Canopy layer :
In a forest the Canopy layer is like a roof. Way about the ground, this second layer of ground cover is made of a network of branches and leaves. Where the trees are all close together all the branches and leaves grow in-between each other, blocking out much of the sunlight to the ground below, including too many other plants! Many plants have ‘adapted’ to living happily in the shady areas underneath the forest canopy.

Carbon cycle:
Carbon is a very important element because it is part of carbohydrates (spoken ‘car-bo-hi-drates’), proteins, and fats and plants and animals (and us) use all of these things to grow. Green plants get carbon from the ‘carbon dioxide’ gas in the atmosphere (the air). By ‘photosynthesis’ (a natural process, spoken ‘foto-sin-thee-sis) the carbon is changed into carbohydrates to help them grow by breathing in the carbon dioxide from the air. When animals eat the plants made with the help of carbon, they then too have carbon to help them grow. Then, when the animals breathe out (or ‘respire’) or when they die and decompose (or rot), the carbon goes back into the atmosphere (the air). Us humans also eat plants and animals giving us carbon, and we too breathe out carbon dioxide so that the plants can breathe it in. If plants breathe out oxygen, can you guess what animals and us breath in to survive?

Carbon dioxide:
A gas found in air that is used in ‘photosynthesis’ (a natural process, spoken ‘foto-sin-thee-sis) and produced by respiration (breathing in and out). As well as being found in the air around us, carbon dioxide is also one of the ‘green house’ gases found high in the sky above the layer of air that we live in.

Carnivores (spoken Carn-ee-vors):
These are animals and mammals that eat other animals and mammals, also called ‘flesh-eaters’; see ‘food chain’

CFCs (full name: Chlorofluorocarbon, spoken ‘klour-o-floor-o-car-bon):
Chlorofluorocarbon gas, or ‘CFC’s’ that are put into the atmosphere from man-made things like spray cans and fridges, which is a problem for our environment, because this gas is a pollutant and makes ozone gas change to oxygen in the ozone layer, way up in the sky at the top of the atmosphere.

Chlorophyll (spoken ‘kloor-o-fill’):
the green pigment of plants, which converts light energy from the sun (or light bulbs) into chemical energy, is called chlorophyll.

Climate :
This is the name for the type of weather we have and it can change from country to country and at different times of the day or year. Do you know a place where the climate is either always very hot or very cold?

Cloud:
Clouds are white or grey collections of tiny drops of water that we can see up in the air, or at the top of very tall mountains. Sometime we can travel through clouds when we are in an aeroplane flying through the air, or walking very high up in the mountains. When a cloud gets heavy with so much water, the tiny drops start to mix together to make bigger drops until they are too heavy to stay in the air, so they fall down to the ground in bigger drops of water. Can you guess what the name of this is?

Colony (spoken ‘col-on-ee’):
This is a large group (or ‘population’) of animals or plants. In a colony each of the members depend on each other in many ways to live.

Community:
The community is the name for a group of animal and plants (and humans) that live together in one place.

Condensation (spoken ‘con-den-say-sh-on’):
This is made when a gas is cooled down so that the tiny gas ‘molecules’ (see molecules) start to slow down and stick together making larger drops that get so big that they turn into liquid. You can see this on the windows sometimes when the cold outside air makes the window cold, which makes the air inside slow down and some turns into tiny drops of water called condensation.

Coniferous (spoken like ‘con-if-er-us’):
Coniferous means ‘cone-bearing’ (or ‘grows cones’). Conifers are cone-bearing trees or bushes. They are also known as ‘evergreens’, ‘needle-leafed’ trees or ‘softwood’ trees. Many tropical trees are also evergreens. Can you guess why these trees are called ‘evergreens’? Have you ever seen any examples of this type of tree? (for a clue, think about Christmas time….)

Coniferous forest:
A forest containing ‘coniferous’ plants is a coniferous forest. These are places where winters are very cold, summers do not last very long, and there is not much rainfall. Some areas in the northern parts of North America, Europe, and Asia, and in the world's mountain regions have coniferous forests.

Coniferous plant :
A plant, normally an ‘evergreen’ plant, with seeds that are made in the cones. Also, many of these plants have very sharp needles instead of leaves.

Conserve:
This means to stop something from being wasted or broken and destroyed or lost. You can ‘conserve’ the heat in your room, by not opening all the windows! Or conserve power from the power station, which comes to your house by lots and lots of electric wires, by remembering to turn off your television, computer or the lights. You can conserve food, by remembering to put it back in the fridge where it will not go ‘off’ as quick, so you can eat it another day. Can you think of any other things you can conserve so that you can use it again?

Consumers:
Any organism (such as animals and humans) that feeds on other plants or animals is a consumer. All consumers rely on ‘producers’ (like plants) for food.

Coral:
Live coral is made of ‘Polyps’ (spoken ‘pol-ips’). Dead coral is a hard and stony because it is made up of the skeletons of Polyps. Areas of Coral area found special places on the coast in the sea and their environment is one of the most exciting and delicate in the world, home to many different types of fish, plants and crustations.

Core:
The centre part of our Planet Earth.