(Note that an integrated glossary is included throughout the site, with clickable asterisk * characters next to certain words, which display word definitions.) annual a plant that sprouts from a seed, reproduces, and then dies within one growing season arboreal a plant or animal spending the majority of its time in the tree canopy, rather than on the ground biodiversity the number of species in a specific area, indicating how diverse a habitat it is canopy the network of branches and leaves of the taller trees in the forest chitin a carbohydrate that forms the exoskeletons of insects and other invertebrates chlorophyll the substance inside plants' cells that gives them their green color, and is responsible for trapping sunlight for the process of photosynthesis climax forest the stable community of plants and animals that eventually arises after the sequence of ecological succession is complete, and will remain dominant until the area is disturbed convergent evolution the evolution of similar characteristics, in response to similar conditions, in species that are not related deciduous plants which shed all of their leaves for the winter or dry season, and later grow new ones decomposer fungi, bacteria, insects, and other organisms which help break down dead organic matter into new soil ecological succession the sequence of vegetation re-growth in a disturbed area, beginning from the pioneer plants and leading to the climax forest emergent a tree which has grown so tall that its crown is well above those of the surrounding canopy trees epiphyte an "air plant" which grows on another plant instead of on the ground, but is not a parasite forb a small plant, often growing in open areas or grasslands, but is not a grass heartwood a tree's central core of wood, important for structural support but not for transporting nutrients through the tree herbaceous a plant without woody stems humus the rich organic material in the soil after the decomposition of fallen leaves and branches hyphae threadlike strands of fungi, often underground leaching the process of minerals and nutrients being washed out of waterlogged soils microclimate differences in climate on a very small scale, for example, the conditions on two sides of the same hill--one side is more exposed to sunlight, wind, and therefore has a different microclimate mimicry the situation in which an organism that closely resembles another in behavior or appearance mycorrhiza a fungus which grows near or around the roots of plants, often trees, in a situation where both the fungus and the plant benefit from the association parasite an organism that lives on, or takes nutrients from, another organism which receives no benefits from the association and is harmed or killed perennial a plant that lives for more than one growing season, including shrubs and trees photosynthesis the process, carried out by all green plants using the substance chlorophyll, of creating sugars from carbon dioxide and water with energy from sunlight pioneer species the first species of plants, often grasses, which colonize areas of bare ground in the process of ecological succession prehensile the specialized tails of many species of monkey and other animals, which are often capable of supporting the animal's weight when hanging from tree branches savanna an area of grassland, usually in tropical regions, with scattered trees and brush spore a reproductive cell, used most commonly by fungi, from which a new organism grows vascular plant plants that have systems for conducting fluids return to the site resources