Glossary of terms used on this site

layer of soil with humus at the surface and decomposed vegetation at the base

organisms, such as humans, that must perform aerobic respiration to survive

organisms that only perform anaerobic respiration and often cannot survive in the presence of oxygen

part of the cerebral cortex that contains visual cortex and processes visual stimuli

rising of deep ocean waters that occurs when prevailing winds blow along surface waters near a coastline

part of the ocean that begins offshore where the water measures 200 m deep or deeper

(ATTTGCAT) nonessential eukaryotic promoter sequence that binds cellular factors to increase the efficiency of transcription; may be present several times in a promoter

rule that atoms are most stable when they hold eight electrons in their outermost shells

airborne molecule that stimulates an olfactory receptor

DNA fragment that is synthesized in short stretches on the lagging strand

sense of smell

neural structure in the vertebrate brain that receives signals from olfactory receptors

specialized tissue in the nasal cavity where olfactory receptors are located

dendrite of a specialized neuron

glial cell that myelinates central nervous system neuron axons