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DB Ch4 Ecosystems
Vocabulary for Ch 4 in Miller and Levine Biology Text
| Vocabulary | Definition |
|---|---|
| Weather | The day-to-day conditions of Earth's atmosphere at a particular time and place. |
| Climate | The average, year-after-year conditions of temperature and precipitation in a particular region. |
| Greenhouse Effect | The natural situation in which heat is retained by a layer of gases that trap the heat energy of sunlight inside the atmosphere. |
| Polar Zone | Cold areas where the sun's rays strike Earth at a very low angle; located between 66.5 and 90 degrees North and South latitudes. |
| Temperate Zone | Temperature ranges from hot to cold in these regions because the angle that the sun's rays changes over the course of the year; located between 23.5 and 66.5 degrees North and South latitudes. |
| Tropical Zone | Temperature remains warm all year long in these regions because the sun's rays strike the Earth directly (very high angle); located near the Equator between 23.5 North and 23.5 South latitudes. |
| Biotic Factor | Biological influences on organisms in an ecosystem. |
| Abiotic Factor | Physical (non-living) factors that shape ecosystems. |
| Habitat | The area where an organism lives. |
| Niche | The 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. |
| Competitive Exclusion Principle | No two species can occupy the same niche in the same habitat at the same time. |
| Predation | An interaction in which one organism captures and feeds on another organism. |
| Symbiosis | Any relationship in which two species live close together. |
| Mutualism | A relationship between two species in which both species benefit. |
| Commensalism | A relationship between two species in which one species benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed. |
| Parasitism | A relationship between two species in which one organism lives on or inside another organism and harms it. |
| Ecological Succession | A series of predictable, gradual changes that occur in a community over time. |
| Primary Succession | Succession that occurs on surfaces where no soil exists. |
| Pioneer Species | The first species to populate an area. |
| Secondary Succession | Succession that occurs after a disturbance that destroys a community without destroying the soil. |
| Biome | A group of ecosystems that have the same climate and dominant communities. |
| Tolerance | An organism's capacity to grow and thrive when subjected to an unfavorable environmental factor. |
| Microclimate | A climate within a small area that differs significantly from the climate of the surrounding area. |
| Canopy | The dense covering formed by leafy tops of tall rain forest trees. |
| Understory | A layer in a rain forest formed by shorter trees and vines. |
| Deciduous | Trees that shed their leaves during a particular season each year. |
| Coniferous | Trees that produce seed-bearing cones and hae thin, needle-like leaves. |
| Humus | Material formed from decaying leaves and other organic matter found on forest floors. |
| Taiga | A biome in which the winters are cold but summers are mild enough to allow the ground to thaw. |
| Permafrost | A layer of permanently frozen subsoil in the tundra. |
| Plankton | Tiny, free-floating organisms that occur in aquatic environments. |
| Phytoplankton | Small photosynthetic organisms found near the surface of the ocean and other bodies of water. |
| Zooplankton | Tiny animals found near the surface of bodies of the ocean and other bodies of water. |
| Wetland | Ecosystem in which water either covers the soil or is present at or near the surface of the soil for part of the year. |
| Estuary | Wetlands formed where rivers meet the ocean. |
| Detritus | Particles of organic matter that provide food for organisms at the base of an estuary's food web. |
| Salt Marsh | Temperate zone estuary dominated by salt-tolerant grasses and seagrasses. |
| Mangrove Swamp | Tropical zone wetland dominated by mangrove trees. |
| Photic Zone | Well-lit upper layer of the oceans (top 200m). |
| Aphotic Zone | Permanently dark layer of the oceans below the photic zone. |
| Zonation | Prominent horizontal banding of organisms that live in a particular habitat. |
| Coastal Ocean | Marine zone that extends from the low-tide mark to the end of the continental shelf. |
| Kelp Forest | Coastal ocean community named for its dominant organism - kelp, a giant brown algae. |
| Coral Reef | Diverse and productive environment named for the coral animals that make up its primary structure. |
| Benthos | Organisms that live attached to or near the ocean floor. |
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