| A | B |
|---|
| weather | day-by-day condition of Earth's atmosphere |
| climate | average conditions of Earth's atmosphere over long periods |
| microclimate | a small area where environmental conditions differ significantly from the climate of the surrounding area |
| greenhouse effect | process in which certain gases trap sunlight energy in the Earth's atmosphere as heat |
| tolerance | ability of an organism to survive and reproduce under circumstances that differ from their optimal conditions |
| habitat | area where an organism lives, including 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 |
| resource | any necessity of life, such as water, nutrients, light, food or space |
| competitive exclusion principle | states that no two species can occupy the same niche in the same habitat at the same time |
| predation | interaction in which one organism (the predator) captures and feeds on another organism (the prey) |
| herbivory | interation in which one animal (the herbivore) feeds on producers (such as plants) |
| keystone species | single species taht is not usally abundant in a community yet exerts strong control on the structure of a community |
| symbiosis | relationship in which two species live close together |
| mutualism | symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit from the relationship |
| parasitism | symbiotic relationship in which one organism lives on or inside another and harms it |
| commensalism | symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed |
| ecological succession | series of gradual changes that occur in a community following a disturbance |
| pioneer species | first species to populate an area during succession |
| primary succession | succession that occurs in an area in which no trace of a previous community is present |
| secondary succession | type of succession that occurs in an area that was only partially destroyed by disturbances |
| canopy | dense covering formed by leafy tops of tall rain forest trees |
| understory | layer in a rain forest found underneath the canopy formed by shorter trees and vines |
| deciduous | term used to refer to a type of tree that sheds its leaves during a particular season each year |
| coniferous | term used to refer to the trees that produce seed-bearing cones and have thin leaves shaped like needles |
| permafrost | layer of permanently frozen subsoil found in the tundra |
