:
  Relating to or living in trees.

• Biodiversity:
  The variety of life in a particular habitat or ecosystem.

• Bioindicators:
  Organisms whose health and presence can reflect the health of the ecosystem they inhabit.

• Brownfield Site:
  Land previously used for industrial or commercial purposes that may be contaminated but can provide habitat for wildlife.

• Caudata (Urodela):
  The order of amphibians that includes salamanders and newts, typically characterised by having tails.

• Chytrid Fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis):
  A highly virulent pathogen causing chytridiomycosis, a disease responsible for significant declines in amphibian populations worldwide.

• Citizen Science:
  Scientific research conducted, in whole or in part, by amateur or nonprofessional scientists.

• Coppicing:
  A traditional woodland management technique where trees are cut to the base to stimulate growth, creating multiple stems.

• Ectothermic:
  Describes animals that rely on external sources of heat to regulate their body temperature (often referred to as "cold-blooded").

• Endothermic:
  Describes animals that can generate their own body heat internally, maintaining a stable body temperature ("warm-blooded").

• Ecosystem Engineers:
  Organisms that create, modify, or maintain habitats, influencing the availability of resources to other species.

• Extant:
  Still in existence; surviving.

• Gills:
  Respiratory organs found in many aquatic animals, including larval amphibians, used to extract dissolved oxygen from water.

• Gymnophiona (Apoda):
  The order of amphibians that includes caecilians, characterised by being legless and worm-like.

• Habitat Fragmentation:
  The process by which large, continuous habitats are divided into smaller, isolated patches.

• Hibernacula:
  A place where an animal hibernates.

• Holt:
  An underground den or burrow used by an otter.

• Insectivores:
  Animals that primarily feed on insects.

• Invasive Species:
  A non-native species whose introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.

• Keratin:
  A fibrous protein that forms the basis of scales, feathers, hair, and nails.

• Larvae:
  The immature form of an animal that undergoes metamorphosis, such as a tadpole.

• Latrines:
  Communal defecation sites used by some animals, like badgers, to mark their territory.

• Linear Features:
  Features in the landscape such as hedgerows or rivers that can be used by wildlife for navigation or movement.

• Lobe-finned Fishes:
  A group of fish with fleshy, lobed fins supported by bones; considered the ancestors of tetrapods.

• Mammary Glands:
  Glands in female mammals that produce milk to nourish their young.

• Marsupials:
  A group of mammals whose young are typically born in an underdeveloped state and complete development in a pouch.

• Metamorphosis:
  A biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation.

• Microclimate:
  The climate of a very small or restricted area, especially when this differs from the climate of the surrounding area.

• Monotremes:
  The most primitive group of mammals, characterised by laying eggs.

• Murmurations:
  Large flocks of starlings that fly in coordinated patterns.

• Nocturnal:
  Active at night.

• Osmoregulation:
  The process by which living organisms maintain the balance of water and salts in their body.

• Permeable:
  Allowing liquids or gases to pass through.

• Placenta:
  An organ in most pregnant mammals that nourishes and maintains the fetus through the umbilical cord.

• Placental Mammals:
  The most diverse group of mammals, characterised by nourishing their young in the uterus through a placenta.

• Prehensile Tail:
  A tail that is adapted to grasp or hold.

• Riparian:
  Relating to or situated on the banks of a river.

• Scutes:
  Bony plates that form part of the shell of a turtle or the armour of a crocodilian.

• SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest):
  A conservation designation in the United Kingdom.

• Synapsids:
  An extinct group of reptiles considered the ancestors of mammals.

• Tetrapods:
  A superclass of vertebrates that includes amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, defined by possessing four limbs or being descended from ancestors with four limbs.

• Thermogenesis:
  The process of heat production in organisms.

• Torpor:
  A state of decreased physical activity in animals, especially during periods of extreme cold or heat, involving a lowered body temperature and metabolic rate.

• Transect Survey:
  A method of ecological surveying where observations are made along a predetermined line.

• Transitional Forms:
  Fossils or organisms that show characteristics of both ancestral and descendant groups.

• Vertebral Column:
  The backbone.

• Vertebrates:
  Animals that possess a backbone or spinal column.

• Viviparous:
  Giving birth to live young, rather than laying eggs.

• Yaffling:
  The distinctive laughing-like call of the Green Woodpecker.