Wildlife Management terms - A
Abiotic: non living (rocks, climate, disturbances)
Abomasum: fourth, or digesting, chamber of the stomach of a cud-chewing animal, like the whitetail deer
Accipiter: hawk of the genus Accipiter, characterized by short wings and a long tail
Acid deposition: complex chemical and atmospheric phenomenon that occurs when emissions of sulfur and nitrogen compounds and other substances are transformed by chemical processes in the atmosphere, often far from the original sources, and then deposited on earth in either a wet or dry form
Acid mine drainage: metal-rich, acidic runoff formed from chemical reactions between water and mine rocks containing sulfur-bearing minerals
Adapt: fit in; to be suited for getting the things one needs to survive
Adaptation: traits developed over time that help organisms meet their basic needs, survive, and make an organism more suited to its environment
Adaptive Capacity: ability of a species to cope and persist under changing conditions through local or regional acclimation, dispersal or migration, adaptation, and/or evolution
Adaptive Management: process for adjusting management and research decisions to better achieve management objectives, due to the uncertainty of natural resource systems
Advance Regeneration: seedling or saplings that are present in the understory prior to removal of any overstory trees
Aestivation: dormancy, generally seasonally
Air: atmosphere the gaseous envelope surrounding the earth. Part of the atmosphere is comprised of oxygen, a gas that almost all living things need to survive
Aestivation: dormancy, generally seasonally
Albino Deer: deer totally absent of body pigment and is solid white with pink eyes, nose, and hooves. Often confused with a piebald deer
Algae: group of plants found in water or damp places. They have chlorophyll, but lack true stems, roots, or leaves
Alligator: four legged reptile that is dark-colored with a broad snout, a long tail, and a cream colored belly
Alluvial Fan: deposit of rocks, sand, gravel, and finer materials that has been laid down by water as it flows from a mountainous area on to a plain
Alopecia: chronic loss of hair in mammals as a result of an allergic reaction or disease that affects the skin and hair coat
Amphibians: cold-blooded, smooth-skinned vertebrates with moist, glandular skin that is permeable to water and gases. Includes: frogs, toads, and salamanders
Anadromous: life history strategy of fish species that includes migration up rivers from the sea to breed in fresh water
Animal: organism with characteristics which distinguish it from a plant including: the ability to move voluntarily, the presence of a nervous system, and the need to eat by eating plants or other animals
Anthropogenic: of human origin; resulting from the influences of human beings on nature
Antler: branched, annually shed, bony growth on the head of animals in the deer family
Antler Restriction: antler characteristic which identifies the deer as being legal to harvest including: inside spread length, beam length, and number of antler points
Aquatic: growing, living in or frequenting water
Aquatic habitat: animal's living space that is mainly in water
Aquifer: water-bearing bed of gravel, rock, or sand capable of yielding considerable amounts of water to wells or springs
Arachnid: essentially spiders and their relatives scorpions, daddy-long-legs, and mites. They have two main body parts, 8 legs, and lack wings and antennae
Acaricides: substances that are poisonous to mites or ticks
Arboreal: referring to trees; animals that are tree dwellers
Atmospheric: of or relating to the conditions of the air and gases surrounding the earth
Atypical: also called non-typical, describes a deer's antlers that don't grow evenly matched on both the right and left side (asymmetric) and have abnormal points sticking in different directions
Autogenous vaccines: vaccines made from freshly isolated viruses taken from a deer that died from EHDV or BTV, which is then cultivated in a laboratory. These vaccines are made for use only within the herd from which the animal that died
Autotroph: an organism capable of manufacturing its own food by synthesis of inorganic materials, as in photosynthesis
Avifauna: birds or the kinds of birds of a region, period, or environment