| A | B |
|---|
| biotic factor | living factors in an ecosystem |
| abiotic factor | physical or nonliving factors in an ecosystem |
| resource | any factor necessary for life, such as light, water, space, nutrients etc. |
| ecological succession | a series of predictable changes that occurs in a community over time where the older inhabitants die out and are replaced by new organisms |
| primary succession | primary succession |
| pioneer species | the first species to successfully live in an area |
| secondary secondary succession | type of succession that occurs after a disturbance of some kind changes an existing community without removing the soil |
| biome | a complex terrestrial community covering a large area that is characterized by certain soil and climate conditions and houses particular groups of plants and animals |
| tolerance | the ability to survive and reproduce in conditions that are different |
| plankton | tiny free floating or weak swimming organisms of aquatic environments |
| phytoplankton | single celled algae, the producers of most aquatic environments |
| zooplankton | simple animal like organisms that feed on the phytoplankton |
| tropical rain forest | biome characterized by rainy humid warm climate all year long |
| tropical savanna | biome characterized by more seasonal rainfall than a desert but less than the dry forest, main plants are grasses |
| desert | biome characterized by less than 25 cm of precipitation per year, temperatures may vary |
| temperate grassland | biome characterized by a rich mix of grasses and cold winters and warm summers |
| temperate forest | biome characterized by by mixture of deciduous and coniferous trees, warm summers and cold winters |
| NW coniferous forest | biome characterized by mild moist Pacific air and abundant rainfall, main plants are conifers |
| boreal forest | biome characterized by bitterly cold winters and short mild summers, main plants are conifers |
| tundra | biome characterized by permafrost, short cool summers, long cold winters |
