Woodland Walk Vocabulary

A-Horizon: soil zone immediately below the surface, from which soluble material

and fine-grained particles have been moved downward by water seeping into the

soil; varying amounts of organic matter give the A-horizon a gray to black color

Amphibian: any of a class (Amphibia) of exothermic vertebrates (as frogs, toads, or

newts) intermediate in many characteristics between fishes and reptiles and having

gilled aquatic larvae and air-breathing adults

B-Horizon: soil zone of accumulation that lies below the A-horizon; zone where

some material that has moved downward from the A-horizon is deposited

Bird: any of a class (Aves) of endothermic vertebrates distinguished by having the

body more or less completely covered with feathers and the forelimbs modified as

wings

C-Horizon: soil zone that contains partially disintegrated and decomposed parent material; lies directly under the B-horizon and grades downward into unweathered material

Exothermic: having a body temperature not internally regulated but approximating

that of the environment (cold-blooded)

Endothermic: having a relatively high and constant body temperature independent of

the surroundings (warm-blooded)

Growth Ring: a layer of wood (as an annual ring) produced during a single period of

growth; the visual difference generated between large, fast growing wood cells of

spring and summer and the small, slow growing wood cells as a result of seasonal

affects on growth

Horizons: reasonably distinct layers of soil or its underlying material in a vertical

section of land

Increment borer: tool used to remove a small round dowel of wood through the

cross-section of a tree in order to age the tree

Insect: an animal of phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta with well-defined head, thorax, and abdomen, only three pairs of legs, and typically one or two pairs of wings

Mammal: any of a class (Mammalia) of higher vertebrates animals that nourish their

young with milk secreted by mammary glands and have the skin usually more or less

covered with hair of dermal origin

Maple Syrup: the concentrated sap of a maple tree

Reptile: any of a class (Reptilia) of vertebrates that include the alligators and

crocodiles, lizards, snakes, turtles, and extinct related forms and are characterized

by ribs attached to the sternum and a body usually covered with scales or bony

plates

Sap: the fluid part of a plant, specifically a watery solution that circulates through a

plant’s vascular system and contains plant food and nutrients

Tap: to pierce so as to let out or draw off a fluid (such as sap from a maple tree)