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Geography

Rainforest Glossary

FACET A facet is one of the hexagonal units of the compound eye - the surface of a single ommatidium.

FALLOW Fallow land is land that has been left plowed but not planted for one season. This helps the soil recover its fertility.

FAMILY In classification, a family is a group of related or similar organisms. A family contains one or more genera (plural of genus). A group of similar families forms an order.

FEATHER Feathers are modified scales that insulate an animals. Some feathers (asymmetrical ones) are used in flight. Some dinosaurs may have had feathers.

FEMUR The femur is the thigh bone - the long bone in the upper part of the leg between the hip and the knee.

FENESTRA A fenestra is a natural hole or opening in a bone. The skull has many fenestra.

FERN Ferns are non-flowering plants that were plentiful during the Mesozoic Era and usually live in warm, moist areas. Ferns have fronds divided into leaflets.

FERTILIZER Fertilizer is material that is added to soil to increase is fertility and output. Fertilizers include manure, compost, and chemical mixtures.

FIBULA The fibula is the calf bone - the bone in the lower, back part of the leg between the knee and the ankle.

FOLIAGE Foliage is the leaves of plants.

FOLIVORE A folivore is animal that eats foliage (leaves). For example, the green iguana is a folivore.

FOOD WEB A food chain is the sequence of who eats whom in a biological community (an ecosystem) to obtain nutrition. A network of many food chains is called a food web. The food web is all of the interactions between predators and prey in which plants and animals obtain nutrition. The chain starts with plants or other autotrophs (organisms that make their own food from light and/or chemical energy) that are eaten by herbivores (plant-eaters). The herbivores are eaten by carnivores (meat-eaters). These are eaten by other carnivores. When any organism dies, it is eaten by tiny microbes (detrivores) and the exchange of energy continues.

FOREST Forests are dense concentrations of trees over a large area of land.

FOREST FLOOR The forest floor is the lowest layer of a rainforest, extending from the ground to about 3 feet (1 m) high. This layer is teeming with animal life, especially insects. The largest animals in the rainforest generally live here.

FOSSA The fossa is a meat-eating mammal from the island of Madagascar.

FOSSIL Fossils are mineralized impressions or casts of ancient animals and plants. Fossils have been found on every continent on Earth.

FRENULUM A frenulum is a small spine-like lobe that projects from a moth's hind wing. This structure helps hold the hind wings and the fore wings together while the moth is flying.

FRILLED LIZARD Chlamydosaurus (meaning "caped lizard") is a rare, modern-day frilled lizard native to New Guinea and North Australia. Its frill is 7 - 14 inch (18-34 cm) flap of skin that completely circles its head. It opens this brightly-colored frill to frighten enemies. Adults are over 8 inches (20 cm) long. These climbing lizards live in trees in humid forests and eat cicadas, ants, spiders and smaller lizards. It can run quadrupedally and bipedally, with the front legs off the ground. Adult females lay 8 to 14 eggs per clutch in Spring and Summer.

FROG Frogs are amphibians. They start out as gilled, swimming tadpoles, but grow to be air-breathing adults.

FRUGIVORE A frugivore is an animal that eats mostly fruit.

FRUIT BAT Fruit bats are large bats that eat fruits and flowers.

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