| A | B |
|---|
| acid rain | rain with a high level of chemicals |
| habitat | area in which a plant or animal grows or lives NATURALLY |
| deforestation | process of clearing land of forests or trees |
| ecosystem | community of interacting living things & their environment |
| tundra | treeless plain in arctic areas w/ permanently frozen ground |
| vertical climate | overall weather patterns of a region influenced by elevation |
| vegetation | the plants in an area |
| temperature | degree of hotness or coldness of something |
| precipitation | all the forms of water that fall to the ground from the atmosphere |
| climate | weather patterns that an area typically experiences over a long period of time |
| mountain | a landform that usually rises more than 2,000 ft above sea level |
| hill | a landform that rises above the surrounding land w/ a rounded top |
| plain | an area of flat or gently rolling land |
| plateau | a large, raised area of mostly level land; at least 1 side w/ steep slope |
| landform | an area of the earth's surface w/ a definite shape |
| weathering | breaking down of rocks by wind, rain or ice |
| erosion | process by which water, wind, or ice wears away landforms |
| atmosphere | multilayered band of gasses that surround the earth |
| weather | condition at the bottom layer of the earth's atmosphere, in 1 place over a short period of time |
| biome | a large ecosystem w/ similar population & climate throughout |
| ecology | study of how living & nonliving parts of the environment affect each other |
| ecotone | areas where one biome blends into another |
| taiga | forest ecosystems located just south of tundra or on very high mountains |
| temperate forest | ecosystems with 4 seasons each year |
| tropical rain forest | ecosystems located near the equator |
| grassland | ecosystem where most of the plants are grasses |
| desert | ecosystem w/ a dry climate |
| aquatic biome | fresh or salt biome |
| marine biome | saltwater biome |
| extinct | no members of a population are living |
| global warming | warming of the Earth caused by gases such as carbon dioxide polluting the air |
| recycle | to reuse precious resources more than 1 time |
| ozone | substance in the atmosphere that blocks UV radiation |
| conservation | using resources wisely so they last longer |
| Earth Day | began April 1970 |
| pollution | can make air, water, soil, and oceans unhealthy or unusable |
| greenhouse effect | certain gases in atmosphere trap heat radiation, effecting the planet |
| endangered species | plants or animals on the verge of extinction due to pollution & habitat loss |
| CFC | chloroflourocarbon-1 of the ozone-destroying chemicals |
| over fishing | has drastically reduced seafood supply in parts of the world |
