| Term | Definition |
|---|
| weather | Day to day conditions of earth's atmosphere at a particular time and place. |
| climate | Average year by year conditions of temperature and precipitation in a particular region. |
| greenhouse effect | Natural situation in which heat is retained by this leyer of greenhouse gases. |
| polar zones | Cold areas where the sun's rays strike earth at a very low angle. |
| temperate zones | Sit between the polar zones and the tropics. |
| tropical zone | Tropics is near the equator between 23.5 degrees north and south latitudes. |
| biotic factors | Biological influences on organisms within an ecosystem. |
| abiotic factors | Physical or nonliving factors that shape ecosystems. |
| habitat | The area where an organism lives. |
| niche | Full range of physical and biological conditions in which an organism lives and the way in which the organism uses those conditions. |
| tolerance | Plants and animals also exhibit variations of this--ability to survive and reproduce. |
| microclimate | The climate in a small area that differs from the climate around it |
| tropical rain forest | Home to more species than all other biomes combined. |
| canopy | Above the forest floor; form a dense covering. |
| understory | In shade below the caopy; second layer of shorter trees and vines form. |
| tropical dry forest | Grow in places where rainfall is highly seasonal rather than year round. |
| deciduous | A tree that sheds its leaves during a particular season each year. |
| tropical savanna | Receiving more rainfall than deserts but less than tropical dry forests. |
| desert | Dry; very little precipitation. |
| terperate grassland | Rich mix of grasses and underlaid by some of the world's most fertile soils. |
| temperate woodland and shrubland | Climate and mix of shrub communities and open woodlands. |
| temperate forest | Contain a mixture of deciduous and coniferous trees. |
| coniferous | Trees produce seed-bearing cones, most have leaves shaped like needles. |
| humus | Formed from decaying leaves and organic matter that makes soil fertile. |
| northwest coniferous forest | Mild mast air from Pacific Ocean provides abundant rainfall to this biome. |
| Boreal forest | Along northern edge of the temperate zone are dense evergreen forests of coniferous trees. |
| taiga | Boreal forest. |
| tundra | Permafrost; permanently frozen subsoil. |
| plankton | General term for tiny, free-floating organisms that live in both fresh and salt water. |
| phytoplankton | Unicellular or algae; supported by nutrients in the water and forms the base of many aquatic food webs. |
| zooplankton | Plantonic animals; feed on the phytoplantons. |
| wetland | Ecosystem in which either cover the soil or is present at or near the surface of the soil for at least part of the year. |
| estuaries | Wetlands formed where rivers meet the sea. |
| petritus | Tiny pieces of organic material that provide food for organisms at the base of estuary's food web. |
| salt marshes | Temperate zone estuaries dominated by salt tolerant grasses above the low-tide line and by sea grasses under water. |
| mangrove swamps | Coastal wetlands that are wodespread across tropical regions. |
| photic zone | Photosynthesis is limited to well lit upper level. |
| aphotic zone | Permanently dark. |
| resource | Necessity of life, such as water, nutients, light, food, or space. |
| competitive exclusion principle | States that no two species can occupy the same niche in the same habitat at the same time. |
| predation | An interaction in which one organism captures and feeds on another organism. |
| symbiosis | Any relationship in which two species live closely together. |
| mutualism | Both species benefit from the relationship. |
| commensalism | One member of the association benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed. |
| parasitism | The relationship in which one organism lives on or inside another and harms it. |
| ecological succession | Series of predictable changes that occurs in a community over time. |
| primary succession | Succession that occurs on surfaces where no soil exists. |
| pioneer species | The first species to populate the area. |
| secondary succession | Interactions tend to restore the ecosystem to its original condition. |
| biome | A complex of terrestrial communities that covers a large area and is characterized by certain soil and climate conditions and particular assemblages of plants and animals. |
Combine with other sets
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