| Term |
Definition |
| Wetlands | ecosystems that are rich in life and where the roots of plants are submerged in the water for most of the year |
| Ozone Layer | a layer of gas in the upper stratosphere made up of three oxygen atoms |
| Habitat | the place where an animal lives |
| Lithosphere | the surface of the Earth that is made up of rock and soil |
| Ecology | the study of the living and non-living parts of the environment and their interactions between them |
| Estuary | the place where a freshwater creek or river meets salt water |
| Transpiration | the evaporation of water from plants |
| Aquifer | an underground layer of porous rock that contains water |
| Ecosystem | all the living and non-living part of the environment |
| Igneous Rock | the kind of rock that forms when liquid rock cools and solidifies |
| Biome | a major type of ecosystem with distinctive plants and animals living in a climate that about the same over the region |
| Phytoplankton | a tiny organism in the water that carries out photosythesis |
| Decidous Forest | broad leaf trees that shed their leaves during a certain season of the year |
| Detritus | tiny peices of dead organic material that can become food for other organisms |
| Open Ocean Zone | the largest area of salt water and is also known as the oceanic zone |
| Biotic Factors | all the living parts of the environment |
| Abiotic Factiors | all of the non-living parts of the environtment |
| Species | a group of organisms that are very similar and can reproduce |
| Water Cycle | the movement of water from the earth to the atmosphere |
| Geographical Range | more than an animals habitat it is considered to be the entire area that an animal lives,breeds,feeds, and migrates |
| Biosphere | the narrow zone or layer that supports life on earth as we know it |
| Hypothesis | a prediction that can be tested through an expirement |
| Control | the group in the expirement that you use for comparison |
| Variable | the part of the expirement that may or may not cause change, some say that it is the unknown |
| Lake | and example of a standing water ecosystem |
| River | an example of a flowing water ecosystem |
| Hydroshphere | are the parts of the earth that are covered in water |
| Sedimentary | a rock that occurs alot in South Eastern United States. The rock is layed down and over time it forms layers |
| Niche | the role of an organism in an ecosystem |
| Zooplankton | tiny animal- like organisms in that water that does not carry out photosynthesis |
| Trophosphere | the layer of the atmosohere that touches the earth |
| 8 Biomes | savanna, prairie,desert,steppe,grassland,coniferous forest,decidous forest,taiga,rain forest |
| Humus | rich decaying material in the top layer of soil that will turn ionto topsoil |
| desert-Grassland-Boundary | the zone between two of the biomes that has the characteristics of both of the biomes |
| Decidous Forest | the trees have broad leaves that loose their leaves in a particular season |
| Coniferous Forest | the trees have cones |
| Taiga | another name for the coniferous forest |
| Rain Forest | gets more than 200 centimeters of rain per year. |
| Dissolved Salt, Rate of Flow, Depth of Water, and Dissolved Oxygen | the 4 determinig factors of the aquatic biome |
| Tiny organis Materials that Float in the water | plankton |
| Phytoplankton | plant-like organisms that carry out photosynthesis |
| a major type of ecosystem with distinct temperature,rainfall,and organisms | biome |
| Nocturnal | organisms that come out at night |
| Neritic Zone | the ocean region between the edge of the continental shelf and the low tide mark |
| Zooxanthellae | two living organisms that live together in a symbiotic relationship.They are algae and coral |
| Coniferous Forest | the trees have cones |
| Taiga | another name for the coniferous forest |
| Rain Forest | gets more than 200 centimeters of rain per year. |
| Dissolved Salt, Rate of Flow, Depth of Water, and Dissolved Oxygen | the 4 determinig factors of the aquatic biome |
| Tiny organis Materials that Float in the water | plankton |
| Phytoplankton | plant-like organisms that carry out photosynthesis |
| a major type of ecosystem with distinct temperature,rainfall,and organisms | biome |
| Nocturnal | organisms that come out at night |
| Neritic Zone | the ocean region between the edge of the continental shelf and the low tide mark |
| Zooxanthellae | two living organisms that live together in a symbiotic relationship.They are algae and coral |
| Continental Shelf | the shallow water border that surrounds the continents |
| intertidal zone | located along the shoreline of the ocean it is an area that occurs twice a day between the period of low tide and high tide |
| a gradual change in the population of organisms over time | evolution |
| a process by which species interact so closley that they become adapted to eachother | coevolution |
| population growth in which the rate of growth in each generation is a multiple of the previous generation | expoential growth |
| the number of individuals that can be suppoted by an ecosystem | carrying capacity |
| a factor that slows the growth in a population | limiting factors |
| a species with a wide niche | generalized species |
| a species with a small niche | specialized species |
| Scavenger | uses dead organisms for a primary food source |
| Producers | have the ability to make their own food |
| Population | all of the members of a species that live in the same geographical area |
| Erosion | the wearing away of land by weather and water |
| Tectonic PLates | large movable plates which are part of the lithosphere on earth |
| Community | all of the different populations that live in the same geographical area |
| Nutrients | substances that animals derive from food |
| Territory | an area and animal claimed as a living space |
| Hibernation | a period of dormancy in some animals |
| Energy Pyramid | a diagram that shows the relevant amounts of energy in each trophic level |
| Consumer | an animal that cannot produce its own food |
| Biological Magnification | the increasing concentratiopn of a pol;lutant in animals that are higher on the food chain |
| Green House Effect | the trapping of radiated heat by gasses in the atmosphere |
| Habitat | the environment ion which a particular species lives |
| a complex group of overlaping food chains | food web |
| producers | autotroph |
| consumer | herotroph |
| the destruction of forestlands as a result of human activity | deforestation |
| the floor of a body of water | benthic zone |
| the top layer of water | photic zone |
| an ecosystem in which the roots of plants are submerged under water for atleast part of the year | wetland |
| Salt Marsh | marshes at the edges of marine biomes |
| Subsidence | the most useless peice of information |
| Estuary | a region where reshwater meets salt water |
| Bitumonous coal | the type of coal that is considered soft |
| Peat | brittle, brown plant material containing alot of impurities |
