Science / Biology Glossary

Capillaries: Small, thin-walled blood vessels that allow oxygen to diffuse from the blood into the cells and carbon dioxide to diffuse from the cells into the blood.

Capillary Bed: A branching network of capillaries supplied by arterioles and drained by venules.

Capsid: The protein shell of a free virus particle. This definition is from the Glossary at the UCMP site at http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/glossary/gloss4cell.html

Capsule: 1. Structure produced around certain bacteria; 2. Structure produced by the bryophyte sporophyte that contains spores produced by meiosis.

Carbohydrates: Organic molecules composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen that serve as energy sources and structural materials for cells of all organisms.

Cardiac Cycle: One heartbeat; consists of atrial contraction and relaxation, ventricular contraction and relaxation, and a short pause.

Cardiac Muscle: The type of muscle that is found in the walls of the heart. Cardiac muscle is striated but branched, unlike the straight-shaped striated skeletal muscle cells.

Cardiovascular System: The human circulatory system consisting of the heart and the vessels that transport blood to and from the heart.

Carnivores: Term applied to a heterotroph, usually an animal, that eats other animals. Carnivores function as secondary, tertiary, or top consumers in food chains and food webs.

Carotenoids: Major group of accessory pigments in plants; includes beta carotene.

Carpals: The bones that make up the wrist joint.

Carpels: The female reproductive structures of a flower; consisting of the ovary, style, and stigma.

Carrageenan: Chemical extracted from red algae that is added to commercial ice creams as an emulsifying agent.

Carrying Capacity: The maximum population size that can be regularly sustained by an environment; the point where the population size levels off in the logistic growth model.

Casparian Strip: In plants, an impermeable waxy layer between the cells of the endodermis that stops water and solutes from entering the xylem, except by passing through the cytoplasm of adjacent cells.

Cast: Type of fossil preservation where the original material of the fossil has decayed and been replaced later by another material, much the way a plaster cast is made in a mold.

Catabolic Reactions: Reactions in cells in which existing chemical bonds are broken and molecules are broken down; generally produce energy, involve oxidation, and lead to a decrease in atomic order.

Catastrophism: Once-popular belief that events in earth history had occurred in the past a sudden events and by processes unlike those operating today. Periods of catastrophic change were followed by long . . . View Full Definition

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