Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Nitrogen cycle nitrogen cycle, the continuous flow of nitrogen through the biosphere by the processes of nitrogen fixation, ammonification (decay), nitrification, and denitrification. Nitrogen...

(Encyclopedia) lichen līˈkən [key], usually slow-growing organism of simple structure, composed of fungi (see Fungi) and photosynthetic green algae or cyanobacteria living together in a symbiotic relationship and...

(Encyclopedia) olive, common name for the Oleaceae, a family of trees and shrubs (including climbing forms) of warm temperate climates and of the Old World tropics, especially Asia and the East Indies. Many are popu...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Life cycle of a moss: A germinating spore forms a transitory branching structure on the soil surface, which develops into the conspicuous gametophyte, the familiar moss plant. Eggs and sperm ar...

(Encyclopedia) boa bōˈə [key], name for live-bearing constrictor snakes of the family Boidae, found mostly in the Americas. This family, which also comprises the egg-laying pythons of the Old World, includes the ...

(Encyclopedia) Auerbach, Erich, 1892–1957, German-American philologist, literary scholar, and critic, b. Berlin, Ph.D. Univ. of Greifswald, 1921. He is known primarily for Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in...

(Encyclopedia) Sunita, Narain, 1961–, Indian writer and environmentalist, b. New Delhi, India, graduated from University of Delhi, honorary degrees from Cranfield ...

(Encyclopedia) Pearl, The, one of four Middle English alliterative poems, all contained in a manuscript of c.1400, composed in the West Midland dialect, almost certainly by the same anonymous author, who flourished ...

(Encyclopedia) mamba, name for African snakes of the genus Dendroaspis, in the cobra family. Widely distributed throughout Africa except in the deserts, mambas have extremely toxic venom. When attacking they raise t...

(Encyclopedia) opal ōˈpəl [key], a mineral consisting of poorly crystalline to amorphous silica, SiO2·nH2O; the water content is quite variable but usually ranges from 3% to 10%. Common opal is usually colorless...