TO DO:
Add terms to glossary as they become more defined.
Continue working on main keywords in the glossary.

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ARTIST NAME: This is the person that produced the picture on the card.

ARTIST URL: Sometimes, the artist will have a website where you can see more of his/her work. You should definitely check them out. If you really dig the picture, you can even consider supporting the artist by buying something for yourself and/or your friends/family.

BIOME: (From wiki) “Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems.” In Phylo, a BIOME would be analogous to taking both CLIMATE and TERRAIN into consideration.

CLASSIFICATION: These are labels linked to biological taxonomy, where scientists group and categorize organisms by biological type. There are various ranks in this classification, but we have chosen the three major ones (for space reasons). These are Kingdom, Phylum/Division, and Class. Conceivably, one can attempt to make evolution type games based on this attribute.

CLIMATE: Climate preference of the organism. In Phylo, we have categorize this into four terms: cold, cool, warm, hot. An organism may have multiple climate preferences.

COMMON NAME: The common name for an organism’s species card. Often an organism may have multiple common names which tend to vary depending on the place of observation. Sometimes, a common name may even represent two different species.

DIET: How the organism receives its source of energy. In PHYLO, diet has been broken down to 5 categories which are symbolized with a coloured circle. They are photosynthetic, molecular carbon, herbivore, omnivore, and carnivore.

EVENT CARD: A card that can change some aspect of game play. For instance, it may be something that changes CLIMATE or TERRAIN considerations. It may be something that affects specific organisms, etc. Examples may include “forest fire”, “flood”, “condo development” or “Scenario B1, IPCC report!”

FOODCHAIN#: This number provides information on relative position in a food web. For instance, a photosynthetic plant would be given a number “1”, whereas animals of various diets would have higher numbers (i.e. Herbivores would be a number “2”). All organisms that subsist on basic molecular carbon sources (some bacteria for instance) would likely be a number “2” (although may not require a neighbouring “1” card if other carbon sources are around). Omnivores and Carnivores will tend to have higher numbers depending on where they fit on the food web. NOTE that this number is also important because it is how players earn points.

HABITAT CARD: This is a card that represents a particular habitat. It is typically defined by TERRAIN and CLIMATE data, and so is analogous to presenting information on specific BIOME characteristics. (Note: Habitat cards are no longer used in current version of the game).

INVASIVE: A species card with this attribute may replace another species card as the instructions dictate. The replaced card will go into the owner’s discard pile.

LATIN NAME: Each species tends to have a binominal (two part) latin name, which is often very cool sounding. You should memorize them for fun. Better yet, is there a way to include this knowledge in a game?

SCALE#: This number is meant to give a sense of the scale of the organism, either from a size or from a resource requirement perspective. For example, a virus may be given a scale# of 1, a single celled bacteria a “2”, a multi-celled organism (such as C. elegans) would be given the number “3” and so on.

MUTUALISTIC: A species card with this attribute may placed on top of another species card as the instructions dictate. At the end of the game, if both cards are still in play, they will both earn points. Note that if a player holds both species card in a mutualistic relationship, he/she can play both cards as a single action.

PARASITE: A species card with this attribute may placed under another species card as the instructions dictate. At the end of the game, if both cards are still in play, they will both earn points.

POLLINATOR: Some species card have this ability, which may be required for placement of some PLANTAE cards. which allows some plants to SPREAD. (SPREAD mechanic no longer used in current rules)

SPECIAL ABILITIES: This is something special that your organism can do. Examples may include an organism being INVASIVE, PARASITIC, or having the ability to MOVE.

SPECIES CARD: This is a card that represents a particular organism.

SPREAD: This is similar to the MOVE keyword, in that it allows organisms such as plants to MOVE. The principle differences are that (1) often this ability requires something additional (like the presence of a POLLINATOR or a WIND Event card), and (2) instead of moving the species, you place cards upside down and adjacent to the spreading species card denote the spread. Here, it might be good idea to place a token on these upside down cards so that you can keep track of what is yours (note that seeds make good tokens)! (This mechanic is no longer used in the current rules).

TERRAIN: Geographical and geological conditions of an organism’s habitat. We have greatly simplified things by focusing on seven main terrains. These are desert, freshwater, forest, grassland, ocean, tundra, and urban. Information of TERRAIN and CLIMATE would constitute a rough idea of the organism’s BIOME.

Forest image from Robertas P?žas at greatvectors.com
Grassland/Tundra/Urban images purchased from fotolia.com (Danille – Fotolia.com, sabri deniz kizil – Fotolia.com)
Ocean image from Patrick Hoesly (593 – Alpha Wave – Texture)

WIND: This event card when played on the appropriate species will allow some plants to SPREAD. (No longer needed as SPREAD mechanic has been removed from the current rules).