Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

72 results found

plant

(Encyclopedia)plant, any organism of the plant kingdom, as opposed to one of the animal kingdom or of the kingdoms Fungi, Protista, or Monera in the five-kingdom system of classification. (A more recent system, sug...

Great Salt Lake

(Encyclopedia)Great Salt Lake, shallow body of saltwater, NW Utah, between the Wasatch Range on the east and the Great Salt Lake Desert on the west; largest salt lake in North America. Fed by the Weber, Jordan, and...

water mold

(Encyclopedia)water mold, common name for a group of multinucleated organisms that superficially resemble fungi but are now recognized as having an independent evolutionary lineage and are placed in the kingdom Pro...

classification

(Encyclopedia)CE5 classification, in biology, the systematic categorization of organisms into a coherent scheme. The original purpose of biological classification, or systematics, was to organize the vast number...

chiton

(Encyclopedia)CE5 A. Dorsal view of a chiton, representative mollusk of the class Amphineura B. Internal anatomy of a chiton chiton kīˈtən [key], common name for rock-clinging marine mollusks of the class Po...

conch

(Encyclopedia)conch kŏngk, kŏnch, kôngk [key], common name for certain marine gastropod mollusks having a heavy, spiral shell, the whorls of which overlap each other. In conchs the characteristic gastropod foot ...

Erie, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Erie, Lake, 9,940 sq mi (25,745 sq km), 241 mi (388 km) long and from 30 to 57 mi (48–92 km) wide, bordered on the N by S Ont., Canada, on the E by W N.Y., on the S by NW Pa. and N Ohio, and on the ...

water bug

(Encyclopedia)water bug, name for a large number of water-living bugs, comprising several families of the order Hemiptera (true bugs). All have jointed, sharp, sucking beaks, breathe air, and undergo gradual metamo...

Silurian period

(Encyclopedia)Silurian period sĭlo͝orˈēən, sī– [key] [from the Silures, ancient tribe of S Wales, where the period was first studied; named by the British geologist R. I. Murchison], third period of the Pal...

Krebs cycle

(Encyclopedia)Krebs cycle, series of chemical reactions carried out in the living cell; in most higher animals, including humans, it is essential for the oxidative metabolism of glucose and other simple sugars. The...

Browse by Subject