Environmental pollution usually caused by human activity.

Meter, measure of distance.

Gram, measure of weight.

Degrees Celsius, measure of temperature.

Seasonal pattern of the water level of a wetland.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a scientific and international body of experts under the United Nations.

The scientific study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water.

An area or ridge of land that separates waters flowing to different rivers, basins, or seas.

A species distinguished from others by its morphology —that is, its form/structure.

In ecology, refers to when new individuals join the population.

Stands for diameter at breast height, which is the standard method of measuring tree trunks at the height of an adult's breast. It is now standardized to 1.3m above the ground.

Phrase that describes deductive reasoning made without reference to facts or experience, presumptive.

Also known as ecosystem functions, these are the biological, geochemical, and physical factors that take place in every ecosystem (including water, nutrient, and energy cycles).

Services are the benefits that people gain from nature.

Invertebrates that are grouped together because of their unsegmented bodies, preferences for aquatic or damp-marshy habitat and usually the presence of an outer shell. Some examples are snails, octopuses, and mussels. In this experiment, they used the marsh slug (Deroceras laeve).

A perching bird, as classified by certain criteria pertaining to body morphology and positioning of toes. Passerines makes up half of all bird species.

A general term to describe any herbaceous flowering plant that isn't a grass. In this experiment, they observed the species Achillea borealis, commonly known as boreal yarrow.

The phenomenon of a species or organism dying off or not being found in a specific area at all while it is still found elsewhere. If the foxes were allowed to persist uncontrolled, the sea birds may die off in the Aleutian Islands.

Tundras are flat and treeless swaths of land that have soil that is permanently frozen; in this example, it is bordered by the sea.

Relating to Earth or an organism residing on land. In this experiment, the foxes and plants are terrestrial organisms.

A computer system that is designed to show geographical areas in different ways and can be manipulated for the collection of data. An example is the map of fox-free vs. fox-infested islands in Fig. 1 and the map of concentrated species in Fig. 3.

A geographic region of suitable habitat for a specific organism/organisms that is surrounded by unsuitable habitat. Therefore it is isolated via environmental conditions; in this case, the habitat of both the birds and foxes are the islands on which they reside that are surrounded by the ocean.

Both the bird species and Alopex lagopus are bound to their corresponding landscape. The foxes are trapped on their respective island because they lack the ability to swim to a new location. The birds are unable to use the same islands as Alopex lagopus because of the predation of Alopex lagopus. Therefore, both species belong to an insular ecosystem because of the unsuitable landscape around them.

The birds of a particular geographic region, in this case seabirds such as; the lapland longspur and song sparrows that are being reduced by fox populations.

An interaction between two elements that creates a combined effect greater than the sum of their parts.

The polymer that makes up the waxy surfaces of leaves.

A compound that decomposes or stops functioning in response to increases in temperature. Proteins are often heat-labile, nonfunctional over a certain temperature.

Refers to cells that form long tubes. Most types of fungi are filamentous.

A method of returning environments that have been damaged by human actions to a natural or healthy state.

The precise cause of an observed trend.

For example, if the trend we observe is a door opening and closing by itself, the mechanism causing this trend may be the circulation of air in the hallway adjoining the door, or the mischievous actions of a sibling using a long line of transparent fishing line.

In this study, the observed trend is the lags in range responses at species’ northern or cool thermal limits. Potential mechanisms could include a lack of host-plants in these newly-accessible regions at the northern thermal limit, or a competitor species that currently occupies this space.

The plural of taxon, which refers to a taxonomic group of any rank (species, families, classes, etc.).

Animals that depend on external sources of body heat to control their temperature. Other examples include reptiles (excluding birds), amphibians, and fish.

A class of insecticides designed to affect the central nervous system of insects, causing paralysis and death. They are also systemic insecticides, meaning they are absorbed into every cell of a plant, and making every part poisonous. Pesticides, and neonicotinoids in particular, have been implicated as a possible reason for pollinator declines.

Watch Prof. Richard Pywell (unrelated to this study) explain what neonicotinoids are and how they may be affecting pollinators here.

A group, or community, of species.

Physiology is the study of an organisms parts and functions.

A physiologist would study how the human arm moves when throwing a ball.

A fellow worker, mainly in the professional work environment.

Discipline with this context is used to describe the general outline of a person's study.

Normally a set of beliefs or principles constructed by an authority as undeniably true: A law.

A situation that is extremely complicated or confusing.

The make up of the ecosystem of the earth, its atmosphere, and the living terrestrial organisms within it.

This refers to something being extremely wasteful.

A tree that loses its leaves annually, usually during the fall and winter seasons.

The state of having a large quantity of something

A component or part of a whole.

To support or strengthen.

Derived from coniferous. Trees that bear cones and needle-like leaves. These trees usually keep their leaves through all seasons, including winter.

Deposition, in science, is the addition or building up of a substance.

The process organisms use in order to produce glucose as a food source.

Photosynthesis converts carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight, and converts it into glucose and oxygen.

Perturbation is the act of an object or subject being "pushed" off of it's normal path. A small setback and/or a sudden change of plan.

An example of perturbation in a biological setting would be a limb being torn off of a tree.

These scientists study the physical, chemical, biological, and geological processes and interactions of the entire natural environment.

An individual who studies focus on regular functions of a living organism. In this case, the physiologist specializes in functions of plants.

To do something profligately is to do spend something fast and unwisely. An example of doing something profligately is to spend large amounts of money on luxury: while being fun, you may regret it at a later time.

Someone who studies and observes the interactions between an organism and its environment, an organism with another organism, or other non-living interactions of the environment.

A detritivore is an organism that feeds off of the dead remains of another organism. The most common example of a detritivore is worm.

A permeable object allows the flow of liquids and gases, such as oxygen.

A less permeable leaf would restrict the flow of oxygen and carbon dioxide greatly.

An ecologist is a person who studies the environment and all organisms living in it. They also study the relations between the environment and the organisms.

Photosynthesis is the process of turning sunlight into glucose. This process is used by almost all plants as means to store energy.

Molecular compounds that contain nitrogen and oxygen. These types of molecules are commonly emitted into the atmosphere through automobile exhaust.

A group of scattered islands within a larger body of water. In this case, the Aleutian archipelago is a grouping of volcanic islands located in the Pacific ocean that are under the possession of both the United States and Russia.

The total mass of an organism or multiple for any given area or plot. Usually refers to dried mass of plant matter from above or below ground.

Categorical feeding positions of groups of organisms in a food chain or web. Some common trophic levels would be primary producers (grasses), primary consumers (birds), and secondary consumers, (birds or foxes).

Binomial nomenclature for the arctic fox. They are native to the arctic regions in the northern hemisphere, and are commonly found in the arctic tundra biome. They are carnivorous with a common diet of birds, hares and insects in the Aleutian islands.

A technique used in laboratories used to separate macromolecules based on size.The term refers to movement of charged particles in a fluid or gel under the influence of an electric field.

An instrument used to test for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP's) (common genetic variations among individuals) between DNA fragments.

Denaturing High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (dHPLC) is a technique that is used to separate chemicals in a mixture. dHPLC has been used on 19 patients with auto-inflammatory syndrome suspicion to spot polymorphism in the gene MVK. This technique is a quick and low cost process in order to obtain accurate screening of the mutations.

The processes used to create copies of DNA fragments.

PCR is a technique in the laboratory in which short sequences of DNA are amplified. Real-time PCR has been used to rapidly detect Salmonella from cloves. It has also been used to compare three different methods to extract DNA.

Used to increase DNA of interest. This is done by analyzing the separation patterns on the gel with the use of fluorescently labeled DNA sequencing fragments. Cutting out the desired band and then amplifying the DNA for further use.

An RNA component of the ribosome and is vital for making proteins.

The relationship between two organisms that interact with one another.

Relating to the stigma.

An elongated sucking mouthpart that is typically tubular and flexible, plural of proboscis.

Used to determine if samples come from the same distribution.

A structure in the flower which contains pollen.

A type of plant that persists for many growing seasons. Generally, perennial plants keep their leaves year round.

A gathering of species, excluding non-living factors.

Agents that condition organisms to have either a survival benefit or a disadvantage. Selective pressures drive natural selection. They can include environmental conditions, availability of food and energy sources, predators, diseases, and direct human influence among others.

Location on evolutionary tree based on physical or genetic characteristics.

The study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features. Floral morphology relates the to structural features of the flower.

Any animal that, intentionally or not, takes pollen from one flower to another.

The purpose of this experiment was to analyze population genetics. To achieve this, the researchers used AMOVA, or analysis of molecular variance, to detect population differentiation using molecular markers. The program was set to 10,000 permutations and they were able to obtain estimates of genetic differentiation and mean number of migrants with the GenAIEx v. 6.5 program.

Refers to the non-random association of alleles at different loci in a given population. This experiment included a test for linkage disequilibrium (LD). To achieve this the researcher used ARLEQUIN v.3.5.2.2 which is an integrated software for population genetics data analysis. From this program they used the likelihood ratio test which tested for LD.

The location or position in a chromosome of a particular gene. Plural of locus.

Microsatellites, also known simple sequence repeats (SSRs) in plant genetics, are identified through sequencing. This research helps to identify the biological functions of the genes and how they affect the plant in terms of its genomic makeup.

Differences in the genetic makeup within populations over time.

Differences within the movement and quality of water.

A branch of phylogeny that uses molecular and statistical techniques to determine hereditary differences within organisms.

Plants or animals that exist in one geographical location.

Genetic differentiation is the variation between allele frequency in populations that have been isolated.

A land-locked lake in Hispaniola that contains a high concentration of salt.

The process of taking a data set of any size and mapping (or organizing it) into a specific structure of a set size, such as a table. This makes it easy to find the data later if you need it.

A good example would be books in a library. By assigning each book a call number associated with its location, you can easily look up the book in a database and see where you should go in the library to find it.

To represent by breaking up into individual, separate quantities.

A distinctive, recurrent pattern of activity.

This is a matrix that is generated from a Gaussian distribution. In a Gaussian distribution, also called a normal distribution, the mean value has the highest probability of occurring, and values further away from the mean in both directions have a smaller chance of occurring. An example is a bell curve of grades, where most students get an average C grade and only a few students get either Fs or As.

This is a common technique the brain uses in many different sensory systems (vision, hearing, smell, etc.). The calculation incorporates information about the neuron's receptive field (the area in which it is sensitive to a stimulus) as well as a measure of the contrast (difference) between local stimuli.

Transferred.

In statistics, this is the process of organizing a set of objects (such as data points) into groups (or clusters) based on similar features.

Related to the meaning of words in a language.

Known in mathematics as a "helping theorem," this is a proposition that forms one part of a larger or more general theorem.

A mathematical expression that defines the distance between any two elements in a set. Finding the distance between each of the elements in two feature vectors (each representing an image) would let you determine how similar those two images are. That is, the smaller the distance between the elements, the more similar the images are.

A row of numbers.

Blocking an action or making it less likely to occur.

A type of hashing that aims to reduce the size of a large data set by mapping it into a table with fewer entries than pieces of data. To do this, similar pieces of data are assigned to the same entry in the table.

To organize into a numerical format.

Associations between the evolutionary history of a group of organisms where"poly" means many and "genetic" refers to origin.

The act of inserting one object or substance into another. For this study, the slices from the EOD records taken through time are put into the slices from EOD records taken through space to create a map that shows the potential and amplitude of the EOD.

An order of freshwater bony fish that can be identified by a long body, anal fins, nocturnal behavior, and the ability to generate electric fields for communication, navigation, and defense. The eel, for example, is a well-known gymnotiform.

This is when animals use electric fields in their surroundings to detect their own location in space. Only certain species with electroreceptors can do this, consider how bats perform echolocation with their vibration detections.

Refers to something that was caused by humans. Anthropogenic barriers could include roads, agricultural areas, or cities. These barriers can reduce the ability for species to migrate.

In the case of this paper, referring to the capacity of individuals within a population to establish themselves in an area. Unlike fitness, this has less to do with surviving to seed, and more to do with being dominant in a space shared with other populations.

As human activities have cleared habitats to extract resources or establish agricultural land or housing, habitats have become concentrated in smaller patches with unfavorable land in between. This is also known as habitat fragmentation, and can impede the migration of species to more favorable habitats.

As species move to new places with different environmental conditions, species evolve. Which traits are favored and how trait and gene frequencies change are aspects of evolutionary dynamics. For example, plant traits including height and dispersal change as plants spread to new areas.

The spreading of, in this case, a plant species due to its dispersal of seeds. The plant itself does not move to new locations like when animals migrate, but instead, it refers to the spreading distribution of the plant species.

Events in which a new organism is introduced to the environment, then grows and reproduces to the point that it becomes common in the new environment. These events are often associated with harming the native species, but are also how species adapt to changing conditions.

Teragram, grams in the trillions.

Research into the amount, source, spread, and control of diseases.

Molecules that lead to the formation of aerosols (suspended particles in air).

Chemical reactions that remove hydroxyl radicals from the atmosphere.

Molecules that contain only carbon and hydrogen atoms (hydrocarbons). Nonane has 9 carbon atoms, decane has 10 carbon atoms, and undecane has 11 carbon atoms.

Calculation that predicts the chemical make-up of air due to emissions and various reactions that occur to transform those emissions.

Movement of chemicals away from their initial emission source.

Molecules that contain carbon atoms that somewhat evaporate into the gas-phase at typical pressures and temperatures.

To hydrolyze a molecule is to break it into two pieces by adding a water molecule to it. Some chemicals undergo this process spontaneously, but in biological systems enzymes often help hydrolyze large biological molecules.

Enzymes are large biological molecules that help speed up the transformation of one molecule into another. Degrading a polymer generally involves breaking it down into smaller pieces. Enzymatic degradation uses natural or lab-made enzymes to break down polymers that could harm the environment into something smaller and more benign.

When an organism picks up new DNA from another organism that is not its parent.

Indicates how much of a chemical per volume (concentration) in a solution with a given amount of enzyme needed to make the reaction go at half of its maximum possible rate.

https://www.chem.wisc.edu/deptfiles/genchem/netorial/modules/biomolecules/modules/enzymes/enzyme4.htm

Sets of DNA in different organisms that encode similar traits in different organisms. Homologs are often used to show how certain traits, like the ability to digest PET, developed over the course of evolution.

A publicly accessible database with information gathered on all the DNA from all the organisms who have had their genome sequenced.

A section of DNA that contains information to build at least two proteins. Those proteins then perform related functions in a cell.

Types of proteins that go through a cell membrane. A transporter will help carry a molecule from the outside to the inside of a cell and vice versa.

A process that occurs outside of the cell.

We often think of metabolism as the process by which humans break down food into energy; however, it can also be used to describe the process by which a cell breaks down a molecule, like PET in this case, for energy.

The total population of mRNA in a cell. mRNA is the compound that helps carry information carried in DNA to the parts of the cell that use it to create proteins.

Reads all of the RNA in a cell and records the order of base pairs.

The liquid above a solid sample. In this case, the solid sample is composed of l. sakaiensis cells.

In this case, a highly specific enzyme would degrade PET but not other esters.

Describes how much an enzyme prefers one chemical to others.

The temperature above which a polymer becomes flexible and pliable. Below the glass transition temperature the polymer will be hard and brittle, like glass.

Indicating a material that is very ordered on a microscopic scale, like a grain of salt or a diamond. An amorphous solid, for example, lacks this order.

The basic monomer of PET. It is made up of TPA with two ethylene glycol groups attached to opposite ends.

Used to show what percent of times a node, or a place where two different branches originate, shows up in a phylogenic tree. The tree is recreated many times using slightly different data samples. Higher bootstrap values suggest the node is more likely to be correct.

A diagram that shows how different organisms or biological species, like enzymes in this case, are related to each other. A node, where there is a branch in the tree, represents when the two species have evolutionarily diverged from each other.

A technique for separating different compounds. The compounds are dissolved in some solvent and run through a thin tube called a column lined with a solid substance. Compounds that are attracted to the solid substance come out of the column after the compounds that are less attracted to the solid in the sample.

Amino acids that are directly involved with speeding up a reaction. In this case, the degradation of PET.

A stretch of DNA that the cell is able to read and translate into mRNA which can be used to make a single protein.

Enzymes that are built inside a cell, but later sent outside the cell. In this case, the secreted enzymes end up on the PET film.

A cell that is sticking to a surface.

Stands for Scanning Electron Microscope. The microscope uses an electron beam that produces signals about the sample's surface and then converts that information into a picture. SEM allows us to see things too small to visualize with a more common light microscope.

A type of single-celled organism. There is a lot of diversity among the different types of protozoa. Although they are single-celled like bacteria, they have different forms and behaviors. They typically lack a cell wall, for example, and many will survive by eating other organisms rather than by photosynthesis.

The morphology of a PET fiber describes its shape and surface texture. For example, we might describe its morphology as being rough, smooth, or flat. If there are morphological changes, that implies something about the bacteria changed the shape of the PET film.

A set of microscopic organisms, typically bacteria, from two or more species.

A solution of water and whatever chemicals an organism, in this case these fungi, need to grow. It will often include vitamins, minerals, and some type of food source.

These are types of fungi. Both fungi cause disease in some plants and F. solani also causes disease in humans. Previous research has shown that they can produce enzymes that can degrade PET to some extent.

The simplest form of the monomer, or repeating unit, of the polymer PET.

Any compound that has six carbons bonded together in a ring and sharing three double bonds. Aromatic compounds tend to be unusually stable.

Any foreign organism that can cause disease. Common pathogens are viruses, bacteria, and fungi.

Bumble bee pathogens are organisms that cause detrimental effects in bumble bees.

Since the mountainous regions occupied by bumble bees lack pathogens, the pathogens do not influence the evolution of mountainous bumble bees.

The physical expression of an organisms genetic makeup. Everything we physically observe in an organism is due to the expression of their genes (their genetic information).

The phenotype of tongue length in bumble bees is highlighted in this study. Bumble bees featuring different genes that express tongue length display a variation in tongue length.

A theoretical model used to indicate how an animal will look for food. Factors that influence how an animal will forage for food depend on the costs of energy or risk gathering the food compared to the energy gain benefit from the food.

A constant used to compare the relative size of an organism's foraging area. Larger numbers indicate a larger foraging range.

The range or obtainable food sources for an organism.

For the alpine bumble bees, this includes sources of nectar and nest building materials.

This paper highlights how the foraging breadth of native bees is decreasing due to increasing competition from immigrant species.

Species of bees from subalpine climates, that are within the same genus.

Climate change has warmed the alpine climate, making it's temperature closer to a subalpine climate, and increasing the range of the subalpine bee species.

Plants that are in a mutualistic relationship with the pollinators.

In this paper, host plants are involved in a mutualistic relationship between themselves and bumble bees.

A species of bumble bee known as the forest bumblebee. It is native to North America and is found in open alpine grasslands near mountains.

Bombus sylvicola feeds on plants such as lupines, fireweeds, and groundsels, which are all plants found in alpine habitats.

A species of bumble bee known as the golden belted bumblebee. It lives in high altitude alpine habitats and has a long tongue that is more than two-thirds of its body size.

Evolution is the change in alleles (genetic information) in a population over time. Coevolution is when two species influence the evolution of each other.

Coevolution is generally observed when a long lasting mutualistic relationship between two species exists.

As plants and bumble bees evolved alongside each other, each acted as a selective pressure for the other, altering their evolutionary paths so that each is better suited to live alongside the other.

The study of an organism's physical characteristics and their function.

In a mutualistic relationship between species, scientists are able to match the morphological traits that directly affect the symbiotic relationship (morphological matching).

This paper highlights the morphological matching between the corolla length of flowers and the tongue length of bumble bees.

Foraging is the act of an organism searching for food. Generalist foraging is when an organism forages for a wide variety of food, or in other words is more adept at foraging for whatever is more convenient. Bees showing generalist foraging will eat from a wider range of flowers.

The common weather patterns of a given area.

As climate change occurs, the prevailing weather patterns of all areas are viable to change as well.

Changing climate of bumble bee habitats are causing changes in pollination requirements of bumble bees to flowers.

The cylindrical opening created by the petals of a flower that leads to the reproductive organs of a given plant. The tube also leads to rewards for pollinates, such as nectar.

The corolla tube is what a bumble bee sticks its tongue down to acquire nectar. The longer the corolla tube, the longer the tongue of a bumble bee must be to access the nectar held within the tube.

A living organism capable of spreading pollen from one flower to another.

Generally pollinators are insects or birds. The pollinator highlighted in this paper is the bumble bee.

A measurement of the number of species in an ecosystem.

The greater the number of different species in a given ecosystem, the greater the biodiversity measurement of said ecosystem.

The practices used in farming to produce goods, such as crops and animals.

Agriculturally based mutualisms consist of symbiotic relationships between organisms and cultivated organisms.

A relationship between two different organisms where both species benefit from that relationship.

The symbiotic relationship highlighted in this paper is the one between long-tongued bumble bees and plants. The bumble bees benefit the plants by pollinating them as they move from plant to plant and the plants benefit the bumble bees by giving them nourishment.

Used in the last step of the juvenile hormone biosynthesis pathway that converts acids into hormones.

High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is a technique commonly used in analytical chemistry to help separate, identify and quantify components in an organic mixture.

Lipid assays include utilizing synthetic lipids to construct a lipid bilayer similar to the cell membrane. Lipid assay kits may be used to measure concentrations of lipid mixtures in comparison to membrane proteins in a cell membrane.

One of the most significant stages of the reproductive cycle is vitellogenesis which involves massive production of yolk protein and their accumulation in developing oocytes. Vitellogenesis is dependent on the availability of a blood meal and, as a consequence, is linked to transmission of pathogens. Therefore, vitellogenesis and other aspects of mosquito reproductive physiology is critical for their management of disease. The ovarian resting stage in the reproductive cycle of female mosquitoes is a time when the eggs are not being produced. In addition, the ovaries will not develop beyond a resting stage until a blood meal of adequate size has been taken.

RNA Interference is a response to double-stranded RNA that is responsible for the resistance of pathogenic nucleic acids such as certain mutations in base pairs, and regulates how genes express a particular protein.

Found in the head of insects. It is responsible for the regulation of metamorphosis and reproductive functions in most insects.

A signaling pathway allows an activation process to occur for a cell to have a specific function. In this case, communication takes place between these two different hormones, juvenile and insulin. These hormones work with energy to develop an insect.

A chemical signal that regulates larva development and metamorphosis in insects.

Primarily used in laboratories. It is commonly used for sealing or protecting vessels (such as flasks or cuvettes). It is a ductile, malleable, waterproof, odorless, translucent, and cohesive thermoplastic.

Put to death with minimal pain.

They would injure themselves too much, potentially leading to death.

A type of fish that swim around and look for their prey, which are widely dispersed. They also have a stiff body with minimal drag when they swim. Sharks and salmon are also cruise specialists.

Type of skeletal muscle in a fish; slow-twitch muscle on the outer sides of a fish.

https://esi.stanford.edu/exercise/exercise6.htm

The study of the relationship between the ecological role of an individual and its morphological (i.e. structure/form) adaptations.

Members of a large and extremely diverse group of ray-finned fishes.

Billfish have long bills (elongated upper jaw), which allows them to cut through water, and aerodynamic bodies so they can swim in speeds of up to 120 kilometers per hour. Billfish include sailfish, swordfish, and marlin.

The amount of time that has passed since two species have shared their most recent common ancestor.

In Brownian motion model of evolution, traits change randomly in distance and direction.

The model uses two parameters: the population mean trait and the evolutionary rate parameter.

This model is used in biology to compare traits between individual species and create phylogenetic trees.

The likelihood that taxas with a shared common ancestor will have similarities in their appearance, behavior, and in their interactions with others.

A large and diverse group of organic compounds that are present in many plants and insects.

Terpenes are often found in conifers, which release a distinct scent.

Mixtures that can readily become vapors or gases.

Narrow paths through which one collects information on the species that is being studied.

A taxonomic category that can be found throughout the tropics.

The process of choosing that leads to the formation of new species due to the accumulation of differences between species.

A characteristic that can be measured based on an observable standard or quality.

A characteristic that can be measured based off of its amount or quantity.

The job/role that an organism performs in its environment.

Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (NDI) is a congenital disease characterized by the body's inability to make concentrated urine. It can be caused by mutations in two different genes, including AVPR2.

Able to change or move.