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Chapter 15
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Biosphere | all organisms and the part of Earth where they exist |
| Biota | Collection of living things |
| Hydrosphere | the portion of Earth that is water |
| Atmosphere | air blanketing earth's solid surface |
| Geosphere | features of Earth's surface - such as continents and the sea floor - and everything below Earth's surface |
| Climate | the average weather conditions in an area over a long period of time |
| macroclimate | climate of a specific location within a larger area |
| canopy | dense covering formed by the uppermost branches of trees |
| grassland | biome in which the primary plant life is grass |
| desert | biome characterized by a very dry climate |
| deciduous | tree that has adapted to winter temperatures by dropping its leaves and going dormant during the cold season |
| coniferous | tree that retains its needles year-round and reproduces with cones |
| taiga | a region of evergreen, coniferous forests below the arctic and subarctic tundra regions |
| Tundra | a treeless plain that is located in the Arctic or Antarctic and that is characterized by very low winter temperatures; short, cool summers; and vegetation that consists of grasses, lichens, and perennial herbs |
| chaparral | biome characterized by hot dry summers and cool moist winters; also called Mediterranean shrubland |
| intertidal zone | strip of land between the high and low tide lines |
| neritic zone | zone of the ocean that extends from the intertidal zone out to th edge of the continental shelf |
| Bathyal zone | zone of the ocean that extends from the edge of the neritic zone to the base of the continental shelf |
| abyssal zone | depth of the ocean that lies below 2000 meters and is in complete darkness |
| plankton | microscopic, free-floating organisms, which may be animals or protists, that live in the water |
| zooplankton | animal plankton |
| phytoplankton | photosynthetic microscopic protists, such as algae |
| coral reef | a limestone ridge found in tropical climates and composed of coral fragments that are deposited around organic remains |
| kelp forest | ocean habitat that exists in cold, nutrient-rich shallow coastal waters, composed of large communities of kelp, a seaweed |
| estuary | an area where fresh water from rivers mixes with salt water from the ocean; the part of a river where the tides meet the river current |
| watershed | region of land that drains into a river, river system, or other body of water |
| littoral zone | area between the high and low water marks along the shoreline of a lake or pond |
| limnetic zone | open water of a lake or pond that is located away from shore |
| benthic zone | lake or pond bottom, where little to no sunlight can reach |
Created by:
mariazierolf
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