| A | B |
|---|
| weather | condition of Earth's atmoshpere at a particular time and place |
| climate | average, year-after-year conditions of temperature and precipitation in a particular region |
| greenhouse effect | natural situation in which heat is retained in Earth's atmosphere by carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and other gases |
| polar zone | cold climate zone where the suns rays strike Earht at a very low angle |
| temperature zone | moderate climate between the polar zones and tropics |
| tropical zone | warm climate zone that recieves direct or nearly direct sunlight year round |
| biotic factor | biological on organisms within an ecosystem |
| abiotic factor | physical or nonliving, factor that shapes an ecosytem |
| habitat | the area where an organism lives, including the biotic and abiotic factors that affect it |
| niche | full range of physical and biological conditions in which an organism lives and the way in which the organism uses those conditions |
| predation | An interaction between species in which one species, the predator, eats the other, the prey |
| resource | The division of environmental resources by coexisting species populations such that the niche of each species differs by one or more significant factors from the niches of all coexisting species populations |
| competitive exclusion principle | The concept that when the populations of two species compete for the same limited resources, one population will use the resources more efficiently and have a reproductive advantage that will eventually lead to the elimination of the other population |
| symbiosis | An ecological relationship between organisms of two different species that live together in direct contact |
| mutualism | A symbiotic relationship in which both the host and the symbiont benefit |
| commensalism | A symbiotic relationship in which the symbiont benefits but the host is neither helped nor harmed |
| parasitism | A symbiotic relationship in which the symbiont (parasite) benefits at the expense of the host by living either within the host (endoparasite) or outside the host (ectoparasite) |
| ecological succession | Transition in the species composition of a biological community, often following ecological disturbance of the community; the establishment of a biological community in an area virtually barren of life |
| primary succession | A type of ecological succession that occurs in an area where there were originally no organisms |
| pioneer species | first species to populate an area |
| secondary succession | A type of succession that occurs where an existing community has been severely cleared by some disturbance |
| biome | One of the world's major communities, classified according to the predominant vegetation and characterized by adaptations of organisms to that particular environment |
| tolerance | ability to survive and reproduce |
| microclimate | A microclimate is a local atmospheric zone where the climate differs from the surrounding area. The term may refer to areas as small as a few square feet |
| canopy | above ground portion of a plant community or crop |
| understory | shorter trees and vines |
| deciduous | Refers to plants that shed their leaves at a certain season |
| coniferous | seed bearing seeds and trees with needle like leaves |
| humus | materials in decaying leaves |
| taiga | The coniferous or boreal forest biome, characterized by considerable snow, harsh winters, short summers, and evergreen trees |
| permafrost | permanently frozen subsoil |
| plankton | Aquatic, free-floating, microscopic, organisms |
| phytoplankton | Aquatic, free-floating, microscopic, photosynthetic organisms |
| zooplankton | A collective term for the nonphotosynthetic organisms present in plankton |
| wetland | ecosystem in which water either covers the soil or is present |
| estuary | wetlands formed where rivers meet the sea |
| detritus | Dead organic matter |
| salt marsh | temperate-zone estaries dominated by salt-toerant grasses above the low-tide line |
| mangrove swamp | A collection of tropical evergreen trees with stilt-like aerial roots that cause thick undergrowth and provide habitat for marine organisms |
| photic zone | The narrow top slice of the ocean, where light permeates sufficiently for photosynthesis to occur |
| aphotic zone | The part of the ocean beneath the photic zone, where light does not penetrate sufficiently for photosynthesis to occur |
| zonation | prominant horizontal banding of organisms that live in a particular habitat |
| coastal ocean | outer edge of the continental shelf |
| kelp forest | forest of seaweed found in cold temperate seas |
| coral reef | enviroment named for the coral animals that make up the primary structure |
| benthos | animals that live on the bottom of the sea |
