| A | B |
|---|
| biological clock | an internal timer that keeps track of cycles of time and helps an organism stay in step with rhythmic cycles of change in the environment |
| biome | a large geographic area with similar climate and major life forms |
| carbon cycle | the cyclical series of processes in which carbon moves through the living and nonliving parts of the environment |
| commensalism | a form of symbiosis in which one organism benefits and the other is not harmed |
| community | the living part of an ecosystem |
| competition | the type of interaction in which organisms struggle with one another to obtain resouces |
| conifer | a plant, usually an evergreen tree, that produces its seeds in cones |
| consumer | an organism that cannot make its own food |
| decomposer | an organism that breaks down the bodies of dead organisms into simpler substances |
| dispersal | the movement of living things from one place to another; spreading out |
| diurnal | active during the day |
| ecology | the study of the relationships and interactions of living things with one another and with their environment |
| ecosystem | a unit consisting of all the living and nonliving things in a given area that interact with each other |
| endangered | in danger of becoming extinct |
| environment | all the living and nonliving things with which an organism may interact |
| estivation | a summer resting state |
| estuary | an environment found at the boundary between fresh water and salt water that contains a mixture of fresh water and salt water |
| extinct | no longer in existence |
| food chain | a representation of a series of events in which food energy and matter are transferred from one organism to another |
| food web | a diagram of many over lapping food chains |
| habitat | the place in which an organism lives and obtains the resources it needs to survive |
| hibernation | a winter resting state |
| host | an organism that provides a home for another organism; in parasitism, the organism harmed by the parasite |
| marine biome | the ocean biome |
| migration | the movement of organisms from one place to another in response to the change in seasons |
| mutualism | a form of symbiosis in which both organsisms benefit |
| niche | an organisms role or job in the ecosystem |
| nitrogen cycle | a cyclical series of processes in which nitrogen moves from the nonliving parts of the ecosystem to the living parts of the ecosystem |
| nocturnal | active during the night |
| oxygen cycle | the cyclical series of processes in which oxygen moves through the living and nonliving parts of the environment |
| parasite | an organism that lives on or inside the body of a host organism and usually harms the host |
| parasitism | a form of symbiosis in which one organism benefits and the other is harmed |
| permafrost | the layer of permanently frozen soil in the tundra |
| phytoplankton | microscopic plant producers that live near the surface of the ocean and other bodies of water |
| population | a group of organisms of the same species living together in the same area |
| predator | an organism that is eaten by a predator |
| prey | an organsim that is eaten by a predator |
| producer | an organism that is able to make its own food |
| symbiosis | a close relationship between 2 organisms in which one organism lives, near, on, or even inside another organism and in which at least one organism befefits |
| taiga | the northern most coniferous forest biome |
| water cycle | the cyclical series of processes in which water moves through the living and non living parts of the environment |
