| A | B |
|---|
| the whole group of interacting food chains in an ecological community | food web |
| water that exists underground in saturated zones beneath the land surface. | ground water |
| a major warm ocean current flowing northeastward off the east coast of North America | Gulf Stream |
| a large body of water surrounded by land. | lake |
| life found in the ocean; salt water organisms | marine organisms |
| the whole body of salt water that covers nearly ¾ of the surface of the Earth. | ocean |
| a long, deep, narrow canyon in the seafloor plain; deepest feature in the ocean is the Mariana Trench (7 miles) | ocean trench |
| minute, floating plant-like plankton | phytoplankton |
| floating plant and animal organisms in the ocean | plankton |
| a small body of still water formed naturally | pond |
| the seafloor that is relatively flat; average depth is 2.5 miles | abyssal plain |
| a plant or animal that requires complex organic compounds for food, which it obtains by preying on other living things or eating particles of organic matter | consumers |
| concentrated flow of water due to temperature, salinity, or sediment differences | currents |
| an organism (such as a bacterium or a fungus) that lives on and decomposes dead organisms | decomposers |
| a series of pairs of phrases or descriptions which are used to classify a group of living things by making choices between the sets of traits and characters described in each pair. | dichotomous key |
| a process where liquid water is heated and changed to a gas (water vapor). | evaporation |
| the sequence of transfers of matter and energy in the form of food from organism to organism. | food chain |
| a process where water falls to the ground as a liquid or a solid. | precipitation |
| a living thing (as a green plant) that makes its food from simple inorganic substances, producers have the greatest amount of energy in the community | producers |
| a large natural or artificial lake used to store water. | reservoir |
| a large deep section of the ocean | basin |
| a shaft sunk into the ground to obtain water, oil or gas. | wells |
| animal-like plankton | zooplankton |
| a process where the gas (water vapor) is cooled and changed back to a liquid. | condensation |
| an accumulation of sediments at the base of the continental slope | continental rise |
| the regular rise and fall of the ocean water levels due to the gravitational attraction of the moon and sun | tides |
| a colorless, transparent, odorless liquid that forms the seas, lakes, rivers, and rain that is the basis of the fluids of living organisms; essential for life on Earth. | water |
| is the continuous movement of water on, in and above Earth. | water cycle |
| the up and down movement of water caused by the energy of the wind | waves |
| the broad edge of a continent that forms a shelf extending underwater from the shore to a depth of approximately 200 meters | continental shelf |
| starts at the edge of the continental shelf and angles down to the deep ocean floor | continental slope |
| a large natural stream of water flowing in a channel to the sea, a lake, or another such stream. | river |
| the amount of dissolved salts in the water; average salinity of the ocean is 35 ppt (parts per thousand) | salinity |
| sand, mud, and rocks | sediments |
