| A | B |
|---|
| Abyssal Zone | The deepest ocean biomes with no light and extreme pressure from water above. |
| Adaptation | Any structure or behavior that helps a living thing meet its needs for survival. |
| Biogeography | The study of where organisms live. |
| Biome | A group of ecosystems with similar climates and organisms. |
| Camouflage | Any coloring shape or pattern that allows a living thing to blend (hide) into its surroundings. |
| Canopy | A leafy roof formed by tall trees. |
| Carbon dioxide | A gas found in air that is used by plants to make food. |
| Carnivore | A consumer (animal) that eats other consumers (meat). |
| Chlorophyll | The green substance found in plants that traps energy from the sun and gives plants their green color. |
| Climate | The typical weather pattern in an area over a long period of time. |
| Condensation | The process by which a gas turns into a liquid, usually by cooling (getting thicker together). |
| Coniferous Tree | Trees that produce their seeds in cones and have needle shaped leaves. |
| Consumer | A living thing that gets energy by eating plants and other animals. |
| Continental Drift | The very slow motion of the continents over geologic time. |
| Deciduous Trees | Trees that lose their leaves in the fall to conserve stored energy through the winter. |
| Decomposer | A consumer that put materials from dead plants and animals back into the soil, air, and water. |
| Desert | An area that receives less than 25 cm of precipitation a year. |
| Dispersal | The movement of organisms from one place to another (not an annual pattern). |
| Ecosystem | All of the living and non-living things in an environment (area) and how they interact. |
| Energy Pyramid | A diagram that shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to another in a food web. |
| Estuary | A habitat in which the fresh water of a river meets the salt water of an ocean. |
| Evaporation | The process by which molecules of a liquid absorbs energy (gets warmer) and turns into a gas. |
| Exotic Species | Species that are carried to a new location by people. |
| Food Chain | The flow of energy through a community. A line of organisms that are consumed by the next organism that shows how the energy is passed. |
| Food Web | All of the food chains in a community. |
| Grassland | An area populated by grasses that gets 25-75 cm of rain per year. |
| Herbivore | A consumer (animal) that eats plants. |
| Hibernation | A long deep sleep in which an animals heart rate and breathing are much slower than normal. |
| Intertidal Zone | The area along an ocean between the highest high tide line and the lowest low tide line. |
| Lichens | A small pioneer symbiotic (mutualism) collective (fungi + algae) that breaks down bare rocks to make soil for other plants. |
| Migration | The movement of an animal from one location to another location as the seasons change. |
| Native Species | Species that have naturally evolved in an area. |
| Neritic Zone | The region of relatively shallow ocean water over the continental shelf. |
| Nitrogen Fixation | The process of changing free Nitrogen Gas into a usable form. |
| Nodules | Bumps on the roots of certain plants (legumes) that house nitrogen fixing bacteria. |
| Omnivore | A consumer (animal) that eats both plants and other consumers. |
| Permafrost | Soil that is frozen all year long. |
| Photosynthesis | A process by which plants collect light energy from the sun and use it to turn carbon dioxide and water into sugar (food) and oxygen. |
| Pioneer Species | The first species to populate a new area, or an area after a disturbance. |
| Precipitation | Rain, snow sleet or hail. |
| Primary Succession | The changes that occur in an area where no ecosystem had existed. |
| Producer | A living organism that uses sunlight to make sugar (food). |
| Savanna | A grassland close to the equator. |
| Scavenger | An animal that eats dead animals. |
| Secondary Succession | The changes that occur in an area after a disturbance. |
| Succession | The series of predictable changes that occur in a community over time. |
| Symbiosis | A special way that two different kinds of living things live together. |
| Tundra | An extremely cold, dry biome. |
| Understory | A layer of shorter plants that grow in the shade of a forest canopy. |
| Water Cycle | The continuous process by which water moves from Earth's surface to the atmosphere and back, again and again… |
| Weather | The day to day conditions outside including temperature, humidity, precipitation, cloud cover, and wind. |
| ate | to (do) |
| bio | life |
| carni | flesh, meat |
| chloro | green |
| cycle | circle, wheel |
| eco | house |
| -er / -ist | one who ___(does)__ |
| herbi | grass, plants |
| omni | all |
| photo | light |
| phyll | leaf |
| re- | again |
| -sis / -tion / -sion / -sys | the act of |
| syn / sym | together, with |
| vore | eat, devour |
| geo | Earth, rock |
| con / com | together, with |
| thesis | an arranging |
| ology | the study of |
| graphy | writing, write |
| -ic / -id | A condition of ( being ) |
| de | from, out, down |
| pos | to place |
| habit | dwell, live |
| foss | a ditch or trench |
| fossil | dug up |
