Offwell Woodland & Wildlife Trust

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MEADOWS

Glossary of Terms

 

Annual Plant:   This is a plant which grows from seed, flowers and sets seed itself before dying, all within the space of one year.

Ecosystem:    An ecosystem encompasses all the living organisms in a particular area or habitat and the physical and chemical factors which affect them. This includes a great variety of interacting factors such as geology, soil type, climate, water source and the interactions between all the particular species which are present.

Hay:    Dried Grass.

Herb:    A non-woody flowering plant.

Legume:   A member of the flowering plant family, Leguminosae, which includes peas and beans.

Microhabitat:   Where organisms occupy slightly different places within the same general habitat, they are said to be in different microhabitats. For example, a caterpillar in a grassland, eating grass leaves, is in a different microhabitat to a springtail living in the leaf litter at soil level in the grassland.

Silage:   A type of winter feed for cattle composed of fermented grass.

 

 

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