algae: Single-celled organisms, once considered plants (they aren’t). As aquatic organisms, they grow in water. Like green plants, they depend on sunlight to make their food.
biologist: A scientist involved in the study of living things.
bleach: A dilute form of the liquid, sodium hypochlorite, that is used around the home to lighten and brighten fabrics, to remove stains or to kill germs. Or it can mean to lighten something permanently, such as: Being in constant sunlight bleached most of the rich coloring out of the window drapes.
cell: (in biology) The smallest structural and functional unit of an organism. Typically too small to see with the unaided eye, it consists of a watery fluid surrounded by a membrane or wall. Depending on their size, animals are made of anywhere from thousands to trillions of cells. Most organisms, such as yeasts, molds, bacteria and some algae, are composed of only one cell.
chemical: A substance formed from two or more atoms that unite (bond) in a fixed proportion and structure. For example, water is a chemical made when two hydrogen atoms bond to one oxygen atom. Its chemical formula is H2O. Chemical also can be an adjective to describe properties of materials that are the result of various reactions between different compounds.
chlorophyll: Any of several green pigments found in plants that perform photosynthesis — creating sugars (foods) from carbon dioxide and water.
climate change: Long-term, significant change in the climate of Earth. It can happen naturally or in response to human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels and clearing of forests.
coral: Marine animals that often produce a hard and stony exoskeleton and tend to live on reefs (the exoskeletons of dead ancestor corals).
density: The measure of how condensed some object is, found by dividing its mass by its volume.
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. The term can also be applied to elements that make up some an artificial environment, such as a company, classroom or the internet.
Great Barrier Reef: Some 2,300 kilometers (1,430 miles) long, this natural coral habitat is the largest living structure on Earth. In coastal waters off of northeastern Australia, It’s big enough to see from space. It’s home to some 3,000 coral reefs, 600 islands, and hundreds of types of 600 types corals, more jellyfish, mollusks, worms and fish. It’s also patrolled by more than 30 species of whales and dolphins.
marine biologist: A scientist who studies creatures that live in ocean water, from bacteria and shellfish to kelp and whales.
New South Wales: One of the Eastern states that make up Australia. Home to some 8 million people, it’s the oldest, largest and most urban of those states. Located in the east-central and southeastern part of the nation, most of its residents live in or near the state capital of Sydney.
photosynthesis: (verb: photosynthesize) The process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to produce foods from carbon dioxide and water.
pigment: A material, like the natural colorings in skin, that alter the light reflected off of an object or transmitted through it. The overall color of a pigment typically depends on which wavelengths of visible light it absorbs and which ones it reflects. For example, a red pigment tends to reflect red wavelengths of light very well and typically absorbs other colors. Pigment also is the term for chemicals that manufacturers use to tint paint.
plankton: (sing. plankter) Small organisms that largely drift or float in the sea. Depending on the species, plankton range from microscopic sizes to organisms about the size of a flea. Some are tiny animals. Others are plant-like organisms. Although an individual plankter is very small, these organisms often form massive colonies, numbering in the billions. The largest animal in the world, the blue whale, lives on plankton.
reef: A ridge of rock, coral or sand. It rises up from the seafloor and may come to just above or just under the water’s surface.
seawater: The salty water found in oceans.
solar: Having to do with the sun or the radiation it emits. It comes from sol, Latin for sun.
tissue: Made of cells, it is any of the distinct types of materials that make up animals, plants or fungi. Cells within a tissue work as a unit to perform a particular function in living organisms. Different organs of the human body, for instance, often are made from many different types of tissues.
wave: A disturbance or variation that travels through space and matter in a regular, oscillating fashion.