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mantis shrimp

(Encyclopedia)mantis shrimp, marine crustacean of the order Stomatopoda, characterized by a pair of enlarged appendages, called maxillipeds, that form powerful claws for seizing prey. The last two segments of each ...

Stanford University

(Encyclopedia)Stanford University, at Stanford, Calif.; coeducational; chartered 1885, opened 1891 as Leland Stanford Junior Univ. (still the legal name). The original campus was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. ...

Padre Island

(Encyclopedia)Padre Island pädˈrē, pădˈrē [key], low, sandy island, c.115 mi (185 km) long, less than 3 mi (4.8 km) wide, S Tex. It is characterized by large, irregular sand dunes, sparse vegetation, and a st...

bivalve

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Internal anatomy of a clam, Anodonta, representative mollusk of the class Pelecypoda (the bivalves) bivalve, aquatic mollusk of the class Pelecypoda (“hatchet-foot”) or Bivalvia, with a la...

Galápagos Islands

(Encyclopedia)Galápagos Islands gəlăpˈəgōs [key] [Span.,=tortoises], archipelago and province, 3,029 sq mi ...

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...

extinction

(Encyclopedia)extinction, in biology, disappearance of species of living organisms. Extinction usually occurs as a result of changed conditions to which the species is not suited. If no member of the affected speci...

fertilization

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Fertilization of an egg cell fertilization, in biology, process in the reproduction of both plants and animals, involving the union of two unlike sex cells (gametes), the sperm and the ovum, f...

horticulture

(Encyclopedia)horticulture [Lat. hortus=garden], science and art of gardening and of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, and ornamental plants. Horticulture generally refers to small-scale gardening, and agric...

Lysenko, Trofim Denisovich

(Encyclopedia)Lysenko, Trofim Denisovich lĭsĕngˈkō, Rus. trəfēmˈ dyĭnyēˈsəvĭch lĭsyĕnˈkə [key], 1898–1976, Russian agronomist. As president of the Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences ...