| Library / English Dictionary |
HABITAT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The type of environment in which an organism or group normally lives or occurs
Example:
he felt safe on his home grounds
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting spatial position
Hypernyms ("habitat" is a kind of...):
environment; environs; surround; surroundings (the area in which something exists or lives)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "habitat"):
habitation (the native habitat or home of an animal or plant)
Context examples:
This internal compass can help orient animals who live in a complex, dynamic three-dimensional habitat,” said Mike Sieracki, a program director in NSF's Division of Ocean Sciences.
(North Atlantic haddock use magnetic compass to guide them, National Science Foundation)
Mule deer mothers are in sync with their environment, with reproduction patterns that closely match the cycles of plant growth in their habitat.
(Tracking Deer by NASA Satellite, NASA)
Everyone knows habitat loss is bad for animals, but there's been a longstanding debate about fragmentation – the arrangement of remaining habitat, said co-corresponding author Matt Betts of the OSU College of Forestry.
(Forest fragmentation hits wildlife hardest in the tropics, National Science Foundation)
The offshore reefs provide habitat and feeding grounds for large numbers of fish, including top predators such as sharks and groupers.
(Microbes reflect the health of coral reefs, National Science Foundation)
The transition to fungus agriculture increased the range of possible habitats for both the fungus-growing termites and their domesticated fungi.
(Researchers discover oldest evidence of 'farming' by insects, NSF)
Some, including crayfishes, live in freshwater habitats; others (e.g., sand fleas, land crabs, and sow bugs) live in moist terrestrial environments.
(Crustacean, NCI Thesaurus)
This large dead zone size shows that nutrient pollution, primarily from agriculture and developed land runoff in the Mississippi River watershed is continuing to affect the nation’s coastal resources and habitats in the Gulf.
(Gulf of Mexico ‘dead zone’ is the largest ever measured, NOAA)
The fossil monkey — a new genus and species, given the name Panamacebus transitus — is an ancient species that could help answer questions about our own future, and what might happen to other species in the wake of a changing climate and increased habitat loss.
(First-ever fossil monkey found in North America, NSF)
By tracking 'gators, the ecologists determined that alligators remain in marine habitats for longer periods around spring tides — tides just after a full or new moon, when there's the greatest difference between high and low water. (In contrast, neap tides occur just after the first or third quarters of the moon, when there is the least change between high and low water.)
(Alligators, rulers of the swamps, link marine and freshwater ecosystems, NSF)
It is a promising technique for management on a local basis but needs to be combined with habitat restoration and other conservation measures; rebuilding fish communities with the help of playbacks might accelerate ecosystem recovery but is not enough alone.
(Loudspeakers used to attract fish back to dying coral reefs, SciDev.Net)
